*** 'ammers v city official matchday thread***

[bleedBlue]

I'll take the win, but clearly we lack steel in the middle. I'm afraid any good team would easily exploit our midfield. I'm still not impressed. Keeping my fingers crossed for the best and hope l'm proven wrong.

[zuricity]

Nastasic made a fantastic clearance in the first half but I don't know if he had a great game. I think the defense, as always when Garcia and Nastasic make up the centre of it, lacked structure and solidity. West Ham's goal summed it all up IMO.

Great game though. Sergio for the win!

Oh he did !

Here's the thing ( tag it btw , some great interviews by Alex Baldwin).

A couple on here have tried to piss on Nastis chips.

Hey,we are without our centre back pairings and inspite of others worrying about Garcia. Or Lescott missing, Nasti just rises above it. He made one unnecessary bad pass in the second half, otherwise he had an excellent game.

Watch the goal West Ham scored - he's just ball watching and is completely unaware of the West Ham players around him. Vaz Te is next to him and then just wanders past him to go behind Garcia and collect the ball.

You can't do something like that and still have an excellent game if you're a defender.

These defence frailties in his game have always been there but they've become more noticeable this season as the defence has been more exposed and he has to do more front line defending.

I think all the defenders seemed to be ball watching for their goal. It was a ping - pong play with the ball moving about quite a lot.

But you said Nastasic had an excellent game. His job as a defender is to stop them scoring goals, but if he fell asleep at a key point today and was ball watching then he didn't do his job as West Ham scored then.

Garcia was just as guilty but we already know he struggles playing as a centre back. Nastasic, in my opinion, is as poor defensively as Garcia yet I have no idea why so many people are overlooking his flaws.

We paid £12m plus Savic for him, who we'd paid £7m for. So Nastasic effectively cost £19m! For that money we should be expecting someone outstanding.

Instead, we have a defender who can't tackle, is hopeless in one on one situations, and is poor in the air. His flaws were obvious all last season but he got away with it as he was surrounded by other good defenders in a well organised system. This season, our defence is a mess and he is costing us goals on a regular basis.

I've always refrained from saying that I think he's completely shite as I obviously want him to succeed, and I only want the best for our club. I genuinely hoped he could become a top player, but the reality is he just isn't good enough for a team of our quality. The sooner we can get rid of him and look elsewhere the more likely we can develop into a sound defensive unit once again.

Yes I did say he had an excellent game and i think he did.

You say he can't tackle, but i thought the way he took the ball off Diamé late in the second half was the perfect way to tackle. Patient, good timing and distribution straight away after winning the ball. No fuss , no heroics , just getting the job done.

He organises Joe well, he will be organising the defence for a long time. He reads the game very well.

I disagree with you , i think he will be around for a long time.

[Cocacolajojo1]

Just watched the highlights from MOTD and all of the three goals were excellent, the first and the third sublime. We're so effing brilliant it's unbelievable when we manage to get our shit together. Wow. I am so thankful that I get to experience City like this. Honestly. This is no small grace.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

" he organises Joe well" where the hell do you get that from?

[blues2win]

Actually I thought Garcia didn't have a bad game. I wouldn't particularly blame him for the goal and he made some crucial interceptions. He may end up leaving next season but he's not as bad as some people here say.

[mcfc1632]

Nastasic made a fantastic clearance in the first half but I don't know if he had a great game. I think the defense, as always when Garcia and Nastasic make up the centre of it, lacked structure and solidity. West Ham's goal summed it all up IMO.

Great game though. Sergio for the win!

Oh he did !

Here's the thing ( tag it btw , some great interviews by Alex Baldwin).

A couple on here have tried to piss on Nastis chips.

Hey,we are without our centre back pairings and inspite of others worrying about Garcia. Or Lescott missing, Nasti just rises above it. He made one unnecessary bad pass in the second half, otherwise he had an excellent game.

Watch the goal West Ham scored - he's just ball watching and is completely unaware of the West Ham players around him. Vaz Te is next to him and then just wanders past him to go behind Garcia and collect the ball.

You can't do something like that and still have an excellent game if you're a defender.

These defence frailties in his game have always been there but they've become more noticeable this season as the defence has been more exposed and he has to do more front line defending.

I think all the defenders seemed to be ball watching for their goal. It was a ping - pong play with the ball moving about quite a lot.

But you said Nastasic had an excellent game. His job as a defender is to stop them scoring goals, but if he fell asleep at a key point today and was ball watching then he didn't do his job as West Ham scored then.

Garcia was just as guilty but we already know he struggles playing as a centre back. Nastasic, in my opinion, is as poor defensively as Garcia yet I have no idea why so many people are overlooking his flaws.

We paid £12m plus Savic for him, who we'd paid £7m for. So Nastasic effectively cost £19m! For that money we should be expecting someone outstanding.

Instead, we have a defender who can't tackle, is hopeless in one on one situations, and is poor in the air. His flaws were obvious all last season but he got away with it as he was surrounded by other good defenders in a well organised system. This season, our defence is a mess and he is costing us goals on a regular basis.

I've always refrained from saying that I think he's completely shite as I obviously want him to succeed, and I only want the best for our club. I genuinely hoped he could become a top player, but the reality is he just isn't good enough for a team of our quality. The sooner we can get rid of him and look elsewhere the more likely we can develop into a sound defensive unit once again.

????

Wow - that seems so extreme!!

IMO he will be one of the best CBs in the PL for the next 10 years - and will be outstanding in is link play with MF.

Think he is a tremendous talent - FFS compare him to smalling, jones, evans etc at the swamp - are any of them even within light years of him?? I think not.

If you work at the level of finding a specific fault then I could even find fault with Aguerro yesterday. Nasti (again IMO) is far and away our 2nd best CB and I cannot readily think of many/any others CBs in the PL that I would prefer - can you?

[getdressedmctavish]

Thoroughly enjoyed the game if not the million mile walk I always have to the ground(no more). I think we are kidding ourselves about how great we were. WHAM were pathetically weak and even then managed to ruffle our feathers.Let's see how we go with that formation v Chelsea. We had em in our pockets last year. Who fancies us this?

[aaron bond]

????

Wow - that seems so extreme!!

IMO he will be one of the best CBs in the PL for the next 10 years - and will be outstanding in is link play with MF.

Think he is a tremendous talent - FFS compare him to smalling, jones, evans etc at the swamp - are any of them even within light years of him?? I think not.

If you work at the level of finding a specific fault then I could even find fault with Aguerro yesterday. Nasti (again IMO) is far and away our 2nd best CB and I cannot readily think of many/any others CBs in the PL that I would prefer - can you?

In my opinion, the many comments over the last year on here calling him 'world class' are extreme. Fortunately, they've been kept to a minimum this season as his mistakes have been more obvious.

I haven't seen anything to suggest he's 'light years' ahead of the 3 United players you mentioned. I don't particuarly rate those United players, but don't think we're in a better position for having Nastasic unfortunately.

There are centre backs at Chelsea, Spurs and Everton who I would prefer over Nastasic. Kolo too I'd probably add into that. The other centre backs might be older, but it's no good having age on your side if you're ability is limited in the first place. We have always been much stronger defensively when Lescott plays, and I'd be more confident with him in the side.

As I've stated before, I'm happy for Nastasic to prove me wrong, and considering the huge price we paid for him, I hope he can show something this season which would suggest he could lead our back line for the next 10 years. I'm just not sure he can.

[Pretty Boy Lee]

????

Wow - that seems so extreme!!

IMO he will be one of the best CBs in the PL for the next 10 years - and will be outstanding in is link play with MF.

Think he is a tremendous talent - FFS compare him to smalling, jones, evans etc at the swamp - are any of them even within light years of him?? I think not.

If you work at the level of finding a specific fault then I could even find fault with Aguerro yesterday. Nasti (again IMO) is far and away our 2nd best CB and I cannot readily think of many/any others CBs in the PL that I would prefer - can you?

Not meaning to nitpick but wouldn't we be better comparing him to decent players to see how he stacks up?

Being better than smalling is no glowing endorsement for me

[Breks]

I'll take the win, but clearly we lack steel in the middle. I'm afraid any good team would easily exploit our midfield. I'm still not impressed. Keeping my fingers crossed for the best and hope l'm proven wrong.

Who do you consider to be a good team?

[mcfc1632]

????

Wow - that seems so extreme!!

IMO he will be one of the best CBs in the PL for the next 10 years - and will be outstanding in is link play with MF.

Think he is a tremendous talent - FFS compare him to smalling, jones, evans etc at the swamp - are any of them even within light years of him?? I think not.

If you work at the level of finding a specific fault then I could even find fault with Aguerro yesterday. Nasti (again IMO) is far and away our 2nd best CB and I cannot readily think of many/any others CBs in the PL that I would prefer - can you?

Not meaning to nitpick but wouldn't we be better comparing him to decent players to see how he stacks up?

Being better than smalling is no glowing endorsement for me

Fair enough - but he is a young lad coming through and learning - (IMO) well on target to be a top CB. I made those comparisons because they are the sorts of players that the media rave about - FFS they play for England - so they would seem fair.

Aaron mentions that there are CBs playing at Chelsea, Spurs and Everton that he would prefer - who are they?

I guess they must be the likes of Cahill, Luiz, Terry, Ivanovic, Distin, Jagielka, Vertonghen, Kaboul?

Not meaning to nit pick either but would these not be much more flawed comparisons given their age, experience etc.........

I was making what I thought was a genuine comparison - of course we could do better by going out and forever buying players established recognised as amongst the top in their positions and never develop anyone

All about opinions - and like most topics people get fixed in their views - mine is that I have rarely see such an accomplished and still improving CB for many a year - but time will tell

[dazby]

I'd love to read a stat of the distance Kun ran in this game compared to Bayern. He got criticized by a Bayern player for being lazy and I think it stung.

Great to see Pellers adjust his system to sure up the midfield. First time we've seen that.

Vaz Te played really well and deserved his goal.