***city v liverpool official match day thread***

[ruralblue]

[lovecity8utd]

[blues2win]

Some talk Dzeko may have a hamstring.

[twosips]

[Peter Doherty (AGAIG)]

Routine victory.

[Nigels Tackle]

[chef]

Did carragher say Stevie d is quicker than silva !

[razor400]

[Hutch's Shoulder]

We started slowly in both halves but were by far the better team. Scouse lacking in front of goal. Sterling was main threat and set pieces. Pity we let that daft goal in.

I thought fourth place would be between them and rags but both look to have a lot of work to do at the moment.

Bloody Sergio, I'm losing my voice now after roaring for his goal.

Jojo looks handy and I think those goals will give him confidence to take his time more in other games.

Did you see the brilliant picture, it was on our big screens if not TV, of Brenda soaked through and a face like thunder?

Random observation: the dayglo pink advert on the new second tier boards was soooo bright and very distracting.

Tactical masterstroke to bring on Jesus to counter Lazar(us).

[DoomMerchant]

[Ted Hughes]

I thought that was a really class effort for this early in the season.

It was a very similar job to the Villa & West Ham games imo. Obviously, Liverpool have much more threat, but the idea was the same; no panic, no suicidal stuff, just nice calm dissection. Liverpool created almost nothing, but had done their usual 'all leg it about like fuck for half an hour' routine (will be 20 mins once Mario gets on) & given it their best shot. Then off we went.

Jovetic is startig to prove that he is an 'A' list player, not a squad player. Fernando did more defending than most of the defenders. We opened up a bit when we went in front & went more toe to toe, which worked a treat but gave them more chancce to score but their goal was a FOUL. And an obvious one. Not a shoulder charge; a FOUL.

Amongst the Liverpool obsessed bollocks, Ratboy showed how well our back 4 operated as a unit. Demi, imo, dropped a few bollocks, but he fits in that machine in a way Nastasic never has. That is my only concern re Mangala: if he doesn't get it, we will suddenly start shipping more goals.

[phips]

loved that Aguero scored after 23 seconds.

if this match teaches the squad anything its that we need to be sharp and consistent. we were very sloppy and slow in the first half and Liverpool were running the midfield. then we "turned it on" and looked better. but once we brought in Fernandinho we switched off and got sloppy again and Liverpool almost made it VERY interesting in the last 6ish minutes

[blues2win]

Most commentators saying Edin's ok just a knock which is a relief. Fernando is an outstanding buy and has taken to premiership like a duck to water. Fantastic bench but how to keep everyone happy? September will mean more matches but everyone will want to play in the big matches. I guess Aguero will start on Saturday and maybe play 60 minutes but you can't drop Fernando. I'm guessing Mangala will be on the bench on Saturday and Fernandinho will too. The Count is very reluctant to go three in central midfield but we'll see what happens in the CL.

[Cocacolajojo1]

[mr_nool]

[Ted Hughes]

[twosips]

Laughed so much at this...



Couldn't make it up.

[Peter Doherty (AGAIG)]

[twosips]

He meant it as a compliment i think in fairness to the guy... that we appear to do nothing, but we clearly fucking do. "I didn't think they looked that impressive a side" - which was a fair comment on the first 30 minutes. We were compact, patient but far from spectacular, and ya know what - thats probs what Brendan and the scouse players were thinking. That we're not that good and that we were there for the taking and then, being the fucking great side we are, we choose our moment and pick them off with class and composure.

[Slim]