Manchester City Post-Mortem

[Lecter]

Kenny and Suarez must be very pissed off by the decision not to appeal.

I can't see Suarez stay after the summer transfer window.

I dont think FSG have pulled rank in any way shape or form

I reckon the club as a whole have sat down and looked at the report and probably acknowledged the futility of any appeal

Sometimes its better to suck up your medicine for the greater good

After reading that report my first view was the club should make a statement that they didnt agree with the FA's findings but they will accept the ban and move on

I'm pleased they have done this, despite my views that the evidence is far too subjective and heavily weighted in Evra's favour there was no way the FA was moving from their stance. They'd have been an absolute laughing stock

The club realised this imo

[Nicey]

Yesterdays game really highlighted a few things for me.

First off, and unlike many, I thought Carroll did well. He linked up fine with other players was involved in many of our chances and one some good headers against a big City defense. I have changed my feeling from Carroll not quite being there, to the fact that he simply doesn't get proper supplied in the area. Kuyt did nothing yesterday, Downing was so-so and when Bellamy came on he was more lively but made very poor crosses.

Gerrard is just simply fantastic, by far our best players in all aspects it seems. He is just in the right space so often, makes brilliant passes and he alone takes our team in to another bracket. Adam while a decent player is just nowhere near good enough to replace him.

Spearing while doing a good job defensively needs to add more to his game to be a permanent solution for the DM. And while he can't do much about it you can see he has problems coming up against big strong opponents.

Other than that.... the result didn't justify the way we played. We deserved something closer to a draw, and we really need to get more clinical and soon. We are still well in to get 4th, but we can't keep that hope alive if we don't soon start winning some more matches and scoring more goals.

And lastly tip of the hat for Kompany and Yaya, they are fantastic players. Kompany controls the defense so well, and Yaya is just everywhere and will be missed a lot when going to ACN

Agree with you on Carroll, he looked a lot sharper, moved quicker, every time the ball went on the wing, he drifted to the far post and the ball never came, time and time again I watched him drift around the back at pace, when either Glen had the ball or Downing and they just seemed to play ****ing patty cake together out of the right and it was no better on the left, Carrol drifts to the far post and nothing ball never comes, only ever got service when the play had broken down and all the defenders were well set up to gobble up high balls in with no pace

[Nicey]

I dont think FSG have pulled rank in any way shape or form

I reckon the club as a whole have sat down and looked at the report and probably acknowledged the futility of any appeal

Sometimes its better to suck up your medicine for the greater good

After reading that report my first view was the club should make a statement that they didnt agree with the FA's findings but they will accept the ban and move on

I'm pleased they have done this, despite my views that the evidence is far too subjective and heavily weighted in Evra's favour there was no way the FA was moving from their stance. They'd have been an absolute laughing stock

The club realised this imo

Same way United seemed to have learned there lesson from the last Evra Production so should we, we got ****ed, we should make sure it does not happen again.

[Darkon]

Agree with you on Carroll, he looked a lot sharper, moved quicker, every time the ball went on the wing, he drifted to the far post and the ball never came, time and time again I watched him drift around the back at pace, when either Glen had the ball or Downing and they just seemed to play ****ing patty cake together out of the right and it was no better on the left, Carrol drifts to the far post and nothing ball never comes, only ever got service when the play had broken down and all the defenders were well set up to gobble up high balls in with no pace

Yep, I looked for it as well. Carroll stood close to Clichy so many times without getting a cross it's frustrating. The Crosses he did get against him he won. The long balls put forward on him he won most of them yesterday, and did well to bring teammates in to play.

We just came of a 17 game unbeaten run, with a bit to many draws granted, but it shows we have potential i we start scoring. Even yesterday with a drop less by Reina, and a bit smarter defending from Skrtel we could have gotten a draw with some clinical finishing.

If we start scoring goals I can't see neither Arsenal nor Chelsea getting more points than us.

[fred_plasticine]

henderson i don't get ... he looks quality on the ball, his technique seems pretty fine and when he tries to play he's got quite some pass on him as well but he seems too afraid to do anything advanterous with the ball unless it's the safest bet. i really hope he grows in confidence and believe and determination over time.

carroll doesn't seem to possess any body strength at all. gets out-muscled by pretty much everyone and his timing and positioning are dubious to say the least.
the lad looks like a beast who should strike fear into defenders when crosses come in but he's more like a 12 year old trapped in the body of a grown man.

[Reece]

henderson i don't get ... he looks quality on the ball, his technique seems pretty fine and when he tries to play he's got quite some pass on him as well but he seems too afraid to do anything advanterous with the ball unless it's the safest bet. i really hope he grows in confidence and believe and determination over time.

I've been really pleased with Henderson. He's obviously not the finished article but I think he is getting better and better. That was a lovely first time pass last night to set up Downing's chance.

[Chazza]

I've been really pleased with Henderson. He's obviously not the finished article but I think he is getting better and better. That was a lovely first time pass last night to set up Downing's chance.

Thought he played well yesterday as did Spearing who put in a decent shift and is a better passer of the ball than I initially thought

We showed that we can pass the ball well, keep possession in tight areas and shift the ball from one side of the pitch to the other to get into decent crossing positions

After that we hardly put any decent balls in, or got enough people into the box.

[cream]

Thought he played well yesterday as did Spearing who put in a decent shift and is a better passer of the ball than I initially thought

We showed that we can pass the ball well, keep possession in tight areas and shift the ball from one side of the pitch to the other to get into decent crossing positions

After that we hardly put any decent balls in, or got enough people into the box.

He did well and would have looked better if Kuyt, Carroll, Downing and Adam weren't so ****.

[Lecter]

He did well and would have looked better if Kuyt, Carroll, Downing and Adam weren't so ****.

Downing & Kuyt were shoscking imo

I genuinely think Dirks time is up

Thought Adam was ok (nothing more nothing less)

Carroll well I've addressed that elsewhere

Oh and Henderson seems to be growing week by week

[Neil Young]

I agree about Downing. It's the first time I've criticised him but he was so frustrating. I suppose that early miss made him more noticeable but, apart from one run in the first half and his shot right at the end, he seemed to add nothing - every time he got the ball he took an extra touch or twelve, slowed it down and passed the ball backwards three inches to someone else.

Kuyt didn't do much either but he's had a lot of good games in the past - maybe he's not up to it any more but I can't tell that based on yesterday's game.

[Craig_H]

That's the problem with Kuyt, if he IS past it and finished, it'll take more games than he's played to judge that. But if it's true that he's done and dusted, playing him in more games could just end up costing us. If he isnt finished, then we wont know without giving him more games.

Given that Suarez is missing Stoke (h), Wolves (a) and Bolton (a), these are probably the kind of games whereby we could give Dirk a chance and some more game time, maybe playing up front, and enabling us to see if he's still got it without risking too much damage points-wise if it turns out he hasnt.

[Dalglish]

Downing seems scared (1) of making a positive decision (note how many times he comes back inside both on the left and right flank) and (2) of getting involved in a challenge of any sort. He's playing like a coward at the moment and that simply won't do.

I don't understand the criticism of Henderson above - he is far from the problem at the moment. In fact, of all Kenny's summer signings he is the one making most impact for me. He is going to be a great player.

Yet again, we need an overhaul of the squad as there are too many average players there

[Nicey]

Downing seems scared (1) of making a positive decision (note how many times he comes back inside both on the left and right flank) and (2) of getting involved in a challenge of any sort. He's playing like a coward at the moment and that simply won't do.

I don't understand the criticism of Henderson above - he is far from the problem at the moment. In fact, of all Kenny's summer signings he is the one making most impact for me. He is going to be a great player.

Yet again, we need an overhaul of the squad as there are too many average players there

Spot on, playing like a player low on confidence, he is not in the groove at all

[kris90210]

That's the problem with Kuyt, if he IS past it and finished, it'll take more games than he's played to judge that. But if it's true that he's done and dusted, playing him in more games could just end up costing us. If he isnt finished, then we wont know without giving him more games.

Given that Suarez is missing Stoke (h), Wolves (a) and Bolton (a), these are probably the kind of games whereby we could give Dirk a chance and some more game time, maybe playing up front, and enabling us to see if he's still got it without risking too much damage points-wise if it turns out he hasnt.

Even if he's not finished, I still think right wing is a position we really need to strengthen. I think Dirk would make an excellent backup.

I'd be quite interested to see how Dirk and Carroll would link up playing up front together.

[ronanm]

Get the chequebook out!