Manchester City Post-Mortem

[sean_lfc]

It's hard not to come up with the assessment that Kenny and co spent a whole load of very serious money, that could have been better used...and resulting in more effective on field results than what we are presently getting.

Agree.

However, coulda woulda shoulda, it's the way the cookie crumbled. What's crucial now however, how does Kenny deal with it? Will he adopt Rafa's tactic of getting rid on the buzzer or will he change his style and work harder himself? I don't know. I think we're in a healthy position, we just seem to fail in our consistency. However, time will sort that.

[sean_lfc]

Not fussed about the money really, just want us to sign good players who make a positive impact. What they cost doesnt matter at all, if they're good then they are good. If not, they arent.

[yamiedo]

So poor in the attacking play. I don't recall many of Downing or Johnsons crosses beating the first man. Honestly, Andy Carroll is not going to score with delivery like that. It was absolute pish tonight.

Bellamy was the only one who seemed to offer a goal threat. We need more creativity and more innovation. Its clear that we need a playmaker with bags of tricks and ideas.

The whole premise tonight was based on getting it straight out to the wing and trying to cross it into Carroll. Unfortunately the standard of crossing was a joke.

I'm starting to lose faith in Downing now, I was thinking maybe he was just going through a bad patch and his end product would improve but he just looks very, very average out there.

[brightred]

Carroll is ****e

Downing is too

[vonk]

Too many average players.

Downing and Kuyt on the flanks is a joke. Dirk, although he works hard, lets us down in big games with his first touch.

I just don't understand what Downing adds. He never takes on a man, and simply passes up responsibility to Johnson and Enrique every time. Needs to be benched until he comes up to Liverpool standard.

The Andy Carroll experiment is not working. We got plenty of balls into the box tonight but for the most part he was beaten. We cant have a player who is simply there to try to win balls in the air, it's not going to work. He adds very little else.

Charlie Adam was starting to make me believe, but he's completely lost all of that in the last two games. Utter gash again tonight. Makes bad tackles in poor areas. And where are these set pieces?

We really need to up the quality in the midfield and front areas. Only Gerrard, Maxi, Suarez and Bellamy are good enough going forward.

[DannyMan2006]

We had 13 ****ing attempts at goal I remember about 4.

We created far more than City, though I guess the onus was on us to attack rather than City. Three gilt edged chances of the top of my head as well, Downing, Kuyt and Maxi.

What did City create? Nothing other than speculative shots.

[Daniel 7]

So poor in the attacking play. I don't recall many of Downing or Johnsons crosses beating the first man. Honestly, Andy Carroll is not going to score with delivery like that. It was absolute pish tonight.

Bellamy was the only one who seemed to offer a goal threat. We need more creativity and more innovation. Its clear that we need a playmaker with bags of tricks and ideas.

The whole premise tonight was based on getting it straight out to the wing and trying to cross it into Carroll. Unfortunately the standard of crossing was a joke.

I'm starting to lose faith in Downing now, I was thinking maybe he was just going through a bad patch and his end product would improve but he just looks very, very average out there.

Absolutely. It seemed to be the only tactic we had to attack with. Kompany was always going to look good when there was such utter predictability coming his way.

[Exiled_red]

I thought Downing wasn't as bad as people are making out, he carried the ball well at times. He delivered some decent crosses when he was on the left. When he moved to the right he played alot of short lay offs, possibly because he had a man in front of him and no option to cross with his left foot? He was better on the left side than the right IMO, but he is lacking in confidence.

He has been poor in his time here but I think people are too quick to get on his back, the first time he does something wrong, then he gets slagged off all game.

[Mostar]

We've gone from the unpredictable and clever movement of a Kuyt, Suarez, Meireles and Maxi front 4 to a rigid, predictable front 4 who stick to their wings and attack in pairs with the fullbacks in an entirely predictable fashion each and every single time. When we do cross it, it hits the first man or the nearest centre back.

We were unlucky and careless in defence. City has us in their pocket I thought. So comfortable defending us. No shame in losing to the best team in the league, but the game just highlighted our weaknesses.

Teams have become wise to how predictable we are

I think that was exactly the key to today's result but I disagree that their had us in the pocket.

We had the possession and controled the tempo very nicely especially in the first half and I thought we were unlucky not to score when we had the chances.

They were little bit more fortunate, on the other hand, and had more quality in few key positions on the pitch but beyond that they didn't impress me at all.

We "lost" this game rather then they "won" it if that makes sense.

[KingKenny77]

People are saying enter the transfer market - just how much more money are we going to spend in order to get back into the top four, nevermind challenge for the League and other honours?

Dalglish has spent a small fortune in the year he has been back and we're still languishing in sixth. We haven't really improved much this season compared to the second half of last season have we?

It wouldn't surprise me if Dalglish brought in Kevin Phillips, a good old English centre forward.

[Daniel 7]

Charlie Adam was starting to make me believe, but he's completely lost all of that in the last two games. Utter gash again tonight. Makes bad tackles in poor areas. And where are these set pieces?

My thoughts on him exactly. I thought we might have uncovered a decent player - he had a spell, but that seems to have been lost in amongst terrible passing, terrible set pieces and stupidity in the tackel. He just barrels into other players.

[Craig_H]

People are saying enter the transfer market - just how much more money are we going to spend in order to get back into the top four, nevermind challenge for the League and other honours?

Dalglish has spent a small fortune in the year he has been back and we're still languishing in sixth. We haven't really improved much this season compared to the second half of last season have we?

It wouldn't surprise me if Dalglish brought in Kevin Phillips, a good old English centre forward.

What was your previous username on here?

[malg]

People are saying enter the transfer market - just how much more money are we going to spend in order to get back into the top four, nevermind challenge for the League and other honours?

Dalglish has spent a small fortune in the year he has been back and we're still languishing in sixth. We haven't really improved much this season compared to the second half of last season have we?

It wouldn't surprise me if Dalglish brought in Kevin Phillips, a good old English centre forward.

I'm more worried he will go for Bent.

[sean_lfc]

I thought Downing wasn't as bad as people are making out, he carried the ball well at times. He delivered some decent crosses when he was on the left. When he moved to the right he played alot of short lay offs, possibly because he had a man in front of him and no option to cross with his left foot? He was better on the left side than the right IMO, but he is lacking in confidence.

He has been poor in his time here but I think people are too quick to get on his back, the first time he does something wrong, then he gets slagged off all game.

I do tend to agree and there were some decent moves as you said. I was egging him on to score twice! Really want him to succeed, often screaming words of encouragement at the screen, proper want him to just go mental and **** that ball in the back of the net killing several players in the process!!! I just want him to score that goal, think it'd be a huge weight off his shoulders. We also just need more people in the box, we need to attack as a megatron unit!

[Trippendicular]

The Andy Carroll experiment is not working. We got plenty of balls into the box tonight but for the most part he was beaten. We cant have a player who is simply there to try to win balls in the air, it's not going to work. He adds very little else.

I thought he looked good first half. Again, the problem is still the quality of the delivery. People were floating in crosses and Carroll was competing with both Toure and Kompany for almost every ball. Even if he wins in the air, he's not going to be able to do anything with it