Everything but the goals! City 1 - 0 Bolton: Match report

City's general play was so good yesterday that the nerve wracking ending seemed like it should belong to a different game.  The first twenty minutes were breathtaking - showing what is really an attacking quartet at their best.  Yaya was everywhere and, forgetting a couple of lapses in concentration where he nudged the ball back towards the defence, he was in fine form.  The flowing footballing intelligence of Silva, Yaya and Balotelli behind Tevez, with Zabaleta and Kolarov supporting at every opportunity, shows why, amidst the recent allegations of negativity, this really is an attacking formation when everything clicks.

After a bit of a goal drought at home recently, detractors may say that the inability to turn such dominance into goals shows one of City's weaknesses.  Although yesterday, as Mancini points out, City were just a bit wasteful with several glorious opportunities:

"Sometimes we were too selfish. We shot when it was better to pass - we must improve this situation.  When we have a chance, we must score. If I had played I would have scored two or three goals."

Whilst it would have been nice to avoid the jitters supplied by Kolarov's sending off, the way City carved out chances shows a team that is really beginning to click on the pitch.

Mancini's mention of his own goalscoring prowess, could perhaps be a warning to some players who feel themselves above the manager's decisions - notably Carlos Tevez.  Whilst he was once again central to most of the good work from City yesterday, he was also having a bit of an off-day in front of goal.  His reaction to being substituted with only a couple of minutes remaining is not what you would expect from your captain.  Yes, it is great he wants to be on the pitch at all moments (I remember him reacting similarly in the World Cup when he was taken off whilst chasing a hat-trick), but the captain should put the team first - and it is understandable, against a team with considerable aerial threat, to leave Balotelli on.  Silva, who was having another outstanding game, didn't grumble when he was replaced by Micah Richards with more minutes left on the clock.

The two most contentious decisions on the day were Silva's offside and Kolarov's sending off.  Silva wasn't offside and if it wasn't for Barry's instinctive move forward then I am sure the goal would have stood.  Even still, the linesman would've only needed to hold his flag for a second or two to establish the correct run of play.

Kolarov's is more difficult because of the way he went into the challenge.  It is one of those things where people will bemoan the changing face of the game when tackles like that aren't part of it anymore, but the game being like it is - winning the ball isn't always enough: full-blooded challenges are often penalised.  Whereas I would've liked him to have remained on the pitch, I can see how Mr Mariner thought otherwise - in a game he really failed to get a grip of.

The sending off made for a nervy ten minutes but as de Jong said after the game, City stopped them from creating any clear cut chances.  City are a hardier team than they have been in recent years and a lot of the praise can go to Vincent Kompany, who was immense once again.  After Joe Hart's slip, the resultant nerves that could have attended it were nullified by some clever play by Kompany - for the next five minutes, he caught the game by the scruff of the neck - exuding a calmness in possession that helped stabilise City for the remainder of the game.

There may be frustration in the City camp at not making more of some sparkling football, but from the stands what we are seeing is very encouraging indeed.