City 4 - 3 Wolves: Match report

Boring, boring City?  After the mild criticism that followed the impressive nullifying of Arsenal, we have seen two games fraught with defensive tomfoolery.  In the end, with Tevez already withdrawn to receive his standing ovation at 4-2, Mancini identified the comfort zone too early, and a dubious third for Wolves ensured an exciting finale for the neutral.

Wolves started very strongly and for the first half an hour were dominant - bumbling in a bizarre opener to give them the lead they deserved.  It was a spirited opening from them, full of energy, and on the evidence of that, they should have enough about them to avoid the drop this season.  However, it would've been impossible for them to keep up those levels of energy and commitment and, as half time approached, City started to show signs of a recovery.  Kolo's goal had the same scrappy feel to the Wolves opener but it was the vital foothold for City to stamp their presence on the game.  

Carlos Tevez came out after half-time showing his captaincy skills in the only way he can - to lead the fight himself.  In a breathtaking twenty minutes or so of football after the interval, City ran riot.  Tevez's superb slalom run through the centre of the Wolves defence sparked City's attacking spell.  The flowing counter-attack that started and ended at Yaya Toure's feet was almost equally impressive and the one-two between Dzeko and Tevez will hopefully be the early signs of a flourishing partnership.  

Mancini changed the shape a little in the second half, with Tevez moving closer to Dzeko and Barry moving wider into a left-sided midfield position.  It almost resembled a 4-4-2 and, on evidence of the first-half, Mancini will have some thinking to do to work out the best way to incorporate Tevez, Dzeko and Silva (when the latter is fit enough to start).  Perhaps the diamond formation that was used a couple of times in pre-season, only never to be seen again is the answer here, for example:

Hart

Zabaleta,  Kolo,  Kompany,  Kolarov

De Jong

Yaya Toure,  Barry

Silva

Tevez,  Dzeko

How ever Mancini chooses to solve it, it does look like an attractive problem to have.  After over a month out on the German winter break, Dzeko, despite not getting on the scoresheet, had an impressive début.  As well as having two good feet and vision, he looked a reliable target man - winning the majority of aerial balls that were put up to him.  With the Wolves defence preoccupied with keeping tight to Dzeko, it allowed Tevez the opportunity to find free space in attacking areas - and if City are to play with both of them (complete with Silva behind them), then defences are going to be hard pressed to deal with that sort of quality.  

Lescott's clumsy and needless challenge on Doyle gave Wolves a way back into the game and it made for an exciting end-to-end finish.  Mancini looked frustrated that his usually so well-drilled defence were capable of letting things slide into the realms of the uncertain from a 4-1 lead, but City fans knew better.  When a couple of fans tentatively tried to sing "We are top of the league" at 4-2 with little over five minutes to go, the hostility from some fans quickly put a stop to it.  There is always that healthy fear that anything can happen.  But as the Poznan-Mexican wave around the ground showed, the City fans are starting to enjoy this again - and whilst sitting top in mid-January, why not?!

Arsenal 0 - 0 City: Match report

Arguments about style are all besides the point here - and mostly come from understandably frustrated Arsenal fans.  Arsenal, in fine form as they are, are capable of tearing most teams apart at the Emirates - a fact aptly displayed in a shaky opening ten minutes last night - so, to shut up shop and come away with a point is a great result for City, especially considering how close the sides are in the table.  Come the end of the season, the point (and preventing Arsenal from taking three) may be worth more than knowing we'd valiantly thrown everything into an away defeat.

Arsenal are renowned for playing the most attractive football in the country nowadays and their transformation from George Graham's methodical team of the early nineties to Wenger's school of footballing purity today would appear to lead them to demand the same from everyone else.  But it is more simple than that, most teams will go to the Emirates to defend - just as most teams come to Eastlands to defend (ones with means, such as United and Chelsea, as well as ones without) - it is just that this was an opportunity for Arsenal to get one over on their new rivals and they were mercilessly thwarted - which is as understandably frustrating for Arsenal fans, as it is a pleasing result for City fans.

It may have seemingly lacked any ambition, but it did show a resoluteness that City have only recently acquired.  Taking last night out of the equation, City have been playing quite open attacking football for a couple of months now.  This has largely been down to the combinations of David Silva and Yaya Toure.  If last night highlights anything it is how reliant City have become on David Silva as a creative force.  Yaya can do it, and in the first half he was our only real attacking threat (before he was pulled back in the second) but, without Silva's ability, there was no one else in midfield who was capable of putting their foot on the ball.

Arguably this is where the game became so difficult for us.  The skill and movement of Wilshere, Fabregas, Nasri et al, bypassed Barry and De Jong for most of the game (not helped by two particularly soft early bookings given to the pair) - and Barry's woeful passing, in particular, meant we rarely got a foothold on the game.  Yaya was then played in his Barcelona position for one of the first times since his arrival at the club - and this stout defence was enough to reduce Arsenal to long range efforts.  Joe Hart's excellent save from Van Persie's sweet strike was the closest Arsenal got after the opening quarter of an hour.

One would hope that common sense will prevail in the case of Zabaleta's red card.  If standing up to Sagna isn't a red card offence, then it will have to be rescinded.  It was such a nothing incident - Sagna's 'headbutts' were ridiculous and would probably be better classed as posturing, but in the murky world of FA rules, they may be enough for Sagna to retain his punishment.  The general stance on appeals seem to be: 'if something happened, leave it as it was; if nothing happened, remove the punishment.'  I would be surprised if Zabaleta doesn't get off.

It may not have been an entertaining watch, but the point is worth more to City than Arsenal - hence the din of frustration that met the final whistle.  A poor/tired midfield display made for a more uncomfortable contest than was presumably intended, but the end justifies the means and a point taken at the Emirates from an in form Arsenal team is about as good a result as I could have hoped for last night.

City 1 - 0 Blackpool: Match report

Despite taking six points from them this season now, Holloway's "surprise" package have been a tough opponent for City this campaign.  They were an entirely different proposition from Aston Villa earlier this week: a side full of confidence and boasting the league's second best away record (second to City!).  We had to sit through a nervy ending, yet the game could have been very different if it wasn't for wasteful finishing.

On another day Carlos Tevez may have scored four goals: the penalty miss, his slip when he had rounded Kingson, the open goal he flashed wide from a pull-back, plus one from a number of slightly less presentable chances.  Every miss made him more determined and slightly less composed (the shots were lashed wide with increasing ferocity/frustration), to the point that by the third miss on my list he raised his hand in apology to the fans.  It was just one of those days for him, but consolation can be taken from how many scoring positions he got himself into.

The flip-side to not putting the chances away is the nerves towards the end.  Blackpool played with some style at times - led by the deep-lying orchestrator Charlie Adam - and the introduction of Matt Phillips at half-time gave the City back-line something to think about.  Kolarov, who doesn't look too comfortable with pacey wingers, was withdrawn as a result.  Credit has to go to Blackpool for attacking City - very few teams do at Eastlands nowadays - but the game should have been over by half-time.

One slack back-pass threatened to ruin it, but Joleon Lescott had another top quality game at centre half covering for the absence of Kolo Toure.  He has been open to criticism this season but this has largely been because he has been playing at left-back - where his clumsy passing is more exposed.  At centre-half he has looked dominant and full of confidence.  January must be a time of worry for players who are on the fringes of the team, as Lescott was, but he is responding to that pressure in the right way at the moment.

Nigel de Jong rightly won the man of the match award and showed none of the effects of playing an important part in all of City's games over the festive period in a typically energetic display.

Adam Johnson got his reward for his fine display against Aston Villa with another start here.  Once again he showed a more measured performance and is beginning to prove that he is up to the challenge of becoming more of a team player.

City have taken maximum points post-Christmas to remain [joint] top going into the game at the Emirates on Wednesday night.  There will be an anxious wait to see if David Silva will be fit for that game - considering how important he has become to the team - but Ballotelli, fresh from a humorous exclusive with the Mail that shows it is not all frowns and tantrums, should be available to make his return.