City 1 - 1 Fulham: Return of the draw specialist

Fulham earned their point yesterday in the face of a rather flat City performance - extending our poor recent home form against the London side (one victory in the past eight seasons).  As a frustrated Mancini is probably all too aware, these are the sorts of games that we should be winning in the race for a Champions' League spot.

There was a moment about half way through the second half when Pablo Zabaleta ran some thirty yards to block a defender's clearance, before turning (possibly in the direction of Jerome Boateng - who had just backed out of a challenge he was clear favourite to win) and gesturing that the team needed more aggression and desire.  In some ways Zabaleta's frustration summed up the afternoon.  

Even though it is a weak excuse, the team certainly looked jaded and this could be symptomatic of games every three or four days since the Manchester derby with a squad that is getting more and more depleted.  By contrast, Fulham have just returned from a break in the Algarve.  City will get very little sympathy for such worries, with the strength of the squad we have, and I am not suggesting that this should excuse the performance yesterday, but it probably is starting to have an effect on the players who have to play all the games.  Regardless, if all the players had the same attitude as Pablo Zabaleta, then City would always out-compete teams.  

I would argue that only four outfield starting players performed to an expected level yesterday: Zabaleta, Lescott, Barry and, despite Mancini's comments after the game, Mario Balotelli.  Despite the odd frustrating moment, Balotelli actually worked quite hard for the team yesterday - often doubling up as a left-sided midfielder and covering Kolarov.  Balotelli's was more of a team performance than he put in against Aris, for example, and I thought he looked more settled, rather than trying to pull off the outlandish all the time - which has often been the case as he has tried to impress.  His goal was brilliantly taken and he was our main attacking threat, as Tevez had one of those days when he tries to run through people, on his own, and without realising there is too much of Hangeland to run through.    

Taking Tevez out of the equation, our top three performers this season were missing - Kompany, Silva and De Jong - and Mancini will be hoping their calming, creative and crushing respective influences will be returning soon.  Without Silva there is a noticeable lack of verve and impetus from midfield going forward - and City's midfield struggled to offer many scraps for the strikers.  Yaya Toure cut a particularly frustrated figure after the Fulham midfield kept him well shackled - after being a very influential figure in the excellent performance at Craven Cottage, he was almost anonymous here.  

Fulham did play very well though and their goal was of top quality - fans around me were trying to pin blame on moments up to a minute earlier, but the speed and precision of the move and Andy Johnson's delivery deserved the moment.  

Overreactions abound, as ever, when results don't go the way you want them to, but this is just one result in a string of very good home results and performances - and, despite what you may presume reading some of the reactions across the internet, it was still a point.  

On an entirely different note, the atmosphere was about as flat as the performance yesterday.  I know the tiny Fulham following support didn't help matters (the South stand had already decided it would be better to pick on other stands rather than the away fans they could hardly see by about five minutes in), but the home support was hardly conducive to a passion-filled performance from the players.  I know there is a little of the chicken and the egg about this - should the players excite the fans to an extent? - but it was pretty flat following the atmosphere against Aris.

Maybe the City fans were just a little bewildered due to the slightly peculiar 'televisation' of our half-time.  I may be a bit old-fashioned/grumpy, but one of the bonuses of going to live football is that you escape fifteen minutes of football punditry in the break.  This is nothing against the people involved - I'm sure what they had to say was quite interesting, and I don't mind having endless replays on the big screens, but I'd rather hear the murmurings of the crowd at half-time than long pieces of punditry on what was a quite uneventful first-half anyway.  Oh well...  

City 3 - 0 Aris: The Fantastic Four unleashed

Mancini unleashed City's dream attacking quartet for the first time as the Blues eased past Aris Thessaloniki last night.  A front four of Tevez, Dzeko, Silva and Balotelli is about as good as it gets, and was more than enough to get through an Aris side who came to stifle but were unprepared for the number of attacking players that would be coming at them.   Speaking of this formation - on one of the first opportunities he has had to use all four together - Mancini said:

"I thought we did well and in the first half I was very pleased.

The problem comes when we don't have the ball. If we don't close down every situation, it could be difficult for us.

We can play this formation but not often, unless we improve."

Optimistically, the answer to the 'problem' could be a fit Nigel de Jong.  Although, in the first half especially, there was an effort from all the front four, Balotelli included, to get back and cover the wide midfield slots.  So whilst Mancini's words are obviously a warning to City fans not to expect to see this fantasy quartet too often, he had probably seen enough last night to see that it can work against teams who come to defend.

Aris, unfortunately for their excellent travelling fans, were not a particularly difficult obstacle to overcome.  After the blistering pace of the opening quarter of an hour, City rarely had to up the tempo beyond comfort to see out the tie and book an altogether more difficult encounter against Dynamo Kiev in the last 16.

The Aris fans were fantastically orchestrated from the bottom of the stand and moved as one the whole night.  There was perhaps only a three second lull after Dzeko opened the scoring before they started up again.  Although my favourite piece from their repertoire was a Poznan-esque move to the sound of what I am pretty sure was 'jingle bells' - an ultra masculine, intimidatory form of jingle bells.

Dzeko's two brilliantly taken goals mean that he has now scored 4 in 7 starts - which shows what a farce all the snap judgements have been.  He was always going to need time to bed in, yet, as a 'settling in' goal ratio, that is not a bad return - and by his own admission, 'we ain't seen nothing yet.'

The injury to Kompany is the only worrying thing to come out of the night.  He has been colossal for City this season and was putting in another fine performance before the knock on his hip.  Early murmurings suggest he may be fit for Sunday, which would be a relief - but early murmurings rarely have the full story when it comes to knocks and injuries.  Here's wishing him a speedy recovery!

City 5 - 0 Notts County: Match report

There seem to be two schools of thought amongst managers when it comes to tackling opponents from a number of divisions down.  The first one is you take a pick from your promising young players and reserve players with something to prove and hope their desire to show their worth overcomes the motivation deficit that can be apparent when playing 'weaker' sides.  The second is that you pick a strong side who may find motivation difficult, but will have sufficient class to see out the fixture in the end.  Yesterday's game was very much the latter.  Energy comparisons in the first twenty minutes between, say, Yaya Toure and Neal Bishop would undoubtedly reflect badly on the City man.

Yet, to an extent, this is to be expected.  Whilst this was a huge occasion for the County players - people like Yaya, whilst complacency may be the wrong word, would see it as a necessary complication on the way to a bigger prize.  Thus, for the first twenty minutes, County were on top.  First to every ball, stifling City's attempts at patient build-up, and creating openings as well.  Hawley's shot against the post was a little too close for comfort.

After that initial surge, however, City began to take control - and largely in a completely new way.  Vieira said after the game that the team's height should make us more effective at set plays than we have been, and most of our attempts before the break came from teasing free-kicks from Kolarov or corners.

Balotelli should have had a penalty.  His reputation is beginning to precede him now and whilst he may not be ideal to referee, if someone stands on your ankle in the box then it is still generally a penalty.

The late flurry of goals in the last ten minutes may have been less than charitable in the face of the effort from the away side but, for the hopeful, it did offer some glimpses of Tevez and Dzeko working together as a partnership.  The excellent quick feet of Dzeko that set Tevez clear for his goal was quickly repaid by the cutely placed cross Tevez laid on for Dzeko to grab his first goal in front of the City fans.  Striking partnerships are things that take time to fully develop - as an acute understanding of each other's game is vital - and this can only come with games.

If City can overcome Villa in the 5th round, Everton await us.  Without getting too ahead of ourselves, Everton are something of a bogey side at home - but, to end on a wonderful FA Cup cliché: as Notts County proved, and Leicester before them, there are no easy games if you want to go all the way in cup competition.

Derby day reflections

They are hard moments to take at the best of times, but with the quality of Rooney's goal came the horrible realisation: I am never going to escape it.  Last season's goal from the time beyond time was similar - no matter how hard I tried, there was always a 'highlights of the season' montage where Michael Owen's detestable, shocked face jumped out the screen at me.  And that goal was only remarkable for the circumstances.  Rooney's bit of magic - variously the best goal of his career or the best goal ever scored at Old Trafford etc - came amidst a fairly anonymous performance, but at the top level, as this game undoubtedly is, these little bits of quality decide games and it is just unfortunate for City that it was at the other end.

It is difficult to offer any impartiality during the passions of the derby, so to quote The Independent's Ian Herbert "City were the better side, in fact, even if United's capacity never to know they are beaten won through."  Although City will obviously be disappointed to let United extend their advantage at the top, the performance was encouraging.  Both sides lined up in the same formation, but there wasn't really the defensive approach that has become the norm against the top sides this season.  Statistics-wise, City created marginally more chances than the hosts, and a considerably greater amount if you take away wild long range efforts by Nani.  The main difference was the final finish.  Whilst Rooney plucked out a bit of brilliance from a quiet performance, our main goal-threat had a quiet contribution upfront too - there aren't too many obvious goal threats in the team when Tevez is limited (the next three highest goalscorers this season were unavailable: Balotelli, Johnson and Adebayor) - so whilst Silva was excellent again in the role of creator, that final finish eluded us.

It was a return to strength defensively and there were excellent performances from Vincent Kompany and Micah Richards.  The general rule for a successful defensive partnership at City seems to be Kompany plus one - and Lescott has impressed in his last few appearances alongside the Belgian.  I felt he was a little unlucky to lose his place to a returning Kolo last time, but it shows that the position as Kompany's partner is up for grabs.

Micah is continuing his improvement under Mancini and appeared to play with the confidence that was synonymous with his burst on to the footballing scene as a teenager.  If he keeps up his concentration and his fitness, then this renaissance is very good news for both City and England.

The result will probably spell the end of vague title speculations in the press and this has to be a good thing for City's season.  If City keep playing the way they have been, they can remain in touching distance - and this will probably be the best way to achieve the real target - Champions League football - and if that is achieved, we can start looking at the next steps.

Saturday's Cameos: Shauny's Welcome Boost and Abdul Razak

Saturday's game against West Brom saw two popular cameo performances: the introduction of Abdul Razak for his City debut and the return of Shaun Wright-Phillips to the first team. 

Abdul Razak, as has been widely reported, has hardly featured for the EDS this term - only recently making his debut against Bury.  His only previous performance was the pre-season friendly against Macclesfield, where I was impressed enough with him to mention his name in my tiny review of the game back in July.  So his inclusion against West Brom did come as a bit of a surprise, although beady eyes may have spotted he was part of the wider squad that faced Birmingham. 

The fantasically helpful MCFC Reserves and Academy website states his lack of opportunities to date were due to work permit issues but, with them cleared, we should now see more of the promising eighteen year old. 

Razak became the ninth player Mancini has promoted from the academy and, although it can be argued that these players are not playing crucial parts in games, it must be encouraging for the younger players in the squad that players are getting involved at the top level.  Mancini's nine, however well they are ultilised, compares favourably to Hughes' one, for example. 

For a player like Shaun Wright-Phillips, on the other hand, the reception he got on Saturday will provide him with the boost he desperately needs.  Astonishingly, Shaun's last involvement in the Premier League came on September 19th, away to Wigan, in a game in which he came on under similar circumstances - with the game won.  He has played a handful of Europa League games in between, but has largely been overlooked for the league games. 

With Adam Johnson injured, Shauny has an opportunity to claw his way back into first team contention.  Mancini originally bemoaned the loss of Johnson by saying there was no one like him at the club - no one who would run at players with speed - but somewhere, forgotten and waiting his chance was one of England's wingers at the last World Cup. 

The trouble with Wright-Phillips is that he is at his best when he acts on impulse, and the enemy of impulse is uncertainty and low confidence.  Slow Shaun down, give him too many options, and his final product often comes up short.  Let him fly at players, running with his touch and balance, and anything can happen.  Let him shoot without looking! 

Arguably Shaun's style doesn't suit the patient passing formula that fits the current team and few expected to see him beyond the end of the January transfer window.  So the cheers that met him as Mancini sent him down the line to warm up were probably as much out of welcome surprise and support than anything else.  Everytime he touched the ball there was that rush of excitement and anticipation amongst the crowd - and when he hared forward from his own half and, to the exasperation of Edin Dzeko, opted to go it alone, he almost rode the expectations of the blues in the stand. 

Whilst he has spent most of the season looking lost and dejected, a confident Shauny can undoubtedly be an asset for the club and hopefully the crowd's reaction at the weekend will remind him of that.

Topical City Magazine article

For any of you who are not aware of the Topical City e-magazine, issue 2 is now available for your perusal.  

There are some twenty articles on all things Manchester City and it should entertain you until the next one comes out in a months time!

It is also an opportunity to see some of my words in a different location, as I think about the transfer window and the future of our club... 

TOPICAL CITY issue 2

City 3 - 0 West Brom: Di Matteo loses his job as Tevez strikes

What a day of football yesterday.  The top team lose to the team rooted to the bottom of the table; the team in second are pegged back from four goals clear; and City win.  Can't ask for much more than that really.  Although it was a bit of a peculiar game.  David Platt bemoaned City's complacency in the second half - and having strolled around with purpose in the first half (to some success), the strolling lost its focus in the second and West Brom contributed to an attacking game. 

One of the reasons Di Matteo has been sacked today may be because of their leaky defence.  They looked adventurous going forward yesterday, with lots of promise, but, especially in the first half, they always looked vulnerable at the back.  With David Silva pulling the strings, it was always going to be difficult for West Brom to contain us, and in the early stages City played some impressive football.  The two goals in five minutes really gave City some comfort and Thomas's daft handball put an end to the game as a contest after forty minutes. 

In acknowledgement of Kolarov's superior attacking abillities, the Serbian left-back was given the left-wing to play with, and his hammer of a left foot was a regular threat in the first half: picking out Tevez with an exquisite cross in the opening minutes and unleashing an improbable thunderbolt that needed to be brushed onto the bar.  We are yet to see if this is a permanent plan, but Kolarov can offer cover for Johnson in that attacking role. 

David Silva has shown all his attacking flair in recent months, but he also works extremely hard for the team.  I suspected that he got unusually stuck in yesterday and a cursory play around on the Guardian Chalkboards shows that he made more successful tackles and interceptions than any of City's midfield or forwards.  Not a bad defensive contribution from someone many thought would be too small for the Premiership's supposed brawn.  He has been superb for us lately and is the driving force of all our attacking play. 

West Brom asked questions of City's defence and of Joe Hart, but it is pleasing to come away with a clean sheet, especially as it brings to a close an unwelcome recent run of goals conceded. 

With United and Chelsea losing, and Arsenal drawing, City capitalised on an opportunity to keep ground on those at the top - and as long as we are in touching distance, the more likely it is we will be seeing Champions League football next season, which still has to be the ultimate goal.