Ricardo's report v Man City FA Cup

[ricardo 7,395]

It''s usually this time of year when I bang on about the decline of that once great competition called the FA Cup.  Since the big teams started using it as a run out for the second string it has become much devalued in my opinion so it was slightly encouraging to see a Man City side with quite a number of top class players taking the field. It wasn''t a full house by any means, and when you consider that the top eleven all time gates at CR have been in this competition it makes you wonder where things are headed when under 25k turn up to see one of the top sides in the country. AN took the opportunity to give Ruddy, Jerome, Mulumbu, Vadis and Dorrans  full outings so you could hardly complain that he wasn''t taking it seriously.With a rain pouring down, City were soon on the front foot and Jerome''s strong run earned a free kick on the left of the area. Unfortunately Dorrans cross gave nobody a chance and drifted high into the Barclay. Moments later a neat ball from Vadis found Johhny Howson in space and he made tracks toward the Man City goal before loosing a 30 yarder that swerved well wide.The blues finally swung into action until the seventh minute when Aguero pinged a snap shot wide and then embarassed Bassong by nicking the ball as the defender dallied and slipped Iheanacho in, only for Ruddy to juggle his narrow angled shot over the bar. From the resulting corner the City keeper had to go down smartly to his left as Kolorov''s low drive threatened an opener.The writing was already on the wall when Man City took the lead on the quarter hour with a goal of simply stunning individual brilliance. Aguero picked the ball up thirty yards out before accelerating past Bassong and into the area. With three City defenders converging upon him it seemed impossible for him not to lose possession but he went through them like a knife through butter before toeing the ball under the advancing John Ruddy. Even a dyed in the wool supporter like Ricardo could not help but applaud skill of that quality.The Canaries tried to respond and the lively Vadis did well to beat a defender on the right bye line but the cross was straight at the keeper. Jerome was having a decent game and his speed set up a chance for Graham Dorrans who let fly with a good strike but the height made it easy for the keeper to beat it away. City''s play was o.k. at times but didn''t have the clinical quality of the opposition. Aguero again showed how it should be done when on the half hour he again cruised past defenders before setting up Iheanacho with a simple chance to double the score. The little Argentine was in a class of his own at times and the City defence was often at full stretch to keep him at bay. He nearly netted again when he pounced on a bouncing ball but Ruddy was equal to it and pushed it away for a corner.It looked all over bar the shouting by half time but City did try to make a game of it for the opening twent minutes of the second half as the game took on a more even flow. They even had the ball in the Man City net on 56 minutes when Jerome was adjudged offside from Howson''s flick but in truth for all their huff and puff they seldom looked like blowing anyone''s house down. De Bruyne came on just after the hour and immediately looked quality and over the next ten minutes City brought on Redmond and ONeil for Mulumbu and Howson but it didn''t alter the flow of the game. Lafferty came on for Bassong as AN went two up front and three at the back, again to very little avail. Navas hammered one against the woodwork before De Bruyne put the final nail in the coffin with a strong run into the City area before slamming a shot that seemed to go right through John Ruddy.It was about now that the part timers, one timers or casuals as you might call them began streaming out in droves. Why pay twenty quid and miss the last 15 minutes? In any event they missed seeing Ruddy spread himself a couple of times to keep out further goal bound shots and at the other end Dorrans ping a 25 yarder wide. With the game in the last knocking''s, Lafferty had a looping header turned over and a Vadis volley made the net bulge only for the ball to go the wrong side of the post.In the end it was a reasonably entertaining affair although the class difference was stark enough for a blind man to see. Vadis and Cameron Jerome share my MOM award with the rest of them very much of a muchness. Looking on the brightside we have no injuries and no more distractions so everything now must be aimed at Premier League survival.

[Midlands Yellow 4,012]

I think the attendance was quite decent myself. West Brom didn''t match it when they hosted Man City in prem this season.

[ricardo 7,395]

[quote user="Midlands Yellow"]I think the attendance was quite decent myself. West Brom didn''t match it when they hosted Man City in prem this season.[/quote]Fifty years ago there would have been a queue for tickets down to the County Hall roundabout at half past six on a Sunday morning.[:D]

[chicken 0]

As usual, a top notch write up Ricardo.

And as usual I totally concur with 99%.

For me the real difference in class today was Aguero and one or two of the forward players. I think Sterling struggled to really have as great an impact as perhaps his transfer fee suggests he should, partly due to Wisdom giving him very little in terms of space and ''letting him know he was there''.

I thought Odija and Howson were the two standouts for me, Jerome was good but for me, everything good came through those two. I would have given Odija the accolade personally as I thought his work rate and quality on the ball were stand out.

[Herman 9,793]

Thanks Ricardo, yet again[Y]

[Well b back 3,232]

Thanks Ricardo great report. We sat in a different area to usual today and the abuse being aimed at Ruddy was at times beyond belief. Thought he kept the score down ?

[ricardo 7,395]

[quote user="Well b back"]Thanks Ricardo great report. We sat in a different area to usual today and the abuse being aimed at Ruddy was at times beyond belief. Thought he kept the score down ?[/quote]He got very generous applause when the teams were announced and made a couple of creditable saves. I thought he was badly positioned for the second goal and I was too far away to make much comment about the third. Rudd would have to have a couple of poor games to lose his place now.

[chicken 0]

Ruddy was a little shaky at times, but I guess you would expect that considering the pressure he must have felt he was under.

He did keep the tally down, a few very neat saves and some very safe hands.

However, I think he will be angry at himself at the third goal, the angle meant there was only one place de Bruyne could really hit it at and a keeper should never be happy with being beaten at his near post.

The abuse was pathetic, sadly, I would say that our fans never really got going today and got out-sung by the Manc fans who felt that they had to keep reminding us that they were not glory hunters which I find utterly amusing.

[Lessingham Canary 99]

As usual Ricardo, on the money !

I thought Stirling was offside when they attacked for the second goal, the linesman was about 15 yards behind, to be fair we were never in it after they scored, but Jerome and Vadis put in a great shift, the rest never seemed to get going.

Shame Ruddy got stick, he had a decent game.

[exiled blue 0]

"and got out-sung by the Manc fans who felt that they had to keep reminding us that they were not glory hunters"

also in fairness it was the norwich fans who started, albeit briefly the "where were you when you were ***" chant. which led to the city fans responding "beating you when we were ***!" which i thought was quite funny...

[Holtcantshoot 0]

My general thoughts from a relatively disappointing performance:

- Odjida showed good technical skill, physical strength and ability to beat his man. He needs to be used much more regularly in those three attacking midfield roles behind the striker.

- Martin was quite woeful in the sweeper role and the lack of defensive cohesion highlighted the importance of Tettey to the team. Who last week did the job Martin failed to do today, the holding midfield role and still found time in the second half to score for us whilst our attacking players were struggling (assisted by Odjida).

- Lafferty showed a willingness to scrap for the ball and was awkward to deal with as well as coming close to scoring. I would much rather see him as 3rd choice striker than Grabban who doesn''t do enough work for the team at this level.

- Following that well placed header to equalise late on against Watford Aguero''s performance stepped up another gear today and he looks like he could be instrumental to City''s title challenge if he can keep himself fit between now and May. (Although that''s possibly a bit off topic).

[Alex Moss 2,165]

Great report as ever, Ricardo :). Thought Russ made some good blocks and timely interventions today, though I''m sure some turned a blind eye to this - I don''t think he played badly at all especially given the quality he was up against (Aguero). Vadis is really becoming the player I''d hoped when we signed him, and I think we''ve got an absolute gem of a player there, really looking forward to seeing more from him in the second half of the season. Good game from Howson too - he did what I hope to see from our players, and that is to drive forward with purpose making the opposition back off or at least step it up to stop him.

Didn''t hear any stick directed at Ruddy from the Jarrold, but if so, for gods sake what the hell is wrong with some people??????? FFS he''s one of our own and it''s about time certain supporters showed the same level of loyalty towards the players that they, quite frankly, so undeservedly expect back. Bloody sad b@stards.

[AJ 1,224]

As always a good read Ricardo, was unable to make the game today and the BBC highlights were just off the man City goals so nice to read a bit more of an insight to the game.

As for Ruddy I''d agree that he didn''t do himself too many favours yesterday by the sounds of it, would Rudd have saved a couple of those goals? It''s certainly confirmed for me Ruddy is our no2 for now unless something drastic happens regarding Rudd.

Our defending for all 3 goals looked very poor though. Hopefully we''ve got that and the joys of the cup out of our system so we can get back to doing well in the league

[Ray 111]

Thanks Ricardo,

Enjoyed as usual, for what it is worth (which of course is a great deal, well to me anyway) my take on the game overall as follows;

In almost 40% (37.5%) of their games this season, Man City have scored 3 or more goals, 11 teams have conceded three or more against them (Sunderland have twice), so considering the form they showed yesterday, I for one am, disappointed we are out of the Cup but not too downhearted about our display. Could it have been better, of course it could but rather than us playing badly I think we were made to look bad (at times). They have players, who besides costing more than our entire team, probably individually earn per week as much as our entire team, or pretty close to it. Now, why do some of their players earn 10 times what our players earn, because they are that good, they are paid £200,000 plus per week to produce £200,000 per week performances, which Aguerro, particularly, did yesterday, however he was not alone.

As I said, they are paid to make us look bad, it'' not that we were that bad.

One other thing that struck me, and not for the first time, was the pace at which they broke, I don''t mean that they all are as quick as Mr Bolt, but that they ran at full tilt and in numbers, how many times when we get a break do we have numbers in the box, or at least approaching it, rhetorical question. More often than not you can see our players, for the want of a better word ''dawdling'' upfield, may be instruction, may be not, all I know is that I would prefer us to put increased effort and numbers into our breaks, with the same verve shown when need to get back. If Man City can do it why, oh why can''t we? Or am I living somewhere over the rainbow in cloud cuckoo land?

[AJ 1,224]

Just on the last point it''s something I''d like us to do and I''m disappointed that we don''t when we have some really pacey players on our books but the simple reason is because we give the ball away too often and would get caught short defensively.

[morty 0]

Positives for me, I thought Howson, Jerome and Odidja were pretty good. I also sat in the Jarrold, as opposed to my normal upper Barclay, so enjoyed not queuing for ten minutes to urinate, and also enjoyed a good selection of halftime snackage.Negatives, i thought Mulumbu had a bit of a shocker, and I shall never sit in the Jarrold again, the place is a morgue, the only noise was people whingeing.

[Ray 111]

AJ,

Are we agreeing then that our problem really lies in the midfield and that the fact as a Premier League footballer some, if not all, of our players cannot string a few passes together above walking pace.

I think I am of that thinking, in which case there needs to be a great deal of re-training performed at Colney, or we need higher calibre players and that doesn''t mean we need to spend millions, it just means we buy players who can pick a pass at pace and from what I have seen Ofoe falls into that category.

Because without this in our armoury we will constantly be on the back foot, unable to attck at pace or if we do unable to provide cover for our defence. This was highlighted on a number of ocassions yesterday, we broke, they had 6 in defence we had 2 attacking, one ball carrier and if we were lucky a. n. other. They broke they had 4, or more attacking our defence.

[Alex Moss 2,165]

[quote user="morty"]Positives for me, I thought Howson, Jerome and Odidja were pretty good. I also sat in the Jarrold, as opposed to my normal upper Barclay, so enjoyed not queuing for ten minutes to urinate, and also enjoyed a good selection of halftime snackage.Negatives, i thought Mulumbu had a bit of a shocker, and I shall never sit in the Jarrold again, the place is a morgue, the only noise was people whingeing. [/quote]

Totally agree with all the above, Mark - spot on. Mulumbu certainly didn''t have the best game at all, so I wasn''t surprised AN substituted him whilst also taking off the very busy Jonny H to rest his legs. Despite a few grumbles about Russ I also noted it was he that on many occasions made timely interventions to Man City through balls etc, especially in the second half - after a while I think Man City noticed Olsson was getting done for pace, so a lot of their attacking moves were focused down their right hand side rather than through the central channel - that said, Olsson going forward, I was pleased to see him giving it a go - we otherwise just don''t seem to risk breaking with urgency enough, at least Olsson, Odidja and Howson brought some of this to our game (still a massive improvement on Hughton''s unbelievably predictable walking pace ''attacks'' which were frankly quite painful to watch).

[morty 0]

[quote user="Alex "][quote user="morty"]Positives for me, I thought Howson, Jerome and Odidja were pretty good. I also sat in the Jarrold, as opposed to my normal upper Barclay, so enjoyed not queuing for ten minutes to urinate, and also enjoyed a good selection of halftime snackage.Negatives, i thought Mulumbu had a bit of a shocker, and I shall never sit in the Jarrold again, the place is a morgue, the only noise was people whingeing. [/quote]

Totally agree with all the above, Mark - spot on. Mulumbu certainly didn''t have the best game at all, so I wasn''t surprised AN substituted him whilst also taking off the very busy Jonny H to rest his legs. Despite a few grumbles about Russ I also noted it was he that on many occasions made timely interventions to Man City through balls etc, especially in the second half - after a while I think Man City noticed Olsson was getting done for pace, so a lot of their attacking moves were focused down their right hand side rather than through the central channel - that said, Olsson going forward, I was pleased to see him giving it a go - we otherwise just don''t seem to risk breaking with urgency enough, at least Olsson, Odidja and Howson brought some of this to our game (still a massive improvement on Hughton''s unbelievably predictable walking pace ''attacks'' which were frankly quite painful to watch).[/quote]I couldn''t tell if Mulumbu or Dorrans were meant to be sitting, or if both were. And Mulumbu looked confused about it too. Man City played some lovely, pacy football, just way too good for us. Aguero''s goal was world class.

[chicken 0]

I actually thought Dorrans was quite poor. The free kick we had in the early moments summed up his performance for me. At the moment, he is probably bottom of the pile in terms of midfielders for me.

As for the breaking at pace thing. Firstly you need the players with pace to do it, then you need to be playing against a team who you can draw in, break down and then play out of quickly. Finally, you need players that can move the ball quickly and accurately.

As I said, for the first goal, they didn''t really break upon us, we lost the ball in our own half if I remember rightly. The second goal was due to Bennett feeling he had to push up when the defensive line was a good ten yards behind him at least, surrendering space to Arguero.

I honestly couldn''t give a flying monkeys about the FA cup. AN is right in also feeling that the league is the priority. I think it was quite telling that Man City felt otherwise - they need trophies, we need survival, and that''s what showed.

We also, didn''t want to give too much away for how we may play against them later in the season so with all of that in mind I am fine with the result. We learned why some players are ''fringe'' players and why others are not.

[Rock The Boat 1,332]

Another positive from the game: Man City felt the need to field a very strong team against us. They didn''t throw in a bunch of kids. They knew they had to be at their best to beat us.

Unfortunately for us, they were.

[Alex Moss 2,165]

I see what you''re saying Chicken but I do believe our players can move the ball a bit faster whilst maintaining accuracy, granted Man City are in the position to get the very best of those ''fast and accurate'' passing players but our team are no slouches and are good enough to up the tempo another degree - no question. I should have worded my previous post better - we have some pacey players who are capable of breaking at reasonable speed (Redmond, Brady and apparently Pinto for starters) but Howson showed yesterday that despite not being the fastest in our squad, he could be a bit of nuisance just by being quite direct and with purpose. Our players are capable of that. Again, this is a thought regarding general playing style, and that I believe in the current squad and their respective qualities. For the record, I''m certainly not suggesting we should have had Man City pegged back to their 6 yard box for 90mins either! Very good side though I''m sure we''ll pose them a more difficult obstacle in March with the likes of Mbokani, Brady and Hoolahan playing - all direct and trickier to play against imo.

[Holtcantshoot 0]

On a side note, did anyone else notice Redmond get done for pace by 35 year old Demichelis in the second half. That was a bit of a worry.