Is it me, or does ben Haim look GOOD? Great pass to petrov and nice D so far, great tackle there. And Weiss what potential there, looks wonderful with the ball at his feet
I was thrilled to see that we could hold our lead... away... against two of the best footballers in the world. COME ON CITY!!!
Defense: B Attack: C+ Possession: F Goalkeeping: A Overall good, but we have a ways to go. It got frustrating after awhile watching us give up ball, after ball, after ball after silly or stupid passing or defending (Dunne anyone?). Great play from our soon-to-be regulars (Toure, Barry, Ireland, and Tevez) though. Young lads look promising but need more time. Dunne looked his usual self. TBH actually looked ok. Ned needs to start over Dunne, period. Petrov was dangerous, though I still think he'll leave. Weiss will break into the first team this year, mark my words. Bellamy was alright; can't believe he missed that chance at the end. We need to stick with the 4-5-1, but with Robinho and Tevez flanking Ade. Had they been out there in that formation (thank god they weren't, though, as I do not want to hurt fitness or risk injury) we would have really put it to them. All in all happy and looking forward to Saturday, where we will be able to string more than three passes together.
Not a bad evening... City win their first trophy of the season beating the Champions of Europe in the Nou Camp, whilst the rags lose at Burnley
I saw the last 20 minutes. I think a draw would have been more than deserved for Barca who dominated possession, corners, and shots on goal. Ibra and Messi, and Thiago played the entire game or were some of them sub'd in? How many reserves did Barca have compared to us? Weiss is sick. This kid's got tones of potential. He drew a great foul in the last 15 minutes and has great composure.
rags losing to Burley just goes to show we can't take Wolverhampton lightly. It's a clear reminder that there are no free wins. I am waiting for a great home opener.
Well said and a point that crossed my mind right after winning at Blackburn. We had a nasty habit of following a win with a stupid loss last year and a home loss to Wolves would be stupid.
Am I really the only one that was concerned about the lack of possession? Most of it wasn't pressure from the Champions of Europe. We kept passing or clearing it right to them. Coventry City could have picked up some of these passes, driven down the field, scored eight goals, and we would have still won 1-0.
No I was too. To be completely [and maybe even harshly] honest, we parked bus. And we did a damn good job of it, don't get me wrong, I rather see that City can actually defend, but we had very little possession in this match. We didn't get the ball out of the defensive third effectively, there were too many give aways. I think the best period of play that we had was from around the 77th min- 83/84. We were starting to open up play, holding on to the ball well. I liked what I saw. But a 6-7 minute period is just too little. And at times I felt like we were giving Barca too much space to operate, I was baffled why Barca didn't just let it rip. They had the room from just outside the box to do so.
I think that had it been a full-strength Barca squad they would have won 4-1 with our possession display. And that was suppose to be Crystal Palace, not Coventry City (no idea why they came out in the typing); my way of supporting their fight against the FA for some sort of compensation. If that had happened to any of the big four in top flight there would be a replay and the referee would never officiate again.
Excellent Win.Didn't get to see, Just caught the highlights here:http://www.footytube.com/video/barcelona-manchester-city-aug19-20241 Hey i'll take any trophy, friendly or otherwise. Can't comment too much else on the match other than that, what are great day though with City Winning and that other team that thinks they're in manchester but aren't really losing at Burnley
We lost out on possession, but quite frankly everyone on earth does! They have Brother Toure then replace him with Keita, so that kind of thing happens. I wouldn't read into it too much considering we had alot of our second team. I mean Zab at RB, that's not going to happen ever again. What people are not talking about is something that works, just perfect when a team is losing out on possession like we were and that was a quick and powerful COUNTER ATTACK. Stevie was a general out there running it like a Train. With SWP, Wiess, Petrov, and Barry, we were never going to bust-up the Barca midfield. But, again for the second time running, Hughes' tactics were spot f'n on. 4-5-1, let them walk the ball up and hime em quick when they're not looking. I applaud the effort and the execution today. Ireland was my 2nd place MOTM, but Onouha is was just such an amazing presence his speed at RB is a defensive coup. Wiess such ambition and desire to take guys on with pace, just brilliant for a youngster. But my Man City MOTM match goes to an unpredictable player... that's right Steven Jordan... good for you Stevie with an Assist against the Aging Evil Empire. Great Day!!!
Rags could not get a result at Turf Moor. City win against Barcelona at Nou Camp. We won a trophy against the champions of Europe, on thier home soil. (Sure, it's a meaningless trophy and was basically a friendly .. but dammit we beat Barca!!)
Do you mean Leftback? And I understand where you are coming from but this wasn't just a little possession. We nearly always gave up the ball immediately after regaining possession by a bad pass or poor defending. Not every now and then, nearly every time. And we weren't playing against the champions of Europe. We were playing against their B, then later C, squad. No Xavi, No Iniesta (which having watched them play for most of my and their lives, I can say that is where the Barca strength really comes). We barely put three passes together successfully the entire night. When Petrov scored it was not even really three. It was a lucky errant pass from them that saw us break forward for that goal, and fairly lucky positioning from Petrov (great pass from Ireland, though) so I definitely wouldn't go as far as to say we had effective counterattacking football. Especially given the vast majority of the times we attempted to counter attack we immediately gave the ball away on the second or third pass as I have mentioned quite a few times. This against a team that was at a strength similar to the top four in the Premiership right now, if not weaker. I know it was a friendly, and I am happy we won, as English teams don't usually fair well, but I do think there is definitely much to be improved before we can consider ourselves even longshot contenders. That said, bring on Wolves.
Thanks, I meant LB. I guess I'm a little forgiving... we played a proper game last saturday. They didn't. We have a proper game this saturday... they don't. And it was at Camp Nou or Nou Camp or Camp Anawana, which is never easy. But your right, even Tevez gave the ball away, and one of his greatest skills is the possession game. I also think for some reason, Barry is a little sloppy, perhaps a bit ambitious. Plus any time we throw a long ball up there, It's like a punt in football. Good points in ensemble.