Manchester City

[Yorick]

Tugay needs a big fine from the club for stupidly putting 3 points at risk. An early candidate for the most stupid act of the season. It'll certainly take some beating.

The Ref was a model of inconsistency. Incidents that he allowed to go unpunished in the first half suddenly turned into cautionable offences in the second. Furthermore he appeared to miss many of the cleverer fouls.

City were nowhere near as good as the SGE loving press want them to be.

We should have had a bagful but we didn't and so we really really need to learn how to keep posession and run the clock down. Some of the players passes and movements when in posession.

Apart from that this was a very encouraging display. We have some fine players who are playing with belief and confidence.

[Yorick]

The refereeing again was terrible, and we were carded for all sorts of petty reasons. Someone at the club surely has to put our case forward.

Maybe somebody at the press should too.

[RovertheHill]

Well our friendly mcfc troll and his team were given a lesson in football there. I counted 7 clear-cut chances which I can't wait to see again on MOTD2. Seriously, for those that didn't go, they could have had no complaints if it wasn't a Derby-esque scoreline today. Dunny looks like match sharpness was all that was missing and he's rapidly getting back to his best. Samba and Nelsen look like a seriously good pairing and Brett and Warnock are certainly great motoring forwards. The run from Warnock in the second half was reminiscent of Duff and I really think we got the best of the whole Lucas Neill saga. Roque looks the real deal, and it's interesting to think the combined cost of our 2 strikers was quite a bit less than Bianchi - I wonder who got the better deal overall? That said, it is a better city side than it was and they should easily avoid relegation

[cn174]

The Ref was a model of inconsistency. Incidents that he allowed to go unpunished in the first half suddenly turned into cautionable offences in the second. Furthermore he appeared to miss many of the cleverer fouls.

He needs to keep his 7.5 (or whatever it was) cards per game average up though doesn't he?

[John Howarth]

Maybe somebody at the press should too.

Have you looked at Law 12 recently? Nothing has changed. The 9 penal offences are still the same and cautions are still issued for j, k, l and m.

[Tim Southampton Rover]

Well our friendly mcfc troll and his team were given a lesson in football there. I counted 7 clear-cut chances which I can't wait to see again on MOTD2.

Knowing MOTD, they will shove us on at the end for the 2min spell we normally get and not show any of our dominance and make it seem like City unfortunately lost the points rather than show us battering them.

[Torgeir]

Tugay needs a big fine from the club for stupidly putting 3 points at risk. An early candidate for the most stupid act of the season. It'll certainly take some beating.

The Ref was a model of inconsistency. Incidents that he allowed to go unpunished in the first half suddenly turned into cautionable offences in the second. Furthermore he appeared to miss many of the cleverer fouls.

The ref was horrible, and if anything Hamann should get penalised for diving - Tugay hardly touched him when he got his second yellow. Two yellow cards for causing three freekicks is a bit harsh in my book. We totally outplayed a City side who've been lucky so far this season. I think it was only a matter of time before a quality side taught them how football really is played.

[Exiled_Rover]

Have you looked at Law 12 recently? Nothing has changed. The 9 penal offences are still the same and cautions are still issued for j, k, l and m.

The ref applied Law 12 with consistency.

[frosty]

Great win - could have easily been 3 or 4 too.

The back line were superb today, all of them!

[Wild Irish Rover]

Just got back from the game. Very exciting!

It will be interesting to see if that eejit MCFC comes back on the board and, if so, what he has to say. I'm also looking forward to hearing what Sven makes of the game - his team were made to look very ordinary indeed - and for once all the reports seem to confirm this!

I have to say I thought Rovers were excellent, particularly at the back, where there was never any feeling that citeh might get in on goal. I'm keen to As for their fans, just one word - PATHETIC. Ok, another one - SCUM (re the handbags outside the Moorgate pub). Not fit to be seen in public places.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

We footballed Citeh to death....this is some of the most entertaining football in years!!

Another good atmosphere created by the Rovers fans and Citeh alike played their part.....KEEP IT GOING.

Looked more than just under 27k to me though?

Great stuff!

[SD4E]

well, where is chimp now from mcfc?

what happened to us being taught a lesson by a decent footballing side?

city were taught how to play football at times, and they very rarely threatened- how many times did they actually work Brad?

the best side won, and we should have put them to the sword so much earlier, but we hit the bar, post and missed a few sitters.

it really should have been 3 or 4 at least-

maybe reality will hit home for these city fans now that they aren't all that

[Eddie]

The only thing that worries me is that we need to start taking our chances. That's two league games in a row where we should have put the result beyond doubt but have failed to do so. On other days we might have come away from 0 points from these 2 games, we need to be more clinical in front of goal.

[Paul]

It's very, very difficult to find adequate words tro describe Rovers today.....committed, passionate, pacy, exhilerating football. We haven't seen a full ninety minute performance like this for years. Citeh had the better of perhaps the first ten minutes and from then Rovers dominated the match with every player demonstrating real skill and committment to the club. This was a fantastic performance of real quality, which put Citeh's money men to the sword. We have a very good, settled and experienced squad after this performance the team must no this could be their season.

How to pick MOTM? Almost impossible with probably 5-6 or outstanding performances to chose from. For me it would be a choice between Dunn and Warnock with Dunny just shading it for his tirelss hunting down of the Citeh midfield in the second half.

How we didn't get 6 I don't know, City were played off the park..........not sure I can cope with a season of this level of excitment.

[mike at picture]

We footballed Citeh to death....this is some of the most entertaining football in years!!

Another good atmosphere created by the Rovers fans and Citeh alike played their part.....KEEP IT GOING.

Looked more than just under 27k to me though?

Great stuff!

Yet another bogus gate at Ewood.

Five thousand empty seats? You're having one

[stuwilky]

Bear in mind that the owner of the Hereford United fans site was given a life ban from Edgar Street for not removed comments about gate figures....

Anyway, we rocked, City were not quite as bad as they usually are, but no where near any good.

And for the stroppy female team leader at NO1 before the match, I noticed you disappeared sharpish. Im sorry for you than the usual bloke is a decent laugh, remember that fans pay your wages and are not something on the bottom of your shoe - it might well serve you well.

[Beta Ray Bill]

It's very, very difficult to find adequate words tro describe Rovers today.....committed, passionate, pacy, exhilerating football. We haven't seen a full ninety minute performance like this for years.

My god, you'll be saying you've a hero on the pitch next!

It was a vibrant performance by Rovers and I can't think of anyone who didn't contribute today. Think special mention goes to Bert who defended well and looked very menancing when he went into midfield.

[shadsworth cloud]

so many good players today for rovers, but i would single out brett emerton. he is not one of the obvious stars but he put in such a disciplined performance keeping the Petrov under wraps and attacked with pace and control. his passing was good, don't think he gave the ball away much ?

he is just 1 of 11 (14) heroes

as regards MOTD2, they are only allowed to show 15 minutes of highlights which is why they pad out the proframme with punditry/analysis/bullsh*t (delete as applicable) and seeing as how arsenal AND chelsea both played today, don't expect more than 2 minutes

as the city fans sing about the invisible man. we are becoming from the media viewpoint "the invisible team"

[mike at picture]

Bear in mind that the owner of the Hereford United fans site was given a life ban from Edgar Street for not removed comments about gate figures....

Anyway, we rocked, City were not quite as bad as they usually are, but no where near any good.

And for the stroppy female team leader at NO1 before the match, I noticed you disappeared sharpish. Im sorry for you than the usual bloke is a decent laugh, remember that fans pay your wages and are not something on the bottom of your shoe - it might well serve you well.

Fair enough Stu but this isnt Moaist China. There were quite a few raised eyebrows around us when the gate went up on the scoreboard.

Anyroad Bert was immense today

[Rovermatt]

i will do, you might see me tomorrow, i'll be in the end with all the supporters celebrating our win, in fact, i might see you if you go, it won't be hard to pick you out of a crowd of 10 will it

Laughing at you! What a clown! :brfc:

[mike at picture]

Laughing at you! What a clown! :brfc:

I take it that the slum dwelling gimp hasn't turned up on here yet

[tsnuf]

Excellent game, really proud to be a Rover right now! I was a little worried for the five minutes we were down a man, but otherwise we were totally in control! Excellent game..

The ref was very good in the first half, but all of a sudden in the second half he went bonkers! He rightly booked Tugay (the first time), Pedersen (just be quiet), Samba and perhaps Dunn, but Tugay's second was ridiculous! At least he called Dunne's second, I was worried Santa wouldn't get a passing glance after being pulled down..

Every player played really well today, we were constantly threatening City while Friedel only had to make two saves all match. I thought RSC, Bentley, Dunn and our entire back four were exceptionally good (Emerton and Warnock were GREAT going forward).. Benni took his goal well and looked happy to be here!

ONLY concern (as several posters have mentioned already), is that we really need to be more ruthless... this game should have been dead and buried before the first half ended, and I'm still not sure how we failed to score more than once by full time. Pedersen was especially guilty of some glaring misses.. although I'll let him off the hook, because he actually looked dangerous today (even if he was constantly offside in the 2nd half).

Mokoena should be a more than able deputy for Savage if he doesn't recover by our next match.

I'm so happy with Emerton right now, he looks really good this season so far, even when he moved up to right wing after Ooijer came on he was just as effective as Bentley was..

I'm really struggling to pick a MOTM..

[Roost]

Yeh, I think I saw you - on the floor opposite the Brown Cow having received a clout for being a gobby get.

My Crap Footy Club

You got totally outplayed yet again - good luck with survival this season - I would hate you to go down because its the easiest six points we get all season

Come on mcfc, where are you now, you little toerag?!!!

[savage8]

Just got back to Leeds, went to the game with a City fan. He accepted we dominated them, and gave us full credit for the win. He tried to reckon with me that us playing Samba wasn't fair, because he's just too good. I couldn't argue. Then again the whole back four were awesome, Warnock for England !

Thought we were brilliant in attack, we looked so dangerous. The movement, awareness of eachother's games and positioning hasn't been better for years and the whole XI seem so happy to be playing together, the reaction to the win at full time proved that.

Bring on Chelski, a GREAT start to the season.

[Flopsy]

easy tigers, you seem to have been easily wound up by an 13 year old scrote.

Good performance, good result, poor umpiring (oops reffing - guess what I've been watching all day ) and poor play from Tugay, who should have known bloody better