Preview: Manchester City Vs Rovers

[AggyBlue]

I thought the view from our seats was rotten for a new stadium - row Z, lower tier.

From row E I could see sweet FA !

What was the score?

[RevidgeBlue]

No1 priority for me in the window a David Batty type to give the back four some protection, an Arteta type who can link with the front two and can run with ball and keep possession, plus a left winger.

Only about 30m required then!

[thenodrog]

Funny thing that. I'm mystified why nobody ever raids Everton for Arteta and Cahill. If we had em they would be linked with the top clubs on a weekly basis.

[DP]

Slightly better assessments from Rev and Joeybignose than most on here. i thought we were great 2nd half and only looked vulnerable in the 1st down that right side.

I only watched on TV but didn't have a problem with Nelson. Samba looked all over the place 1st half but seemed to settle in the 2nd. Most are calling for Nelson to be dropped but he's playing alongside someone very unpredictable in Samba who will no doubt be a great player one day. I thought if anything it was big Chris who needed a rest. We know Zurab and Nelson work together so it was strange that Hughes didn't keep that partnership going.

Our midfield is our jackal and hyde. First half useless but in the 2nd half got hold of the game and were picking up much more of the loose ball. Only trouble we were giving the ball away too cheaply. Dunn is imensely frustrating as he was winning balls, creating some space for himself and then passing it straight back to a City player. Unusually though, as the game went on the more he saw of the ball, and the more he was gettting forward. For me I'll assess the Reid/Dunn partnershp when it's been together for 5 or 6 games at least.

MGP had one of his best games in a long time. All the slaters, take your blinkers off, he had a good game yesterday. Didn't stop running all night and was a marked imrovement on a few weeks ago.

Sorry Paul but McCarthy made a huge difference when he came on last night. Always an outlet, holding up the ball, and looked like he wanted it.

I won't join in the pointless debate about him or his attitude or natural finishing ability.

We are a good team, but still need a bit of back to basics for the whole team. At the moment we're a top ten side, but nothing better. There's not much to separate around 7 teams outside of the top 4 but Everton, Portsmouth, Villa and Citeh look to just have the edge on us so far this season. Improve on the first half though and we'll be in with a great chance of finishing in the top 6/7.

[den]

I take your point and obviously Hughes should come on here before he picks his teams...... (make a change from him constantly ringing me up).

Anyway what about the Chelsea match? Who had Zurab vying with Bentley as MoM? Who thought Bentley could perform so well one match and so poorly the next in the support striker role? Now we have Krislu insisting that we start with RSC and Benni up front v Derby. Now I'm not for or against that particularly but who knows whether we will see the real Benny of last season or the disinterested imposter? Why not go with the power and pace of Roberts in a match that will likely be a physical scrap? Fact is it is very difficult to predict when a player will play a starring role or be absolutely awful. I'm not at all in favour of Tinkerman Benitez's style but the opposition changes every match so what works in one match will not necessarily do so in the next.

Yeah, OK Gord, - but it wasn't difficult to see that Zura would struggle against a winger of real pace, playing for an inform side, in front of the home fans. I thought that if Berner was playing, then Emerton should have been at right back. There again, Berner should be nowhere near that team. and that's nothing to do with hindsight.

[AggyBlue]

Slightly better assessments from Rev and Joeybignose than most on here. i thought we were great 2nd half and only looked vulnerable in the 1st down that right side.

And there was only one team that looked like winning.

If there'd been the six minutes of extra time we had against Chelski, we'd have won last night. All against a team that has won every home game this season.

I think much of the disappointment lies in the fact that we all know we can play so much better.

[Cocker]

Funny thing that. I'm mystified why nobody ever raids Everton for Arteta and Cahill. If we had em they would be linked with the top clubs on a weekly basis.

1. Moyes wont let them leave.

2. They dont have stupid get out clauses.

[only2garners]

Just a point (and bearing in mind that I have not seen the match) but so many people on here are being scathing about the performance of the Rovers yet the press and media reports are generally reporting a far different scenario. So whys that then?

God knows. There are clearly many fans who are in a negative mindset at the moment and slag certain players off whatever they actually do. Pedersen is the supreme example. He was all over the field shoring up the defence and usually available as an outlet going forward last night. Not back to his best but for me our best player in the first half (admittedly not a difficult contest to win).

I was at the match and thought overall it was a better performance, particularly in the second half. I wonder what the reaction would have been if we had played Emerton at right back and he had stopped Petrov and we had gone in at half time 1-0 up?

I thought the central midfield partnership of Dunn and Reid were completely outplayed in the first half and playing Bentley off Santa Cruz did not work as it did against Chelsea - we know Ericsson watched the Chelsea game and clearly realised he had to stop Bentley floating around. The second half substitution had the double effect of shutting off Petrov and and providing a more balanced 4-4-2 formation to play City.

On the last goal, having just watched it on a Sky tape, it is clearly legitimate under the current interpretation of the offside law. I personally think the law's an ass in this case but it's no different than the Fowler goal against us a couple of years ago when Cisse dummied to play the goal when offside.

[AggyBlue]

God knows. There are clearly many fans who are in a negative mindset at the moment and slag certain players off whatever they actually do. Pedersen is the supreme example. He was all over the field shoring up the defence and usually available as an outlet going forward last night.

His critics can't see all that on their TV/PC screens

[Fife Rover]

Feel free to thank me as well as Roque.

Yes OK thanks Tim; I am arranging to send you a full seasons supply of turkey and lettuce sarneys all carefully wrapped in best quality newspaper (Times or Guardian) ASAP.

[Paul]

Sorry Paul but McCarthy made a huge difference when he came on last night. Always an outlet, holding up the ball, and looked like he wanted it.

That's true, but he did nothing with it once he'd got it. I'll gie up now till after Sunderland

As you say, and I said earleir, we are still a good team but a lot of the basics are going wrong.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Only about 30m required then!

Not always, Hughes has found plenty of bargains in the past - Bentley, Santa Cruz, Warnock, Mc Carthy , Samba, Nelsen to name a few, none came for that sort of money.

[Tim Southampton Rover]

Yes OK thanks Tim; I am arranging to send you a full seasons supply of turkey and lettuce sarneys all carefully wrapped in best quality newspaper (Times or Guardian) ASAP.

We might as well start celebrating because we're gonna win the league now!

I got a huge bottle of curry ketchup from the German market. £4 a bottle...bit steep and cost more than Nelsen and Friedel put together but what's £4 when we're gonna rake in millions for finishing 1st.

[Fife Rover]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but there's no way in the world Hughes could reasonably have anticipated Zurab would put in quite such a dire performance after looking so sharp on Sunday. He ought to be able to put in a passable performance at right back.

The main reason why Zurab was shown the door at Rangers was because he could not play RB and Big Eck wanted him in that role or not at all. I have seen Zurab play for Dundee, Rangers, and now Rovers, and he is far better as a CB or even at Defensive MF, but he is not and never will be a good RB.

[cn174]

http://www.theoffside.com/photo-of-the-day...-in-a-tree.html

[JAL]

Last nights game was a weird one, we didnt deserve to be on the end of a beating but then infuriating play meant we didnt create a host of chances that should have blown City away.

Whilst City played around Zurab as pointed out neither the midfield players close to him nor more importantly Samba failed miserably to cover him thus giving City two easy goals that should have resulted in three but just like the Arsenal game it wasnt till the second half that Rovers got going, why Mr.Hughes. Hughes style seems to be let it be until halftime comes and then corrective action is taken.

Santa Cruz for me, seems to have changed the dynamics of the team with his strong running, far too often he seems isolated from the rest of the team and this for me is what Hughes needs to address with one quick forward to play alongside him and two stronger central midfielders than what we currentl have.

As poor as MGP has been hes still the best option Rovers currently have.

As for the Derby and Sunderland games Macarthy has got to start and Hughes has to pick his strongest attacking team possible to see if the goals flow in for Rovers if not then it will become a major concern.

Its a simple game defend then attack ,attack breaks down back to defending again as a team, at the moment its attack then let somebody else do the defending.

[thenodrog]

Santa Cruz for me, seems to have changed the dynamics of the team with his strong running, far too often he seems isolated from the rest of the team and this for me is what Hughes needs to address with one quick forward to play alongside him...............

.............. As for the Derby and Sunderland games Macarthy has got to start

I'd wager McCarthy is our slowest option to partner RSC.

[JAL]

I'd wager McCarthy is our slowest option to partner RSC.

Yes your right, but i'd wager Derby and Sunderland posses the slowest players in the prem for me this one its horses for courses.Pick the right horses if they fail this test then let the condemnation begin.

[John]

Interesting as always reading some opinions on here. Some folk seem to think we should be playing more like Brazil.

Think we need to keep things in perspective if possible. Hughes has made some mistakes recently (as all managers do), but he is working well with the squad he has got. Our passing could be better and we could play well for the whole 90 minutes, but it is unrealistic to think that (due to the quality of the players we have).

You are living in a dream world if you think Hughes can just keep dipping into the transfer market with limited resources and find new players of the required quality (or should I say better players than what we have got).

[FourLaneBlue]

I thought we were better than many on here have suggested...and that includes the first half too.

True enough we were ripped apart on our right hand side and gave the ball away too much but after recent displays this was an encouraging, battling performance. Santa Cruz is obviously in goalscoring form but also after a worrying start to the game the likes of Samba, Nelsen Dunn, Emerton and Reid improved as the game wore on. It is obvious to all and sundry that our biggest problem was Hughes getting the tactics wrong. However...unlike occasions in the past...he noticed this and rectified it in time.

A good performance against a team that previously had a 100% home record but now do not...thanks to us.

Watching the game in the second half had me thinking we had turned the corner after our recent poor form.

We will find out whether this is so very soon.

[Ninjathunder]

Possibly the media didn't see it either? The only sensible explanation I could give, and it's not convincing, is we had a poor view of the game from behind the goal, while the press will have had a side-on, more elevated view? I thought the view from our seats was rotten for a new stadium - row Z, lower tier.

It convinces me. The worst view I've had a game for years. Watched the game with a line of sight around the players' knees.

[thenodrog]

It convinces me. The worst view I've had a game for years. Watched the game with a line of sight around the players' knees.

Wasn't the pitch level raised after the Commonwealth games?

[roversmum]

The Disabled Supporters and helpers had to put up with a constant stream of (big) policeman and stewards backwards and forwards in front of the helpers throughout the match, disrupting everyone. Saw very little of the match as a result . Am writing to City.

[Plastic Head]

I thought we were better than many on here have suggested...and that includes the first half too.

True enough we were ripped apart on our right hand side and gave the ball away too much but after recent displays this was an encouraging, battling performance. Santa Cruz is obviously in goalscoring form but also after a worrying start to the game the likes of Samba, Nelsen Dunn, Emerton and Reid improved as the game wore on. It is obvious to all and sundry that our biggest problem was Hughes getting the tactics wrong. However...unlike occasions in the past...he noticed this and rectified it in time.

A good performance against a team that previously had a 100% home record but now do not...thanks to us.

Watching the game in the second half had me thinking we had turned the corner after our recent poor form.

We will find out whether this is so very soon.

Watched the game carefully on Sky+ this morning.

It took us 17:09 to complete a 2 pass move.

We only completed 6 or 7 deliberate passes in the first 25 mins.

It was awful.

It's no wonder Benni doesn't look good this season he never gets a decent ball, lucky RSC can chase and make something out of nothing.

Having said all that if we can get the ball forward we do look like getting a goal.

[FourLaneBlue]

It wasn't a great performance by any means but it was encouraging to see them battling and I did think that as the game wore on some players markedly improved.

It should be a big boost to the confidence to be the first team to take a point away from Eastlands this season and hopefully a little bit of confidence will go a long way in the next few games.