Manchester City 0:1 Everton. Pride in battle?

A dreadful display of lacklustre football. City failed to keep out a side that in fact had no strikers on the pitch. The prevailing message from yesterday game was the evident lack of desire from the city player compared to Everton squad who simply looked better, tackled better, passed better and deserved the result despite what Mark Hughes might think. That's made the result even more disappointing, at home we performed like we usually do away.

Moyes has spent less than Hughes even without Robinho and Jo added to the list. Everton have more injuries than city. Yet we are 7 points a drift at Christmas. How do we account for this. Our tactic of playing one upfront simply isn't working! Yes we have scored allot of goals at home this season, but our strikers have hardly made an impact. Benjani isn't good enough, his 1st touch is woeful and lets him down.

Jo looks disheartened and simply not up for it. I find it all too easy to criticise Jo, he came with a expensive price tag, he's played for his country. Yet he has only had small chance to impress in our side, ched Evans has featured in more games. I believe the manner and time given to Jo by hughes is inappropriate and harsh, I'm not saying the lad is the answer, but we saw yesterday he actually won a fair amount of ball, but there is know one to feed of it. He isn't good enough to play alone and probably hasn't done it before. This is my view of Jo and i know many will disagree, but he hasn't had a great deal of opportunity, and should be played up front with another striker.

The continued decision to play a side in this formation is simply reinforcing failure. It would be interesting to see how many points dunne has actually cost this season rather than saving. I sit to left side of the goal in the north stand and watched dunne all of the second half, he's clumsy, i don't even trust his defensive skills anymore he couldn't handle a couple of midfielders playing up front.

Another question to ask is whether the team is on Hughes side, i perceived our squad yesterday to be one of our strongest, especially without vassell. Yet we were pretty bad. a half promising start slowly ebbed away has Benjai fell over the ball for the third time. Some have been harsh on Elano, but his effort in the 1st half was good, even when losing the ball, he endeavoured to re-claim it. He may have drifted in the second half but who didn't. Ireland simple looked lightweight, he could hack the combative nature of pienaar who ran the midfield yesterday. Swp gave a gallant effort, some good skill to beat defenders but often met with very little options in the box. I'm concerned because we simply looked like a losing side. Everton were certainly more up-for it and performed well. Considering these players are fighting to keep their place for when January comes, such a gutless performance makes you wonder what is happening behind the scenes.

Player ratings:

Hart: a good game generally, one bad punch, but some good saves. 7

Zabaleta: Reckless, possibly should of been yellow carded, but again a good performance and by far the best defender we have at the moment. 7

Dunne: i don't share Chris bailey view, I'm not sure what agenda he has, but he's wrong. a poor performance, struggled against a team without strikers, poor clearance, gave away three corners, one led to the goal. 5

Richards: not at this best, missed the header for the goal, but tackled fairly well. 6

Ball: Decent defensive showing, not a great crosser, but a decent effort. 6

Kompany: He is our most consistent performer. Over-worked, but a good effort. 7

Ireland: should of scored in the 1st half, light weight, not at his best. 6

Elano: very good 1st half, indifferent 2ND half, not combative enough, but should be played behind the strikers anyway. 6

SWP: Always endeavoured to push forward, good to see some one effective on the right again, had a good shot hit the cross bar. 7

Robinho: i forgot about him, not his best showing, only trained the day before, looked unfit, his ankle was strapped up before the game. wasn't effective, still had a decent shot saved by timmy.6

Benjani: couple of good passes, poor 1st touch, poor second touch. 5

Subs:

Jo: Didn't make an impact, nor did i expect him to, won a fair amount of balls, but know one around him, drifted out wide to receive the ball. 5

Vassell: Well he came on and ran at the keeper, that was about it, that's what he's good at, pointless endeavours. Cheered the fans up. 6

WBA is a must win, will Hughes still be incharge come January?

disagree with anything, feel free to comment!