Sunday 24 October 2010

MCFC v Arsenal (1600 GMT)

25/10/2010 City of Manchester Stadium Att: 47393

Man City: Hart, Richards, Boyata, Kompany, Boateng, Silva, Toure Yaya, De Jong, Barry, Milner, Tevez.
Subs: Given, Bridge, Adebayor, Adam Johnson, Lescott, Vieira, Balotelli.
Arsenal: Fabianski, Sagna, Djourou, Squillaci, Clichy, Nasri, Fabregas, Song, Denilson, Arshavin, Chamakh.
Subs: Szczesny, Koscielny, Rosicky, Walcott, Eboue, Gibbs, Bendtner.
Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear)

I will be away for 8 weeks, doing some military stuffs (it's compulsory) and this will be last match post for me before I join Air Force.

City's ceremony prior to this match was wonderful thing to do for our legend Malcolm Allison, who past away last week. He was one of most successful manager for Manchester City and he won League Cup, FA Cup, Division One title and European Winners Cup. We will all miss him.

City started with Boyata due to Kolo's lengthy injury continues. Otherwise, it was full-strength squad for the Blues. After much needed rest, Carlito replaces hat-trick hero Adebayor and Yaya Toure came back with full fitness.

For Arsenal, Djourou kept his place in front of Koscielny. Otherwise, it was full-strength Arsenal team.

City could've scored in the first minute, when Tevez out-muscles Djourou to win the ball and cross it to Silva. Silva's clever flick, however, was well held by Fabianski.

Then the disaster struck. Boyata was sent off, as he tripped Chamakh just outside of the City penalty box and because he was the last man, Mark Clattenberg had no choice but send him off.

However, his sent off did not turn off City's attacking mentality. In 17th minute, City almost benefited from Arsenal defense's indecisiveness as Silva and Tevez wrestled with them. Tevez's eventual shot was too weak to challenge Fabianski but City looked more likely to score then the opponent.

Samir Nasri scores Arsenal's opening goal against Manchester City

Minutes later though, Arsenal found their way to score as Nasri and Arshavin pulled a beautiful 1-2 passes to break City's barrier. Barry's pace let him down, as he failed to track back Nasri. 0-1 Arsenal

It could've been 2-0 before the break, when Kompany unnecessarily fouled Fabregas in City's penalty box. Luckily, Hart was on form today and he was able to save Fabregas' penalty for City to stay alive.
0-1 HT

Bad news came during the second half. Yaya looked to have a knock and was forced to replace with Wayne Bridge during the interval. Ten minutes after the start of second half, Tevez looked to have a injury as well and this diminished City's overall quality on the field.

In the 66th minute, it was substitute Bridge made fatal error inside penalty box, which led to Arsenal's 2nd goal of the match. Excellent strike by Alex Song but it could've been dealt better by former England fullback.

City seemed ragged after the second goal and after series of goal scoring opportunity by Arsenal, they finally scored and it was Bendtner who finished off City's worst defeat of the season so far.

Overall, City looked okay even without Boyata but there were too much talents in the Arsenal squad to miss out the chance to win this game. Certainly 48 hours did not look enough for City players to prepare for this game, as they seemed very tired time to time. I just wish Tevez and Yaya's injury aren't too serious.