MCFC v Sunderland (1245 GMT)

Line-up

Man City: Hart, Zabaleta, Kolarov, Richards, Lescott, Milner, Barry, Silva, Y Toure, Balotelli, Tevez. Subs: Clichy, K Toure, Rodwell, Nasri, Aguero, Dzeko, Pantilimon.

Sunderland: Mignolet, Gardner, Rose, Cuellar, O'Shea, Colback, Larsson, Johnson, McClean, Sessegnon, Fletcher. Subs: Campbell, Kilgallon, Vaughan, Meyler, Bramble, Saha, Westwood.

Referee: Lee Probert

Match Report

1st half

Clear autumn sky seemed perfect day for football. Unfortunately the match itself didn't level the weather itself. though City cruised the 1st half with ease, due to lack of threat from Sunderland made it even easier.

It was City started with goal, when Tevez was poorly challenged by cuellar just outside of the penalty box. Mario Balotelli and Alexandr Kolarov once again stood and discussed who should take it. It was Kolarov who took it and found left top corner of goal. He now scored 3 times from free-kick spot

Courtesy of MCFC Official Facebook

Then Sunderland had one of few meaningful attack of 1st half, when they got deflected free-kick from outside the box, which then volleyed by Stephan Sessegnon. Although it did not threat Joe Hart at any level, it was not a bad attempt for Beninese international.

There were few occasions where Mario Balotelli and Craig Gardner collided against each other. Most of them were unintentional foul from Gardner's half and Balotelli didn't react that badly as last season.

1st half itself was dull and boring as both sides cancelled each others out. Numerous criticisms were made after Dortmund match but nothing changed in performance wise. Lacking passing accuracy was usual repertoire, positioning looked poor throughout the 1st half. Let's hope for improvement in the 2nd half.

2nd Half 

The team turned inside out in team-talk at the break. Scoring 2 goals were ordinary thing for City, but in the manner of doing so was exquisite 

Second half did not start well for City though, as Barry lost the ball in the middle of the park which allowed Sebastian Larsson to find Steven Fletcher in the box. Luckily Hart saved it but the mood could have swung towards Sunderland if that would have got in.

From that point onward, it was City all the way. Chance after chance, only if they executed them precisely, the score margin could have been larger. 

Courtesy of MCFC Official Facebook

The turning point was substitution ironically. Although Mario Balotelli was trying best to score, his style seemed against City's run of play. Then Sergio Aguero came in and whole thing changed around. City's attacking department suddenly clicked and eventually at 58th minute, Sergio Aguero scored from Alexandr Kolarov's well-timed cross. 

The domination continued until the end of the match and Sunderland seemed powerless to neutralize City's fire power. At 89th minute, Milner's ferocious free kick goal rounded up City's great 2nd half performance and Mignolet seemed relieved to hear the final whistle of the match. 

First cleansheet for City and Joe Hart and unbeaten record continues. Hopefully the season gets better from this match. 

Final Score: Manchester City 3 Sunderland 0

Man of the match: Alexandr Kolarov for being consistent threat throughout the match.

Weekend Preview Match Day No. 7

Courtesy of MCFC Official Facebook

The Borussian Problem

Watching Dortmund match was the most excruciating experience since I started to watch city match in 2007. Especially in the second half, City seemed very lazy at a time and if it wasn't Hart's brilliance in front of countless Dortmund attack, Gotze & Reus in particular, City could have conceded double digit. Frustrating performance all around the squad and I really do sympathize with Hart's anger against the rest of the squad. 

His anger reminds of Iker Casillas in 2006 when he had to make string of brilliant saves to guide them to the La Liga title. But then Real lacked in defenders at that time. Likes of Pavon and aging Helguera & Cannavaro, the team were deemed to concede numerous chances against their opponents. With Kompany struggling and Mancini indecisive on 3 or 4 backs, I could see Hart mourning in every post match interview.

v Sunderland

Remember what happened last time? Well surely not this time right? Especially City are chasing Chelsea with 4 points behind and midweek Champions League misery, this is kind of match that City must win to change the mood in the dressing room.

The away record of Sunderland is particularly encouraging. Since 25th of February, away match against WBA, their record is 7Ds 4Ls. Also, since the investment was made in 2008, City looked pretty dominant against Sunderland at home.

But those facts are meaningless when the squad is beaten up like this. Apart from Joe Hart, none of the core member of title winning squad are firing all cylinders. Kompany looks shaky from the start of season and Silva looked knackered from summer international duty, especially he exhausted prior to the Euro already and rest of the squad haven't been as consistent as last year.

Courtesy of MCFC Official Facebook

Having said that City did get the result out of the current circumstance and they always had someone to deliver something special to win the match and City showed their resilience against their shortcomings during this season.

For Sunderland their talismen are Adam Johnson and Steven Fletcher. Fletcher in particular is one to look at, as he is now scoring 7 out of 7 league matches. Hope City's defense are up to the task in early morning kick off.


http://tiny.cc/wiwqlw - Guardian Squad Sheet
http://tiny.cc/dkwqlw - Telegraph on City's plan on new training ground
http://tiny.cc/ymwqlw - Telegraph Match Preview
http://tiny.cc/xpwqlw - ESPN Match Preview
http://tiny.cc/grwqlw - BBC Match Preview
http://tiny.cc/2wwqlw - Independent Match Preview
http://tiny.cc/tn2qlw - Independent's article on Adam Johnson Comment

Changing Scene: Revival

Coming back from exile...

Well... It has been a while. Since our defeat against Arsenal in 2010 at home, which was my last post before joining the Korean Air Force, so many thing changed in the past 2 years. We won the Premiere league at last, which was a lot faster than I expected and unsurprisingly we got knocked out of Champions League at the group stage. We were in the tough group (incomparable to this season's group though) but I thought we could have done better by beating Napoli at home, which was difference in the end.


 

During my military service, I was quite busy doing work and according to Korean military rule, all privates are not allowed to express their own opinion, as it can be shown as representation of entire force. This prevented me running my blog for 2 years and stuck as an ordinary spectator, which does not feel good at all.



I will restart my blog as soon as I recuperate from minor injury. See you soon!

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.

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.

City v Liverpool (2000 GMT)

24/08/2010 Venue: City of Manchester Stadium Att: 47,087

Starting Line up

Man City: Hart, Richards, Toure, Kompany, Lescott, De Jong, Toure Yaya, Barry, Milner, Adam Johnson, Tevez. Subs: Given, Zabaleta, Wright-Phillips, Adebayor, Silva, Vieira, Jo.

Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Skrtel, Carragher, Agger, Jovanovic, Gerrard, Lucas, Kuyt, Torres, Ngog. Subs: Jones, Aurelio, Pacheco, Kyrgiakos, Maxi, Babel, Poulsen.

Referee: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire)

It was many worries that City play against Liverpool, as they drew 5 times against them in 7 encounters. Especially after a poor performance against Spurs last weekend, I really did not expect today's comprehensive performance.

City, as starting line above shows, were without Balotelli, due to his foot injury and Kolarov and Boateng, who still to make his debut, missing due to ankle and foot injuries. Liverpool were unchanged, apart from Mascherano, who is speculated to move away from the Kops.

Match

It was the performance I never expected. Throughout the game, City were more creative and willing to get the ball. Right from the start, City dominated and, on 13th minutes, Gareth Barry scored after clever works from Adam Johnson and James Milner in the right wing, which made the goal possible.

Despite some efforts from Liverpool, they continued to struggle to dominate. After some tremendous midfield display from our 3 "defensive midfielders" Liverpool weren't able to challenge Joe Hart during the 1st half. Complete turnaround from Spurs match.

City continued to break in the second half and after absorbing Liverpool's possession, it was Tevez, who scored from the corner, which was initially headed towards the net by Micah Richards. 2-0 and it seemed Liverpool were done at City of Manchester Stadium.

Not quite though. After 2nd goal, Liverpool moved with more urgency and they almost found back of the net via their talisman Steven Gerrard, David N'gog and Fernando Torres but their shot put away by either the post or Hart's brilliance. City's defense held Liverpool at bay, whereas our attack came up once against through tip-toeing feet of Johnson, who earned the penalty via Skrtel's clumsiness. Tevez converted it and it was game over from that point. Sheikh Mansour. Did you enjoy that?

3-0
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Spurs v MCFC (1245 GMT)

14/08/2010 Venue: White Hart Lane Att: 35928

Starting Line up

Tottenham: Gomes, Corluka, Dawson, King, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon, Modric, Huddlestone, Bale, Crouch, Defoe. Subs: Cudicini, Kaboul, Pavlyuchenko, Keane, Palacios, Giovani, Bassong.
Man City: Hart, Richards, Toure, Kompany, Kolarov, Wright-Phillips, Toure Yaya, De Jong, Barry, Silva, Tevez. Subs: Given, Zabaleta, Adebayor, Adam Johnson, Lescott, Vieira, Jo.
Referee: Andre Marriner (W Midlands)

Quite a crucial match for Manchester City at the start of season. It was just a few months ago that they were lost out in Champions League qualifying spots by Tottenham Hotspur. In the past seasons, City looked vulnerable against Spurs side in general and especially at away match, City were unable to beat Spurs since 2003.

As expected, there were three débutantes from City (Silva, Kolarov and Y. Toure) and it was only Jerome Boateng who missed the match due to injury. The most surprising inclusion in the starting line-up was Joe Hart, who had an excellent loan spell with Birmingham City. As poor form of Shay Given continued from January onwards, I guess Roberto Mancini had to give Hart a try. Two other things that which came a shock to me was three defensive midfielders and playing SWP instead of Adam Johnson.

Match

First half was completely dominated by Spurs and City was lucky to finish the half without conceding a single goal. After possessing the ball from the start of the match, Jermaine Defoe came close to score after receiving pass from Aaron Lennon but it was turned away by Hart and it was only the start of Hart's brilliance. Between 11th minute and 32th minute, Hart had to make six excellent saves to keep City in the game.

So what was wrong with City? Personally, Micah Richards was the villain, as he showed too much space to flying Gareth Bale. Also, squad as a whole did not do any pressing when Spurs were in possession throughout the first half.

Second half was slightly better and City should've scored in the opening minute when SWP had clear chance in front of keeper but he squandered it badly. After that, there were some glimpse of hopes on goals from either side (Roman Pavlyuchenko in particular) but none of them overcome Hart.

Arabian Job: Season 3

So here it is people. Just a few hours away from the kick off and I am sitting in my room, enjoying the sound of rainfall.

1245 kick off was never my favourite when I was in England because it meant I had to wake up 9 o'clock in the weekend to prepare myself for the match. But this does not bother me anymore, as I am in 8 hours ahead from England.

City finally got who they want and I am not sure what Mario will bring into the squad that is struggling to blend at the moment. Never doubt his ability though. Once everything settles, i.e. after transfer deadline and submitting 25 men squad list, I am sure he will show what he got.

Four players set to make a debut today (Kolarov, Silva, Boateng and Y.Toure) and they all expect to play pivotal role for the team. Especially, Kolarov and Boateng will strengthen City's poor full back position.

Expected line-up: Given, Boateng, K.Toure, Kompany, Kolarov, Y.Toure, Barry, Silva, Johnson, Tevez and Adebayor

P.S. It will be 400th appearances for Gareth Barry, if he makes appearance today. Many congratulation on his achievement.