Sunday links: Bolton, transfers and defensive football
by Danny Pugsley on Aug 21, 2011 8:49 AM BST
in Manchester City: Daily Links
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- Despite playing for Arsenal in their defeat to Liverpool, Samir Nasri's move to City is very much still on, writes Phil McNulty: [BBC Sport]
- Or is it? Glenn Moore suggests Nasri is set to stay and fight for Arsenal: [Independent]
- City are set to allow Emmanuel Adebayor join Tottenham on a free in order to shed his £170,000 a week salary: [Sunday Mirror]
- Meanwhile, City's 'outcasts' will not form part of the 25-man Premier League squad: [MEN]
- Pablo Zabaleta reveals he is helping Sergio Aguero settle in at the club: [telegraph.co.uk]
- Paul Hayward writes that Aguero will allow City to release the handbrake: [Observer]
- But Paul Merson still feels City are too defensive, particularly away from home: [mcfc.co.uk]
- Owen Coyle says he is ready for big-spending City: [BBC Sport]
- My look at the respective wide men over at EPL Index: [EPL Index]
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Defense lacked some stability without de Jong, but the attack was far more free flowing. Not sure if that is up to de Jong being out, or Mancini allowing more freedom in general. Milner had his best game in recent memory for City. Dzeko was a beast. Aguero was unlucky a few times. Yaya wasn’t as involved, but Milner and Barry really stepped up. And Silva was just god-like out there… absolutely world class performance today, deserved all the praise and especially when Ray Wilkins gave him MOTM with still 15 mins to go. City could have won by 3 or 4 if a few balls bounced one way or another
Big players make big plays
Best I’ve seen the attack look for 90 minutes (against a solid club) since Mancini’s arrival. It really looks like all of last years transfers finally feel comfortable.
I thought Kolo was the best defender early on last season. I think getting him back in a couple of weeks will solidify the backline.
7 goals in 2 games. Not too shabby. Silva keeps his amazing play going and City are going to be scoring in bunches all season long.
The Artist Formerly Known as CP2Devil.
Associate Editor at Five For Howling.
by Carl Putnam on Aug 22, 2011 12:32 AM BST up reply actions
Anyone able to explain the call on the Richards-to-Aguero non-goal? Seemed Richards had the inside track to the ball so I’m not sure how the Bolton fellow tripping on his foot is a foul.
Glad it didn’t matter. Ave Silva.
Thanks, had to watch the game en espanol, so my own biased opinion was the only one I could understand.
Dzeko all up in beast mode! Very impressed. Kun and Micah did get the shaft on that call, Micah getting penalized for being such a great athlete.
I actually thought Bolton deserves a god amount of credit for their goals.
Great strike from Barry, David Silva for Presidente, on to Spurs!
by peppersquad on Aug 21, 2011 7:06 PM BST via mobile reply actions
Newbie comments
Observations from a new man to the game and to City:
1. Are our boys pen pals with Bolton or something? Good lord but the two teams were friendly today, the polar opposite of the Barca/Real Madrid game the other day.
2. After the 2-0 lead, I thought it was going to be an easy win. Unfortunately, so did the back line. I thought the team relaxed after the second goal and they paid for it minutes later.
3. Unless the team wanted to show off Tevez to possible suitors, I did not get the substitution for Aguero at all.
4. We’ve got a killer attack and the players are very unselfish with the notable exception of Tevez.
5. That Barca/Real game I mentioned? Barcelona can really pass the ball; the Barca players seem to instinctively know where their teammates are on the attack. I bring this up because I noticed the same thing with Man City today. Love the attack.
6. I thought the game was very well officiated; the early foul calls sent a message and it opened the game up.
7. Coin flip for man of the match between Silva and Dzeko. I loved how poised YaYa was at the end; every pass on target, not a step wasted… he’s fast becoming my favorite player.
8. First time I’ve seen a coach in full uni—cleats, shin guards, shorts and jersey. Do other coaches do this? Again, I’m new at this.
9. If MLS soccer was played at this pace, I’d never miss a game.
10. My favorite thing about soccer (and I should probably start calling it football): two hours and I’m out. My attention span for a sporting event goes about 2.5 hours which currently rules out baseball, the NFL and in recent seasons, the NBA. Give me soccer any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
by SufferingBruin on Aug 21, 2011 11:22 PM BST reply actions
I don’t think Aguero is all the way match fit yet – he played a lot of minutes at Copa. In that context, the Tevez substitution makes sense. 32 hasn’t seen a pitch since Argentina bowed out in that same Copa, so the objective was probably two-fold; get him back into something resembling match-fitness and to spell Aguero. Striker is a position where work-rate has a strong impact on results as well, so a player off the bench makes plenty of sense, especially with the outcome still in doubt.
As far as officiating goes, I thought the officials screwed up on Aguero’s non-goal from Micah. It looked shoulder-to-shoulder to me (maybe he got a hand on the back and I missed it), which makes it legal. It’s the Shaq problem in miniature; Micah is so much bigger and stronger than the fullback he was up against that his legal action had consequences that usually result from illegal actions. Any time a ref misses a call that can swing a game (a goal or not is certainly in that realm), I find it hard to give them a solid grade for the rest of the match.
If you like pace, you oughta check out some hockey. If you’re a suffering bruin from UCLA, allow me to recommend the Kings this year. Murray plays a defensive system, but Doughty is a special talent and one of Richards or Kopitar is going to get easier competition than they’re used to – whichever it is is primed for a huge season.
"Essentially, all models are wrong, but some are useful" George E.P. Box
by Knee high to a duck on Aug 22, 2011 2:10 AM BST up reply actions
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