Perhaps there is nothing like home comforts to snap yourself out of a sticky spell of form.

There have been plenty of column inches devoted to City's struggles of late and whilst their form since their Christmas period has been sketchy, one consistent factor has been their home form: eleven wins from eleven heading into yesterday, averaging three goals per game and conceding around one every three games.

Yesterday's game - bar the weather - followed the script of the season at The Etihad Stadium; City get a lead against a side that have been unable (whether by design or circumstance) to create much. With their noses in front City then rarely look as though they will relinquish the lead and, as the numbers show, have a tendency to make the victory look very comfortable indeed.

Continue reading this post »

Having got used to the feel of Wembley in recent times City missed their opportunity to make a return there for what would have been a fourth visit in just nine months. Instead it is Liverpool who will make there visit to the stadium in its new guise (and first in total since back in 1996) as City found the one goal deficit from the first leg a step too far to overcome.

Over the course of the two legs it is difficult to argue a case against saying Liverpool deserved the victory, in truth shading both games and looking the more threatening side at Anfield - despite lacking at times the clinical touch or finish that has plauged their Premier League campaign.

Roberto Mancini sprang somewhat of a surprise with his starting line-up, opting for three central defenders (used to good effect during part of the game at The Etihad Stadium) which saw Sergio Aguero drop to the bench. At times against Liverpool this season City have struggled in the central midfield areas and rather than a move simply to bolster numbers in this area the design may have been more around utilising the full-backs (in a higher position) to create more width and stretch the play.

Continue reading this post »

The Bolton Wanderers hosted City today at Reebok stadium to what was a very exciting game. 

Bolton came out with a 4-4-2 consisting of Jaaskelainen, Steinsson, Cahill, Knight, Robinson, Eagles, Muamba, Reo-Coker, Petrov, Davies, Klasnic.

Mancini opted for the 4-2-3-1 of Hart, Kolarov, Kompany, Lescott, Richards, Milner, Barry, Silva, Yaya Toure, Aguero, Dzeko.

Continue reading this post »

City kicked off the season with a bang at Eastlands, demolishing Swansea 4-0. There was definitely a buzz around the season as the fans were very eager to watch the Blues. In last season's home opener, City dispatched Liverpool 3-0, and a repeat performance seemed to be on the books with newcomers Swansea.

City came out with Hart, Clichy, Lescott, Kompany, Richards, Barry, de Jong, Yaya, Silva, Johnson, and Dzeko, in the usual 4-5-1. City started possessive but a bit sloppy. A few first touches were bad, some passes here and there missed their targets. It wasn't that Swansea was pressuring City well into making mistakes, it was City doing it to themselves. Slowly but surely, the play improved and City were threatening for many goals by the end of the first half. David Silva hit the bar after a nice run and pass from AJ, and both Toure and Dzeko had some decent efforts, one of which Dzeko should have buried but the Swansea keeper was in top form all night long and prevented Dzeko from a cracking opener. With seconds before the half Barry also hit the bar on a shot from the top of the 18, with groans heard all around Eastlands as the ball just somehow would not go in. 0-0 at halftime.

Continue reading this post »

Call it a glorified friendly or pre-season match, but the loss to bitter rivals United doesn't hurt any less. City lost the game on an extra time defensive Vincent Kompany blunder, of all people, in a stagnant second half performance.   

Continue reading this post »

Hello, hope everyone has had a good weekend. After today's win over Inter Milan, Manchester City have come out on top on the Dublin Super Cup.

If you have not heard the news, City won today 3-0 over Inter Milan who finished an exact result last year against City in the same event. 

I somehow woke up early enough to catch the game however I did miss the first 5 minutes and hence have no notes before the 6:30 mark. 

I am going to put up a transcript like recording of the game in which I was taking notes and watching the game at the same time. 

You will notice a heavy focus on the offense and I will explain everything afterwards. 

Continue reading this post »

Manchester City won on penalties 7-6 with the last shot going to Joe Hart.

A nice note on an otherwise heavily frustrating game.

Continue reading this post »

City defeated MLS side Vancouver Whitecaps 2-1 tonight at a very soggy and messy Empire Field. The pitch had experienced some heavy rain in the past few days and it had even forced a regular MLS match to be postponed this past Saturday, making the pitch difficult to navigate, but it was nothing that City hasn't experienced back in England. 

It was City's second match in the past 3 days and with the EPL-style atmosphere in Vancouver, it always had the chance to be a tricky affair, even with the Whitecaps winning just 2 of 20 matches so far in their first year in the MLS.

Continue reading this post »