Chelsea review, City see red
Well played Chelsea, I expect them to go on and win the league. It's a good skill to have, beating teams around you in 6 point games. They didn't play well in defence and looked weak up front for the first hour. City dominated and really should have been out of sight. Chelsea had the first sights of goal though. Hazard fired just wide from just outside the box and also rounded Bravo but took a touch too many away from goal and squared it straight to a City player. City grew into the game, Aguero tested Courtois from outside the box and Fernandinho had a goal rightly ruled out for offside. The biggest talking point came when Aguero looked to have the better of Luiz, he is the last man and Aguero is kind of taken out. Would he have got to the ball? I'm not so sure and I thought Aguero going to ground was weak. The referee gave nothing so we move on. City took the lead right on half time. City pressed, Navas ran directly on the right wing and whipped the ball dangerously across and straight into Cahill who doesn't clear with his left foot and goes with his right and his shin skims the ball past Courtois. A deserved 1-0 lead in my opinion. City looked shaky but ok in the beginnings of the second half too. Costa looked dangerous. Hazard too. But it was City who had chance after chance. Sane made direct runs through the middle, Silva dominated holding the ball and De Bruyne looked hungry. Courtois saved well from KDB, Aguero missed when rounding Courtois who was caught in no mans land and Cahill blocked. Aguero also missed a square back with an excellent block. KDB missed a sitter for 2-0 too. Sane broke, the ball played to Navas, he squares to KDB 3 yards out and blazes the ball, sliding, onto the crossbar and out. The turning point of the game.
Chelsea went up the other end, Fabregas with a long ball to Costa's shoulder, he holds Otamendi off and fires low, under Bravo for 1-1. Disappointing. Then it was soon 2-1, Chelsea broke from Gundogan's run, Costa holds and plays Willian in. Stones matched the run earlier and showed Costa the width, something Kolarov couldn't do with Willian and Willian placed the ball in the left corner of the net. Predictable and I was disappointed that none of the defenders or keeper read what was going to happen. Then 3-1 in added time. Hazard breaks, takes two lovely touches, sells Otamendi and fires low past Bravo. Again, so disappointing. Then the red rage hit. Aguero made an ugly, high, dangerous tackle and sent off. Rightfully so, 4 match ban for him (violent conduct and his second red of the season). Then Chalobah comes flying in with raised hands and shoves Aguero, Fabregas raises his hands onto Fernandinho's head and Fernandinho pushes him twice, throttling too and shoves him over the advertisement boards. All rather pathetic and Fernandinho is sent off too. Rightfully so. What was annoying was the inconsistency of the referee. He had a good game with some of the decisions but he seemed so biased. Why was Chalobah and Fabregas not sent off too. Raised arms and physical contact is violent conduct and a red card. They were both booked. Really poor. I hope the referee is penalised for his performance and I hope Fabregas and Chalobah's incidents are reviewed too. It was violent. I hope Aguero and Fernandinho's incidents are reviewed too and everyone gets equal punishment. Frustration for you.
I think the title is out of reach now. I'll be happy to settle for top 4, top 3 would be progress and hopefully a cup run in the FA Cup and do something in the Champions League (I think the competition suits City if they can avoid the elite in the next round). I'm not hopeful for the league. I thought Chelsea were excellent today, they defended so well yet made stupid mistakes. City didn't defend properly and I thought the attackers should have finished the game. It's obvious City cannot defend so the attackers need to seal the game. Aguero needs to work on his awareness (he could have squared taps ins) and KDB, Silva, the wingers need to improve going forward too. Aguero is suspended until L'pool away on NYE, so that gives lots of opportunities over the next few weeks for Iheanacho, Sane, Navas, Nolito, Sterling, Yaya, KDB, Silva and others. Fernando, Delph and Yaya key to the midfield too with Fernandinho's suspension. I'm hopeful. I'd make a lot of changes against Celtic on Tuesday, rotate some players and not others. Caballero in net, try Sagna, Zaba or Clichy in a 3 man defence if we play that formation, or give some minutes to Maffeo and Angelino. The game on Tuesday means nothing, so why risk injuries when we have suspensions coming up? Fernandinho is suspended, Fernando can stretch his legs. Yaya cannot play, but Gundogan is fresh (not even 90 mins played in over a week) Delph is back, Garcia is an option. Play them. Try them out. See what happens. Iheanacho should lead the line, Aguero could play as he won't be playing for a few weeks now but why play him? I'd like a fresh, clinical Iheanacho. Play Sterling up field, Sane too. Rotate, try Sane or Sterling in the middle, give rest to Silva and KDB. I expect a response on Tuesday though. Celtic will want to win and I don't want City to lose. I want a good, confident performance. Something to build on going into the away match next Saturday evening against Leicester. Rotate again for that. We go on. I hope Pep works on formation, teamwork and communication this week and alertness and decision making in the coming weeks. We played so well for 60 minutes today. Chelsea defended well all game and were clinical. The difference. If we can play like we did for 60 minutes for 90 minutes and do that regularly, we'll be hard to contain. Make it happen Pep. In terms of defence, we need 3 new defenders in the coming months until after summer. A new LB, RB and CB. Kompany is too injury prone, we won't see much of Adarbioyo (why not loan him?) and I don't think I will ever see Denayer in a City shirt so we need a CB. We like 3 at the back, we need more cover in CB and DM. I'd focus on getting them in place in January. We need rid of a winger, Gabriel Jesus arrives (he could be loaned out in Europe somewhere) but I think he'll be rotating in the first team. So an attacking player needs to be sold. Navas is out of contract in the summer, Sane could be loaned, we could be rid of Yaya or Delph too. That would allow Silva and KDB to focus on the centre of the pitch and allow a position for a winger. I suspect City will go after two world class full backs next season. I think Zaba or Sagna will be offered a new deal (probably Sagna) and with Clichy out of contract too at the end of the season, A LB is needed too. There has been talk of Lichtsteiner, Alaba, Alba, Rodriguez but I would love to see City go for Walker or Rose, they're awesome for Spurs, full of pace, can pass, read the game but would cost a lot of money. I wouldn't be surprised to Sagna, Clichy, Zabaleta all go, promote Maffeo and Angelino and use Kolarov as a CB still but a LB too. Who knows. We need rid of 2, 3 or even 4 players this January and sign 2 or 3 too (Jesus is one, a CDM and CB wouldn't go a miss). I feel like we missed a trick in Wanyama. A little bite and cover. Fernandinho carries the team. Watch how City will struggle over the coming weeks without him. Everyone will focus on Aguero's absence but Fernandinho is the game breaker. Fernando can do his job but he isn't as good with the ball. We need to be more direct down the middle so we need to introduce some height, give Caballero a chance (his long balls are better than Bravo's) and look to change things up. We need to become fitter, stronger, quicker and introduce aggression and bite into winning the ball back and running with the ball. Walk the ball into the net, we did that at the start of the season, it worked. Go back to it.
