Everton away review, a battering.

Well played Everton. Nothing much more to add on Everton, I thought they played perfectly and did so well and deserved their 4-0 win and 3 points. Lukaku was fantastic up top and their play was superb. Everton knew how to win this match, City did not. Stark contrast to last week aye. 

City's defence is bad, the keeper is bad and the build up is slow. They were quick at the beginning of the season, direct and quick and it worked. They need to get back to an attacking midfield because City really went for games early on and scored twice before half time a lot of times and that kind of kills the opponent. So KDB and Silva need to make up a two man midfield and have Sterling and Sane play when teams are attacking (Arsenal, Bournemouth, Man Utd, Liverpool, Spurs etc) and Nolito and GJ should play when teams sit back and can soak up play (Everton, WHU, Southampton, Leicester, Chelsea etc). Rather simple. We are not going to sign anyone this window so the defence needs to go back to basics. When Kompany is back, he plays. When Fernandinho is back, he plays. Until then, we need left footed defenders on the left and right on the right. Stones should rotate the defence with Otamendi, I don't think they work too well together when teams know how to attack. Kolarov and Otamendi can build and should have played yesterday (I did suggest this in my previous blog) and have Sagna and Clichy (even consider Zaba at LB as Clichy looks really bad at times) on the wings. We need a new LB and I surprised Guardiola hasn't prioritised this. CB's are expensive but a younger wing back can be purchased this window, no problem. The young Barcelona lad at Benfica? Grimaldo? What about Kolasanic? Lots of players available that doesn't need to break the bank that much. LB does need addressing. With the keeper, I do think Bravo is a good goalkeeper but he is good when attacks don't happen. For Barcelona, he is perfect. Teams in Spain are not direct. Caballero struggled at first but his confidence is at an all time high and he looks really comfortable. He makes mistakes but he tries his hardest. He tries to pass but is direct too (not a bad thing when under pressure) and has improved his catching and can save too. Always a bonus. Play him. He got a clean sheet at WHU in the cup, please play him. He has experience in big games too and has made himself a little bit of a hero over the last season since Wembley against Liverpool. Plus his penalty saving game is perfect. I believe in Willy, I'm not sure I believe in Bravo just yet. He needs time. I do think in the summer we need a new, solid, experienced keeper. Hart isn't the answer (he makes a lot of mistakes, look at last season). We missed a trick with Lloris and Cech and Ter Stegen won't leave Barcelona now. I've been impressed with Sommer though at Monchengladbach and we are also linked with Benfica's goalkeeper Ederson. I don't know a lot about him but he seems like a young Bravo, but can he save? If he can then great, if not then avoid. We need solid. What I would give to have Lloris and Spurs back 4 at City, imagine how good we would be? Not going to happen though.

Enough moaning for now. I'll be back on Friday for the build up for Spurs at home. I'll miss the match as I'll be at Villa away (I'll preview and review that) and I'll do a short review for Spurs. I haven't mentioned Everton's goals as it doesn't need mentioning. Stones and Clichy were bad, Bravo too and Yaya didn't have a good game. All goals came from the left or left sided part of City's defence and Bravo should have saved 2 or 3 of them. Disappointing but Everton were exceptional. Credit where credit is due. Ciao for now.