City defence

[Grinner]

is extremely shit considering the amount of money spent on it. How many free headers did Berbatov get today? Fletcher was unchallenged for his goals and I even noticed little Park winning headers in the box. Giggs cut through it at will, and only Given saved them from a thrashing.

So is it because they are still gelling or are they just rubbish?

 

[samabachan]

Richards got a schooling second half. He's not very good. But yeah Lescott and whoever the other one is were shit and Bridge had a shakey start.

 

[Canuckred64]

City look good going forward, but their defense today was horrid. Richards went to sleep and allowed the first United goal and even on the winner, Owen was left all alone on his side. Toure and Lescott showed again why I feel the money spent on them was wasted, Fletcher scores two goals on free headers and Berbatov if not for Given would have had a couple more. Where was the centre defenders on those crosses. Even Bridge didn't have the best of games.

 

[Alwyn]

Haha. A mastercard-esque gif is required.

 

[dev1l]

Lescott should return to Star Trek...

 

[amolbhatia50k]

is extremely shit considering the amount of money spent on it. How many free headers did Berbatov get today? Fletcher was unchallenged for his goals and I even noticed little Park winning headers in the box. Giggs cut through it at will, and only Given saved them from a thrashing.

So is it because they are still gelling or are they just rubbish?

Thing is, most of their team are either cast offs from teams from the big four or good players outside the top four. Apart from Robinho and Adebayor, the rest are mostly player who weren't good enough for the top teams.

Bridge wasn't good enough for Chelsea.

Lescott is very overrated and would never be first choice for any of the top four sides.

Bellamy wasn't good enough for Liverpool, but i do rate him, i just don't think he's consistent.

Toure was getting worse and worse for Arsenal and they're better off without him.

Richards is not a right back but is a poor defender right now.

Gareth Barry and Tevez are arguable cases. Tevez arguably wasn't good enough for us because we had two strikers who first choice and then him.

I'm not trying to say they're rubbish because obviously they're not. They scored two against us and four against Arsenal. They are good going forward but i'm just trying to put things into perspective. They had such few shots on goal all game, and scored from two gifted goals, we missed a bucket load of chances and on another day it could have been 5 or 6 nil to us. My point is that despite all these signings they still have a lot of players who were rejected by other top premiership sides so their defence for example is actually a bit average.

 

[AttackingFlair]

It's funny how you have one of the quickest and strongest defenders in the league in Richards who gets ripped apart by a 35 year old Giggs.

I fecking love Giggs.

 

[twitchchris]

I was really surprised to find out, after the match, that Lescott was on the field. I did not notice him at all, and only found out about his being there by reading this article on football365.

Totally anonymous today.

 

[Dumbstar]

Refereeing incident aside, Man City never looked like winning this game. Not because they couldn't score or take the lead but simply because you knew who was defending and how.

I know Liverpool have hardly set the world alight defensively but I still feel we're in first gear back there. Man City are playing as best as they can and will not finish top 5, let alone top 4. Everton to make a late surge for 5th.

 

[moses]

Defenders can take time to bed into an established defence , (Evra and others) so a whole defence will take even longer. Here's hoping they'll be shit even then.

 

[beergod]

is extremely shit considering the amount of money spent on it. How many free headers did Berbatov get today? Fletcher was unchallenged for his goals and I even noticed little Park winning headers in the box. Giggs cut through it at will, and only Given saved them from a thrashing.

So is it because they are still gelling or are they just rubbish?

I would say it is a little of both. None of the three English players good enough to challenge for starting positions with the national team. They clearly didn't have a good understanding of who was going to close players down outside of the 18, which I thought was a bit odd considering they were playing with Barry and De Jong in midfield.

 

[Christofaux]

Toure and lescott in we aren't tall enough/good enough in the air shocker.

 

[Tumbling-Dice]

They've just sold their best defender to Villa, what do you expect ?

I am convinced we wouldn't have scored 4 yesterday if Dunne had been in the back four.

 

[anything about now]

Exactly. We had all sorts of problems in the past few seasons against Dunne even when we had Ronaldo and Tevez.

 

[December_16]

I was surprised at how many crosses we pumped into their 18, and had a pretty strong feeling it was our game-plan today. Toure-Lescott in front of Given, that's why.

 

[kelvinhole]

I was surprised at how many crosses we pumped into their 18, and had a pretty strong feeling it was our game-plan today. Toure-Lescott in front of Given, that's why.

Is right.

 

[Spammy]

City will never win anything with Hughes in charge.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

City will never win anything with Hughes in charge.

You don't rate Hughes? He did a very good job with Blackburn and so far has bought very well with City in attack. He got the best players he could in an attacking sense.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

But i do think defensively he's done an average job in the transfer market. At their best Spurs have a much better defense than them. Richards, Toure and Lescott aren't great defenders. The best of that lot was very good at one point for Arsenal but over the last two seasons has forgotten how to defend. Richards is rubbish at defending. Lescott is so overrated it's ridiculous. It's different defending in an organized team like Everton which is workman like and where Jagielka wins everything in the air.

 

[CnutOfAllCnuts]

So is it because they are still gelling or are they just rubbish?

Because United were brilliant?

Not easy to defend against one of the best teams in the world.

 

[Striker10]

Their defence was great! I wish them all the best ..

 

[Spammy]

You don't rate Hughes? He did a very good job with Blackburn and so far has bought very well with City in attack. He got the best players he could in an attacking sense.

He may have done a decent job at Wales and at Blackburn. But having seen some of the choices he's made at City, I just don't think he has the brains for managing a top team. It's not hard to recognize players like Adebayor and Robinho are good players, it also shouldn't be hard to recognize that SWP isn't an attacking midfielder, Dunne was their best CB and that Elano was one of their cleverest attacking players. This season he's plumbed new depths by playing Robinho on the left of a flat midfield, Ireland with no attacking freedom (until yesterday), Richards as an awkward attacking fullback and I know he'll persist with Bellamy and SWP even when their form inevitably drops and he's got better players wasting on the bench.

 

[Vinay]

The only thing I can of it is that a defence doesn't click in immediately. There are a lot of little things to adjust in the coordination and communication, I presume. And the centre of the defence is completely new, which is not to help things in any fashion. Lescott and Toure have it in them to be a formidable pair, I am sure...

 

[GaryLifo]

Because United were brilliant?

Not easy to defend against one of the best teams in the world.

amazing isn't it mate?

Every time we put in a top performance and beat a decent side it's all about their deficiencies rather than that we have looked mustard in our last two prem games.

I guess all these cnuts supporting other sides honestly thought we were a one man team and once Ronaldo went we'd be fighting relegation.

Have some of that you shit cnuts! United are playing better now than we did last season

 

[Anderson Searl]

I just smile because this FINALLY proves Jagielka > Lescott

 

[jgraham]

Whilst not being a defender, one player who's job it was to help out the back 4 today impressed me. De Jong - his reading of the game and timely interventions were pretty good I thought. For me he was one of their better players until he was replaced for a more attack minded player.

 

[UBERScholes]

I just smile because this FINALLY proves Jagielka > Lescott

Have they fought to the death yet?

 

[surf]

Ferdinand, Vidic and Evra are miles ahead of anything that City have, and they've played together a lot, and it's United's biggest advantage over City. City's back 4 is OK-ish by prem standards but it's never going to be good enough to challenge for the title and will get ripped apart by an attacking side on song like yesterday.

 

[Ekeke]

Any side with Micah Richards and Joleon Lescott in defence is going to give up goals on a regular basis. Given must feel like he's playing behind Newcastle's defence again.

 

[Anderson Searl]

Have they fought to the death yet?

Clearly Jagielka isn't fit for a fight yet

 

[pillory]

The 4-3 goal is interesting. City were hoping for a counter attack when Rooney's freekick was cleared towards Tevez, which is fair enough, but they had four guys pushing forward even when Rooney was in possession again, and Ireland is in fact still running upfield in the still below, when Rooney's last hoof is on its way down. That leaves us 3 vs 3 on the edge of the box and 3 vs 0 in a vast area of the middle of their half, which is where the ball was always likely to end up. Though Ireland would have been able to get to Giggs in time if he was just a couple of yards closer. Twats.

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

Before you write them off as shit. How many games have they actually played together as a unit?

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

Because United were brilliant?

Not easy to defend against one of the best teams in the world.

This. Especially after having played so few game s together.

 

[Ramshock]

Lescott should return to Star Trek...

 

[Laphroaig]

The 4-3 goal is interesting. City were hoping for a counter attack when Rooney's freekick was cleared towards Tevez, which is fair enough, but they had four guys pushing forward even when Rooney was in possession again, and Ireland is in fact still running upfield in the still below, when Rooney's last hoof is on its way down. That leaves us 3 vs 3 on the edge of the box and 3 vs 0 in a vast area of the middle of their half, which is where the ball was always likely to end up. Though Ireland would have been able to get to Giggs in time if he was just a couple of yards closer. Twats.

Well worth pointing out that Tevez was very much at fault for that goal. He should've taken down a clearance and controlled possession, but decided to head it straight back to us instead.

 

[davisjw]

Thing is, most of their team are either cast offs from teams from the big four or good players outside the top four. Apart from Robinho and Adebayor, the rest are mostly player who weren't good enough for the top teams.

Bridge wasn't good enough for Chelsea.

Lescott is very overrated and would never be first choice for any of the top four sides.

Bellamy wasn't good enough for Liverpool, but i do rate him, i just don't think he's consistent.

Toure was getting worse and worse for Arsenal and they're better off without him.

Richards is not a right back but is a poor defender right now.

Gareth Barry and Tevez are arguable cases. Tevez arguably wasn't good enough for us because we had two strikers who first choice and then him.

I'm not trying to say they're rubbish because obviously they're not. They scored two against us and four against Arsenal. They are good going forward but i'm just trying to put things into perspective. They had such few shots on goal all game, and scored from two gifted goals, we missed a bucket load of chances and on another day it could have been 5 or 6 nil to us. My point is that despite all these signings they still have a lot of players who were rejected by other top premiership sides so their defence for example is actually a bit average.

Bridge wasn't better than A. Cole however he was very good for Chelsea before then.

We laugh at their defense when we had 3 put by us, one of which was completely our star defender's fault. They'll buy more in January but De Jong is very good for his age as is Kompany. When both are playing in the middle it's very tough for teams to sit on the ball like we did.

If they played defensively with:

------------Given------------
Richards-Toure-Lescott-Bridge
-----Kompany---De Jong-----
------------Barry------------

You'd have a tough time breaking that down. Plus if you look how they played against Arsenal, it was a completely different performance.

Not "defending" City but they aren't to be thrown out.

 

[Tevez's Mum]

They were shocking defensively and were saved on numerous occasions by excellent saves from Given.

Hard to tell whether they have properly gelled yet. But I think you would have to give them more time. Just look at Evra and Vidic, they both took a fair amount of time to properly gel with the rest of the squad. City have made some major changes, not just in defence but all over the park, so its abit soon to expect them to be at their best. They really did just fall to bits though against us. But I suppose they could say the same about our defence.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Bridge wasn't better than A. Cole however he was very good for Chelsea before then.

We laugh at their defense when we had 3 put by us, one of which was completely our star defender's fault. They'll buy more in January but De Jong is very good for his age as is Kompany. When both are playing in the middle it's very tough for teams to sit on the ball like we did.

If they played defensively with:

------------Given------------
Richards-Toure-Lescott-Bridge
-----Kompany---De Jong-----
------------Barry------------

You'd have a tough time breaking that down. Plus if you look how they played against Arsenal, it was a completely different performance.

Not "defending" City but they aren't to be thrown out.

The point is not that they aren't good defensively but that their defence is not top four standard. And i was highlighting that by saying that much of their defence isn't good enough for the top teams ATM.

Bridge wouldn't displace Clichy, Evra or Cole.

Lescott and Toure wouldn't break Vermalen-Galas, Rio-Vidic, Terry-Carvalho partnerships. Lescott is very average. Both weren't the best defenders at their previous clubs.

Richards is an average defender.

My point is not to have a go at City. It's just to say that go easy on City in this respect. They will clearly spend a lot more of their defense in the future and not to expect that much from them right now.

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

amazing isn't it mate?

Every time we put in a top performance and beat a decent side it's all about their deficiencies rather than that we have looked mustard in our last two prem games.

I guess all these cnuts supporting other sides honestly thought we were a one man team and once Ronaldo went we'd be fighting relegation.

Have some of that you shit cnuts! United are playing better now than we did last season

This.

 

[FranklyVulgar]

Richards and LEscott are easily the most over-rated defenders in world football. Both have shit control, average at best passing and positional sense suited to the championship. They are both physically impressive with good pace but that doesnt make you a great defender.

It's typical overhyping. say what you will about big man JT but he can defend and doesnt rely on pace to keep him out of trouble.

City now have a good side no doubt about that but not THAT many of their players would be key players for a genuine top 4 side. You could argue with this but i really wouldnt expect any more than Adebayor, Robinho and Tevez to get regular football for a top 4 side. Bridge couldnt cut it at chelsea, Toure was great for a while but he hasnt been the same. Barry was never top 4 class etc etc

They are getting there, and now have a team to beat 85-90% of premiership teams without too much trouble.