City V Wigan Report

So the City juggernaut continues to roll on, and Manchester (and Salford) as a footballing City('s) goes from strength to strength.  It is hard to pin point exactly which was an easier win this season, the opening day demolition of Swansea or yesterdays hammering of Wigan.  I would suspect ultimately that the Welsh side put up far more of a fight than the Lancashire club, perhaps surprising after the strong start that Roberto Martinez and his side have made to the season.

In truth the 3-0 scoreline doesn't really do City justice, it should have been 4-0 by half time and it could easily have been 7 or 8 by the final whistle, if we had been a bit more ruthless and clinical in front of goal we could have inflicted a similar thrashing to that which Wigan suffered at Spurs a couple of years ago.


Macini demonstrated the importance of his whole squad and rang some changes, Edin Dzeko was left out and rested after his heroics at White Hart Lane, as was Gareth Barry, Samir Nasri and Pablo Zabaleta.  James Milner, Adam Johnson, Micah Richards and Carlos Tevez came in to replace them and fortunately the changes didn't change the sides fluidity too much.

City took the game by the scruff of the neck early on with Sergio Aguero scoring his first with a really neat finish after good work by a rampant Clichy and Silva.  They were perhaps unfortunate to not build on the lead after Richards crashed the underside of the bar after a superb raid down the right, and again when Kompany hit the woodwork with a header off a corner, there was also a good chance for Adam Johnson to extend the lead when he cut in from the right hand flank.  The best opportunity however was a penalty, after Silva was crudely hacked down by Lopez, Tevez took the ball and hit (scuffed) one of the worst penalties that you are likely to see, it was so weak Al-Habsi could probably have just stepped to his left and picked it up!

1-0 at half time, and Wigan found a 20 minute spell either side of half time in which they managed to impose themselves on the game slightly.  Di Santo should probably have done better with a one on one situation where Hart had run out into no mans land, and just after the break Hugo Rodallega hit a low shot that wasn't so much saved by Joe Hart but deflected off the England keeper wide of the post, that however was all Wigan would really have.  


The introduction of Samir Nasri gave City an extra spark and it wasn't long before some exquisite one touch football between Silva and Frenchman released Aguero for his second that he slipped past the keeper into the corner for a supremely confident finish.  City became dominant again after the second was scored and the third wasn't far away, superb play again by the exceptional Silva where he showed skill, strength and technique resulted in Kun being released to calmly slip home his 3rd of the afternoon into the exact spot that he had dispatched the previous one.

City finished the game at a canter, Balotelli was introduced and he looked sprightly without any real service, youngster Abdul Razak was given a 10 minute cameo which I suspect will be built upon in the League Cup next week.  


If we are being ultra negative I suppose Adam Johnson could have done more, and really we should have been more clinical in front of goal and taken all of our chances, but that is really clutching at straws, it was another superb performance overall and it will further add to the confidence and good feeling that appears to be around the team and players.

Not let's get on with the all important figures:


Joe Hart: 7 - Would have been 6, not through poor performance, just had nothing to do, but I just watched 'tunnel-cam' on the OS and seeing his motivational speech before the second half was fantastic, so bumped to a 7! 


Micah Richards: 8 - Attacked superbly well again, showed determination to get forward but also back, was incredibly unlucky to not score in the first half when he hit the bar.  Dealt with Rodallega well at the other end of the pitch as well.


Vincent Kompany: 8 - Rock at the heart of the defence, unlucky to not score with a good header in the first half, organised well and mopped up everything that he had too.  He is really excelling in his role as captain with his right hand man Joe Hart.


Joleon Lescott: 7 - Was given a couple of scares by Di Santo but grew in confidence as the game went on, made one particularly good rampaging run early on.  Also should probably have had a goal from a Yaya Toure shot that the defender tried to deflect into the net.


Gael Clichy: 7 - The engine on this guy is insane, he is so much quicker than I realised.  He struggled with Moses at times but much like Lescott grew in confidence as the game went on, he also provided a couple of excellent crosses that unfortunately went unused.

James Milner: 8 - Another exemplary performance in the centre of the field, Mancini finally seems to have realised his best position.  He bombed on when required and got back to make vital tackles, does all the less noticeable dirty work well.


Yaya Toure: 7 - Plying his trade in his more natural holding role this season we are seeing less of Tourepartnership with Milner, they work well together.


Adam Johnson: 6 - A frustrating day for Johnson, nowhere near as bad as some would have you believe but always not perfect.  Work rate seemed improved, he tracked back well, but not everything came off for him, perhaps he overcomplicated things on occasion.


David Silva: 10 - Really not going to write much, it's all been said before.  Fantastic, magical, strong, full of endeavour, skillful.  There is no better midfielder playing in England currently, and not many better in Europe.


Carlos Tevez: 6 - Work rate is definitely still there, no loss of passion but not quite up to match sharpness yet.  He was a constant threat but had a tendency to take the wrong option at times, woeful penalty didn't help him either.


Sergio Aguero: 9 - Now scored 6 for the season and this was a great hat trick.  He passes and places the ball into the net and has the ability to place them right inside the post making them impossible to save.  His work rate is also immense and he just seems to love playing the game.

Substitutes:


Samir Nasri: 8 - Steadied the ship when he came on and linked up wonderfully with Silva and Aguero, managed to notch up an assist on the short time he was on the pitch, he looks a real star.


Mario Balotelli: 6 - Didn't really make much of an impact, worked hard and scampered about.


Abdul Razak - N/A - No real time to judge, but good to see him getting time on the pitch.

I suppose it seems strange for a player to score 3 times and not get Man of The Match, and in the stadium that award went to Aguero and understandably he will get most of the plaudits but for me it has to be David Silva.  As always he was behind everything that City did, he ran the show and provided the tempo, he caused so many problems going between the lines and was impossible to keep quiet.  It is not just his skill and passing that is impressive his work rate and strength is also superb for a player that at first appears so lightweight.

Match Report - Swansea City

The Summer seemed to pass interminably slowly, but as I arrived at Eastlands, sorry, the Etihad Stadium last night and had my first beer of the season it suddenly didn't feel that long since we crushed Stoke.  In that time a lot has changed, there has been more furore over the future of a diminutive Argentine striker, the ground has a new name, and we have been linked with every name under the sun.

The confidence around the place remains, on twitter yesterday I saw predictions of 3, 4, and 5 nil, and now foolishly I suggested it would be a lot more cagey than that, and said I would take a 1-0, as long as it brought 3 points....well at half time last night I would have snapped your hand off for any sort of positive score line.  The second half flurry of goals was always going to come really, if it weren't for some fantastic goal keeping from Swansea keeper Michel Vorm on his debut, City would have been in front.  He saved brilliantly from Dzeko and Silva, and right on half time Gareth Barry crashed a left foot strike off the cross bar, it was coming, and when it arrived it changed the game entirely.

The first arrived after good work from Adam Johnson ended with a shot that was parried to the feet of Edin Dzeko who was left with a simple tap in, a goal that was wholly deserved on the basis of his work rate.  Then the game changed, the introduction of Sergio Aguero lifted not only the 44 odd thousand people in the stadium, but also the rest of the players on the pitch.  City would have no doubt scored a second or even third without him, but the fantasy and devil that the debutant brought with him was terrifying in the best possible way.

He had his first goal not long after coming on, a lovely low cross from Richards was met at the far post by a sliding Aguero who neatly finished into the corner, everyone was in raptures, the stadium erupted, a star was born.... that wasn't the end of it though.  His deft flick over Vorm, and acrobatic pullback for Silva to fire home the 3rd was a delight, but when in injury time he looked up, found himself some space and crashed home what is clearly one of the goals of the season it became clear just how good Aguero is.  Many people sat around me had a look of disbelief as the impact of his debut wore off, it was truly a stunning cameo.

It wouldn't be fair to just focus on City, Swansea gave it a good go defensively, they looked neat and efficient and at times in the first half they kept the ball extremely well and you have to give them credit for that.  Scott Sinclair looked extremely quick and will cause lesser defenders than Richards many problems, midfielder Joe Allen looked good when he came on, and Scot Stephen Dobbie looked impressive in spells.  It was very much a team effort from the Welsh side, clearly hoping that they would be able to resist City for the 90mins, it wasn't to be however, and although it was a fair score line in my eyes they still deserve a lot of credit for their work ethic.

Now for the all important numbers:

Joe Hart: 7 - Didn't really have a huge amount to do, but what little he did was done with confidence and style, City's number 1 for years to come.

Micah Richards: 8 - Superb raids forward from right back, his buccaneering attitude is fantastic and his cross for Aguero's first was excellent.  Showed desire to get back and defend and do the dirty work, very impressive.

Vincent Kompany: 7 - Like Hart had little to do, but kept things safe at the back.  I sincerely hope he will be club captain for years to come.

Joleon Lescott: 8 - The resurgence continues, 12 months ago he was a forgotten man and maligned by many now he is imperious and will hopefully retain his place with the return of Kolo Toure.

Gael Clichy: 7 - Solid debut, attacked well and clearly had more pace than Kolarov to get back and defend, good signs for the future.

Nigel De Jong: 7 - Reliable, solid, bulldog like, you could easily write those three statements for every NDJ performance, came off early with a slight knock, hopefully precautionary.

Gareth Barry: 7 - I really think what he offers the team is underestimated by some, started slowly, but shielded the defence excellently as the game went on, very neat and assured passing, solid.

Yaya Toure: 8 - Really hard to rate, poor first half, backed off too much and wayward passing, but excellent in the second, some great rampaging runs and passing, not fully fit, so I give him benefit of the doubt.

David Silva: 10 - I ran out of superlatives for Spanish Dave many months ago, another superb performance running the show, and behind everything that was good on the night.  Fully deserved goal topped off his game.

Adam Johnson: 7 - Struggled early on, but grew into the game as it went along, caused the Swansea defence no end of trouble, will hopefully get a run in the team.

Edin Dzeko: 8 - What a difference a preseason can make.  Looked a different player to last year, understood his role, took his goal well and worked very hard for the team, will hopefully keep it up.

Substitutes


Sergio Aguero: 9 - Whether there has been a better debut in Premier League history is debatable, but the Argentine was superb.  He was inventive, hard working, devilish and supremely skilled, lets hope there is a lot more to come.


James Milner: 7 - No real time to rate, composed, and energetic, got forward down the wing well, did fine.


Stefan Savic: N/A - Really not fair to judge, had barely any time, couple of poor passes but still finding his feet.

Man of the match has to be Silva for me, Aguero clearly will take all the headlines and deservedly so, but Silva kept the team ticking over for 90mins, he truly is a special player and one that hopefully will be at the club for years to come.

Match Report - Dublin Supercup

As I said when writing the report of the game against Club America, I am not going to cover the games in any great detail in preseason, this is more going to be looking at who impressed during our time in Dublin.


Our form in the run up to this season has seen us go unbeaten and whilst it doesn't really count for anything, some performances are giving extremely positive indicators for the coming season.  We played 2 entirely different teams in both the games, and everyone in the squad got a decent run out with the exception of Sergio Aguero who has been thwarted with a bad case of blisters.


The game against the Irish XI was mostly a chance for some of the younger members of our squad to demonstrate their ability.  With the exception of Gareth Barry, Adam Johnson, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Stuart Taylor it was an extremely young side.  The game was won 3-0 and was pretty straight forward really, the Irish team put up a good show of their defensive ability in the first half but City slowly picked up the pace as the game went on and there were some extremely encouraging performances.

SWP continued his impressive preseason, for me he was the man of the match, at this point we know exactly what we are getting, it was a performance full of endeavour and work rate and he along with Adam Johnson ran the show and gave the Irish defense a torrid time.  They both managed to get on the score sheet with will well taken goals, Wright-Phillip's strike in particular was a lovely finish on the volley.  There also has to be a lot of credit for Gareth Barry who played some defense splitting passes and got himself an assist.  

Some of the youngsters impressed as well, one of the stand out performers for me was midfielder Abdul Razak who patrolled the midfield alongside the England international.  He made a brief cameo against West Brom last season and he is highly thought of by many at Eastlands, he looked industrious and kept things simple, it was a very impressive performance.


Stefan Savic looked solid again at centreback, he had very little to do, but when he was tested he dealt with things well.  Young Swiss player Frederic Veselli got another run out after his first against Club America, he looked competent and solid at full back and got forward well to support the midfield.  Perhaps the best youngster was newly signed Denis Suarez, to say that he looks like a David Silva in waiting would be heaping too much pressure onto his shoulders, but he looked great.  His movement in the midfield was superb, and he always wanted the ball, he floated about well and seemed to understand what was expected of him.  He got 30mins and to be honest I was hoping he would play the full 90, but there are definitely signs there that he could go on to be a really special player.


The third goal was scored by a young Italian trialist Luca Scapuzzi, a player who has previously been at Milan, his goal will no doubt have done him a lot of good and who knows it may secure him a 12 month contract to see what ability he has.


The only real disappointments for me were Weiss and Guidetti some of the 'older' statesman in comparison.  Weiss got a lot of praise on twitter, but a lot of it surprised me, he is full of endeavour but he has a real tendency to overcomplicate things, with a resurgent SWP I do wonder if he will see many games this season.  Guidetti as well worked hard but never really tested the opposition defense, good effort and work rate, but there was very little final product.

The game against Inter Milan was a totally different kettle of fish.  It was an entirely changed team and they definitely impressed.  It is hard to single out who played the best, because everyone had a good game, even Aleksandar Kolarov looked greatly improved.  As I have made clear previously I feel that Edin Dzeko could have a really good season this time around, he looks more mobile, slightly quicker, his touch seems to have improved and he seems to be understanding his team mates a lot more.  He scored the second on the day and finished in style, most of the credit must go to Silva for an absolutely exquisite reverse pass, but the finish itself was confident and controlled, as soon as he picked up the ball in a one on one situation there was no doubt where it was ending up.  He was unlucky to not have scored earlier, he converted a wonderful Kolarov cross, but the goal was wrongly ruled out for offside.


Mario Balotelli was also much more involved this time, he scored a cracking header off a corner to give City the lead and he looked a constant threat.  Such a frustrating player, if he was 'interested' every game like he was yesterday he would be a top striker, but his attitude makes it difficult.  You don't know what you are going to get, his performance against Milan was much more FA Cup final rather than LA Galaxy.


The star of the show, as has been on numerous occasions however was David Silva, on a day where Wesley Sneijder was expected to shine, he was totally eclipsed by the magical Spaniard.  He was the heartbeat of City again and there was a clear suggestion that he might be even better this year than he was last.  Some of his passing was sublime and the Inter midfield never managed to get close to him.  I still have concerns that we may be too reliant on him, but with the arrival of Sergio Aguero some of the creative responsibility might be taken away from him, and that may not necessarily be a bad thing.

There was another good cameo from AJ and SWP who played the final 10mins, and they combined late on for another Adam Johnson goal, if Wright-Phillips isn't at the club next year it would be a real shame, his preseason has been excellent.  Milner looked solid and impressive in the midfield, his work rate is truly exceptional and I think people may have judged him too early last year and now that he is settled into his better position I am sure he will go along way to win over some of his critics.


3-0 against Inter Milan on paper is a great result, and it was, the team played with fluidity and understanding and that can only be a good thing with the Premier League season just 2 weeks away.  It is important to remember that Inter are much earlier in their preseason than we are and so we always had a great chance of winning the game, but some of the performances on show were extremely impressive, definitely reasons to be cheerful as we start with the competitive games next weekend.

Forget Sanchez, We Should Get This Guy Before Someone Else Does...

As many of you may have noticed over the past couple of months I have grown pretty sick of the whole Alexis Sanchez saga, and as that continues to move at the pace of glacier I can't help but feel that we are missing a trick.

I think a lot of my indifference is down to the fact that I think there is a far better option out there who I think would be far more open to a move to England and Manchester City in particular, that man is World Cup winner Juan Mata.


Many of you will already be totally aware of the 23 year old who has lit up this Summers Under 21 European Championships.  The young Spaniard came through the ranks at Real Madrid and was part of their 'B' squad, but he never managed to move on to the first team, their loss was Valencia's gain where he has gone on to prove himself to be a fine prospect and a real asset.  I think he could offer us a huge amount and potentially be better suited to the Premier League than Sanchez.

He is very quick, can go round a man, has good delivery and also is a very accomplished finisher.   At 23, he is somewhat of a rising star in Spain and although there are issues with his strength David Silva has proved that you don’t have to built like a brick outhouse to survive.

Playing Mata left, Johnson right, with Silva through the middle behind Tevez or Dzeko I think we would carry a real threat.  There is a buyout clause in the players contract at £40million, but with the Spanish club struggling financially it has been suggested he could be secured for closer to £30million.  With a good salary on offer and his friend Silva also at the club I think he could be very tempted.

To me it is somewhat of a no brainer, it would be cheaper and easier than bringing in a player, who lets be honest, appears to have no interest in playing for this club.  The tabloids today carry stories about interest from Liverpool and particularly Arsenal, claiming Wenger is ready to put together a bid of around £18million which, when compared to the ridiculous figures we are supposedly offering for Sanchez, seems a real bargain.

Clearly in reality it will cost more than £18million to secure the player, but it would still come in cheaper than Sanchez and I cannot reiterate enough how much better I believe Mata to be.  His relationship with David Silva also cannot be underestimated they played together for Valencia and were understood to have a good friendship, whether he can convince his former team mate that Eastlands is the place to be remains to be seen, but it is certainly an avenue to pursue.

Obviously I don't mean to sound alarmist, there is still plenty of time before the season starts, but I am getting a little concerned about the lack of transfer news at City.  I can't help but think that currently we have all of our eggs in one basket in Sanchez and that we could risk missing out on potential other signings in the process...

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 David Silva

David Josué Jiménez Silva is a Spanish footballer who plays for Manchester City in England, and the Spanish national team.He spent six years of his professional career with La Liga side Valencia CF, appearing in more than 150 official games and winning one Copa del Rey, before moving in 2010 to Manchester City.

A Spanish international since the age of 20, he was a member of the squads that won both the Euro 2008 and 2010 World Cup.

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