Jase

One thing that City did great in this match was overlapping and overloading the wide areas and giving us massive headaches, which we seriously need to do. Just look at the threat that a team can cause when City worked into a 3 v 2 or 2 v 1 advantage in our FB areas. The amount of times they got in behind our defence was pathetic but that is seriously something we need to look to do attacking wise considering we have wingers now. We'll just continue to play into oppositions' hands if we are bring narrow in our play again! And why on earth did RDM waited so long to make the substitutions yesterday?! Chasing the game and playing with 10 men in the second half was extremely tiring and even Mata went almost anonymous. RDM should have made the changes earlier and could have even brought on Essien and/or Meireles for Mikel and/or Lampard. He can make up to 5 changes FHS!

IF anyone is interested to know how Azpilicueta fared last night in Marseille's match against Reims, check out Seb's twitter timeline. Provided a very good observation and analysis on his performance.

That is probably because he plays in a league where attacking comes first and under a manager who loathes being defensive in Frank de Boer...

Would rather say 'hoping' rather than 'expecting' as Wigan seem to have slowly become a problematic side for us to deal with in recent matches. Have you forgotten that Ferreira is still around?! IF we don't get a new RB before say Friday, then expect Ferreira or Hutchinson to start at RB. Luiz is not a RB and has never looked comfortable there when used there against Stoke and I think Spurs too last season. Furthermore, his rashness and erratic defending at times already leave us exposed at CB. Don't think we need that in the wide areas at RB. It's either he continues at CB or Cahill comes in for him and I hope it is the latter.

Had thought he would be a perfect replacement for Terry...that is till his injury came about.. Has been with the academy since he was 7 and is Chelsea through and through. Still have hope for him but not so much as before because of that.

Yes but he seems hell bent in moving to Newcastle and our No.1 target is Azpilicueta while Debuchy is 2nd in the list.

Who cares?!

You think Ivanovic can play as right wing back if we don't sign a RB?! He will absolutely be a disaster there. To play as a wing back, you basically need to have a high stamina and work extremely hard because you are likely to be bombarding up and down the flank all game. Having pace is also crucial in playing there and Ivanovic doesn't have those. Already struggle at times when playing as a RB. And don't even begin to suggest Ramires to play as the wing back. Totally not suited in the wide areas at all!

It is a shame that the backheel pass he intended didn't come off. Appreciate the intention but the fact that it failed to come off will only give the media and haters ammunition to get on his back.

Somewhere around 15-20m apparently.

As I said, easy to say that. Just because it worked well for them doesn't mean it will for us. Need the right players, understanding and hard work to be able to fully implement that system.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/aug/12/community-shield-chelsea-manchester-city The Guardian match report said we were lucky to lose only by the odd goal here. Yeah...better than United who lost 6-1 at home(!) with 10 men! And as much as City looked good, that match report is basically wankfest on City.

Easy to say that. Need to have the right players that can fit into the system.

Facing another side who plays with a back 3. Well, this will be our first 'competitive' game(according to many). Really need to start well and get a win here. Already lost 4 games in a row and we have two tricky/tough/awkward home games against Reading and Newcastle to come. Getting 3 points here is a must!

Torres doesn't help himself by trying to do silly things at times. Get his intentions but it wasn't quite ideal in the circumstances back then.

Great moment for Bertrand to score his first goal for the club. 2012 just keeps getting better for him. Pleased for the lad. A future No.1 England left back!

Decent effort after going down to 10 men but more rubbish defending yet again. We started real sluggishly in the first half and could have easily conceded but about 25 minutes onwards, we settled into the game and FINALLY(!) tested City. Began to match City's (pathetic) robust approach and then Torres scored. Good bit of play by Ramires to setup Torres and thought it was gonna go according to plan...until Ivanovic's stupidity that is. Have absolutely no complains about his red card. Intentional or not, he went in two-footed and if you do that, you basically give the referee no choice but to send him off. And as if playing with 11 men against City wasn't bad enough, Ivanovic had to go do something stupid and that pretty much summed up his performances since the Seattle Sounders. With 10 men against a team like City, it was always going to be tough (and stressful). Nice to see us being positive in the second half but that totally killed us. City just had so much space to exploit and we got completely murdered. Pre-season already proved that defensively as a team, we are not solid, compact and quick enough to get back and deal with the opposition's threat and that happened today. Left the team exposed and then we get to see more poor defending once again. Luiz is really a nightmare in defence. You never know what you're gonna get from him. He could easily be brilliant in one game and then go be his usual reckless self the next. When will he ever learn?! Regarding the players' performance, Mikel was back to usual self. Being slow, sloppy and then got caught on the ball so many times. In the defensive midfielder position that he is playing, he can't be making mistakes like that! Hazard was good, looked lively at times but that one moment where he tried the backheel pass...couldn't help but to laugh! Sorry Eden. On Torres, have seen lots of people praising him for his good work but I thought he was average. Fair enough, he scored a good goal and then try to drive the team forward with his individual runs but then, it got a bit too far. As the game went on, whenever he got the ball, he tried to do all on his own. He always looked to take on 3-4 players at once and when the better option would be to pass and move the team forward! Overall, hate to lose here and the defeat is annoying. IF Ivanovic had not done what he did, think we could have gone on to win the game. Game wasn't helped by Kevin Friend's inept refereeing and inconsistency as well. City made so many crude and robust challenges especially on Hazard but hardly got a card. We made 1-2 and we got one. Savic should have been sent off when he blocked off Torres just before Ivanovic's red card.

An expected lineup. Basically the same team as last season except for Hazard. Not expecting majorly difference in our play but hopefully an improvement in our performance...

Surely he will be on the bench at most...!

Exactly. Even Bosingwa had his crossing moment when he drilled in a perfect low cross to setup Malouda for the winner against West Brom last season. And speaking of crosses, it just amazes me how our crosses/crossing never seem to improve. Almost every game, the players consistently put in crap crosses into the box and hardly reach the intended target. Do they even practice it in training?!!

If that happens, Juve better prepare for life in Serie B again.

What about their defence though? Last season, they started like a house on fire and banging in all the goals but was way too open defensively.

Really shame about the timing of his injury back in March/April. Would have definitely like to see us go get him otherwise. Nope. He was at United for only 2 years from 2005 to 2007.

Feeling nervous about this one. Not the most important of matches but definitely want to see us win the game especially after the dodgy pre-season that we had.