Man City vs Chelsea

[LDN Blue 7,903]

well, yeah, probably by one point, and we have Arsenal next weekend.... :mellow:

We can beat Arsenal at home. That will be a win for us. Today was always going to be difficult, remember though City did the double on us last season but we still won the League comfortably

[chrismada9 1,948]

guy, you should change your Ramires avatar after his terrible display today. lol

I reckon you're right dude!

[5354 204]

Btw whats with the decision to take of Drogba? Honestly I thought he could have remained and did something.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Btw whats with the decision to take of Drogba? Honestly I thought he could have remained and did something.

He was awful today, didn't look interested. I applauded Carlo for taking him off.

[Randall 315]

Absolute shit shit shit shit.

[chrismada9 1,948]

Btw whats with the decision to take of Drogba? Honestly I thought he could have remained and did something.

I know, that was probably the worst decision Carlo has made this season! I think it was maybe because Drogba wasn't living up to expectations, and City were playing to wind him up.

But when Sturridge came on for him, he did absolutely nothing, just like the Newcastle game.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Losing that means we now have to beat Arsenal AND Villa. I think we'll beat the Gunners but I can't see us getting three points at Villa, I really can't. Luckily we'll have some players back by then Beaten by a better team on the day, so I have no complaints.

[The Big Drog 1,110]

Not good, we mustered virtually no goal threat at all. Turns out we missed Lampard quite a bit today.

Cech-did well, coped well with crosses into the box.

Ivanovic- Not good, not good at all, positioning was way off, going forward looked laboured, hasnt looked at it at right back this season, Bosingwa's return is a real plus.

Alex- Did well, strong, efficient.

Terry-Excellent, our best player today.

Cole- Perhaps could have done better for the goal? Decent performance.

Mikel- Played well, found options hard to come by when on the ball, did very well screening the back four.

Essien- Decent, not one of his better games, his passing was a bit off and his shooting wild.

Ramires- Tale of two halves really, off the ball he was excellent, on the ball not so much, still adapting to the speed of the game.

Nic Anelka- Looked the most likely of the front three, but really lacked support from deep(see lack of Lampard) and Ivanovic's overlapping was suspect at best.

Drogba- Got no service at all, starved of service, that being said had 2 strong cases for a penalty in the first half.

Note: Yuri Zhirkov is not a central midfielder, Daniel Sturridge didnt impress when he came on, however with the little bit he did McEachran looked more than comfortable in a big game, even playing in the holding position, keep an eye out here.

Anyway all in all, I didnt think either side were spectacularly good, probably neither deserved to win it, Chelsea arguably had the best chances but City caught them on the counter. City and Tevez are fast becoming Chelsea's bogey team/player.

If you want to look at the positive side, the game midweek against Marseille is the perfect chance to rebuild confidence.

[chrismada9 1,948]

Losing that means we now have to beat Arsenal AND Villa.

Yeah indeed, otherwise the league won't look as though we're dominating anymore! United will just power ahead like they always do!

[Laylabelle 9,535]

Playing Villa at the wrong time really.Been better to play before the new manager... but the crap grrr no doubt have it from the media as well.'First test'..hahah so the rest meant nothing.Sorry but Man U have an easy run but nooo that doesnt matter and is inored.We could've dropped points in those games but didnt and surley just disrespectful to the oppostion say they're nothing blah blah

Bleh!! Hey ho we lost 1-0..better then last year.Just passing so bloody annoying!!! And the ref but hey.Done now

[BLionheart 516]

well why did we lose ????? the answer is just in two words "Frank Lampard" .

before the match even started i was expecting a similar scenario , i knew Man City can play some damn counterattacks but i hoped we can close them down and actually we were very unlucky to concede , teves did a very good job but still a.cole was there to block the shot and if he moved half a second early or a half a second late the ball wouldn't have passed within between his legs !!!!!

another reason is Drogba , he imo was our worst player in the game , i think both malouda and anelka had their moments but Drogba ruined a lot of our attack-plays . also ramires provided great pace from midfield at times but his passing was very poor but i think if he improves his passing he can be one hell of a player with the speed at his feet.

anyway i think if lampard was there the whole 90 minutes would have been very different because lampard is a player who always makes a difference . i hope now those fans who thought we would be better off without him will get what does he actually contributes to the team in terms of creativity and ball distribution . i think they only thought we won't miss him because they have only seen today's trio playing against westham and blackpool . now everyone knows lamps worth .

and i guess man city couldn't have asked for more from the referee

[DYC. 7,542]

The only reason we lost is because of the lack of creativity. Absolutely no creativity. Our forwards got 0 usefull balls.

My goodness our play was horrible. Super slow, very clumsy and incredibly predictable.

Ess - Mikel - Ramires can work against the likes of Blackpool and West Brom but will absolutely not work against a top 7, 8 side.

Lamps and Bena, please come back soon. We desperately need you.

[BLionheart 516]

well here is what i think is our players ratings :

Cech : (7/10)

was very good dealing with high balls and coming out of his goal , no one can blame him for the goal . only mistake was when he misplaced his wall in the free kick that tevez played from the right side , the wall was totally out of place .

Ivanovic : (7/10)

well i don't think there is a better right back defensively in the world , completely got the better of milner and was very unlucky to see his ball hit the post in the 25th minute . but i think bosingwa will be a better option in attack when he is fully fit as ivanovic support in the attack on the right side is very poor .

Alex : (7/10)

made some good blocks and tackles and as usual was very solid in the air but between him and terry you will always find the pairing caught on counter attack against pacy strikers because of their lack of pace .

Terry : (8/10)

our best player in the match , was very solid and disciplined as well as a true leader on the field although could have given more support for cole in the goal as there were no other city players to watch for so he should have gone on tevez along with cole .

A.Cole: (6.5/10)

well wasn't one of his best days , his passes lacked efficiency in the final third but he was a threat from the left as usual . defensively had a solid display but could have done better with the goal if he didn't turn his face the other way !

Mikel : (6.5/10)

made two vital tackles along with other good blocks but he was caught of position by silva in the start of the match and his passing wasn't as good under pressure as it was in the last five games .still he is not makelele but he is improving a lot

Essien : (7/10)

apart from his shooting which was surprisingly poor today , his pace and drive in midfield was obvious and in lamps absence he did all what he can do to link up the play but a times he failed to do that under city's pressure . could have won the game if his shooting was better .

Ramires : (5.5/10)

well he lacks strength and was caught out of position more than once and his passing was very poor but his drive and pace in midfield is superb he is very fast that all he needs to do to get through his opposition is to run with the ball infront of him and say catch me if you can !!!! and it helps him going backwards as well , so if he can bulk up a little and work on his passing he is gonna be one hell of a player may be the next bison but a little faster .

Malouda : (7/10)

well if there was any player wearing a chelsea shirt today looked like making things happen it was him or anelka , in lampard's absence he did a great job dropping behind to start and link up plays . had some good efforts with a.cole and zhirkov .

Anelka : (7.5/10)

our biggest threat , he was everywhere all over the pitch linking up play , making moves and his movement was superb as usual but sometimes he kept the ball at his feet for too long when he should have just played the killer pass . needs to think faster .

Drogba: (5/10)

well , may i say our biggest disappointment !!!! with the form he was in we wall thought that he could be our savior today but apart from his great corners i haven't seen one good pass or one good move or one good strike from him . i am afraid Drogba always struggle when he faces big , physically strong defenders like kompany and toure , lucio and samuel , ferdinand and vidic . or was this just one of his bad days ???

referee : ( 0/0)

No need to explain ....!!!!!!!!

[BlueLion. 21,491]

At least we're still top

[Laylabelle 9,535]

Exactly. Brightside

[bloody 209]

We can beat Arsenal at home. That will be a win for us. Today was always going to be difficult, remember though City did the double on us last season but we still won the League comfortably

how the hell did winning the league by ONE point is winning it comfortably?

[bloody 209]

The only reason we lost is because of the lack of creativity. Absolutely no creativity. Our forwards got 0 usefull balls.

My goodness our play was horrible. Super slow, very clumsy and incredibly predictable.

Ess - Mikel - Ramires can work against the Blackpool and West Brom but will absolutely not work against a top 7, 8 side.

Lamps and Bena, please come back soon. We desperately need you.

agree

[Aesthetic Relic 301]

I havent read through the thread so I'll give my thoughts on todays performance.

I expected alot more from City today in terms of going forward, but they seemed intent on sitting back, denying us space and hoping for something on the break. Their game plan worked a treat and they deserve their 3 points.

Although we dominated possession and did have shots on goal, we never really bother Joe Hart once during the game. I cant even remember him having to make a save. We resorted to pot shots at goal as we lacked the ability to find the killer ball through their packed final third.

Drogba looked disinterested but the decison to bring him off baffled me as it was obvious City were going to sit with what they had and allow us to have the ball. Having a player like Drogba in the box is essential if you're going to pump balls into the box. It may not be Ancelottis way of playing football, but at times you have to go route one.

Ramires looked out of his depth and I'd to take my shoes off to continue to count how many times he was caught in possession or muscled off the ball. Lampard cant get back to the first team soon enough. I'm not going to slate the rest of the players as I thought we played as good as we could considering how City took to the field. We should expect teams to play like this and make it hard for us. Its up to the players to find a way around the final third with 9 players intent on defending like their lives depended on it.

I'm not going to read too much into this defeat as if anything we came up against a team who on the day had a better game plan. We'll get back to business next week against Arsenal who will not play like City did today. They dont know how to.

Bad day at the office....move on.

[5354 204]

Lol I thought even with McEachran's cameo apperance had better passing than Ramires.

[DYC. 7,542]

Carlo should stop playing Sturridge out wide. Mourinho did the same with Kalou and that messed up his true potential.

The same is happening with Danny (just because of their pace). Sturridge is a striker. His quality is being doubted at the moment and that's not fair. He isn't playing in his natural position.