Champions League draw thoughts

That's much better than last year. And the year before. That was my initial reaction after the draw but its a dangerous one. Bayern Munich are obviously the big name in the group but the trips to Moscow and the Czech Republic won't be easy. The Moscow one especially partly due to the distance, there could well be a domestic hangover from that which will need managing carefully especially as it's Chelsea away afterwards.

But it's a group we should be capable of getting through if we perform to our ability.

City v Cardiff - some thougts

A tough loss but given how well Cardiff played, not that unexpected. Before the season started I suspected playing a promoted side so early in the season was dangerous and so it proved. At half time I tweeted:

There's a big team going to lose at Cardiff this season. Hope it's not us today #mcfc
— David Lamb (@dlamb75) August 25, 2013

Sadly I was right. Cardiff is going to be a tough place to visit.

A few observations on how City played:

• Garcia isn't good enough at centre back. Sadly with Kompany injured, and Nastasic not fully fit we were down to only one fit centre back. Garcia did play there in pre-season but he lacks pace and doesn't have the experience or instincts needed to compensate for this.
• We've switched from Zonal to Man marking at corners. Is it possible that the two goals conceded from corners are due to the players still getting used to this? On Sky on Monday night, Jamie Carragher made the excellent point that had those goals been conceded when we were using zonal marking, the system would have been blamed. As it was man-marking, Hart and Zabaleta were blamed. Cardiff's delivery at the corners was superb though, so it's possible neither system would have worked.
• At times the game was a return to many games over the last couple of years. Cardiff retreated into the final third and got 10 men behind the ball. The quick passing and movement we showed against Newcastle were less effective here and its in games like this were we will need to show a lot more patience.
• We showed signs of a weakness from last season - being too narrow. Navas should be an important option in games like this but he drifted inside too much.
• Cardiff did take every opportunity to attack though. This is not something most teams do when they sit back and defend against us.

This Season's Chant?

Every season there seems to emerge a new chant or celebration. 3 seasons ago it was the Poznan, 2 seasons ago the Balotelli song, and last season the Yaya/Kolo song. Is this this seasons?

City 4 Newcastle 0 - a few thoughts

Well that was a good start wasn't it? Yes it's just one game, but City looked impressive last night and there are already noticeable differences in the style of play. Here are a few observations on last night’s game:

• City moved the ball much quicker. There was a 'directness' about the ball movement. Not directness in the style of the long-ball game. More a sense of move the ball quickly forward through quick sharp and short passing. The long, slow patient build-up play that characterised City under Mancini looks to have been replaced by something much more aggressive.
• Off the ball there was more aggression when it came to pressing. There was almost a Barcelona style of aggression to it at times.
• Early in the game I felt this meant we weren't controlling possession as much as we used to. This is reflected in stats showing we only had 55% possession, despite Newcastle going into damage limitation mode and sitting back for the second half. This is probably a result of the more aggressive, quicker passing.
• If we will allow the opposition more possession this season, then the defence is going to come under more pressure. There was little to learn from this game about how the defence will be organised under Pellegrini as Newcastle offered little attacking threat. In fact, at half time I realised I wasn't even sure if we were still using zonal marking at corners or not. Even now I'm not sure.
• Sky's commentators tried to pin down City as playing a 4-4-2 formation. This was a very simplistic view of the formation. The fluidity of the front 6 was such that the shape of the team was constantly changing. There's an excellent analysis of a key feature that makes this fluidity work by Michael Cox at the Guardian.

We will have much bigger tests, but this is a promising start. One word I've used frequently above is aggressive. There was a general aggression about City's attacking play, both with and without the ball. For me this is a welcome development although it remains to be seen what the implications are defensively from this.

A few thoughts and predictions on the new season

The new season starts this weekend. This is always the time for maximum optimism, though as a City fan I still fear the worst. So maybe it's time to take a step back and look at what would be realistically a good season.

Before last season I felt we'd have had a successful season if we:

• finished 2nd or better in the Premier League
• won a trophy
• got past the group stage of the Champions League

Of those 3, 1 was achieved (2nd in the league), 1 was close (losing the FA Cup Final) and not getting past the group stage of the Champions League could be excused as the draw put us in the group of death. On that basis, an argument could be made that last season was okay. And yet it all felt so disappointing. The team seemed to go backward.

So to this season, and the most important thing for me is a feeling that the team is moving forwards. If we achieve that and finish in the top 3 of the League than that would be a satisfactory season. For a successful season, if the team feels like it's moved forward and we achieve at least 2 of the above criteria from last season then I will be happy.

Finally to put my neck on the line a few predictions:

In the Premier League, the top 2 will be City and Chelsea (though I'm not sure of the order), United will be 3rd, and Spurs 4th. Hull, Palace and Sunderland will be relegated. In the Champions League, City will get to the Quarter Finals, but will be out early in both cups. One of the cups will be won by Chelsea.