City v Watford - a game that would have been a struggle last year

Last season there was a template to have success against us. Sit deep, pack the central area's and hit us on the counter-attack. A number of teams had success with this tactic against us (e.g. Stoke and Hull at home). A key to this season will be if we have found a way to play against this. Yesterdays game was a promising sign that we may have.

Yesterday, Watford attempted to use the first part of the template. They sat deep and packed the midfield. The difference was there was no attempt by them to hit us on the counter-attack. The same weekend last year we lost to Stoke who sat deep and scored the only goal of the game from a counter attack when we had a corner. So, while it remains to be seen if we can defend better in these games, the fact that we eventually broke through is a good sign.

Key to the breakthrough was a tactical shift at half time. In the first half it was a 4-2-3-1 formation with Sterling and Navas wide. Navas had a poor half and was at his most frustrating. In the second half, Nasri replaced Navas and we switched to closer to a 4-4-2, with Sterling joining Aguero in the middle. Perhaps Watford were still trying to adjust to this change and this was why Sterling was allowed to drift into the penalty area unmarked for his goal. Whatever the reason, this is the first time we have needed a plan B this season. Last year in similar games we seemed to lack one. The fact we needed it, used it and it worked bodes well for the rest of the season.

That's now 10 consecutive wins, a club record. It feels a little false in that the record is spread over 2 seasons, but even if we consider just the first 4 games of the season, this is the best start to a season anyone has had in English football. A long way to go, but so far, so good.

ALL TIME RECORD - City (#mcfc) is the FIRST club in English league history to start with 4 wins, 10+ GF and 0 GA

— MisterChip (English) (@MisterChiping) August 29, 2015

Started with 4 wins and ZERO goals against 1900 Aston Villa (8-0) 1974 Ipswich Town (7-0) 2005 Chelsea (8-0) 2015 CITY (10-0)

— MisterChip (English) (@MisterChiping) August 29, 2015

City demolish Chelsea - I've had worse Sunday's

That was impressive all round. The new stand, the atmosphere and, most significantly, City's performance. Some observations on Sunday's win over Chelsea:

• The new South Stand is impressive, it looks huge. I don't know the stats, but from where I was sat in the third tier of the East Stand it looks taller than the the rest of the stadium. It's just a shame the away fans have a part of it as that has the potential to be a wall of noise.
• The tone for City's performance was set in the first 30 seconds when David Silva spun away from Febregas and played Aguero in on goal with the most beautiful pass that cut straight through the Chelsea defence. After that, City seemed to be causing problems for the Chelsea defence and creating chances almost at will for the rest of the first half.
• When Begovic saved 3 of Aguero's early chances, and then Aguero missed another I started to worry that Aguero was still in his 'getting back to form' phase that he often spends 4 or 5 games going through after an injury. Thankfully, the chances he was getting seemed to accelerate that and he eventually did score.
• The game itself was at times a full on physical battle. Some credit must go to the referee for this. While he didn't get everything right, he let enough go that players could fly into tackles knowing that robust tackles wouldn't be penalised just for being robust. Mostly the game was played in that spirit
• The exception to that spirit was the Fernandinho-Costa personal battle just before half time. As many have said, Fernandinho could have seen red for his elbow. On another day he would have but given the way the game was refereed, perhaps a yellow was right. And what punishment should Costa have got for his snide 'challenge' on Fernandinho a few minutes earlier? In the end, half time came to Costa's rescue as he'd clearly lost it after Fernandinho's challenge.
• The first 15-20 minutes of the second half saw the one period where Chelsea showed any degree of superiority. It ended after Hazard had missed their one good chance and City then decided to spend a few minutes playing keep-ball. I thought this was excellent game management from City. It calmed the game down and took the sting out of any Chelsea revival.
• After that we scored our second goal from a corner of the season. Already! After being generally useless from corners last season, this was always the easiest way to improve the team and the early signs are that we have.

• City were so good in this game it's difficult to single out any individual. Several had excellent games. Aguero got the official man of the match, Kolorov and Mangala were excellent, Sagna had arguably his best game so far for us. But for me, Fernandinho was superb. He did a lot of work in the midfield battle, ensuring City won that battle.
• Finally a mention must go to some superb trolling of Chelsea. Firstly the stadium DJ playing the Dr Who theme before the game and Madness straight after, and the crowd when Chelsea's physios made their appearance. Both hilarious.

It's still early days but so far so good.

Just a good start, or something more?

Last night City beat West Brom 3-0 and already some of the papers are jumping to conclusions about the where the title may go. It's far too early for that but what can we learn from the first competitive game of the season?

Firstly last night was a combination of a very good City and a very poor West Brom. Tony Pulis teams have always approached games against the top teams in the same way. Keep it tight, try and nick something and it it goes wrong don't bother chasing the game. This is a very pragmatic approach and, by not chasing the game, looks at the longer view that it is better for his team to lose 2-0 than risk losing 4 or 5-0 and the damage that would do to a teams confidence. Last night, though, West Brom appeared caught between two thoughts on how to approach the game. The team selection included 2 strikers suggesting they would be more attacking, but then during the game they sat back in the usual way a Pulis team does against the big teams. But the team selection meant they were a man light in midfield which made it much easier for City to move the ball around. Pulis has admitted he got it wrong tactically.

Having said that, City still needed to beat them and they did this superbly. The passing was at times brilliant and they frequently carved West Brom open. A few thoughts on City's performance:

• David Silva is a joy to watch. When he gets plenty of possession and time to use it he can pick apart any defence, as he did last night.
• Yaya Toure was back to his marauding best going forward. But he had almost nothing to do defensively. It is that side of his game that was questioned last season.
• The easiest way to improve last season's team was through one thing - corners. Last season City's corners were dreadful, so to score from one in the first game is a promising sign. Has anything changed? I wasn't paying close enough attention for most of the game but for Kompany's goal I did notice his run started much further out than I remember from last year. Hopefully this is a sign they have been worked on.
• Still the most frustrating player is Jesus Navas. His reluctance to run at and take on the full back is puzzling. He has the pace to get past the defender but seems to not want to use it. Why not? He should be so much better.

Apart from the above, I think it's difficult to say much as West Brom made it far too easy for us going forward and offered so little in attack it's difficult to say anything about our defence. Harder tests await, beginning next week, when we will learn a lot more about the team.

What a difference an early goal makes

That was much more like it. Much more like the City that was so devastating for much of last season and I think it's safe to say the primary reason for it was something we haven't seen enough of this season - an early goal.

At home, scoring early and then going on to win big was a habit that City had last year. In home league games in November and December last season, the first goal was scored in the 16th, 1st, 8th, 14th, 31st and 66th minutes. This lead to wins of 7-0, 6-0, 3-0, 6-3, 2-1 and 1-0. In the last two games, City scored later and didn't win as comfortably.

The benefits of scoring early are huge. It forces the visiting side to try and come forward and attack. Any thoughts of sitting back and defending become pointless and so there is more space to exploit. This season, City haven't scored an early goal often enough, allowing teams to sit back, defend and hit us on the counter-attack. It has worked far too often.

Aside from the early goal, here are a few other thoughts on the game:

• Has Bony already repaid part of his transfer fee through the effect he has had on Dzeko? The first half was by far the best 45 minutes from Dzeko this season.
• Yaya's influence was huge. It has been clear for the past month how much we have missed him, we just don't have another central midfielder like him (who does?). His passing forward into Silva and Nasri put them in much better positions to create than they have been for the past few weeks,
• Finally David Silva is starting to score more goals. This has always been the part of his game that was missing for me. He now has 9 for the season, his best in a Premier League season.
• Newcastle were woeful but a significant part of that was down to the early goal. There defence was set-up very narrow which was probably part of a game plan to frustrate City by denying Silva and Nasri space inside. The first minute penalty meant that plan had gone up in smoke before they'd even started to use it.

Arsenal beat City with a very Un-Arsenal performance

Today the better side won. But it wasn't the Arsenal of recent years that beat City, it was a very different performance. They ceded possession, kept compact and worked hard. Then hit us on the counter. And fully deserved to win. On Sky, Gary Neville essentially spent most of the game saying 'I told you' to Arsenal. Here are a few thoughts on City today:

• Yaya was sorely missed today. The Fernando/Fernandinho partnership does not really work when you dominate possession. Both are better as ball-winners than creative players and neither gets forward much. This is where Arsenals different tactics hurt us most. The team was set-up expecting Arsenal to try and go toe-to-toe with us. They didn't which menat we missed Yaya's passing in midfield. Yaya is capable of getting the ball past the defenders to our attackers.
• The introduction of Jovetic improved things but I think this was more down to the change of shape. Arsenal cut off the supply to Silva when he was central in the first half, and then crowded him out. Moving him out wide meant he saw much more of the ball.
• Jovetic himself is too predictable at times. He always tries to shift the ball onto his right foot and away from his body.
• The defending for Arsenals second goal was dreadful. Nothing more really needs to be said.
• Jesus Navas can be a frustrating player. At his best he can provide a great supply line for our attackers. But too often he fails to get the ball past the first man and his reluctance to use his pace and run at his full-back is puzzling.
• How bad have our corners got? I just can't get excited about winning a corner when I feel we are now more likely to concede on the counter than score from the corner.

A day for patience - City vs Crystal Palace thoughts

Today's game against Crystal Palace was a very good win, and one which told us a few things about where Manchester City are today. A few thoughts:

• Firstly the game itself. Today was definitely a day for patience. This season a clear tactical method to use against us has become clear. Sit deep and compact, pack the central area's in front of the defence and hit us on the counter-attack. The best example of how effective this can be was the home defeat to Stoke. Today, Palace attempted the same strategy. The key to defeating teams using these tactics is two things - patience and width. City used both of these very effectively. The number of passes from City (656 compared to 174 for Palace) is a clear indication of how patient they were. The influence of Zabeleta and Kolorov, who each provided an assist, shows that width was used effectively.
• City were clearly the better side, but having said that we did have some luck. At 2-0 the linesman made what can only be described as a howler of a decision in flagging for offside when Palace scored. It probably didn't change the result but at 2-1 you never know.
• I thought the experiment with Milner in the false-9 role worked okay, but nothing more than that. It's obviously only going to be used until we get one of our strikers fit again but, if we are to use it, why not use David Silva in that role? He has played there successfully for Spain.
• During the game, the BT Sport commentators made the point that there is a clear style of play that is different about Manchester City compared to other teams. It has been an ambition of the club for a while now that a clearly identifiable style of play for Manchester City becomes recognisable. Ferran Soriano has stated he wants all Manchester City teams to play in a style that makes them identifiable. Is this a sign that this long-term goal is being achieved?
• The striker injury crisis has opened a door for the EDS kids to make a mark on the first team. Although we chose not to play any of them today, I don't think that is a bad sign. Pozo has played the last few games and while he has done okay, perhaps it was right to allow him to step aside for now. If he had started to struggle it could have set back his development. He has had a taste and the experience means when his chance comes again he will be better equipped to succeed.
• It was good to see Thierry Ambrose on the bench today. Even though he didn't get on the pitch, just being involved in the first team on match day will help his development. Gary Neville made this point in an interesting article on youth development this week. Sometimes a player needs to spend some time around the first team, without playing, in order to learn and absorb what happens.

City now enter the Christmas period level on points with Chelsea, although Chelsea have a game in hand. At this stage of the season, a potential 3 point deficit is nothing. There is still everything to play for in the League.

Outdone tactically and physically - thoughts on the loss to Chelsea

For the second time this season, City have lost at home. Both times we have lost the tactical battle and the workrate of the opposition has caused major problems. The game against Bayern was widely regarded as the best team in the world teaching us a lesson. Last night, probably the best coach in the world did the same. A few thoughts:

• Tactically I think the key was the work rate of Chelsea's front 4 when we had the ball. Their pressing was brilliant. They picked their moments and then hunted down the ball. The result was that on many occasions our central defenders faced a wall of 3 Chelsea players when they had the ball. This cut off easy passes out and made it very difficult for us to build from the back.
• One result of the pressing from the front was that when we did get the ball forward it was through long or risky passes far more often than normal. As a result we often went forward without the fluidity we've seen, there was less control and more chaos when we had the ball.
• Another result of the pressing was that Chelsea often won the ball back higher up the pitch and with our players forward. This gave them plenty of scope for counter-attacking, something they hit us with many times.
• Plenty will be said about Demichelis playing in midfield, for me he gave a convincing impression of a central defender playing 10 yards too far forward. But it highlights a worrying lack of depth in the squad in central midfield. Behind Yaya and Fernandinho, we only have Garcia and Rodwell. Rodwell is almost permanently injured, and with Garcia and Fernandinho out injured the only options were to move Milner inside or Demichelis.
• The central midfield issue also highlights another worry - where are the academy players? This was something that I noticed at Christmas when, with Zabeleta and Micah Richards out, Clichy played at right-back against Fulham. While Chelsea may not be the game to throw a kid into, Fulham away might be. Where are the academy players to fill in?
• Chelsea deserved to win last night, and it could have been by more as they hit the post 3 times. Despite that, it's not all doom and gloom. We also created chances. On another night we'd have got something from the game.
• City, Chelsea and Arsenal are separated by 2 points. It's a 3 horse race for the title now. With Arsenal facing a very tricky next month, their 2 point lead at this stage is nothing. The title could go to any of us.

City vs Palace - a few thoughts

A win is still a win. The title isn't won by winning 7-0 against Norwich, it's won on days like this when a team doesn't play well and still finds a way to win. A few observations on the game:

• The game can be summed up by the above photo. Palace set themselves up in a 4-5-1 formation with each line about 10 yards apart. The photo shows this perfectly. They were disciplined and went about the job very effectively. This is classic Tony Pulis tactics. At Stoke he would often set his side up like this away from home. The goal is to keep it tight and try and nick something from the game, and if they concede they still don't change from this tactic, saving themselves for another day.
• This very nearly worked for Palace and it was only thanks to some excellent saves from Joe Hart that they didn't nick something. It's good to have him not only looking back to his best, but also showing a lot of bravery.
• The game was one where we needed to show a lot of patience. We did this and will have more days like this before the end of the season. When the opposition sets themselves up this way an early goal usually means we'll go on to win comfortably. But the longer the game goes on without a goal, the harder it will feel.
• The best way to break down a defence in these circumstances is through movement off the ball and rapid ball movement. This should pull the defense about until the gaps appear. Palace were very disciplined and kept their shape which made off the ball movement difficult - there was no space to move into. The rapid ball movement wasn't helped by the selection of Javi Garcia. He was sat too deep and moves the ball too slowly for a game such as this. Far too often he was next to the centre backs with no Palace player within 20 yards. Eventually Kompany started bringing the ball out of defence but Garcia should not have spent the whole game so deep.
• Dzecko comes in for a lot of criticism from City fans. He isn't as good as Aguero or Negrado, but how many other teams have a third choice striker as good as him? I can't think of a Premier League team. He now has 50 goals for City and we can be thankful he took his one real chance on Saturday so well.

City demolish Norwich - were City good or Norwich rubbish?

My second visit to the Etihad of the season and a first. I'm not sure I've ever seen City score 7 before. When was the last time City scored that many? I can't recall us doing that since the 10-1 victory over Huddersfield in the 80's.

But I'm not sure how good City were. Norwich seemed to allow City to play and didn't really do anything in the game. I'm almost left asking if they actually turned up? They were awful and I've no idea what their game plan was. It wasn't to sit back and get men behind the ball, there was no attempt to use pressing and get pressure on the ball. The result was that Silva, Nasri, Aguero etc had plenty of time on the ball to do what they wanted. This inevitably meant a hammering for Norwich.

I'm not sure there's much point analysing how City played. Defensively there was little to do and in attack they showed what we know already. Given plenty of possession and time on the ball, they will score a lot of goals with the attacking firepower in the squad. I doubt they will get as much possession and time again this season.

Finally, has Yaya found his favourite place on the pitch? If City get a free kick there again, there's a good chance he'll score again.

The Fixture List is Out!

Next season's Premier League fixture list is now out, and the shock is we play everyone twice! Home and away! More seriously, here are a few observations:

• Two of the newly promoted sides in the first 3 games could be tricky. The promoted teams are often more dangerous early in the season while confidence is still high and before the reality of the struggle ahead sets in. So this could be a tricky time to play them.
• The games against United and Chelsea are relatively early in the season. I expect these two, and ourselves, to be the main title challengers but the fact the games are early means they are unlikely to be decisive.
• Everton away as the second to last game. Lets hope we don't need a result as we have a shocking record there.
• The fixture list looks fairly balanced. There's no obvious run of tricky games. The worst is playing Spurs away followed 3 days later by Chelsea at home at the end on January and beginning of February.
• Swansea away on New Year's Day - good luck to those travelling with the hangover.