A lot of City fans will be breathing a sigh of relief after today's result, a win was important leading into the new season.
We started off well today and had a lot of the ball, if we didn't score it looked like we were going to pass them to death at one point, luckily Gareth Barry scored from inside the box to finally turn our possession into a goal. The lead was short lived when former City striker Chris Killen latched onto a Georgios Samaras pass to make it 1-1. City came out for the second half looking up for it and with six minutes of the half gone we were back in the lead, Craig Bellamy doing really well to finish and make it 2-1.
There were several positives to take out of the game ahead of the new season, most notably Gareth Barry's performance. He was brilliant, he hardly does anything wrong and always looks so cool under pressure, himself and De Jong also have a very good understanding with each other. If one of them made a tackle the other was there to mop up the loose ball, it was very good to watch.
Another good performance worth a mention came from Craig Bellamy, he looked really sharp and caused several problems for the Celtic defence, Hughes is going to have a big dilemma on his hands when picking his forward line for the game against Blackburn.
If there was a disappointment today it would have to have been Wright-Phillips, he just does not look his usual self. It isn't just one or even two parts of his game that are lacking, he is basically lacking in every area of his game. After seeing Weiss come on for a short while and impress again, I would suggest SWP will have to pull his socks up because Weiss will definitely take his place if he doesn't.
To finish off I have to mention Tevez, he only came on for twenty five minutes but he looked really good in that short space of time. Obviously his work rate is very good as we all know but he also has a lot of class about him, more than I thought if I am honest. He could be a huge part of our season.
Manchester City: Given, Zabaleta, Dunne (c), Toure (Ben-Haim 18), Bridge, De Jong (Adebayor 46), Barry, Ireland, Wright-Phillips (Weiss 72), Robinho (Petrov 72), Bellamy (Tevez 65).
Unused subs:
Taylor, Richards, Garrido, Etuhu, Vidal, McGivern.
Posts
Win against CL regulars Celtic !
ReplyDeleteThat team we had out only Donati was a starter in out CL games and he will be the only starter , starting our league games for that starting line up. That was our 2nd XI!
CL - SPL Celtic ..
Boruc Hinkel Caldwell Loovens Fox, McGeady Donati N'Geumo Maloney, McDonald Fortun'e.
But as a club you are CL regulars pal.
ReplyDeleteToo bloody right!
ReplyDeletedonati was man of the match,,,,playing out of position,,i think you've got an awful lot of work to do at city
ReplyDeleteGood luck in the EPL, but you should really have done a lot better against a second string SPL side. Bring on the Arsenal v our first team!
ReplyDeleteThere is lots of work to do at City you are right, it aint going to happen over night.
ReplyDeleteYour players who played are in and around your sirst team and should be strong if you are a big club as claimed, you should also have strong players in reserve if you are playing in CL also. So quit the sour grapes.
Sorry first team I meant. P.S. Arsenal will hammer your first team.
ReplyDeleteWell done City and well done Celtic.I enjoyed the game and the spirit it was played in,I hope we both do well in our respective leagues once these fitness exercises are out of the way.I hope we can meet again, in EUROPE next year,Good luck. Des
ReplyDeleteSorry folks I was at the game and was looking forward to seeing Manchester's "galacticos." When I saw that Mowbray was only playing one of his first eleven from Moscow (Donati) and in a position that, to the best of my knowledge, he had never played before I thought it might be a cricket score. (An australian one anyway) However I watched Celtics £3m defence cope fairly comfortably with City's £65 million pound attack, and a player who cost us 150 grand from Derry City waltz through City's defence with apparent ease. Don't kid yourselves. If Celtic had put out a full strength side from the start City fans everywhere would be extremely worried this morning.
ReplyDeleteno we wouldn't
ReplyDeleteI was disappointed with City's tempo and our defence was brittle which hopefully will be addressed soon. BTW, it wasn't exactly our first team either. Missing defensive players - Richards, Onuoha, Kompany and for most of it, Toure. There were some promising moves going forward, but this 'project' WILL take time, so I'm sorry, but expect a slow start with things picking up after Christmas and a fifth place finish. I would be ecstatic if proved wrong.
ReplyDeletePs. Laughed at the Celtic song to the tune of Yellow submarine:
"All we need is an Arab millionaire...an Arab millionaire..."
But the one about Adebayor washing elephants was a bit naughty, though it's now a good step up in pay for him!!!
Unrelated topic but is anyone going to Bburn on sat and know of anywhere to park? n preferably a place where i wont lose all my wheels for wearing a city shirt!!
ReplyDeleteMissed the game on sat as i was on holiday but i agree with most of the above comments that say we will take time to get going, i just hope we dont get another season of transition!!
CTID
Parking Blackburn
ReplyDeleteGo through Darwen on a666 and a hill going down towards the ground a hotel on right charges a fiver but be early about 8 minutes walk from the ground and most blues heading in that way to boot either that or park in a Darwen side st and walk through with the blue multitude.
You will not get any bother off Blackburn fans they are sound, or at least off my past experiences you won't.
ReplyDeleteI normally park about ten minutes away, you will see plenty of places, I have even parked on someones drive once for a fiver, might try that house again this time round actually lol