The good news is that City scored 3 goals in a match..................... bad news is that we let in 3. This game was there for the taking, Although we all probably feel like this because our expectations this season are so much higher, I guess. Overall game was pretty exciting and Fulham were pretty good value for their 3 goals (even though all City fans felt that it was 2 points dropped). I do feel for Kasper and while he wasn't really at fault for any of the goals, IMHO, he does flap a lot at crosses and does need to work on his judgement on when to come forward. This I feel comes with experience and it is now time for him to take a rest. It was a pretty good run of games though.
CTID, Richard
To the dismay of some City purists, if you will, our own Michael Johnson is being touted as the new Colin Bell. While some claim 19 year old Johnno has got mountains to climb before he’s able to tie the King’s boots, Bell himself cited Johnno as resembling him during his heydays.
Whatever the verdict has been, we are blessed with one of the most talented youngsters in the league. Being brought into the City fraternity, from the Everton Academy, Johnson has climbed through the ranks into becoming a regular alongside Didi Hamman, since his debut in the senior squad last season. Scoring two glorious match-winning goals in our first six games, Johnno is certainly a blessing to the City squad. The energy he brings into the game, together with new Blues Elano and Petrov, is simply mesmerizing. It’s great to see our midfielders causing quite the chaos around the opposition’s penalty box with their flair and fluidity. You know the defender would be gasping for air trying to keep up with Petrov. You know something great will happen whenever Elano gets the ball. It won’t be long ‘til our midfielders gel into becoming one of the best in the league. Our backline already are! Albeit the victory, it was still too apparent that we need help up front. Though I don’t really rate Andy Gray, I had the same question in me throughout the game. Why Mpenza over Bianchi? I don’t really see any pace advantage in him nor did he have that sixth scoring sense. The 10 minutes Bianchi spent on the pitch surpassed whatever Mpenza did for the previous 80. Nevertheless, I could see how Mpenza really tried. With pretty much the same concern, I believe we need Isaksson back. While the stats have shown how Kasper has only let in two goals in six games, I cringe everytime we give away a corner kick, to be honest. Though Kasper is a highly spirited, full of passion goalkeeper, he lacks something essential for goalkeepers; experience. I do believe that through the years, he will be a splendid goalkeeper. But for the time being, maybe with Isaksson between the posts, I won’t have to grasp my pillow every time a ball crosses into our box anymore. We’ll be facing Fulham, Newcastle, Middlesbrough and Birmingham next before playing Chelsea at the Bridge on 27/10 (RM10 on the table we’ll win there, really). And I’m seeing us collecting a handful of good points from the four games ahead. Second in the table and things are looking good.
On the plus side, the boys played well for oh, all of the first ten minutes or so. Then with practically Blackburn's first set piece, a corner, they go and score via Benni McCarthy on the 13th minute. After that it's practically one way traffic. Blackburn were up for it and City weren't. Garrido had a poor game and made Bentley look like a world beater. Both Dunne and Richards had nightmare games and were constantly pulled apart by the hard running of both Santa Cruz and McCarthy.
Basically it rained and Blackburn were physically more powerful and direct and it really knocked the boys off their stride. We've got to treat it as a learning curve for them and hope that they do learn from this. It's still early days but at least we should all of us come back down to earth now. The team is new and individually the players are pretty good. Sven has now got to get them playing as a team and for each other. Still feel that we are short a pacey striker and a midfield hardman. CTID, Richard |
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