Manchester City v. West Bromwich Albion Match Review

Tevez increases his stats to 49 goals in all competitions with a hat trick in this thriller against W.B.A resulting in a 3-0 win for Manchester City!

Mancini decided to change his formation a tad using a line-up of: J. Hart, K. Toure, P. Zabaleta, J. Boateng, A. Kolarov, G. Barry, V. Kompany, Y. Toure, J. Milner, C. Tevez, and D. Silva.

Pros:


I can't stress enough how great of an addition Kolarov has made to the team since he's been back from his ankle injury in the beginning of the season. I'll be the first to admit that Kolarov had some trouble adapting to Mancini's form of play, but lately with injuries to both Adam Johnson and Balotelli he has really shown his ability to play. Mancini did something really well here with the formation allowing Kolarov to float on the left side of the field and worry less about being the last line in defense. By putting him slightly above the bottom four (Zab, Boateng, Toure, Kompany), it gave Kolarov the ability to be where he was needed most. The more often we can get Kolarov about 30 yards from the opposing goal, the better, as he has a rocket of a shot. We saw this in action when his shot slammed against the cross bar from about 35 yards out.

Based on how they play, I'm assuming Tevez and Silva must be  the best of friends. Their short quick passing is a beauty to watch and continuously leads to goal after goal. The quick action in the box that lead to the second goal sent shivers down my spine.

In addition, I applaud Mancini's continued involvement of James Milner. He's a player I equate to someone like Dirk Kuyt of Liverpool. Milner works hard in offense and defense but isn't necessarily flashy and almost works behind the scenes

Cons:


Regardless of the 3-0 ending score, our defense was far too shaky many times against a relegation fighting side. Joe Hart had to step in to make a couple pretty strong saves because our defense was not as strong as I'd like them to be.

Man of the Match:


Tevez of course. As a striker myself, I can understand the amount of pressure placed upon a person taking a penalty kick, let alone 2! Plus, as I have stated before, the 2nd goal was absolutely stunning and he deserves so much credit for dodging the defense as he slot it past the goalie.

Overall Effect:


With Manchester United losing against Wolves 2-1, City's win effectively puts them back in the title race. And the result of Liverpool v. Chelsea will also have a huge effect. Hopefully Liverpool can slow down Chelsea as they build a final push at the end of the season with their new striker Torres.

Manchester City v. Birmingham City Match Review

For a team like City to seem to be lacking depth in their squad is ludicrous, and unfortunately for fans, altogether true.

When the formation and squad originally popped up on the screen, I could barely contain my excitement! Mancini must apparently read my blog, I thought! The formation provided by ESPN2 seemed to consist of a 4-4-2, with the midfield players arranged in a diamond shape eerily similar to my fantasy formation below.

I've decided that the format of my match review blog posts will consist of: Pros, Cons, Man of the Match, and Overall Effect.

Pros:

Kolarov played a great game today in the position as Left Wing Back (:LWB). Providing width and some support to Milner/Silva, Kolarov sprinted up and down the field, creating offensive threats and playing pretty good defense. When Mancini bought Kolarov, he must have realized that Kolarov plays more attacking football compared to defensive. I think Kompany and Toure realized that too, shuffling left when he got caught up top from a quick counter-attack.

The relationship between Dzeko and Tevez is something that in my opinion will be dynamite as they get more comfortable with each other. Tevez is allowed to play in an almost floating wherever-he-wants-to-play position  with a more natural all-an-out striker sitting up top. This provides Tevez the freedom to play deeper and link up with Silva on a more continuous basis which is a plus for Man City football. To go further, I think Tevez becomes a better player when he helps start the play deeper in the field and can be involved in every step in each play (Look at goal #1, where he started the play with an amazing flick to Silva in our half of the field). With the relationship between Dzeko and Tevez working so well, it really allowed Silva to provide width to the team and attack on that right side.

I thought Richards showed real fire and passion for the game tonight as he toppled over two players resulting in what looked to be like a concussion. Before his injury, he was a nice safety-valve for our offensive players and played great streaking up and down the right flank.

Cons:

To get it out of the way, Richards getting injured. Right when he started to come under Mancini's favor (two starts in a row is good I guess), he is seemingly seriously injured that will probably keep him out of the squad for a couple weeks.

Boateng sucks at Right Wing Back (RWB). His crosses were all poor and he didn't involve himself in any productive plays. I would rather have Zabaleta be the all time sub for our wing backs and Boateng be a sub for a center back, as he did well today in the center.

Joe Hart didn't have the greatest game. Whatever Zigic claims, that goal went in without his aid. High-quality goalies need to be trained in preparing for free kicks to get through the box without touching a player, and Joe Hart literally let this ball slip through his fingers.

Patrick Viera is, in my opinion, Mancini's worst purchase (and that's saying something!). Why purchase a 34 year old midfielder? We have all the experience and knowledge we need in people like Gareth Barry and K. Toure. Even if the penalty was soft, he played horribly today, continuously losing it in the middle of the field allowing Birmingham to counter. 

And let's not be fooled by this supposed diamond shaped midfield purported by ESPN in the formation shown prior to the game. Gareth Barry was merely playing a left defensive midfielder position. Instead of Mancini replacing De Jong with Viera, he should have moved Gareth in the central defensive position and brought on Jo to keep the pressure on Birmingham. We need to display positivity and creativity in our formation. Playing three players at or around the age of 30 is NOT the answer (Barry, K. Toure, and Viera).

Man of the Match:

Kolarov hands down. Fantastic free kick. Even if Foster was in the correct position for the free kick, that ball hit the very edge of the side netting. Outside of the free kick, he tirelessly moved up and down the field providing offensive and defensive qualities desperately needed by the blues.

Runners-up: Tevez, Silva

Overall Effect:

This result is one of many indicators that Mancini needs to change his outlook on football.  While I appreciate his short-passing mentality evidenced by Tevez and Silva running circles around Birmingham, he needs to get out of his extremely defensive thought process and move towards more neutral ideas (off v. def.). Truly playing 1 defensive midfielder could open up the field to a number of exciting personalities.

This result substantially affects our chances at securing a CL spot. This tie keeps us at 3rd, but gives some life to Chelsea and Tottenham who are 2 and 4 points behind us, respectively, with a game in hand. And with Man U. and Chelsea in the next 2 months, the two points lost today could end up being very pivotal.

Strategery Problem

Now that the transfer window is closed, we can focus on Mancini's looming problem; Who to put where. In our game against Villa, which we lost, City featured a star-studded line-up including David Silva, Y. Toure, Dzeko, and Tevez. What problem pops up from starting 2 center offensive mids, 2 center-minded strikers, 2 center defensive mids, and 4 defenders? Width of course! It was like watching a conga line, where toure would pass to silva, silva to dzeko, dzeko to tevez, resulting in tevez losing the ball because of his lack of support.

If you noticed, Kolarov worked his ass of in this game because he was the only player providing any particular width attack and crossing positioning. I'm curious to see the ball possession % maintained by Kolarov as he tirelessly ran up and down the field providing both offense and defense.

But Jacob, you'll exclaim, that's what LWBs (Left Wing Back) and RWBs (Right Wing Back) are supposed to do! I agree, and I think Kolarov is just the man to do what is necessary in the LWB position to provide some attacking options. But this situation simply exacerbates an already fraught situation. Can we rely entirely on our backs to provide attacking options on the wing? Can Boateng be a sufficient RWB?

The answer to both questions is no.

First, We need width up top.  To get width we must utilize James Milner and/or Balotelli. I would prefer Milner based on his ability to provide a decent cross, but if history is any indication Mancini will always choose his golden boy. Nonetheless, Dzeko and Tevez are not viable options as wide players, and Mancini should not lie to himself.

Second, Micah Richards is the much better choice to RWB than Boateng. While Notts County is a pretty sub-par team, Richards was one of the only sparks of the game and provided the assist for the game tying goal. I can't say this enough, start Richards! Zabaleta and Boateng should only be subs!

The problem facing Mancini is massaging egos while simultaneously winning games. Milner, Silva, Y. Toure, Dzeko, Tevez, and Balotelli are all expensive players who should be expecting a starting place in the line-up. But we can't play them all at the same time (under Mancini's 4-2-3-1 system). I have a number of different ideas towards solving this problem (play 1 central defensive midfielder instead of 2, play no defensive mids and rely on defense like many other EPL teams, etc.,) but to be honest, I fear none of these will ever be implemented. Additionally, I don't see Mancini ever sitting Silva/Toure for a wide midfielder either. The best we will be able to hope for is a line-up like this:

                          Tevez

                                   Dzeko
       Balotelli
                    Silva
                              Y. Toure

                        De Jong               Richards
Kolarov
                Kompany     K. Toure

                            Hart

With the absence of Adam Johnson for a few months, Mancini gets a slight reprieve from deciding who's to start and who's to sub. But the team needs width, and in order to successfully maintain a CL spot the team needs it fast.

Transfer Window Closed and More!

Striker was the name of the game this January as the transfer window closed late last night. The shocking last-minute moves include Fernando Torres moving to Chelsea, with Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll moving to Liverpool. Andy Carroll broke the English transfer fee record at a whopping 35 Million Pounds, which was promptly outdone by a staggering 50 Million  Pound fee for Torres.

In addition to these huge money transfer, quite a number of striker-shuffling moves occurred. Darren Bent moved from Sunderland to Aston Villa, John Carew moved from Aston Villa to Stoke, Robbie Keane from Tottenham to West Ham, Edin Dzeko to City, Roque Santa Cruze returned back to Blackburn, and Adebayor moved to Real Madrid.

What does this mean to City? Other than Darren Bent (who scored the winning goal against City a week ago) and Edin Dzeko's acquisition, not all that much. Most of the player movement in the window was merely shuffling decent players between decent teams. We might see some new life in Liverpool with an all new striking force, but with the transfer window closed I still predict a top 4 finish for the blues.

The sad news for City this January is the injury suffered by Adam Johnson. According to Sky Sports, AJ is to miss the next three months through an ankle injury that happened in training. With AJ being injured, Mancini felt uncomfortable letting SWP leave as we could require additional back-up in the wing positions. I hope this means that SWP will receive some playing time the next few months, because if he continues to warm the bench I fear that his career could be coming to a lackluster finish.