City 3 - Wolves 1 thoughts.

That was probably the most frustrating game we've had all season. Wolves did very well to break up our fluidity early on and that pretty much set the tone for the rest of the game - it was fragmented, fussy and we looked like we were struggling to get a grip on the game for the first time this season.

I thought it was right that an error from Wayne Hennessey created the first goal because despite his fantastic first half performance he did a lot of time wasting. Even my dad sat next to me (who's a United fan) was getting frustrated with the amount of seconds it took the Wolves 'keeper to punt the ball.

It was really good to see Dzeko celebrate so much after being gifted a goal. I guess his frustration was built up in the first half when his chip was turned wide of the post brilliantly by Wayne Hennessey. It was a calm finish frmo Dzeko, who could have so easily scuffed his chance. That's 12 for the season already for Edin!

I thought Attwell was terrible. Honestly terrible. Not corrupt, just plain terrible. He shouldn't be allowed to referee Premier League games because he is terribly out of his depth. Inconsistency is the word to describe his "performance" in that game. I was actually shocked that Mario's tackle before our third goal wasn't given as a foul because players were booked for less than that.

I thought Johnson took his goal brilliantly. When he shaped up to have a crack I thought "no!" but when the ball rustled the back of the net I went berserk. That goal put us 5 points clear at the top of the Premier League. We're going to be top of the table in November! We'd have normally faded into mid-table obscurity by now.

Roll on Villareal.

Wolves 2-5 Manchester City, thoughts.

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE WOLVES TONIGHT
I didn't get to watch the game unfortunately, because I was out watching the wonderful Patrick Wolf embrace the stage spectacularly at HMV Ritz Manchester. But I was getting updates via text of what was happening.

I thought Johnson took his goal really well, and his pass for Nasri's goal was another example of his more creative side that we rarely see. It was good to see Edin get on the scoresheet twice again, because that takes him into double figures for the season (and we haven't even passed halfway!)

It's also good to see that what is essentially our second team can pull off results like that one away from home on a cold night in an autumnal month.

Good night.

Wolves - City preview

HOWLING AT THE MOON
I have to admit that I struggle to get enthused about League Cup games, but we're one step away from the quarter-finals and I'd like to see us get a trophy on board. However if what happened to Birmingham happens to us, should we win the thing, I want that meaningless pot to stay away from us.


Mancini opted not to play Nigel de Jong on Sunday in the demolition of Manchester United, so I expect him to start in midfield. Alongside who? I'm not sure. I would say Hargreaves, but I'm sure I heard something on the radio yesterday about Hargreaves having a slight pull somewhere on his body - again. Yaya and Barry both played a full 90 minutes on Sunday, so I don't expect them to start.


Edin Dzeko didn't play for very long against United so I expect him to lead the line tonight. And although Zabaleta didn't get a place on the pitch on Sunday, I don't expect him to start tonight either. His father is ill once again and undergoing surgery, which means that Zabba's head may not be in the right place. Of course, for the good of the team and Zabaleta, I hope his father makes a full recovery.


I think we'll have just enough to win, and we're going to be riding high on confidence after Sunday. Wolves are pretty much digging a hole that will eventually cave in one them unless they get something tonight, but I don't see them beating us.


Manchester City 3-1 Wolves

Why always us?

MANCHESTER UNITED 1-6 MANCHESTER CITY
I'm not too sure how that happened. United dominated the opening twenty minutes and looked to be the team making all the right moves... that was until Super Mario finished brilliantly to give us an (at the time) undeserved lead.

After that, I have to say that there was only a tiny bit of doubt in my mind. Balotelli volleyed in the second from close range and that was that. And by the time Aguero  hadknocked in the third I was sat on the floor outside the Etihad Stadium, struggling to comprehend exactly what I'd just seen - Manchester City scoring three goals at Old Trafford.

When Dzeko was introduced for the man of the moment Balotelli I thought that we'd see the game out and maybe come away with a 3-1/4-1 win. A great result nonetheless but nothing compared to what actually happened.

Fletcher's goal actually turned out to be the best goal of the game even though it meant nothing at all. But that goal opened United up as they came looking for a second strike. A mistake at the back gave us a corner, and from the resulting cross Lescott found Dzeko in acres space to knee in from 2 yards. Silva weaved his magic, first by nutmegging De Gea, and then by sending Edin Dzeko away for his second and City's 6th with the pass of the season so far.

Special mentions go to Mad Mario, David Silva and Micah Richards for their performances at Old Trafford but James Milner was once again the outstanding contributor. He hasn't put a foot wrong this season, has our James, and today was no exception. He provided cover, provided the assist for the first goal and pretty much popped up everywhere in a very Silva-like performance.

I've never been more happy as a City fan before, and I even think we're good enough to go all the way but we came up against a shellshocked United today. Whether we like it or not United are going to be our closest rivals this season, both domestically and geographically.

Is the gap between City and United shortening? Yes. But United will bounce back soon enough in this long rollercoaster ride that is the English Premier League season. It's been a great start to but whether we can continue it awaits to be seen.

Manchester United 1-6 Manchester City player ratings.
Joe Hart - 8
Micah Richards - 9
Vincent Kompany - 7
Joleon Lescott - 7
Gael Clichy - 8
Gareth Barry - 7
Yaya Toure - 8
David Silva - 9
James Milner - 10
Sergio Aguero - 7
Mario Balotelli - 8
---
Edin Dzeko - 7
Samir Nasri - 6
Aleksandar Kolarov - N/A

Derby Day is upon us.

Well, it's that scary time of the season that happens a minmum of two times - it's the Manchester Derby, folks! I seem to say this every year; but this is the closest Manchester Derby ever. The teams are more or less evenly matched and there's an equal measure of optimism and fear in both camps. City boast the talents of Sergio Aguero, David Silva, Samir Nasri, Vincent Kompany, Joe Hart, Nigel de Jong, Gael Clichy, Micah Richards, Joleon Lescott, Yaya Toure, Edin Dzeko and James Milner while United will be relying on Wayne Rooney, Nani, Ashley Young, David de Gea, Nemajna Vidic, Phil Jones and Patrice Evra to pull them through this one.

Down the years United have always gone into this fixture expecting to win. We have just one win at Old Trafford in nearly 40 years, we have never really troubled United domestically, and it's always been a case of "well at least we beat United" at the end of every disappointing campaign in the blue half of Manchester. While United have won every trophy under the sun, we have been feeding off the scraps that the Football League has to offer, but recently that's changed. Yaya Toure gave us our first ever win at the new Wembley Stadium by scoring against United in a game we deserved to win.

And over the summer it appeared the tide had turned even more. We were bringing in names like Sergio Aguero and we were signing top European prospects like Stefan Savic, all in preparation for the Community Shield. United's second half efforts and 3-2 win forced us back to the drawing board for the start of the season, because we realised we weren't as ready as we thought we were for a title challenge.

But since that day we've signed Samir Nasri, smashed Tottenham to pieces at White Hart Lane and you may have noticed that we're top of the Premier League above United heading into the Derby. United haven't been at their best like we have but they don't need to be (United won the Premier League and got to the Champions' League final on 80% last season).

I think United will have too much at Old Trafford for us to extend our lead at the top of the table, but at this stage of the season anything can change before May. Their home record is annoyingly fantastic from a City fan's perspective, but you cannot deny how much of a fortress Old Trafford has remained over the decades.

Predicted starting 11.


Prediction - Manchester United 2-1 Manchester City

City 2-1 Villareal, thoughts.

Manchester City have won a game in the Champions' League! Aguero is my hero all over again! That goal could honestly be the most important goal of our Champions' League campaign. We've got Villareal next and I see no reason why we can't beat them again, and with Napoli up against Bayern again City could find themselves in 2nd place and heading through to the next round.

I thought we were a bit more adventurous than Villareal, who rarely opted to go forwards, but boy do we make it more difficult than we need to. David Silva of all people was the man to sell de Jong short and give our Spanish opponents a chance to take the lead.

I have to give a special mention to James Milner who once again played brilliantly. His expert reverse ball played in Pablo Zabaleta who crossed for David Silva. Silva's backheel found Aguero and Aguero tapped in. I went absolutely berserk, hugged a fellow Blue, jumped around the aisles and completely lost any idea of my surroundings. The last time we scored a last minute was in November 2007! Steven Ireland's volley gave us a 2-1 win over Reading that day, and four years later we're on a much bigger stage.

This learning curve is straightening out slightly as each game passes in this competition, and we may have that little bit of quality to get through. But we sit third and with our future out of our hands. Anyway, roll on Sunday!

City - Villareal, preview.

AND IT'LL BE ALL YELLOW


I'll start off by saying that Villareal's league form could not contrast more to ours. After 7 games in La Liga this season they sit 14th on 7 points. Their tactic appears to be, according to my La Liga watching friend, "let's-give-it-to-Rossi-or-Cani-and-see-what-they-can-do" and it's a tactic that appears to be failing both domestically and on the European stage.

However, this is City. Everything could go totally wrong out of absolutely nowhere because we just know that it can. For example, we controlled large portions of the game against Napoli and one mistake sent Edinson Cavani away to score. Had it not been for Kolarov's free-kick expertise, we could have found ourselves in exactly the same position as Villareal.

Villareal know that if they lose this game they're more or less out of the competition. They'll be at least four points behind us and having to go to Bayern Munich is not a fixture you want to see when you need as many points as possible.

Villareal's main threats come from the front two: former Manchester United man Giuseppe Rossi and Ruben Gracia, aka "Cani". They're both tiny, tricky players and are often praised highest by the Villareal fans. But we also need to look out for their centre-half Carlos Marchena. He'll be wearing the number 5 shirt for Villareal and he's not a player that takes prisoners in tackles. Marchena played over 200 games for Valencia before leaving for their "local rivals" (if you can call them that, considering they're over 30 British miles away from each other) Villareal in 2010.

I think we'll go with Aguero and Dzeko up front if Aguero's fit. If Aguero fails to prove his fitness, I feel that having Dzeko up front on his own with Nasri and Silva behind him could be the formation we go with. I'm just a little worried because Dzeko has yet to have a convincing performance when playing without Aguero. Hopefully this is his time to prove me wrong well and truly.

I think we will win this game. I think we actually do have too much for Villareal this time and when a win is much needed our players tend to come up with the goods these days. A strong line-up is required but I feel Zabaleta, Kolarov and Kolo Toure will make appearances. The usual lot of Hart, Kompany, de Jong and Silva will be there because you don't break up a spine as strong as that.

I think Mancini will be looking to get the game won after 60 minutes so that he can start making those all important substitutions. Our key players like Silva and Aguero that may be the difference between a win and a loss on Sunday will need to be at their peak in terms of fitness, and playing a full midweek game is not a way to do that.

I do think it's a little unfair that United can field a second string team tonight against Galati, while we have to play almost a full-strength team to overcome Villareal but that's the luck of the draw (*cough* FIX! *cough*).

Come on City, let's win a game in the Champions 'League.

City 4-1 Villa, thoughts.

I thought we were brilliant on Saturday. While everyone sat around me at the game decided to shout and scream about us not being fast enough, I sat comfortably in my seat, confident that the game would swing our way eventually.

We've shown in every game this season that we know how to score goals for fun, so I knew that eventually we would take the lead. Balotelli's audacity certainly proved me right, and I reminded my mum that patience is the key this season.


Mario may have been given Man of the Match but James Milner, Gareth Barry and Yaya Toure were excellent in midfield; tacking back, getting forward, passing perfectly, inspiring and creating; they were doing everything.


Milner's cross-field ball to Adam Johnson may well be the Pass of the Season so far, and there wasn't a player on that pitch I would have picked over him to make it. Added to that, his wonderful finish for our fourth is a contender for Goal of the Month.


A great day out; some wonderful weather coupled with some wonderful football!

Manchester City - Aston Villa, thoughts before the game.

There will be no full preview of this game because my Internet never gives me enough time to post a full article. Stupid thing.

How to End a Bad Week, by Manchester City Football Club.

How to End a Bad Week, by Manchester City Football Club.

That was excellent. As I said in the matchday thread on Bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk, we have the players that can produce the goods and break down defences that try to stifle us. Samir Nasri showed once again why we paid so much for him, David Silva showed why he won the Barclays Player of the Month Award for September 2011 and Super Mario is beginning to show why Roberto Mancini and Manchester City have persisted with him for so long.

In the bright Lancashire sunshine, City took a while to get going - Mario Balotelli's shooting was a little off and Sergio Aguero was walked off the field rather uncomfortably with a groin strain - and things just weren't going well. The build up play was patient and controlling but City were blocked off well by a superb Blackburn defence. Only once did City break through the cracks, but Balo's shot hit the wrong side of the netting.

But as it did last week, our persistence paid off! A corner was cleared to Adam Johnson who, despite having a poor game by his standards, curled a shot beautifully into the top corner from the edge of the area, akin to his late injury-time equaliser against Sunderland nearly two years ago. And then the floodgates opened

Mario Balotelli flew like a graceful bird at the front post to tap in the second goal, finally showing to Mancini that he's knuckling down. Samir Nasri scored his first ever goal for Manchester City via two deflections and Stefan Savic rose like a phoenix to plant a bullet header past Paul Robinson to make it 4-0. What a day.

Every substitute was made successfully without a refusal, Mario smiled and the City fans were in full voice throughout. Their vocal support of Mancini really came across well on the awful coverage I managed to find. The only problem is Aguero's injury, but that's nothing some good rest over the international break won't fix.

Ratings:Hart 7; Zabaleta 7, Kompany 7, Lescott 7, Kolarov 6; Yaya Toure 9, Milner 8, Silva 8, Johnson 6; Balotelli 9, Aguero 5.

Savic 7; Nasri 8; Dzeko (N/A)