Well, before the game Carlo Ancelotti suggested “We want to play our football against a good team” but when it came to it, we were up against an ‘ok’ team and didn’t look like we particularly wanted to play anymore. Oh I know Citeh’s version will be recounted somewhat differently but the bottom line is they gave us everything they had, didn’t batter us and came away with a narrow win. The reality though is that with a swift kick up the arse, we had another gear in us but Carlo failed to deliver his foot where he needed to at half time, so we played it out at one pace without ever coming close to exerting ourselves – and lost by nothing more than a moment of lazy defending.
Mancini, on the other hand, went into this game bemoaning only having 11 players fit (boo hoo), so it was amusing to see his bench carrying the likes of Adebayor, Given, Lescott, Vieira, Jo and Adam Johnson. And whilst that’s the sort of bench we’d have boasted in the past (probably better than that in fact), ours held our third choice keeper and 4 players under 20. Not that I’m complaining about that because the fact that Carlo Ancelotti seems to genuinely be taking our youngsters seriously these days pleases me greatly.
Onto the game then and a cagey start from both sides – I guess the manager’s are both Italian after all – not helped by a dodgy ball apparently, which was duly exchanged. Fair play to City, they’d made their minds up to take the game to us from the start and always like they were battling a lot harder to win the ball than we were. Ramires was notably caught napping on the ball more than anyone else, seemingly not quite sussing the pace of Premier League football just yet. He’ll really have to toughen himself up physically if he’s going to seriously compete in these games.
In the main though, it was a game for both the defences rather than attacks who, despite some good build-up play, lacked the end product. Both sides taking their share of the possession and creating half chances here and there but nothing to really test either keeper.
Branislav Ivanovic was unlucky not to give us the opener before the half hour, latching onto our first corner ball and first hitting the post and then forcing the save from Hart from the rebound. Another push forward from us saw Didier Drogba dragged back off the ball, although having seen the Ivorian go down theatrically all too easily earlier in the game, the ref turns a blind eye to what should have been a free-kick on the edge of the area. Still, a break from City had Mikel blatantly block off Tevez and get away with it, so at least Marriner seemed to be consistent. Mind you, the ridiculous block on Drogba in the area that followed, really warranted a reaction from the ref but unless a City man resorted to getting a machete out, it was clear Marriner had decided Drogba would be getting nothing from him.
One more shot from Essien, high and wide takes us to the break and it’s official….no goal for Chelsea in the first 45 minutes and it’s a crisis.
No changes in personnel at the break and Nicolas Anelka flies a 25 yarder in Hart’s direction to palm away. Essien’s header from the corner brings us no more joy either, as another little burst of attack comes to nothing. Silva, who in truth was barely noticeable all game, turned into a petulant two year old, failing to get the ball off Alex and giving him a stab in the ankle out of sheer frustration. And whilst he might have gone on to force a decent save from Cech, he couldn’t clear the first man from the subsequent corner, so my opinion of him at City remains unchanged.
And then came the only moment in the game to separate us, with the Argie midget Tevez running from the halfway line, the Chelsea defence either failing to notice he had actually got the ball at his feet or just not being arsed, and he slipped it past Cech with a flash of his ‘Team Bridge’ ‘Happy Birthday Mum’ t-shirt.
So, an hour gone and not only had we not managed to score but we’d also managed to concede – almost without noticing. It hadn’t escaped Carlo’s notice though because he decided it was time to ring the changes, bringing Zhirkov on for Mikel. A couple of distance shots from Essien, thanks to the City bus preventing him getting any closer, and again it was all purely speculative from us. Drogba made way for Sturridge to the expected reception and 17 year old Josh McEachran replaces the lightweight Ramires but realistically, the game had fizzled out anyway and we never really looked like getting past the bus.
Overall then, two players made the difference for them, Kompany throughout and Tevez – for the goal. For us Ramires was way too soft in midfield. I’d kidded myself we were doing ok without Lampard but yesterday highlighted his absence as a weakness against a side much more prepared for the battle.
Roberto Mancini went for the unspectactular ‘defend and wait for the break’ technique against us and our lazy defence complied with the rules nicely. Bearing in mind City seem to be intent on modeling themselves on Chelsea during the Mourinho era, you’d have thought our players might have been a little more prepared for that.
As examinations of Chelsea go though, if this game was billed as our test, then clearly we didn’t do enough to pass. Just six games into the season though, I prefer to think of this as a ‘mock’. Losing to City didn’t do us any harm last season and if anything, ultimately served as a valuable lesson to give us the kick up the arse we needed to take the title. So, whilst a bit of revision might be in order, I don’t think we’ve failed any real tests yet.
TEAMS
MAN CITY: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Toure, Boyata (Boateng, 88), Milner, De Jong, Barry, Toure Yaya, Silva (Johnson, 77), Tevez (Adebayor, 87).
Unused Subs: Given, Lescott, Vieira, Jo.
CHELSEA: Cech, Ivanovic, Terry, Alex, Cole, Ramires (McEachran, 81), Mikel (Zhirkov, 68), Essien, Malouda, Drogba (Sturridge, 74), Anelka.
Unused Subs: Turnbull, Ferreira, Van Aanholt, Kakuta.
GOALS
MAN CITY: Tevez 59
Blue is the colour
