Sunday 25 October 2009

City 2 - 2 Fulham

  • For the second time in three years we failed to win having led Fulham 2-0 at home. For the third time in three years we failed to win having led Fulham at home. And Fulham's bizarrely good record at Eastlands continues.
  • It's so obvious as to be banal but this was clearly two points dropped. We lost a two goal lead at home. Big teams don't do that. This season is about our attempts to turn ourselves into one of the big sides and until today we were doing well. But would Chelsea ever go 2-0 up at Stamford Bridge to a mid-table side and fail to win? Or, mutatis mutandis, would Liverpool, Arsenal or Manchester United? More work needed, clearly.
  • I've said it before but we seem to be doing the splits regarding our set-piece ability. It tends to be true that teams that are good at defending set-pieces are also good at attacking set-pieces. Last year we were poor at both attacking and defending set-pieces. This year we've improved attacking: another goal today came from a corner, but regressed defensively - conceding another from a free-kick. It's frustrating.
  • Three draws in a row is not a crisis. It's not even close. But we are under pressure and everyone wants us to slip up. A comfortable win against Scunthorpe on Wednesday is a must, as is a win at Birmingham City on Sunday. After Liverpool's win today the media are going to be keen to find a new 'crisis club.' We must not let it be us.
  • As I said, three straight draws is not a crisis. You know what is though? No clean sheets since Fratton Park in August.

5 comments:

newsoftheblues said...

pretty alarming to see the standard of defending today, we are getting worse.

I know richards has become a new fav of the boo boys, but his performance was simply astonishing. His lack of a good touch or positional sense, unwillingness to learn argueing with captain toure.
I am deeply concerned about the lack of progress and infact decline of his ability.

Under sven the defence was pretty good, dunne and richards looked good. Both suffered in next season, with a pattern that has followed on this season, extremely poor with set pieces and handling crosses. It's continued with two new defenders. Dunne has moved on and has looked more assured and able in set pieces. There is something not right in the training in the defence. It's not working, very good players are not looking comfortable or settled.

Losing a 2 goal lead at home is a bit of a shocker, leaving the ground it felt like a loss.

It's a rather urgant issue this defending lark, a side with such strength, we have a key weakness that can be exploited by the poorest of sides.

astridhq said...

Questions for Leslie Hughes

Did Emmanuel Adebayor win a single header today?

Could Tevez hit a barn door from 5 yards (he was slighly more acurate than Zamora though)?

Why is Micah Richards starting position always back on his heals?

Is Nigel De Jong better in the centre of midfield than Stephen Ireland?

Why does our team always look tired after 20 minutes, even when the oposition has played in the previous midweek and we haven't?

malcylon said...

It wasn't great but not a catastrophe. We are essentially a new side and the internationals have seriously interrupted the rythm and shifting up the learning curve, especially in defence. But I dont think the last couple of games are a reason to break up the back four, apart from Richards who shouldnt have been playing today. They'll get it back. Thought the formation didnt do us favours today. We needed a bit more up the middle I thought. Maybe Ireland over De Jong. Attacking was always going to be tricky given the Fulham wall in front of goal so it was giving up the clean sheet that let us down again. Must sort that out.

newsoftheblues said...

well ireland came on and was absolutley useless, he ghosted in the middle. He follows and fails to make tackles.

I hoped he would of come on with the bit between his teeth, but he was less than effective.

nigel de jong is an extremly good midfielder, and we certianly didnt look better without him, he grips the middle and allows barry more freedom

Unknown said...

if you compare with last year this was a point won, but if we consider ourselves genuine CL contenders then this s def 2 points lost. Regardless of the opposition we should never surrender a 2-0 lead at home, it shows a total lack of awareness all round. I know we had a goal disallowed but Zamora's miss was unbelievable. As for a substitution in added time, what is the point unless we have an injury? All in all a bad performance on a game we should have won easily. So far our results have flattered us, we need to improve rapidly!