Bowen: RSC will improve

The Assisstant has spoken out in defence of Santa Cruz after his St. Andrew's horror show:

"Just when you think you have come through it and are 100 per cent, the weekend reminded us that this was his first league start in maybe five or six months of football.

"Plus he took a blow to his ankle which blew up like a balloon. He wanted to play on, but we could see the knock was holding him back.

"He will come on, and the more football he plays and the more training he gets, the more you will see the player we know that he is."

I'm sure he's right. If anyone knows the quality RSC has within himself then it's Bowen and Mark Hughes. And, frankly, if he wasn't up to it they would not have bought him. Nevertheless - and I really don't like criticising players too hard - his performance on Sunday was woeful. He managed to combine the mobility of Bernardo Corradi and Antoine Sibierski with the touch and awareness of Bradley Wright-Phillips or the second coming of Paul Dickov. No kidding.

Kolo: 'Our mentality has to change'

Spot on from the captain:

"We need to impose ourselves as we have some gifted players in this dressing room.

"We can enjoy our football by passing it and controlling games. That's what we need to achieve now. The team needs time but as time goes by we need to improve.

"City is not the team it was before, a lot of things have changed and our mentality has to change as well.

"We cannot be happy with a draw or drawing four games in a row. Chelsea, Arsenal or Liverpool would never be happy with that, which is why they have been at the top, so neither can we."

Zab: Burnley a must win

Too right:

"The next game is now very important. It is a good opportunity because we are playing at home and we need three Premier League points to stay up there.

After the draws, we really need to win now, especially as we are going into the international break.

"It is a long time until the next game against Liverpool, and we want to be fourth during that time. It's important to us that we are in a Champions League position going into the break."

Another Yaya Touré rumour

In The Sun today:

The Manchester City boss is eyeing a swoop for Yaya Toure after Barcelona hinted they are ready to let him go in January.

The Ivory Coast midfielder, brother of City skipper Kolo, has been on Sparky's hitlist for the best part of 12 months.

Mark Hughes' admiration for Yaya Touré is no secret. And there would be a certain attraction in doing what Arsène Wenger could not in uniting the Touré brothers. They could be to the 2010s what the Brightwells were to the 1990s. Dominant physical presence - one, but not the only quality of Touré minor, is the one thing lacking from our midfield options (don't say Michael Johnson.)

But I still can't see this happening, at least not in January. Barcelona are currently competing on four fronts and aren't exactly overburdened with midfield options. Xavi and Iniesta are obviously brilliant, and Touré, Busquets and Seydou Keita are all very good. But five midfielders, three slots and four competitions does not add up. They need at least one more in January (Mascherano is possible, but they might want someone cheaper), particularly given that they are losing Keita and Yaya to the African Nations Cup. So I just can't see it.

Next summer though? Yeah, why not.

Ireland's fears

Last year's player of the season comments on the health scare he suffered recently:

"Thankfully it wasn't too serious because at the time I thought that was the end of me," he told the Manchester Evening News.

"I don't know what it was. I have had every test that there is and I still don't know but it was a bit of a strange scare.

"It took me a while to get right but I am back on track. Everything is looking positive."

The more I've seen of us recently the more I think that we are missing Ireland's final third artistry. Where exactly he slots in, I'm not sure. This is the sort of thing I'd like to illustrate with my blue cards but as you can probably tell they've been out of action for a while. A friend who supports United came over for a few drinks last month and decided to find and tear up my 'TEVEZ 32' card. It's easily replaced but I haven't got round to it yet. But expect some post about team/formation options - with the cards - later this week.

Awards

My rather low key October awards (written after Birmingham City but naturally not including that game) are done and can be found here.

Birmingham reax

Neil Moxey, Daily Mail

Of course, Given hasn't crossed the great Manchester divide in the same manner as Carlos Tevez. But if there is one performer amid the glittering array of talent at Mark Hughes's disposal who can claim that no manager in the Premier League would turn down his services, it is Given.

It will come as no surprise that the Dubliner was equal to whatever Alex McLeish's side mustered at St Andrew's. But what did cause a few raised eyebrows was the sustained pressure exerted by a side that cost one twentieth of the funds lavished upon Hughes.

Oliver Kay, The Times

Depending on whether your cup is half-full or half-empty, Manchester City have lost only once in ten Premier League games this season or won only one of the past six. Both are true — and it is a run of form that, if Liverpool’s travails continue, will make Champions League qualification a realistic ambition for Hughes and his players — but it was a mark of soaring expectations that they left the Midlands disappointed last night, acknowledging that Birmingham City had been the better team and would have claimed the points had Given not saved a penalty from James McFadden early in the second half.

Stuart James, The Guardian

Unable to retain possession for any period because of Birmingham's high-tempo approach, the visitors never found any fluency and, at times, struggled to contain the threat of a side whose tally of eight goals from 11 matches makes them the Premier League's lowest scorers. A combination of the woodwork, Given's heroics and Birmingham's profligacy meant that City escaped with a point. The bigger picture, though, is that City have won one of their last six in the league.

Sam Wallace, The Independent

As for the rest of City's star cast, they will have to do better if they have pretensions of staying among the Champions League places come May. The list of teams with whom they have drawn their previous thre games – Aston Villa, Wigan and Fulham – do not constitute the most daunting opposition in the country. Without Emmanuel Adebayor, whose back injury kept him out the team, City looked flat and predictable in attack.

Birmingham player ratings

Given Heroics. A reaction save from Chucho in the first half, amongst many others, caught the eye. But the penalty save was excellent, keeping us from an embarrassing defeat. 8

Zabaleta Back in the side after suspension and did ok. Not too much going forward but was relatively untroubled at the back. I don't see how Richards gets his place back. 6

Kompany Impressed in his first EPL start of the season; as quick, alert and dominant as he was last year. Enough to leap ahead of Lescott and partner Touré in the near future? Probably not. 7

Lescott Better. No obvious mishaps, won most headers he went for and never allowed the forwards to get too far away from him. 6

Bridge One of this season's most improved players, he had another decent game. Untroubled and almost incisive when getting forward. 6

SWP Found himself in more good positions than any other City player, but the lack of final ball or invention was frustrating. Scunthorpe aside, he has not played well for a very long time. May need some time out of the team. 5

de Jong Captain for the day and relished the chance to lead with some of his favourite thundering tackles. The concession of the penalty, though, while costing us nothing, was an uncharacteristic judgement lapse. 6

Barry His worst game for City. Took a lot of stick from the Birmingham fans and never settled into the game. Barry Ferguson and Lee Bowyer are both very experienced players but Barry is leagues ahead of them in terms of class. He failed to show it yesterday, and we looked like half the side. 4

Bellamy The effort was there but he never quite found the space he needs to run into. Too many times he was forced inside and literally ran into Tévez. 5

Tévez Our best attacking player, for what that's worth. The only one willing to take shots on and his hold up play was better than ever. Still lacking a little bit of invention though. Could have won us a penalty late on had Mike Dean not stopped play for an injury. 7

RSC Didn't look anywhere near match fitness, having struggled with injury and illness recently. He was immobile and failed to win any of the long balls we hit to him. Adebayor has nothing to worry about. 3

Subs

Ireland Came on for de Jong in central midfield but could not influence the game as he would have liked. Still may start against Burnley. n/a

Petrov Tried hard but ran into the same problems as our other wide players. n/a

Birmingham 0 - 0 City

• In isolation a draw at Birmingham City isn't terrible. But it is avoidable. And this is our third avoidable draw in succession. Yes, 19 points from 10 games is excellent, and fourth place really keeps us in contention. We are the only team in the league to have lost only once this season. But if we had won the last three games (I'm not counting Villa Park here, that was a good point), we would now be on 25 points, separated from United only on goal difference. And a won game in hand away from top spot. These are the margins at this end of the table; we are on the wrong side of success.

• So that's all pretty annoying. But what's really getting me down this evening is the performance. We were very bad today. Hughes said it was the 'the poorest we have played in sometime' and he's right. We did not create a single good chance on goal, despite a front four of Craig Bellamy, Carlos Tévez, Roque Santa Cruz and Shaun Wright-Phillips. Even when Stephen Ireland and Martin Petrov were introduced we looked like we could have played on until 2010 and not created anything. Which is worrying, to say the least.

• Just as worrying, and not unconnected from the lack of chances created, was the lack of control in midfield. It was one of Gareth Barry's least effective games at City, and without his imposing himself in the middle we are not the same side. De Jong is a master of the destructive arts but creates a vacuum in which others can flourish. When Barry isn't taking advantage of this protection we suffer. It is certainly true that we are more creative with Stephen Ireland in the side. Whether or not recent performances justify his starting, I'm not sure. And where, too? Instead of de Jong? Instead of Barry? Out wide? Answers in the comments.

• How about a positive then: a clean sheet! The first since Fratton Park in August. Of course, James McFadden missed a penalty and so we were lucky to get away with one. But even with that it was our best defensive performance for a while. There were no horror shows of marking at corners or free-kicks, which made a nice change, as did the fact that both centre backs seemed to be playing with their eyes on the game. When Kolo Touré gets fit he will play, presumably re-creating his surprisingly dysfunctional partnership with the £24m man Joleon Lescott.

• So it feels overall like a step backward. But it is another point on the road, taking us to eight points from four trips to the bottom half clubs. Which, at two points per game, is a decent improvement on last season's six from a possible thirty. We must thump Burnley on Saturday, though, to get back on track.
  

TLDORC October Awards

I can't write this before catching my train to Birmingham, so this is just a marker so that you know that the October awards will, naturally, not include this afternoon's Birmingham City game. Even though I'm going to have to write it after the match.

After the successes of August and September, October was a rather frustrating slow down in our long march to success. Three consecutive league draws, of decreasing quality meant that we blew a real chance to scramble ahead of the faltering big four. There's no shame in drawing at Villa Park, and drawing with ten men at Wigan left a mixed taste. But to blow a two goal lead at home against Fulham is the sign of a side that is not serious about sucess. Hitting five past Scunthorpe in the Carling Cup provided a cheap thrill but little more.

Aston Villa (a) 1-1 (thoughts, ratings, reax)
Wigan Athletic (a) 1-1 (thoughts, ratings, reax)
Fulham (h) 2-2 (thoughts, reax)
Scunthorpe United (h) 5-1 (thoughts, reax)

Player of the Month

This is tough. In August I had a choice between the experience of Gareth Barry, Shay Given and Emmanuel Adebayor. In September it came down to the two warriors, Nigel de Jong and Craig Bellamy. But October? The most newsworthy player was probably Martin Petrov, who shined with goals against Wigan or Fulham. Carlos Tévez started to produce performances of consistency and effort, even if the quality one would expect from a £47m striker is not quite there yet. Norfstander went for Wayne Bridge - a fair reward for a much improved but still maligned player. I suppose one could go for Gareth Barry who never quite hit the heights of August but still did well. What else though? An ironic vote for Joleon Lescott? I'm not exactly overburdened with good options.

And so I'm not going to make too big a deal of this, or pretend that the award recipient has transformed our play or changed my life as a City fan or should even be nominated for the Ballon d'Or. But I think that our best performer in October, all things considered, was Nigel de Jong. He did well before he came off at Villa Park, and was crucial to the second half rearguard at the DW Stadium. He played against Fulham and Scunthorpe, too, which, to be honest, pushed him ahead of those who only played two (Martin Petrov) or three (Wayne Bridge) games in October. But nevertheless de Jong has grown into this season, and now looks like one of the best practitioners of the destructive game in the Premier League. He certainly is justifying Hughes' decision to pay well over the odds for him in January. His wearing the armband at St. Andrew's was a good reward for his strong recent displays.

Performance of the Month

Craig Bellamy turned the game in our favour at Villa Park, scoring our equaliser and leading our charge against the home team.

Goal of the Month

It may have taken a deflection but Michael Johnson's long range strike against Scunthorpe was a moment of release comparable with Valeri Bozhinov's volley at White Hart Lane in April.