City 2 - 1 Chelsea

I said that the Arsenal Reserves and Chelsea games were a two match
chance for us to reset our season, to move beyond the inertia of
consecutive draws. And we've done it. A 3-0 win and now 2-1 against
the league leaders adds up to a seriously impressive week.

As exciting as the Arsenal Reserves win was, this was an exceptional
team performance. Possibly - whisper it - the best under Mark Hughes.
With the exception of the own goal, the penalty and Drogba's late
chance we limited Chelsea to far fewer chances than they are used to.
We attacked and stifled Chelsea, shutting down Lampard and Deco.

Nigel de Jong and Gareth Barry were excellent in the middle, Shaun
Wright-Phillips and Micah Richards pressed Ashley Cole down the left
and both centre backs dealt well with Drogba and Anelka. To see us
functioning so well as a unit was a delight - even more so given the
absence of Craig
Bellamy, the one man who drags the team up by the straps.

Even more impressive was the chronology of the match. We went down
early but fought back to equalise. Remember how we folded last year
after conceding early to Essien at Stamford Bridge or Rooney at
Eastlands. In the second half we seized control to go ahead - as we
did at Anfield but have failed to do too often this year. And then we
sat out a late seige to hold onto the win. Part of me is frustrated:
if we can weather Chelsea's storm, why can't we do it against Burnley
or Hull? But we can't look too far behind: we've just beaten Chelsea
and we're back on track. We've got a big battle with Spurs in 2010
but fourth is plausible again.

Chelsea preview

The second part of our double headed chance to re-boot our season. The
first part went well - Arsenal Reserves were comfortably dispatched.
But this is a much sterner test: Chelsea beat Arsenal's first team 3-0
last week. Who knows what Drogba and Lampard would have done to Fran
Merida and friends. It's going to be tough.

This game last season provided a jolt of realisation: despite
Robinho's magic tricks (and a deflected free kick) we were some way
away from being a top team. Chelsea bossed us. And this was Scolari's
side, arguably their weakest incarnation since Claudio Ranieri.

Chelsea are better now. But so, in theory, are we. There's no doubt
that if we play as we have in recent Premier League games we will lose
badly. But I just have this sense that we may pull out a good
performance. Wednesday will have done wonders for confidence, and a
few key players might just be clicking back into form. I'm not
predicting a win, but I would be pleased and not very surprised with a
noble score draw.

Chelsea preview

The second part of our

Arsenal reax

Henry Winter, Daily Telegraph

Tevez was a dribbling dervish through the middle. Wright-Phillips was a zephyr down the right, showing pace and verve. But the catalyst was Craig Bellamy, embodying Hughes’ call to get at Arsenal again and again. If there was one sadness on the night, barring Wenger’s undignified refusal to shake Hughes’ hand, it was the fact that Bellamy did not get the goal his endless endeavour deserved.

The Welshman was everywhere, creating Weiss’ goal, coaxing his team-mates to keep a high tempo, even bawling out the physio, Lee Nobes, when the ice for his knee did not arrive quickly enough. Probably too cold as well. City look so much sharper and up for the challenge with Bellamy in their midst.

Ian Herbert, The Independent

Whatever the controversies and sub-plots of the night, City delivered, with Carlos Tevez, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Craig Bellamy dazzling in the extreme. Their goals, taken with a first for the club by Vladimir Weiss, one of the young breed who some had feared might be elbowed out by the City juggernaut, will live in City lore for many a long year.

James Ducker, The Times

It was simply impossible to overstate how desperate everyone associated with City was to win, from the marketing men who did their best to rouse the crowd by dimming the lights before kick-off and projecting a blue moon on to one of the stands as the supporters belted out the club’s anthem, to the players, to Hughes and his staff to the owners. Khaldoon al-Mubarak watched from the directors’ box, the first time the City chairman has seen back-to-back City games in the flesh. Read into that what you will, but after the drudgery he was forced to sit through against Hull, Sheikh Mansour’s right-hand man will have been struck by the energy and exuberance of the team. You almost shared City’s hunger.

Ian Ladyman, Daily Mail

For all their recent and obvious flaws in the Barclays Premier League, where they have drawn seven successive games and are seventh in the table, City were superb, playing the type of football and scoring the kind of goals that the club's owners have spent £200million to see.

Kevin McCarra, The Guardian

The emphasis put on the occasion by City's manager had its risks. A disappointment for his best line-up would have been no preparation at all for confronting Chelsea at this ground in the league on Saturday. As it is, there should be a reward in replenished self-belief now. City will believe that their wait for a league victory may be approaching its end.

Whatever else is said about the side, no one could have depicted them last night as well-heeled footballers whose main ambition is to keep on collecting their wages. The home crowd certainly did not confine itself to a token interest. If City lacked anything in the first half it was the precision needed to lay on a really inviting chance.

Arsenal player ratings

Given Did not have very much to do but did it well as ever. Must be thrilled at the prospect of being three games away from a trophy. 6

Richards Continued in the absence of Pablo Zabaleta and had a good game. A few big tackles went down well with the crowd and helped Wright-Phillips going forward once or twice. 6

Touré A solid performance against his former club. Not much of a preparation for facing Didier Drogba on Saturday though. 6

Lescott The gradual improvement continues: he made some crucial interventions and looked calm on the ball. Did let Carlos Vela get away from him once in the first half but still a good performance. 7

Bridge Did his job well, while showing off his pace and incision going forward on occassions. 6

SWP His best game since his return to City last summer. Armand Traoré isn't a great player, but Shaun made him look like an amateur last night, skinning him every time he was on the ball. His goal - cutting in from the right and hitting it across the keeper into the top corner - was like his great strike in the 4-1 derby (in which the hapless Mikael Silvestre also started), but better. And more important. 9

Ireland Not quite his favoured position - he prefers Gareth Barry and Nigel de Jong behind him rather than just one. He was tidy for the first hour, before really showing his class as the game was stretched late on. 7

Barry More of a destructive job for him, in the absence of de Jong, and he did it well. Used the ball wisely, and kept his discipline, never really breaking forward. But Aaron Ramsey and Fran Merida is not exactly a great preparation for Frank Lampard and Michael Essien. 7

Bellamy After a few quiet weeks he was back to his best: running himself into the ground up and down the left flank. He hunted the ball down with Tévez for the first goal, and pulled out a remarkable burst of pace before crossing for the third. We can even forgive his miss - from the same position as he scored against Arsenal, Burnley and Villa this year - in the first half. 8

Tévez Yet another who brought out his best game for some time when it mattered. The running, aggression and link up play were all there, this time allied to an ability to put the ball in the net. His goal - robbing Tomáš Rosický, beating two more men and hitting it into the top corner - was the sort of quality you expect from someone of his price. Will relish a chance to go back to Old Trafford again. 8

Adebayor Some wilful running in the first half but it wasn't quite coming off for him. Some may have hoped that a meeting with Arsenal would reboot his season but it didn't happen. If Hughes thinks Tévez could lead the line Adebayor's place comes under real pressure. 6

Subs:

Kompany Good to see him back in midfield, where he did so well last year. One or two nice touches and a booking too. 6

Weiss Scored what we hope will be the first of many for the club. 7

City 3 - 0 Arsenal

• A semi final! (To be more precise, a semi final of a major cup competition. The semi final against Wigan Athletic in May 1999 does have an important place in our collective heart, although it is not quite the same thing.) If you wanted one clear example of the progress that we are making then here you are. If you include Hamburg last year we had lost five quarter finals in the last five seasons. Arsenal Reserves at home is an easy tie, but we’d lost to worse. After weeks of evidence to the contrary, it was a relief to see that Mark Hughes might just have ‘typical City’ in retreat.

• But let’s not get distracted from the performance. It was as well as we have played all season – certainly our best performance since we beat Arsenal’s first team 4-2 at Eastlands in September. In control of possession, speed on the attack and solidity in defence it was a huge improvement on recent weeks. What a delight to see us take the chances we create and not throw our lead away.

• It must be said, though, that Arsenal Reserves are a particularly accommodating side to play against. With that charming combination of technical excellence but physical and mental weakness they give you enough space and enough chances that any decent team playing at home should be able to beat them. Alex Song had a huge job on his hands – but the back four were poorly protected and we found it much easier to turn possession into chances than we have in the recent past.

• This was helped by the fact that three of our front four – Shaun Wright-Phillips, Craig Bellamy and Carlos Tévez all had their best games for some time. Their pace and movement was too much for Arsenal, more than making up for the fact that Emmanuel Adebayor had a quieter game than most anticipated. It does raise the question of whether Nigel de Jong comes into the team on Saturday (a must, for me), and if so for whom? It would be very bold of Hughes to drop any of those three – although Wright-Phillips’ ankle knock may provide an excuse – and so don’t rule out Tévez leading the line in 4-2-3-1. And this is to say nothing of Robinho.

City 3 - 0 Arsenal

A semi final. Nothing else matters. On a side note it was our best
performance in months, and Wright-Phillips' best performance in his
second spell in blue. But all that matters is our first semi final
since 1981.

More tomorrow.

Onuoha's frustration

An interesting interview with Ian Herbert in The Independent today. He says that recent transfers have limited opportunities for Academy graduates.

"Three or four years ago at this point he [Weiss] might have played 50 games for the club already," Onuoha says. "In training you see he's a really good player and in my opinion has much more technical ability than any of the [first team] academy [graduates] - certainly more than Micah [Richards] and me. But he has not been able to break into the side because of the people ahead of him and the pressure that comes with the shirt these days."

For all Hughes' talk that City want to build around the Academy players, I'm not sure that many other clubs would have responded to the impeccable form of a 22 year old Academy graduate centre half over the second half of a season by buying two new centre backs at a combined cost of almost £40million. To say nothing of Vincent Kompany. I wrote here about why I think an Academy system is probably incompatible with our transfer policy. It's a shame but I can't see Onuoha ever making it as a first team player at City. And I'm starting to worry about others too.

Arsenal preview

For all the frustration with our run of draws, it's easy to think that our league campaign is over. It isn't. We're three points off fourth place. Everyone can calm down in the knowledge that we have twenty five Premier League games remaining to re-assert ourselves. Tonight, though, is quite different: a few hours from now we will either be in our first semi-final since 1981, or will have lost our fourth quarter final in five seasons.

It's a fairly important game. The more so, because with our run of seven consecutive league draws, the judgement made on Mark Hughes by the fans, the press and the board has been in suspense for some time. While a win tonight would win him a quite significant amount of credit, a defeat would have a serious and destabilising impact. We are not yet near a tipping-point (these things always take longer than people envisage), but defeats this evening and on Saturday - with difficult trips to the Reebok and White Hart Lane to come - could lead to a festive period as uncomfortable as last year's was.

Regarding the game itself, there's no doubting who should win. We've already comfortably beaten Arsenal's first team at home this season - putting a total of seven goals past them the last two times they've come to Eastlands. And tonight is not Arsenal's first team. Of those that started the 4-2, only Alex Song has travelled. Of those that came on in that game, Tomáš Rosický and Emmanuel Eboué are also in the squad tonight. But then it's Carlos Vela and Mikaël Silvestre at the well known end, with Kyle Bartley, Craig Eastmond and Emmanuel Frimpong at the other extreme.

I don't know exactly what the City side will be tonight. There are rumours of a place for Sylvinho, an injury to Gareth Barry and even a rare start for Nedum Onuoha. But I am sure that it will be better on paper than Arsenal. Whether we can convert that difference on the pitch, I'm not so sure. People say that Arsenal have a bad record in knock-out competitions recently, and, by their standards, they do. But if there's one thing lodged in City's DNA it is the ability to freeze in what ought to be negotiable quarter-final ties. And if the last two months have taught us anything, it is that Mark Hughes and Garry Cook still have some way to go before they can be said to have slain 'typical City.'

TLDORC November awards

If you thought that October was frustrating, then how did you enjoy this? Another four consecutive league draws, each one less satisfying than the last. In three of them we were ahead in the second half, in two we were ahead with ten minutes left, and in two we were at home. And they weren't exactly against the Premier League's form teams: Birmingham City, Burnley, Liverpool and Hull City. We finish the month in seventh place. Had we taken another four points from this month (from holding out against Burnley and Hull) we would be fourth. Throw in a win against Birmingham or Liverpool and we would now be third. Turn all four draws into wins and we're one point behind United with a game in hand. Bollocks.

Birmingham City (a) 0-0 (thoughts, ratings, reax)
Burnley (h) 3-3 (thoughts, ratings, reax, more reax)
Liverpool (a) 2-2 (thoughts, ratings, reax, more reax)
Hull City (h) 1-1 (thoughts, bumper reax)

Player of the Month

Like last month, I'm not particularly eager to bestow this honour on anyone. I'm tempted to declare it void this month, or even to award it to Uwe Rösler to coincide with his induction to the MCFC Hall of Fame. But what's the point? Player of the Month is still fun even if it does feel better when rewarding real excellence - such as Gareth Barry in August or Craig Bellamy in September. (Both of those players had woeful Novembers, for what it's worth.)

And there are a handful of credible candidates. Even some of our more maligned players - Joleon Lescott and Carlos Tévez in particular - strung a few decent performances together. Shaun Wright-Phillips was better than he was in October; not a high pass mark admittedly but two goals and two assists (from a possible six) implies a hint of form returning. But they're not going to win. Neither is Nigel de Jong, although he does win the silver medal off the back of some battering ram tackles against Birmingham City and Liverpool. I'm going to give it to Shay Given instead. He is always excellent, but two saves in particular stand out. First from James McFadden's penalty at St. Andrew's: diving far to his left, keeping us in the game, silencing the locals. The match finished goalless but imagine how bad November would have been had it started with a loss. The other was at Anfield, reacting like a Jedi to palm Daniel Agger's header past the far post. Our first half performance that day was nowhere, and had we gone 1-0 down that early we may have never recovered.

It's becoming increasingly obvious that Shay Given is not only our best player, but the Premier League's best goalkeeper and the closest thing we've had to a world class player at MCFC since the 1970s. If I made awards for the calendar year (and I'm not ruling it out) Shay Given would win the 2009 prize with much more comfort than that with which his compatriot Stephen Ireland would have won 2008.

Performance of the Month

Tempted by ironic joint award to Lescott and Bridge against Burnley. But it's got to be Given against Birmingham.

Goal of the Month

Ireland against Liverpool. Patrick Barclay wrote a nice article about this but I can't find it (tell me if you do.) But it was a lovely move.