Marwood meets Winter

There's a very interesting Henry Winter interview with Brian Marwood in today's Daily Telegraph, where Marwood sheds light on what exactly his role involves, and where he is seeking to take City.

There's a fair bit of management speak in there: a justification of the 'Elite Development Squad' monstrosity, a reference to a 'brand map' of Paul Scholes, the mention of which seems, on a fundamental level, to miss the point of Paul Scholes. But there's also a lot of real interest, and it's more honest too than it might have been.

There's this, on the difference between the social lives of Adam Johnson and James Milner:

Mancini quietly criticised Johnson recently. “Roberto is just trying to keep his feet on the ground. Adam’s world has changed dramatically and we have to help him through that. We’re asking players that when they go out, go out at the
right time. Not drinking 48 hours before a game. We hope they live their life
the right way.

“I don’t worry when James Milner goes out because I know it will be to the pictures, going bowling, and he’ll be in bed with his Horlicks at 10pm. We have other players who want a drink but they need to be responsible. It impacts on their performance. We do saliva tests on them all the time.

There's a lot on the importance of the Academy to the club's long term vision, and how it is to be used to inculcate the club ethos:

“Now that we want to be a club in the Champions League we are trying to
create an even better player with good habits on and off the pitch. But we are
dealing with a lost generation. Some young [academy] players are well-adjusted
but with far more players we have to do lifestyle skills on them. If you look
out that window, we have some boys over from Africa, who are so far advanced of
our boys technically and in terms of behaviour."

Then there's things about scouting, recruitment, wages, and an interesting comparison between Roberto Mancini and George Graham:

“I find Roberto very engaging, very warm, an extremely nice individual. Roberto is very disciplined; he’s about organisation, shape. He’s like George Graham. People looked at George as a [stylish] player and thought he’d be the last person to be a manager but he was one of the most successful managers."

I recommend all of it.

Poznań player ratings

Hart Had a few saves to make but nothing too difficult. Blameless for the goal. 7

Richards This felt like an opportunity missed. Jérome Boateng is clearly first choice right-back now so Richards should really be making an impact in games like this. But he was surprisingly quiet going forward, even if he defended well enough. 6

Boyata Generally good, including one crucial interception in a one-on-one when the visitors were looking to get back into the game. He will be limited to these sorts of games for the rest of the season but he's looking increasingly competent. 7

Lescott As the senior man in the back four he ought to have taken responsibility, but he was error-prone and lacked focus. He made the initial mistake for the goal we conceded and was fairly suspect throughout. At the mercy of Kolo Touré's return from injury. 5

Zabaleta Missed a clearance when we conceded but otherwise competent enough. Took a few kicks - and surprisingly did not retaliate - and even broke into the box a few times. 6

Vieira This is his sort of game: time on the ball and fairly pliant opposition. He was comfortable throughout, without ever quite being commanding, but it was a nice pass through to Adebayor for our first goal and there was some astute switching of play too. 6

de Jong Demonstrated what a clean and precise tackler he can be when he chooses to be. He made a number of crucial interventions all across the pitch, and was always in the right place when he was needed to shut down opposition attacks. 7

A. Johnson Nearly scored one of the best goals we've seen in years, cutting in from the right and hitting the angle of post and bar. For the most part he was lively, beating defenders and putting crosses in, without making it obviously clear that the stage was beneath him, in the way that Silva did. Shouldn't expect to start on Sunday. 7

Silva Just delightful. This was his best all-round performance for City, and further development from his match-winning cameo at Blackpool. Over the course of the evening his movement off the ball, his touch and his dribbling was unlike anyone else on the pitch. His two assists for Adebayor: a cross swung in from the by-line, and one from deeper that curled past two defenders to Manu were both perfect. He didn't score himself - one Kinkladze type run threatened to match his goal last week - but he was a joy to watch. This is going to be special. 9

SWP Good to see him getting a run out, and he looked surprisingly high on confidence despite barely playing recently. The ball stuck to his feet as he charged down either flank, and while his final ball and shooting wasn't quite there he still caused problems and had a bit of fun. 7

Adebayor Hard to quibble with a hat-trick. He took all three goals well, and his turn into the first one was as sharp a spin as we'll see this season. The second was one of those far-post arched-back headers, and the third a good finish from Silva's precise cross. Let's hope this means he will be a useful option in future, with confidence restored. 9

Subs:

Yaya Touré Little impact n/a

Jo Little impact n/a

Bridge Little impact n/a

City 3 - 1 Lech Poznań

• After the minor disruption against Juventus, our Europa League campaign is back on track. What's more, with Juve only managing a draw in Salzburg, we now have a serious chance of winning the group. A win in Poland two weeks from now should be enough. I must say I was disappointed with the level of the opposition. I wasn't expecting Barcelona but they are Polish champions and so at the very least you anticipate a base level of organisation and energy. But it was a professional and, at times, exciting performance from City.

• The big question before the game was whether we could win without Carlos Tévez. He was rested, and replaced by Emmanuel Adebayor. Gareth Barry, James Milner and Yaya Touré were also rested so behind Manu was a three man band of Adam Johnson, David Silva and Shaun Wright-Phillips, with Nigel de Jong and Patrick Vieira anchoring behind them. I had been keen to see Silva and Johnson starting together - Mancini does not seem too keen on having both of them on the pitch at the same time - and while Johnson provided a few quick thrills, Silva produced his best performance yet in blue: a masterclass of movement, touch, vision and passing.

• His two crosses for our second and third goals, the first from the byline, the second from deeper, were so good that they almost detract attention from Adebayor. Because this really ought to have been his night. All three goals: one off a spin, a perfect header and a half-volley were excellently taken, and a reminder that his skill set is unmatched by many other strikers in English football. I know I'm a critic of his, and this has not changed my mind to the extent of wanting him to start on Sunday, but it was, well, heartening to see him scoring goals again.

• It wasn't perfect. Without Vincent Kompany or Kolo Touré we were fairly messy in defence, conceding sloppily early in the second half. We ought to have conceded a second when it was still 2-1, and it took our third goal for us to settle again. That said, Mancini chose to rest Kompany and I don't think he'd do that for games against stronger opposition.

• Now it's only two days of rest before Arsenal come to Eastlands on Sunday. We'll have Tévez back, and Kompany and Milner and probably Barry too. Mancini has spoken of maybe including Adebayor alongside Tévez. In my mind, there are teams that you can afford to play 4-4-2 against at home and teams that you can't. And Arsenal are certainly of the latter category. But that can wait. For now we're four points away from the last 32.

Blackpool player ratings

Hart A few saves, and powerless with either goal. Quite liked his proactive distribution today, too. 6

Boateng His third consecutive start and possibly his most assured performance. We're yet to see the buccaneering runs of the World Cup but that will come in time. He was put in more two-on-one situations than he ought to have been but coped as well as can be expected. 6

Kompany I think I'm still waiting for him to make a major mistake this season. He was excellent, again, winning four tackles and five interceptions. His reading of the game is so intuitive he almost doesn't need to be as exceptional an athlete and technician as he is. 7

Lescott Generally good but one mis-step when he abandoned DJ Campbell to help out Kompany, leaving his man free in the box. Campbell's skewed finish was a gift. Tidy in possesion: 19/19 passes completed. 6

Bridge His first start in a month, and first Premier League start of the season. It would be kind to say that he looked out of match practice, but a fully-fit Bridge has been known to make mistakes too. He was caught on his heels a few times, gave away the free-kick we conceded from, and often lost out physically. Inventive in the final third, though. 5

A. Johnson Restored to the starting eleven, but this was not a vindicatory performance. He glimmered, now and then, and might have threatened, but nothing quite came off for him. Caught offside a few times. 6

de Jong Understandably inhibited given recent events. He was clearly reticent about sliding in on Charlie Adam, which was good in a moral sense but actually made us less effective in the midfield battle. 5

Barry Had to do lots more work today, not just because of the formation but also because of de Jong. He made five important tackles and was neat in possession (26/29), although was certainly not the best midfielder on show. 6

Milner I thought he was good today. Quite adaptable, even when stuck out on the left. He chased back, he swung crosses in, he ran at his man. His neat back-heel to Silva was nice answer to those who question his subtlety. 7

Tévez What more is there to say? Time and time again he bails us out. Yes, Silva's cross was good and yes Carlos was off-side but that flicked finish was such a characteristic combination of audacity, bravery and technique from the captain. It's not just that he's an excellent finisher, but his energy and imagination allows him to create chances ex nihilo. Just look at his second, as he robben Evatt and deflected it off Cathcart to put us ahead. Two more goals, three more points: we'd be useless without him. 8

Adebayor First Premier League start of the season, but he didn't look near fit. The ball just bounced off him repeatedly, and he had to drop deep to have any impact. We improved by a distance when Silva came on for him. 4

Subs:

Silva Came on and changed the game. One lovely assist, one sort of assist and then that Kinkladze-like goal. I think he'll start behind Adebayor on Thursday but his long term role in the side is still not clear, even if his class is. 8

Richards Fifteen minutes at right back, won a header or two, went on a run. Fine. 6

Vieira Did ok for the last few minutes. n/a

Blackpool 2 - 3 City

• The most enjoyable win of the season. More so than Chelsea, certainly. That was a bigger achievement, yes, but it was a measured, planned and mechanical performance, a chess victory. This was thrillingly chancy, a burglary from our much more assured and coherent hosts. It was more ice hockey than chess, especially as the game opened up in its final quarter, and the goals started to flow. Up to that point, though, Blackpool had been the much more impressive side, outplaying us from the start. But winning when you don't play well is meant to be the sign of a successful side, and this was our second consecutive such win - and our fourth straight league victory.

• I'm still shocked that we won. Away wins in the league have been sufficiently scarce sufficiently recently for me still to value them like precious stones. (We won two from 19 in 2008/09.) So to go somewhere like Bloomfield Road and win feels like achievement enough. But this wasn't just a generic away game, but one against a Blackpool side playing with real confidence and cohesion, whose last game was their win at Anfield. They carried this form through today, and out-pressed and out-passed us all over the pitch. I don't want to sound patronising, but they were excellent today. The point is this was precisely the sort of game we always used to lose. I tend to revel in the 'typical City' stuff, and part of me does enjoy the loyalty to archetypes. But this sort of snatched away win; well, I could get used to it.

• We didn't help ourselves. We played flat 4-4-2 for the first time this season, with Emmanuel Adebayor and Adam Johnson back in the side. Deprived of not only Yaya Touré, but also Nigel de Jong's reckless essence, we were outmanned in midfield. David Vaughan and Charlie Adam passed around us, we could only hold our shape and hold tight. When we did get the ball they harried us until they had it back; there was no invention, only long balls to the front men, most of which bounced off Adebayor. Fortunately, Blackpool didn't create too much themselves. Except for the moment Joleon Lescott abandoned the forgiving DJ Campbell in the box we defended well enough. But there was no question of the better side.

• Just our luck, then, that we had David Silva on the bench. He came on and - in concert with Carlos Tévez - won us the game. Silva has an ability to move into spaces other players just don't see, and after two minutes on the pitch he drifted into the left channel and crossed to Tévez who flicked the ball in. He had been off-side, too. Blackpool pulled one back but we instantly retained the lead, again through Silva and Tévez. They swarmed on the dawdling Ian Evatt, Tévez won the ball and fired - via a deflection - into the bottom corner. Somehow ahead, we looked comfortable enough before Silva scored a fantasy of a goal. He received the ball from a Milner free kick, feinted outside and cut in to beat Stephen Crainey, before doing exactly the same to David Vaughan. He then curled the ball past Charlie Adam and Matt Gilks into the far corner. It was like nothing we've seen since Kinkladze. It's when I see things like this that I become increasingly certain that at some stage this season, David Silva is going to reduce me to tears.

• We managed to concede one more in stoppage time before the final whistle. But we emerged with the three points, and a further-buttressed sense that all of Roberto Mancini's talk about 'winning mentality' might actually have some meat to it. We might not yet be playing the football we want to, but for as long as we can defend properly, and keep Silva and Tévez involved in the right areas, we might be able to hang on to second place for a few more weeks yet.

Allison

I'm concious that I haven't written anything about Malcolm Allison. This isn't because I don't think it's an important topic, but rather because I don't have too much to add. If you're looking for a narrative of his time at Manchester City, or an assessment of what he was good at and what he was not; well, you'll have to look elsewhere.

(What I will say is that his maverick ringmaster shtick, and the style of football that is its by-product, has become the paradigm, or at the very least the measuring stick, for City fans. This is why Kevin Keegan felt so right, why Stuart Pearce did not, and why people are more sympathetic to Roberto Mancini the man rather than the tactician just yet.)

So here are some extracts from accounts of Allison that are more useful.

James Lawton in The Independent:

The rise of City is one of the landmarks of England football history. It was brief but stunning: promotion to the First Division, the title two years later, then the FA Cup, and, at the end of a three-year cycle, the League Cup and the Cup-Winners' Cup.

He returned to Vienna for that triumph, a superb performance against the then formidable Polish team Gornik Zabrze. Rain streamed down his face as he sat beside Mercer in the Prater Stadium but he was the picture of exhilaration and on the balcony of his hotel room he greeted the dawn with a glass of champagne, a fine Havana cigar and the declaration, "This morning I feel like Napoleon."

This was two years after his personal Waterloo – ejection from the first round of the European Cup in Istanbul. After winning the First Division in a brilliant finish, Allison, always a newspaperman's delight, announced, "Next stop Mars."

Brian Glanville in The Guardian:

The worst thing that ever happened to him was what, at the time, appeared the best – when, in 1971, he was made manager of Manchester City, after he had been there for six years. With Allison as assistant manager and coach, under the benign aegis of Joe Mercer as manager, City had flourished, winning the Second Division Championship in 1966, the League title in 1968, the FA Cup in 1969, and in 1970 both the European Cup-Winners Cup and the League Cup. Once a star at Everton and Arsenal, and an England wing-half, Mercer was never a great coach – Allison's speciality – nor a major tactician, but he did keep the rain off Allison.

David Lacey in The Guardian:

When Manchester City blew the chance of another title in 1972, after Allison had signed Rodney Marsh, critics blamed him for upsetting the balance of the team in order to accommodate Marsh's eccentric skills. But Allison remained unapologetic. "I believed in Rodney's touch of theatre," he said later. "If you asked Manchester City fans today whether I did the right thing in signing Marsh they would answer a firm 'yes'. They have learned to live with his extravagances, his inconsistencies. It is, after all, the price you pay for the promise of magic."

Five blues but no goals for England

Despite the presence of five Manchester City players last night, England could only manage a 0-0 draw with Montenegro at Wembley last night.

Joe Hart and Joleon Lescott both started, and were fairly untroubled all night. Hart was beaten once, by a volley from Milan Jovanović late on, but it thumped into the crossbar as it plunged downwards.

Gareth Barry played alongside Steven Gerrard in central midfield but could not replicate his recent improved form for City. This was the Barry of early 2010: lazy, sluggish, and careless in possession. He must be fairly tired given how he's started with City but this was not too impressive.

The one that stood out was Adam Johnson. With Montenegro lining up with three holding midfielders (sound familiar?), there was never much space for him on the inside but he had real success going outside and down to the by-line. He put in a few decent crosses with his right foot; when he improves this aspect of his game he'll double his threat. He also hit a few free-kicks over.

Shaun Wright-Phillips came on late, which is bizarre given that with no injuries he would not get into an 18 man MCFC match-day squad of my choosing. He tried hard, running quickly with his head down, but didn't really get anywhere.

Silva scores for Spain

David Silva scored the third goal in Spain's 3-1 win over Lithuania last Friday.

It's the best header I've seen in years.

You can see every perfect touch and feint here.

More from Mancini

There's more from Roberto Mancini's Gazzetta interview beyond his admission of a 'con le palle' confrontation with Tévez.

First this, on tactics:

This system, he said, would change shortly. "It's out of necessity. [Emmanual] Adebayor has just recovered from injury, [Mario] Balotelli not so. Without flying full backs like [Jérôme] Boateng and [Aleksandar] Kolarov, who can push forward, I've had to adjust the team to get results and stay in touch with the leaders. But only until everyone is back and fit."

I take his point. Injuries have forced us towards 4-5-1, and the absence of our first choice full-backs has been a particular blow. (No one we've used at full-back this season has been of the level of Kolarov or Boateng, and some of the time we've been playing with centre-backs at full-back instead.) When we have those two back, plus the option of Adebayor alongside Tévez or Balotelli from wide, we'll be better.

That said, one could just as easily argue that those limitations mean we should try to maximise creativity where possible. I would certainly claim that in the absence of attacking full-backs or a partner for Tévez it makes more sense, not less, to play all three attacking midfielders (Adam Johnson, James Milner and David Silva) and two of the cautious options. Aces full of grunts, as it were, makes more sense when there's no Kolarov, Balotelli or Boateng than it does when they're all available. It's when Kolarov and Boateng are galloping up and down the flanks that we'll really need Nigel de Jong and Gareth Barry to fill in the gaps.

Anyway, Mancini then went on talk about Adam Johnson:

"Adam is young, but he has got what it takes. He just needs to understand it is not enough to dribble past an opponent six times to feel entitled to think he reached the top. You need to dribble but you also need a cutting shot like the goal against Juve [in the Europa League], or the 2-1 win against Newcastle. If I didn't believe in Adam's potential I would not work him like this."

I do like that last line. The distant fear, for me, is that he'll get so frustrated by the bench that he'll storm off to Villa or Spurs. Obviously I'm being silly and this is miles beyond the horizon. But I'm keen that this is more of a Ferguson/Giggs relationship than, say, a Mourinho/Balotelli one.

And on the merits of the issue Mancini is correct. Johnson does need to add shooting to his dribbling skills. Given he doesn't really cross that well, his running at defenders is only valuable if he can score (or 'win' a penalty, which he is very adept at doing.) Up until last week, he'd scored one goal for City and won three penalties. That ratio is now up to three and three, after his goals against Juventus and Newcastle. Maybe he's learning from the criticism. But he's certainly moving in the direction Mancini wants him to, which is good for the both of them and good for all of us.

'Now and then a good shake-up is healthy'

Roberto Mancini has been speaking in Italy about his recent much-publicised falling out with Carlos Tévez:

"What happened in our dressing room happens in others as well. And when it matters it is good that it happens. Against Newcastle we had gone to sleep in the first half, so the confrontation with Tevez was exactly the alarm call everybody needed.

"The confrontation with Tevez was really ballsy. And in the second half City deservedly won. The alarm call worked well. We [Mancini and Tevez] sorted everything between us before the restart. And when I took him off at the end we shook hands again. Now and then a good shake-up is healthy."

I didn't write about this when the reports first came out, because I didn't really know what to make of it. I suspected, though, that it was less surprising, and less problematic than people presumed. As Ryan Giggs suggested in his interview with Simon Hattenstone this week, it is the reporting, not the existence, of these events that is noteworthy.

Roberto Mancini and Carlos Tévez are both notorious for their tempers. Given how poorly we played in the first half I would be disappointed if there had not been tension and discord at half-time. Tévez was appointed captain to channel his inner magma as constructively as possible, and this sounds like a vindication of that approach. As Paul Wilson writes on Guardian.co.uk today:

Be that as it may, the main reason City should take a relaxed view of tempers snapping in the dressing room is that it shows the club cares. Plenty of people maintain the only thing that matters to City's expensively assembled squad is the bottom line on the wage slip, but when members of a team are falling out among themselves at the same time as they are climbing to second in the Premier League it tells you that ambition has finally arrived at Eastlands. The real thing, not just the easy soundbite. The captain falling out with the manager over tactics should not be mistaken for just the latest bit of slapstick in the endless City comedy show, this is the development that shows how much has changed at the club.