The importance of Tévez

Not just symbolically in Manchester derbies, as we will see tonight, but every time City go out onto the pitch. There have been two interesting pieces on Tévez in the last day or so which are worth looking at.

First from the great Jonathan Wilson, explaining Tévez's 'false 9' role within our system:

Tevez, though, makes it work, as he almost defines the role of the false nine. His movement prevents the team breaking up, providing a link with the midfield, and as he drops deep, so he can interact with Touré or Barry. That is not natural to Adebayor – very much a real nine – and the difference in their approach is seen here. Adebayor did drop deep and pull wide, but far less than Tevez, and against Wolves he attempted only just over half the number of passes Tevez did against West Brom...

The theory is simple: the back four defends with only occasional forays from the full-backs; the three midfielders dominate possession, and if they can't, they sit deep to provide an extra layer of defensive cover; and a fluid front three tries to turn the possession into chances and goals. Tevez, though, adds something extra, linking the two parts of the team, and making the whole more fluent. He scores goals, but more important is that he lubricates the whole mechanism.

And then the great Uwe Rösler, City fan, talking about the man who in some sense replaced him:

"City often appear to lack enthusiasm when Tevez isn't in the side... He lifts his team-mates and also the crowd through his style of play. In my time at City, Paul Walsh was similar: very busy, never giving up, chasing everything and always looking to create chances.

"In the game at Wolves in October [when Tevez was injured], City got an early goal and then played as if they thought the job was done. They invited Wolves back into the game and ended up losing. With Tevez in the team you have a guy who is up for it all the time and he carries the rest of the players with him."

There's also some interesting stats in that piece, the most striking being that we have won 91.6% of games in which Tévez has scored.

More on Mario

I feel like I have to write more on Mario Balotelli. His performance on Saturday was so compelling, such an open and complete revelation of character, that one paragraph just doesn't do it justice.

There is always a degree of exaggeration, of overshooting, when discussing new signings. Everyone wants to claim that they were there at the start of something special. I am conscious of this trap.

But: Balotelli's performance was unlike anything I have ever seen from a footballer. And the fact that he won us the game, scoring both of our goals, is just a small part of it. From the very first minute it was one long mad battle, against the laws of the game, against the officials, against both West Brom as a team but also against every single one of their players and supporters.

We all know that the thrill of young players is their fearlessness, their lack of reverence of for traditional footballing etiquette and hierarchies. We experienced this with Shaun Wright-Phillips, and, to a lesser extent, with Micah Richards. But I've never seen a young player with so much contempt for etiquette and hierarchies as from Balotelli. Every dive, step-over and flick was soaked with disdain: even for him to raise an accompanying sneer would have been to make too much of an effort.

I'm not sure yet whether it was Never Mind the Bollocks stretched over twice its original length or Rebel Without A Cause compressed to half but it certainly had the smack of either. And, just like James Dean or Sid Vicious, Balotelli at the Hawthornes was willing to storm in, burn a deep impression on his surroundings and his audience and then be expelled from it all in a quick blaze of violence.

But he will be back, at Stoke City on 27 November.

WBA reax

Tim Rich, The Independent

This was not a victory that ends the debate about his suitability to marshal the disparate and brilliant talents of this club but it stilled the crisis triggered by their last trip to the Black Country, eight miles away and eight days ago.

At Wolves, they had looked a disjointed jumble of egos. At West Bromwich, we were reminded why they might be the most refreshing thing to have happened to the Premier League since Kevin Keegan wrote his first programme notes at a newly-promoted Newcastle in 1993, saying he was after Manchester United's title.

Jason Burt, Daily Telegraph

With an impressive performance, City easily arrested their run of three straight defeats which had ratcheted up the pressure on manager Roberto Mancini, who was on the pitch at the end to acknowledge the relentless backing of the visiting supporters.

Daniel Taylor, The Guardian

This will be remembered as the day Mario Balotelli announced his arrival in the Premier League and his new audience stared back with a glazed expression of shock and awe. Balotelli's first two goals in English football had therapeutic qualities for Manchester City, who will like to believe they have answered a few questions about their spirit of togetherness, but then we saw the other side of this gifted but temperamental striker.

West Brom player ratings

Hart After a minor dip in form I think he's getting back to his autumn best - he was impressive under a sustained aerial barrage, although I suppose it ought to be remembered that he was twice beaten when West Brom hit the woodwork. 7

Boateng A funny performance: he's clearly very talented and does some things very well. A few tackles, particularly one in the second half were excellent and some runs of his were as good as those he made during the World Cup. But there were a few moments where his positioning or decision making was unreliable. Still adjusting, but there's clearly an excellent player in here. 6

Kolo Touré A good performance again; no mental freezes, just repeatedly being in the right place at the right time, intercepting and clearing with no obvious problems. 7

Kompany Very good, as usual. Had a difficult physical battle with Marc-Antoine Fortuné but he made almost everything, coming out of some potentially difficult situations always with the ball under control. 7

Zabaleta Reminded us what we all knew - until Aleksandar Kolarov gets fit he's still the best left-back at the club. This was one of his best performances for City, playing flawlessly until his late substitution. He was fierce enough into tackles without getting sent off, his positioning was very good and he tried to help out going forward. Does prompt the question why on earth Mancini tried Wayne Bridge and Joleon Lescott there for so much of the season so far. 8

de Jong Booked for handball within the first five minutes, and this could have inhibited his natural game but he played well: not diving into tackles but always in the right place, crucial to our keeping the ball when we needed to, making 49 of 54 attempted passes. A good demonstration of how good he is without the occasional Lee Cattermole impressions. 7

Yaya Touré His best game for City. Finally showed off the awesome physicality of his runs more than once in a game, taking on West Brom defenders four or five times, and causing panic and problems every time he got going. Defenders don't know how to deal with it, and he ended up taking some fairly brutal treatment as they attempted to stop him. Clearly isn't far from becoming a very useful goal-scoring midfielder, once he further adjusts. 8

Barry Completed 70 passes (from 76), which sounds like the most from a City player for some time. He was very influential, dictating our tempo, breaking up play and buying a few of those free-kicks of his. As with Yaya, there was a notable improvement in effort from Molineux, which was pleasing to see. 7

Silva Were it not for Mario Balotelli all the focus would be on him today. He was just wonderful, again, playing football in a way not many in the Premier League can. There were three passes that were straight out of the Xavi bracket: a reverse pass into the channel for our first goal, a chip down the middle for our second, and one to Jérome Boateng ('Feed the Boat and he will score') that nobody else on the pitch could have conceived of, never mind executed. 8

Tévez As ever, the whole team looked different with him in. Yes, he didn't score, but I'm not sure we could have done it without him. It was his energy and movement that drove the front three on - his run and cross that set up our first goal. When we were down to ten men his hold-up play and leadership was invaluable - he just wouldn't let West Brom have the ball. 8

Balotelli I don't know what to say. This was a performance unlike anything I have ever seen. To start with the obvious: he's clearly a very good footballer: he's strong, quick, technically excellent and has a sharp eye for goal. But - and I wish I had a better way of putting this - he's just mad. Even before the sending off, he was more petulant, more contemptuous than any player I've seen. Not just the diving, the bickering, the running battles but also the skills - the whole array of tricks even at 1-0 up. There is certainly the suspicion that he plays the opponents rather than the game, but it's really something to behold. I need to write more about him soon. 7

Subs:

A Johnson Did a decent job when he came on, stretching the defence and working hard at the back. 7

Kolarov Too late n/a

West Brom 0 - 2 City

• What a response. After a week of whispers and innuendo, and the annual bestowing of the 'crisis club' label upon us, the players produced possibly their best performance of the season. Maybe beating Chelsea was better. But this felt braver, I think, marginally controlled, more dramatic, less a product of Roberto Mancini's plans (althought it certainly was a tactical triumph); it was a battle, a show of strength, a message sent and a proof of force and clarity that the players and the fans remain loyal to Mancini and his approach.

• The plan was fairly simple: keep the ball, slow it down, impose our will on the game in a way that we could not at Molineux last week. Remeber the second half at White Hart Lane in August? Well this was, for the first hour, just like that. With Nigel de Jong, Gareth Barry and Yaya Touré all at the top of their games, we hoarded possession in a way that no many away sides manage to do in the Premier League. With David Silva and Carlos Tévez dropping into midfield alternately we passed the ball with real precision and imagination.

• And it was those two, our two impish conjurers, that created the goals for Mario Balotelli, who shares some of the qualities of Silva and Tévez - ability, competitiveness, imagination - if not impishness itself. (I feel like I ought to write at length about Balotelli's performance yesterday, because it was unlike anything I've ever seen in my life. Honestly. And as one of the 23,013 people there (and as someone who writes about football as a matter of course), I do have a duty to describe it as best I can. But I don't think I can do it tonight.) The first goal came with Silva playing a genius pass into the channel to Tévez, who fired across goal to Balotelli. The second goal started with Silva, who chipped in Balotelli, who shrugged off and spun a defender and fired into the bottom corner.

• The second half was never going to be as easy as the first. West Brom came out stronger: tougher in the tackle and more direct on the ball. The fact that we reduced such a good footballing side to such tactics is an achievement in itself. They did look close to scoring, hitting the woodwork once from distance. But for the most part Joe Hart and Vincent Kompany were as commanding as ever - I hope that our defensive blip is now over - and we resisted. These pressures were exacerbated when Mario Balotelli was sent off; for just over 20 minutes we had to play short-handed. As against Arsenal we fought hard in difficult circumstances, and while we were given the occasional scare it became increasingly apparent that we would come through.

• Three of the best points we'll take this season. This takes some of the edge off Wednesday night (it's inconceivable that there will be serious rumours of Mancini's dismissal even if we lose), as well as making us more confident of a positive outcome. There were some excellent individual performances, but looked most like a team showing, in difficult circumstances, that they have a bit more unity and cohesion than they sometimes like to show us.

Lech 3 - 1 City

• Sorry for the lateness of this post, and the lack of posts recently. There's not really too much to say. It was not a particularly meaningful game, as they go. I think we've still got a good shot at qualification.

• It was a fairly even game for the most part. We didn't play particularly well, but all three goals were difficult to prevent: two excellent hits and one freak bounce. But that said our defence was as patchy as one would expect given Wayne Bridge's inclusion. And we looked short of ideas in the final third: trying to get Adam Johnson involved in one-on-ones but not much else.

• In part it felt like the FA Cup defeat against Nottingham Forest in January 2009. That was when Mark Hughes put out a team of players he inherited: Michael Ball, Gelson Fernandes, Darius Vassell etc, as if to show people the poverty of his resources, to display just what a mess he inherited. Here Mancini played Bridge, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Emmanuel Adebayor, Joleon Lescott, Shay Given. It's not the same but I did feel some resonance.

TLDORC October awards

A strange month, probably with as many bad things as good. We managed three wins and two defeats (two of each in the Premier League), but never really played that well. The best display came in a 3-0 home defeat, and it was followed by what was certainly the worst performance of the season and maybe the worst of Roberto Mancini's tenure. The most worrying thing was the crumbling of the defensive unit. In September we conceded four goals in six games. If you discount the West Brom match (Cunningham, Boyata, Mee, and Vidal in the back four) then it was two in five. But in October we shipped nine in five. We're still well placed, in both the Europa and Premier Leagues. But an improvement in November would be nice.

Newcastle United (h) 2-1 (thoughts, ratings, reax)
Blackpool (a) 3-2 (thoughts, ratings)
Lech Poznań (h) 3-1 (thoughts, ratings)
Arsenal (h) 0-3 (thoughts, ratings, reax)
Wolverhampton Wanderers (a) 1-2 (thoughts, ratings, reax)

Player of the Month

Not as difficult as recent months, when a number of excellent performances have vied for recognition. There were a few decent performers in October: Joe Hart,Vincent Kompany, Nigel de Jong - but only one excellent one. The winner is obvious: David Silva. This was the month where he revealed to us in the clearest fashion yet just how good he is and just how good he might be for City. There had been a glimpse here and a spark there before October but this was certainly his best yet.

It all started in Blackpool. He wasn't starting, but he came on with the score 0-0 and City being frustrated by the very impressive hosts. Within minutes of our introduction he created our first goal. He drifted into a channel between defenders - he has a sense of space unlike many other players in England - and clipped a left-footed cross to Carlos Tévez who flicked the ball into the corner. There were goals for both teams before Silva scored the best individual goal scored by a City player in years. He bluffed to shoot and cut inside a defender, before repeating the trick precisely to evade another. Charlie Adam came to close him down but he just curled the ball past him and into the corner.

Against Lech Poznań he was just as good, but over the course of 90 minutes. It was a virtuoso football recital: pass, move, touch, feint - the whole lot. In terms of quality it was beyond anything even Elano produced; you've got to go way back to Ali Benarbia and Eyal Berkovic to get close. He didn't score, but his crosses for Emmanuel Adebayor's second and third goals were just perfection: the first floated in from the by-line, the second swung in past two defenders from deeper and wider.

In the next two games, both of which we lost, he showed that he was more and just the replacement for Elano I so want him to be: twice, in difficult circumstances, he fought hard for the team. He forced two good saves in the Arsenal defeat (both times with technically excellent shots), and at Molineux looked like the only player with any interest in our winning the game or with any idea of how best to do it. He even leapt into the air to contest a header with Richard Stearman when Yaya Touré brainlessly chipped the ball up to him.

He was certainly our best player in October. He is, I'm sure, the most talented player we've had at City in my life-time. Never before have we had someone so close to the elite of world football. While I enjoy the novelty of this, I also enjoy the ways in which it calls back to former City players. Because Silva - and I don't think this is sentimental or facile - does recall Georgi Kinkladze in the way he runs with the ball. And he does, drift and glide around off the ball like Ali Benarbia, with the same sense of trigonometry and incision. In short, he's a synthesis of my two favourite ever City players and I love him already. The best of it is the fact that there is clearly so much more to come too. He also takes Goal of the Month and Performance of the Month too.

Wolves reax

David Instone, Independent on Sunday

If this was all Mancini's side could manage by way of a response to being dismantled by Arsenal last Sunday, the threat they offer to Chelsea, Manchester United and the rest for the foreseeable future is thin indeed. So deserving were Wolves of their first League victorysince the opening afternoon of the season that they had all the game's best performers and take all the plaudits. One place off the bottom they remain, but they, in particular the surprise England candidate Matt Jarvis, ran the legs off City's defenders.

Sandy Macaskill, Sunday Telegraph

If Manchester City want to be taken seriously as top four, let alone title, contenders, this is the sort of match they needed not only to win, but win convincingly. It started promisingly, Emmanuel Adebayor scoring his first Premier League goal of the season, but then ran into a brick wall of their own construction, allowing Nenad Milijas and Dave Edwards to capitalise, and leaving Roberto Mancini so hot under the collar he took off his infamous scarf.

Danny Pugsley, Bitter and Blue

The bedrocks of the season so far - a solid central defensive partnership and a dominant midfield trio were nowhere to be seen. Although Kolo Toure returned to partner Vincent Kompany, they lacked the authority and presence shown in games earlier in the season when they posted a series of clean sheet. In midfield, without Nigel de Jong the trio looked completely overwhelmed by their counterparts. Yaya Toure and Gareth Barry in particular lacked any sort of poise and presence, allowing Wolves to continually maraud down the wings to great effect, with both Micah Richards and Jerome Boateng having a torrid afternoon.

Wolves player ratings

Hart On a very good day he might just have got a hand to the first goal. But powerless with the second. Otherwise strong under an aerial barrage. 6

Richards A bit negligent - admittedly under difficult circumstances - against Matt Jarvis, allowing too many crosses including the one that lead to Wolves' equaliser. Things didn't get too much better in the second half. 5

Kolo Touré Maybe rushed back from injury, this was a return to his form of last season. He was back to his old diffidence and insecurity, and was partially culpable for both Wolves goals. Joleon Lescott must be wondering what he has to do. 4

Kompany Given a very difficult time by Kevin Doyle, who did a great job leading the line for Wolves. Won his fair share of headers but might have done better for the goals. Due a bad game, I guess, but we need him at 100% every week. 5

Boateng Having him out on the left inhibits his crossing, which is one of his best traits. Defended well enough, better at stopping crosses coming in than Richards was, although he did look a bit ponderous at times. Foul throw in the dying minutes was infuriating. 6

Yaya Touré Asked to anchor in the absence of Nigel de Jong, he struggled to impose himself in quite the same way. As ever there was the suspicion that he was playing within himself, best displayed by the fact that he waited 75 minutes before going on his first charging run through the middle. A bit slow in possession, too. 4

Milner The shuttling role in a diamond is well-suited to his game, and he performed more admirably than some. He covered ground although his final ball was not as good as it might have been. 6

Barry Not as energetic as Milner, and so less suited to the task he was given. Barely made any impression on the game, on or off possession, as we were left with more bodies in midfield than we needed and not enough in wide areas. Lucky to stay on as long as he did. 4

Silva The one player who remained lively and ambitious until the end. Won us the penalty for our goal (although Stearman's greivances are entirely illegitimate), and continued to impress with his movement and touch throughout. Without Carlos, no-one was on his wavelength. 7

Adebayor Caused problems. Ran harder than usual, going deep and wide, and converted his penalty well. Unlucky to get the hook. 6

Balotelli It's unfair to expect too match in his first Premier League start. He was lively, certainly, getting in good positions and worrying defenders. He could have had a hat-trick in the first half. But he drifted out of the game and didn't look particularly helpful later on. 5

Subs:

A. Johnson Beat Elokobi with his first run (as he has a habit of doing), and did lift things, without being too influential to the overall pattern of play. 6

Zabaleta One reckless tackle that deserved at least the booking he got. 5

Jô One shot blocked n/a

Wolves 2 - 1 City

• Although we lost to Arsenal last weekend, we lost with pride, with unity, with a sense of honour. There was none of that today. This was as spineless a performance as we've seen from a City side since that capitulation at White Hart Lane last Christmas that cost Mark Hughes his job. Yes, we went ahead. And yes, Wolves would have beaten many teams playing as they did today. But the lack of tempo, the sloppiness on the ball and off it, the absence of any obvious desire to win the game or idea of how best to do so were just appalling.

• We saw the return of the diamond for only the second time this season. Emmanuel Adebayor partnered Mario Balotelli up front, with David Silva in behind. Yaya Touré anchored for Gareth Barry and James Milner. It worked well at the start, as we got a grip of the ball, and created chances as Balotelli and Adebayor combined well. We could have been a few ahead by the time we scored: David Silva broke into the box, was cleared out by Richard Stearman, and Adebayor converted the penalty. Given how good we're meant to be at defending 1-0 leads, that should have been it.

• But Wolves roared back into the game. Noticing how our diamond left the flanks exposed, they moved the ball wide as quickly as possible. Matt Jarvis gave Micah Richards the full Gareth Bale treatment, while Kevin Doyle's movement induced a very ropey performance from our centre-backs. So it was with Wolves' much-deserved equaliser. Jarvis accepted Richards' invitation to swing a cross in, it was half-cleared and Nenad Milijaš fired into the bottom corner. You couldn't shake the thought that the dominant Kompany/Kolo of just last month wouldn't have allowed that to happen.

• We were relieved when half-time came. Level at the break and anything is still possible. All we had to do was start the second half with renewed purpose, energy and imagination. But we didn't. We were just as defensively error-prone, mistaken in our passing, and short of ideas in the final third. But this time we didn't have the excuse of being surprised by Wolves. Their second goal came soon after: Kolo Touré could have conceded a corner but decided instead to keep the ball in play, heading it into a blind-spot. The ball came out to Edwards, who was not closed down, and he put Wolves ahead. Again, there was a laziness of thought and deed in central defence unlike anything we've seen this season.

• But with our resources, with the ability of our attacking players on the pitch and on the pitch, we should have been able to get back into the game. But we were painfully flat; playing at walking pace as if we were the side 2-1 ahead. Adam Johnson came on and beat George Elokobi once or twice but with no great benefit. Emmanuel Adebayor was withdrawn, after a good performance, while Mario Balotelli stayed on the pitch. We did not create a single meaningful chance to make it 2-2. How we missed Carlos Tévez. We have played this poorly more often than we might like to admit in 2010, but so many times our captain has, through force of will, created an opening and grasped it. Absent our trump card we have to work for our opportunities, and we displayed precious little interest in doing so today.

• So that's consecutive league defeats. Not a crisis, or even the embryo of one. But a clear reminder of how much we need Tévez, how short of ideas we can look without him, how much Silva, Milner, Balotelli, Boateng and other needs to bear the creative burden in his absence. Apparently he'll be back next weekend at West Brom. It's a shame just how much we need him.