Manchester City 2 - 1 West Ham: Thoughts and Ratings

By Aaron Leggott

My thoughts

Superb goals from Sergio Aguero and Yaya Toure gave us a comfortable 2-1 victory on Saturday against West Ham and in truth, we were rarely tested throughout the 90 minutes.

The first half started as I expected, with City having the majority of the ball - whilst West Ham seemingly employed a formation of damage limitation. Their season is all but over and Sam Allardyce knows that his team were extremely unlikely of getting a result, so why didn't they just go for it?

Obviously against the Blues you need to find a sensible formation which allows you to attack and defend otherwise we'd just rip you on the counter attack - but the Hammers just sat back and let us play, which I think is the worst thing you can do.

Carlos Tevez in action against his former club. See what rating I gave him below.
Official MCFC Facebook

Just look at the teams who have given us problems this season. Dortmund, Southampton, Liverpool - all three employed a system of high pressure and quick counter attacking football, and it worked. 

Manchester City 1 - 0 Wigan: Thoughts and Ratings

By Aaron Leggott

My thoughts

We were far from our best yesterday and I think we were extremely fortunate to finish the game with a win. Wigan really impressed me last night and Roberto Martinez has proven that if used correctly the 3-5-2 formation is one of the best in the business.

In truth, as soon as I saw the starting line-up I was sceptical as to how easy this game was going to be. With Javi Garcia and Gareth Barry playing in holding midfield roles, I knew that we were going to be run over by Jordi Gomez, James McCarthy and Shaun Maloney and I was proven right.

Edin Dzeko tussles with the Wigan defence
Photo: Official MCFC Facebook

I don't know why Mancini persists with picking Barry and Garcia in the same team because it just doesn't work. They are both too slow and you need some pace and energy, especially against a team like Wigan. For this reason, I'd have started James Milner alongside either Barry or Garcia.

Match Report: City 1 - 1 Arsenal

Koscielny's strike gives Arsenal deserved point against the champions

By Aaron Leggott

Laurent Koscielny's first start of the season saw the Frenchman steal two points from the Blues as he struck late on to secure a point for Arsenal.

Despite taking the lead, City looked to be suffering from a Champions League hangover after the defeat in Madrid on Tuesday night, and their efforts showed as Arsenal really should have took all three points.

Koscielny nets on his first start of the season
Photo: Alex Livesey/Getty Images Europe

Arsenal hoped to have been the first team in almost two years to win at the Etihad Stadium in the league, since David Moyes' men left with a 2-1 victory to give their fans a happy Christmas in 2010.

However, despite numerous chances falling to the Gunners, they weren't able to make their domination pay, and had to travel back to North London with only a share of the spoils.

EURO 2012: Group D Review

A Ukrainian fairy tale see's the co-hosts top Group D

Match day 1: By Aaron Leggott

The fourth day of Euro 2012 saw possibly the biggest shock of the tournament so far, as co-hosts Ukraine saw their idol Andriy Shevchenko strike twice to create a night to remember in Kyiv.

Shevchenko creates a fairy tale ending for the Ukrainians
Photo: Martin Rose/Getty Images Europe

Sweden, who boast a squad of fine talent, including AC Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, were the clear favourites but were unable to deliver as Ukraine used home advantage to deliver a spectacular win.

Is there enough consistency at the FA?

By Andy Leggott (@andyleg66)

Balotelli's alleged stamp in the direction
of Parker's head.

Consistency is the word on everybody’s lips following the FA’s decision to charge Mario Balotelli with violent conduct for his alleged stamp in the direction of Scott Parker’s head. The very fact that the challenge has caused so much debate and disagreement suggests that no-one can be certain whether there was intent in the challenge and it would appear that once again the FA have acted on reputation rather than fact.

Don’t believe me? How can they possibly explain then the decision to charge Mario whilst dismissing the alleged elbow from Lescott and similarly the alleged eye gouge by Peter Crouch in the Stoke v WBA game played the day before? Ask yourself if the Balotelli and Lescott incidents were reversed who would have suffered then from retrospective punishment? I’ll tell you who; Balotelli would without question. It has been written elsewhere that there is a pattern emerging in just which players most often face retrospective punishments. I don’t have any facts to hand but how many times have you seen clear cut examples of violent conduct brushed away using the FA’s convenient get out clause of ‘the referee saw it and chose to take no action at the time’. Rooney at Wigan and Huddlestone at Bolton immediately spring to mind and like Lescott and Crouch both are England internationals. Even if we delve back to the days when Leicester City were a fixture in the Premier League there is undeniable evidence of one rule for the English lads and one for Jonny Foreigner. What evidence you may ask? The then England captain’s (Alan Shearer) clear stamp on Neil Lennon is all the evidence you need. For those that haven’t seen it, or may simply have forgotten about it, I suggest you look it up on YouTube; now that is a stamp to the head and no retrospective action taken at all.

Why always him? Mario always seems to have his name in the
papers - this time for the wrong reason.

I cannot begin to understand the lack of consistency that quite clearly does exist in the corridors of power, without believing that an agenda exists, but I do have major concerns about the standards of refereeing this season. Let’s take Sunday’s referee, England’s alleged best official, Howard Webb. You can take one of two views of the Balotelli incident; firstly that he deliberately attempted to stamp on Scott Parker or secondly that it was accidental. Howard Webb quite clearly took the latter during the game as he was looking directly at the incident at full speed. If, as various media outlets claim, the stamp was deliberate then how poor a decision was that from Webb? He shouldn’t need super slow motion as a basis on which to make his decision and quite clearly, in this instance, he has. If, as he now claims, he should have issued a red card how exactly did he miss the challenge when looking directly at it from 5 yards? If I was a Spurs supporter that would be my primary concern rather than jumping on the media driven bandwagon for Balotelli to be hung, drawn and quartered. Howard Webb’s ineptitude may have cost Spurs a tilt at the title but sadly all the focus is on Balotelli.

Webb did have an opportunity to put his hand up and admit he may have made a mistake by simply admitting to the FA that he ‘saw it and chose to take no action at the time’. However this didn’t fit with the day long media driven agenda, or that of Howard Webb, so a simple ‘no I didn’t see it but if I had I would have given a red card’ sufficed and kept Webb’s reputation intact and allowed the FA to bow to media hysteria and charge Balotelli with violent conduct.

Before people jump on this as a defence of Balotelli please think twice. I don’t know whether Mario meant to stamp on Parker because I’m not privy to his thought process at the time. The super slow motion made it look bad but there was, in my opinion, sufficient doubt as to the level of intent. Given that Howard Webb came to the same conclusion when watching the incident at full speed there should have been no charge to answer. That there was speaks more about the workings of the FA and the standard of refereeing in this country.

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Report: Bitter rivals Manchester United complete comeback to win Community Shield

Another brilliant Manchester Derby saw Manchester United complete a dramatic comeback to win the Community Shield against City and win the first piece of silverware this season. The Community Shield probably needed a game like this to be sparked into life, with both sides desperate to get one over each other.

It was a poor display from City, who for the whole 90 minutes, seemed to be second best. Poor passing and lazy tackling from the players meant that United never really had to get out of second gear to exact their revenge after the FA Cup Semi Final. There was also no debut for Sergio Aguero, who was left on the bench by manager Roberto Mancini, who preferred Edin Dzeko and Mario Balotelli over the 23 year old Argentinian. 

United manager Alex Ferguson decided to play two of his new signings in David de Gea and Ashley Young, whilst Phil Jones was left on the bench. He also favoured Danny Welbeck to partner Wayne Rooney up front, leaving Dimitar Berbatov on the bench, further indication that the Bulgarian is on his way out of United.

The game started off in electric fashion, with City looking unable to cope with Nani and Young on the wings, and they were creating havoc for the two full backs. However, there was no end result from these two, and the early stages were dominated by strong tackles and animosity between the two sets of players; typical of a Derby. 

City started to use their powerful team to their advantage though as the game edged towards the 30 minute mark, through a set piece. Evra hauled down Dzeko, and from the resulting free kick, Joleon Lescott climbed above the United defenders to beat de Gea with a brilliant header to put the Blues ahead. It was arguably undeserved, but City found some confidence from the goal, and minutes later James Milner got past Evra before being taken out just outside the penalty area. It seemed like Evra was the last man, but referee Phil Dowd didn't produce any cards to the Frenchman. 

Jumping for joy: Dzeko celebrates
City's second

City's confidence grew throughout the later stages of the first half, and were keeping the ball very well. They seemed content to keep it 1-0, but with about a minute of the half left, Edin Dzeko found himself unmarked from about 30 yards out and unleashed a ferocious shot which went under de Gea and into the back of the net. The Bosnian was clearly delighted with his effort, and rightly so. City went into the break 2-0 ahead, and really, although they were second best, they took their chances unlike United.

That was soon to change though, and after the break, United looked a revived team after making 3 changes. Phil Jones, Johnny Evans and Tom Cleverley replaced Vidic, Ferdinand and Carrick. Cleverley also made an immediate impact with a cross into the box to Welbeck, whose header went embarrassingly wide. 

It took United just 7 minutes to get a goal back, with a free kick from Young being steered in by Chris Smalling from yards out. It was poor defending from City though, and was pretty much a gift wrapped goal. United took the gift with open arms and ensued with constant pressure before grabbing their second goal just before the hour mark. A great move from the Champions which involved a number of one touch passes led to Nani smashing the ball above Joe Hart into the goal. 

How did that happen? Mancini's face
says it all.

There was a number of substitions after this, with both sides changing formations to try and find a way past their opponents defences, and it was City who had the best chance to go ahead again when substitute Adam Johnson forced a fine save from the United keeper at his near post after hitting the ball firmly just outside the area.

Both teams were being roared on by their supporters to grab a winner, but with the game seemingly heading to penalties, United took the initiative with just seconds left. City were pushing for a winner with a corner, but it was headed away, and Rooney kicked the ball upfield. A very uncharacteristic error from City's captain Vincent Kompany led to Nani being given a chance to win the game with just Joe Hart to beat, he used great composure to slide past England's number one keeper and tap it into the goal, sending the United fans into raptures (who said it didn't mean anything to them!!).

Whilst it was a disappointing result for City fans, we can be sure of one thing this season; it should be a great ride!