Man City comes back to reality

By: Patrick | August 26th, 2007

After Robin Van Persie smashed his penalty try against Kasper Schmeichel’s knee midway though the second half, I started to think, “Oh my god, City might get a result out of this match.”

Well, my hopes were dashed 13 minutes later, when Francesc Fabregas scored the first goal on The Citizens this season, and in doing so, handed City its first lost.

All in all, City played much better against Arsenal than they did against Manchester United the week before, and although I thought they had no chance at winning, City did show if it got a little more luck they could have pulled off another upset.

To the evaluations…

Goalie: Kasper Schmeichel - Even though he finnaly yielded a goal, I think it was his best match of the young season. Schmeichel made some spectaular saves, and although his penalty save had more to do with Van Persie’s strike than the 20-year-old’s skill, it was a penalty save nonetheless. He can’t be faulted for the goal, and even almost scored a goal himself, so he did a little bit of everything in the match.

Defense: Verdan Corluka, Richard Dunne, Micha Richards, Javier Garrido - As a group, they did not do as good of a job as they had with United, but it wasn’t a terrible outing from the City backline. Corluka (who I am quickly becoming an admirer of) did a really good job on the right flank, and Arsenal’s attack had little success when it went after Corluka.

Dunne also had a solid match, not making any terrible errors and had some timely tackles. After I said good thing after good thing about Richards this past week, he was nothing short of terrible on Saturday. He was always slightly out of position (which he always is), but the difference was the 19-year-old looked tired and that super human speed (pace) wasn’t there to make up for his mistakes. The tackle that led to the penalty was horrendous (how did he not at least get a yellow card for that) and just overall, it was a match that Richards needs to quickly for about. I guess when you play Manchester United, Germany and Arsenal in the same week, you’re bound to have one bad match.

Lastly, Garrido had an “ok” match, he can be faulted for the goal as he let the pass go directly though his legs, but he did run forward and crossed some dangerous passes into the box, which was encouraging.

Midfield: Deitmar Hamann, Stephen Ireland (Ball), Michael Johnson, Elano (Geovanni), Martin Petrov - The midfield probably played better than they had against Man U (they connected with more than four passes), but it still wasn’t a very good showing.

First the positive, and that would be Hamman. He is looking more and more like one of the best defensive midfielders in the EPL, and Saturday was no different. The combination of Dunne, Richards and Hamman, should give the Premiership clubs nightmares for the next eight months or so.

On the wings, Ireland and Petrov caused Arsenal a little trouble, but can someone pleas tell Petrov that it doesn’t matter how much he shoots, unless he gets the shot on goal! Johnson did pretty well, making some good passes (mostly down the wings) and is looking like he might be a player for England down the road. Lastly, Elano, was not good. He had little impact on the match and went completely unnoticable for long periods.

Fordward: Emile Mepenza (Bianchi) - Watching Man City, you can understand why Sven is interested in anoter stricker to add to the club before the transfer deadline. Mpenza had little impact, with just one good oportunity that fired directly into Manuel Almunia.