Blue Days

Goals: Adebayor 39, Kompany 45+1.

A jaded performance wasn’t helped by an unlikely midfield formation, but City came through thanks to a quality of finishing that Portsmouth were unable to match. Emanual Adebayor struck a spectacular opener and Vincent Kompany followed shortly afterwards with a powerful header from a Martin Petrov corner.

Maybe Roberto Mancini was looking to prove a point to Brian Marwood and Garry Cook that we need another central midfielder and a winger. The left flank was a mess until Craig Bellamy came on, while Gareth Barry looked like he was sleepwalking in the middle.

Mancini attempted to show his tactical acumen by starting the game with a 4-3-1-2 formation that had Petrov playing in a free role behind Adebayor and Tevez. Nigel de Jong was flanked by Gareth Barry and Stephen Ireland in the middle. With Micah Richards having failed a fitness test, Zabaleta moved to full-back, while Kolo Toure returned to partner Kompany and give Boyata a well earned rest.

It was soon clear the midfield wasn’t working with everyone looking confused about the role of Petrov. The Bulgarian was quickly moved out to the right wing.

There seems to be the idea that Garrido has to be protected by the person in front of him. As a consequence Petrov and Robinho haven’t been allowed to play in their best positions recently. In the first leg against United, we saw Zabaleta start off on the left wing. It failed as he drifted infield and didn’t track Rafael.

For the first half against Portsmouth we ended up with Barry nominally playing on the left flank. His woeful lack of pace gave us no attacking threat and he also drifted infield. The Pompey left-back was able to attack at will.

In the second half, Barry thankfully moved back into his usual position and Ireland was moved over to the left. It’s his least effective midfield position and Garrido again had little help as Stevie tended to drift inside or get caught upfield.

Petrov may not be the best tackler, but he does at least have the positional sense for the left flank and would surely have done a better job. Playing him on the right, where he had stronger defenders behind him, undermined us as an attacking force.

When he’s plays on the left, he can drive down the wing and offer genuine penetration. Playing him on the right nullifies this. Allied to the lack of an attacking flank player on the left, we were never able to get behind Portsmouth. Barry is either exhausted or not fully fit, so de Jong was having to get through a lot of covering against a muscular and mobile Pompey midfield.

Ireland has yet to find his best form under Mancini, and doesn’t seem as comfortable with the patient build-up play. One attempt to play a long pass early resulted in a rollicking from Mancini, while his forward bursts went unnoticed by team-mates who chose the less ambitious pass.

As a result there was little service to the front two, and none of the midfielders were able to get forward sufficiently. It was the confused midfield set-up as much as any tiredness from Wednesday that undermined this performance.

Rather than Adebayor’s exquisite goal, the game was better summed up by a pair of chaotic substitutions. First, there was an inordinate wait while Zabaleta got treatment on his nose, before it was decided to bring Onuoha on at right-back. During this confusion Portsmouth hit the bar and emergency right-back Ireland was attempting a goal-line clearance like a little boy lost.

The second substitution saw Vincent Kompany struggling with a groin strain when he received the ball. Rather than kick it out and go down, he attempted a pass and City continued to play on. The resulting loss of possession left us vulnerable to a goal as our best defender was out of action.

In the second period it was noticeable how both Adebayor and Tevez didn’t drop back to assist the midfield, even when we were getting overrun. There was surely a case for Tevez to drop deeper, but Mancini stuck to his guns.

The plus points from the game were the return of Toure and Adebayor. Both put in decent performances, with Toure making some excellent interceptions, while Adebayor worked hard and got his reward with a goal.

Kolo Toure:

“It was an important win for us. If we want to be in the top four then we know that we need to win these kind of games.

“At the start of the season we dropped a few points to the lower teams. But we are strong as a team and we defended well today after the two goals that we scored.”

While the match was undoubtedly flat, the three points were vital, and this result is arguably more important than that against United in the Carling Cup. Getting into the Champions League is the main aim this season, and we are now handily placed a point behind fourth placed Spurs with two games in hand. There were lessons to be learnt here, and if they are, then we should continue to go from strength to strength.

External reports:

• BBC
• The Guardian
• The Independent
• The Mail
• Manchester Evening News
• Official site
• The Telegraph
• The Times

Blog reports:

• The Lonesome Death of Roy Carroll

Video:

• Match highlights

Given – An uncharacteristic flap at a cross was his most notable contribution in a game where he was mostly dealing with back-passes. 6

Zabaleta – One of the few who didn’t look tired from Wednesday. Shame he wasn’t able to make it back on after a nasty knock on the nose. 6

Toure – A decent return where he showed some good touches and looked to encourage those around him. 7

Kompany – Once again the defender with the most authority. Great header for his goal. 7

Garrido – Targetted by the opposition and did his best, despite varying levels of support from those in front. 6

Ireland – Moved around the midfield positions and didn’t look at home with the patient approach. Peach of a pass for Adebayor’s goal. 6

De Jong – At times he was a one man midfield, and it was enough. Just. 7

Barry – If he was any slower, he’d be stationary. Allied to loose passing, this was Gareth’s worst showing so far. 5

Petrov – Started out with a free role, which confused everyone, before being moved to the right. Having to turn inside onto his left foot slowed our attacks. He needs to play on the left. 6

Tevez – A good bustling performance. A couple of signs of tiredness, notably with the finish that hit the post. He could be forgiven. 7

Adebayor – Fabulous control and strike for his goal – the only memorable moment in a forgettable match. He moved to the flanks to find space effectively and put in a decent performance, despite a lack of midfield support. 7

Subs:

Onuoha – Came on at right-back and shored it up effectively. Having to fight for a place at the moment, and is doing his best. 7

Boyata – It’s a sign of his quality that when he came on for Kompany, our best defender of late, there were no undue concerns. Assured and strong in the air. 7

Bellamy – Came on to show what can be done on the left flank. We finally looked dangerous and gave their full-back something to think about. 7

Man of the match: Nigel de Jong.

For anyone not yet over the defeat at Old Trafford, take a look at Portsmouth to see how much worse things could be. If City suffer a hangover from Wednesday, it could be a low key game. If City look to take out their frustration on the south coast club, then there has rarely been a Premier League team who look more vulnerable to a hammering.

For Pompey, their best defender and in-form goalkeeper are being sold behind the manager’s back. As a result Avram Grant has been on the verge of quitting and didn’t turn up for training on Friday. They still have players at the African Cup of Nations, while those remaining are likely to be having their motivation tested after failing to be paid yet again. And they’re bottom of the league.

Meanwhile at City, Wayne Bridge is reportedly ready to return, but that’s not the reason his name is in the headlines at the moment. It’s fair to say that City’s failure to sign John ‘latest football love-rat’ Terry is saving Mancini from a major team harmony problem.

It would be good to see Bridge back on the pitch as he has yet to feature under Mancini, even if Pompey fans are unlikely to be sympathetic to the ex-Southampton man. Elsewhere in defence, Kolo Toure should return, with Boyata getting a rest after his incredible introduction to the first team.

With Vieira not yet fit and no other midfielder signed, it will be interesting to see if Mancini rests either Barry or de Jong. An Ireland – de Jong partnership will provide a more forward thinking platform in a game where we should enjoy territorial advantage.

If Mancini doesn’t wish to risk Bellamy’s knees for a second game in a week, then Petrov could come in. He was excellent at Scunthorpe and his direct attacking play can cut through any Pompey resistance.

Both Wright-Phillips and Adebayor need to get their form back after their respective absences, and this could be just the match to do it. Mancini is known to like a big man up front, and this is the first opportunity for him to try a Tevez – Adebayor partnership from the start.

A convincing win is required to lift the gloom after Wednesday’s defeat, and more importantly, keep us on track for a Champions League place. That’s always been the top requirement for Mancini and he’s unlikely to let the team pass up this opportunity for three points.

Blue Days line-up: Given, Richards, Bridge, Kompany, Toure, de Jong, Ireland, Petrov, Wright-Phillips, Tevez, Adebayor.

Prediction: 4-0 to City.

Given – The Irishman didn’t have a great deal to do, and his best save struck him on the shoulder, but who can argue with another clean sheet. Must feel invincible. 7

Richards -  Showed no ill effects from Thursday night and had his best game of the season. An excellent poacher’s finish for the disallowed goal. Let’s hope the injury isn’t serious. 8

Toure – The season’s best defensive performance had the new skipper at it’s heart. His influence seemed to be rubbing off on the improved Richards. 8

Lescott – Barring one Dunney style pass to the opposition, this was an excellent Premier League debut in front of the watching Fabio Capello. Commanding in the air, and patrolled his area of the pitch with authority. 8

Bridge – From being a  man alone in the left back slot last season, he now had Lescott, Barry and Bellamy all helping him out. Little wonder his best form continues. 8

Wright-Phillips – Showed the same graft as Thursday, but without the finishing touches. Needs to work on his link-up play with Tevez and Adebayor. 6

Ireland -  Held his own in midfield until Brown clobbered him. May not be spending as much time running around the Glossop hills as he hoped on the international break.

Barry – With better assistance from Ireland and De Jong, the Englishman controlled the midfield. Even managed a couple of Elano-esque crossfield passes. 8

Bellamy – Worked hard and came into his own in the second halt. The Pompey full-back never had a moments rest. However the Welshman lacked the vision of Robinho and crossing ability of Petrov. 6

Adebayor – Looks capable of scoring every game, and does! He worked the flanks, lead the line and showed the most quality of all the front players. 8

Tevez – Plenty of industry, but still to reach top form. Amongst the harrying, there were some fine touches, but little goal threat. 6

Subs:

Zabaleta – The Argentinian’s passing was tidier than Richards. Picked up his customary booking and to often looked like conceding free-kicks. 6

De Jong – Another late cameo from the Dutchman. Provided a steadying influence in the middle of the park. 6

Man of the match: Barry and the defence all had good games, but the goal machine made the difference: Emmanuel Adebayor.

Goals: Adebayor 30 mins for City.

Emmanuel Adebayor scored in his third successive Premier League game for the Blues to secure a narrow, but deserved, victory over a limited Pompey side.

The big surprise in the line-up was the absence of Robinho. Let’s hope there’s nothing serious amiss with our Brazilian superstar, who had been the subject of a 40 million euro bid from Barcelona according to Marca. There has been nothing in the English press to substantiate this, and hopefully we can get through to Tuesday evening with last season’s top scorer still a blue.

Craig Bellamy lined up on the left, and how Martin Petrov felt about this is anybody’s guess. With Luca Modric injured for Spurs, we can expect some more speculation in the London press about Petrov joining Harry Redknapp at Spurs.

On a more positive note, Joleon Lescott made his Premier League debut for City and looked a very capable defender. There was one Dunney style gaffe when he passed straight to a Pompey forward in the second half, but overall it was a joy to see a genuine left footed central defender finally replace Distin.

The first half was mostly perspiration rather than inspiration and those who appreciate the beautiful game will have missed the silky touches of Robinho. However City were looking solid throughout the side, with the workrate and competitive nature that was the hallmark of Hughes’ Blackburn side clearly in evidence.

When the goal came, it was a straightforward affair with Barry sending over a corner for Adebayor to rise above everyone and nod home. Micah Richards had one of his better games. The hurley burley atmosphere of Fratton Park seemed to suit him, before a painful looking locked left leg saw him make way for Zabaleta. The England U-21 international had been unlucky earlier when having a perfectly good goal disallowed for Gareth Barry being offside. The former Villa man wasn’t interfering with play, but the linesman didn’t realise. For once, a Michel Platini idea, of having officials behind the goal, would have helped City!

Michael Brown didn’t disappoint with some trademark challenges on our midfielders. Somehow, he managed to escape without a caution from Howard Webb. Stephen Ireland was the biggest victim, receiving a knock before half-time which looked to reduce his effectiveness in the second period.

Adebayor continued to look a fantastic signing, even beating full-backs down the flanks, to go along with his usual link up play. Aside from the goal, his best moment was going past two defenders in the penalty area before firing in a shot that was saved by the keeper. Tevez was industrious rather than penetrative and it could be argued that Bellamy’s pace through the middle might have caused Pompey more problems, as we saw in the opening game against Blackburn.

As with the Wolves game, City nearly paid the price for not adding to their first half goal. This time it was the final few minutes where Pompey had their chances. Substitute Nugent, with his first touch after coming on, chested the ball down and should have scored, but somehow managed to hit Given on the shoulder. Shay was then grateful to have a Utaka header land in his arms. At the other end Tevez was hauled down when going through in what looked like a penalty.

Overall, the defence looked stronger, and the team worked better as a unit than in any of the previous games. For the first time, the formation with just two central midfielders, didn’t buckle at any point. The down side was the way possession was conceded to cheaply, and we never found the fluency in creating chances that we had in the first half against Wolves.

Mark Hughes:

“All in all, it was a very satisfying performance, it could have been more emphatic if we had had the goal that was chalked off allowed. At 1-0, there is always that little doubt when they hit balls into your box late on. You just have to stand up to the challenge when that happens, and that is what we are doing at the moment.

“It was important to get a good start to settle everybody down. We are not making any promises about what we can achieve, we will just try to do our very best and be as consistent as we can. We have had the good start we wanted, and we have a good base to build on.”

Match reports:

BBC
Daily Mail
The Guardian

MCFC official site
Manchester Evening News
The Mirror

The Telegraph
The Times

Blog reports:

Norfstander
The Lonesome Death Of Roy Carroll

Mark Hughes will be looking to complete a hat-trick of Premier League victories and continue City’s impressive start to the season on the South coast.

The City boss appears to have settled on his preferred starting line-up for the moment, so with no injury worries it would be a surprise to see any changes to the side that beat Crystal Palace on Thursday night.

The only possible changes might be to bring in Zabaleta for Richards, or to tweak the formation with De Jong coming in to give the defence a bit more protection. The latter should certainly be a consideration in our next match, when we play Arsenal, but for Pompey I expect to see a confident Hughes stick with Barry and Ireland.

Sylvain Distin is one old boy that we won’t be facing following his sale to Everton, though amongst several debutants we should see Michael Brown. We can probably expect a typically hard working and feisty performance from the former Blue as he seeks to impress his new employers. Watch your ankles Robinho!

David James is the other former blue set to play if fit, and he could shortly be joined at Pompey by Benjani and Tal Ben Haim if newspaper reports are correct. These transfers would make sense given the connections between City’s owners and Sulaiman al-Fahim. Neither player looks to have much of a future at City while Benjani was previously a fans favourite down there – something which many City fans struggle to comprehend.

Mark Hughes:

“Its early days, but I am encouraged by what we have produced and what I’ve seen so far. There’s a real resilience to us at the moment, there was a lot of focus on us ahead of Blackburn, and then we were away at the Nou Camp, which was only a friendly in inverted commas!

“We put in a great shift at Palace as well, we had to be on our mettle to come through that. Those are the type of games that were beyond us last year, and for us to improve so quickly on the road is very encouraging.

“It’s hard to plan for because personnel-wise they are changing day on day. It will be difficult to get an angle on who we are facing, they may do some business before the game so we’ll just have to see what the weekend brings.

“The key thing is for us to continue with the momentum we have built up over the last few weeks. If we can continue that, we’ll go into the international break in good heart. There are some big, big games coming up when we return, so it’s important we get a positive result against Portsmouth.”

Football ground guide to Fratton Park

Trivia: Portsmouth manager Paul Hart is the son of former City defender and manager Johnny Hart, and  said in The Independent today, “I was brought up at Maine Road and City were my team.”

Prediction: 3-0 to City