: Mon Sep 21, 2009 10:22 am  

Enfield Exile wrote:

On the pitch? And after 96 minutes?

I don't know why a country boy from Bury gets so wound-up about the Derby and Liverpool rivalry

There are plenty of folk from outside Manchester who get 'wound up' by the derby... isn't that right?

: Mon Sep 21, 2009 10:29 am  

Great winner from Owen bu the ball from Giggs was superb, in fact he was head and shoulders the best player on the pitch yesterday. God knows what Foster and Rio were doing, ffs talk about schoolboy defending. I don't see a problem with the extra time, it's all been explained and either way you play to the whistle.

As for Bellamy I thought he played very well but let himself down with the fan incident. Hughes compared it to the Clough slap all those years ago, rubbish. The fan was about 10/15 yards away from Bellamy and he was being restrained, there was no need for him to get involved. Would he have done the same without the guy being held by 3 other blokes?

Anyway it was 3 points and that's what matters!!

: Mon Sep 21, 2009 10:41 am  

Well, I have had almost 24 hours to come to terms with the single most gutting goal since Tommy Hutchison's bonkers moment at Wembley in 1981 and I am starting to feel a bit of pride that my team are a force to be reckoned with.

Granted, United murdered us in the second half but we were were seconds away from an unbelievable 3-3 draw at the home of the three times champions.

Without Adebayor we were always going to struggle to keep the ball at the other end of the field and we were always going to be on the backfoot.

I thought we were excellent in the first half but just ran out of steam a little in the second and we could not be blamed for trying to settle for a draw.

One thing is abundantly clear, and I have said it all season, is that the defence is a million miles from where we want to be. We had got lucky in a lot of games and with a lesser goalkeeper than Shay Given, we may not have had anywhere near the points total we have got. All of the United goals were poor from a defensive point of view, Richards and Bridge are simply not good enough and Lescott (much to the amusement of the Everton fans, I would suspect) has been a huge disappointment. Some severe lessons on man marking are required in training this week.

We are far from the finished article yet, we are not quite a top four side but the signs are very promising. There is a new team in town and it's here to stay.

: Mon Sep 21, 2009 10:49 am  

Does make me chuckle when City fans try and make out they're this little club that is punching above their weight.

Hughes has had enough money to run Luxembourg and although some clubs definitely saw him coming and bumped the price up to some daft prices (Lescott, Tevez, Santa Cruz), he still had the money to spend.

City are definitely a candidate for the league this year, but I get the feeling a lot will depend on the fitness of Adebayor.

By the way, will he be off to the African Nations?

: Mon Sep 21, 2009 11:10 am  

96 minutes ? Not really surprised as I think Ferguson would not have wanted to see his troops not beat the other Manchester club ( or even draw ).

: Mon Sep 21, 2009 11:14 am  

Dead Man Walking wrote:

96 minutes ? Not really surprised as I think Ferguson would not have wanted to see his troops not beat the other Manchester club ( or even draw ).

Miles Platting Lads Club? Maine Road FC?

: Mon Sep 21, 2009 12:03 pm  

I thought City's full backs were poor. Park is no great shake but I was never impressed with Bridge. City need somebody world class, I hear Dossena's available.

Anyway, I raised doubts about City's full backs before the season started and I still have my doubts, Richards is quick but lacks agility to defend 1v1, Bridge is just an average to decent player IMO.

I think Lescott and Toure can be good partnership but time will be needed for the partnership to work, they'll need to understand eachother's strengths and weaknesses and learn to compliment eachother. It doesn't happen overnight but their defence was solid prior to the games against Arsenal and United. There's no shame in your defence being made to look poor against them, but there's still a lot to work on.

: Mon Sep 21, 2009 12:25 pm  

MrPhilb wrote:

Time for Ledley King to stop robbing a living from Spurs

Agreed maybe they should have bought some defenders in the summer instead of crouch !!

: Mon Sep 21, 2009 12:28 pm  

LFCRhino wrote:

Agreed maybe they should have bought some defenders in the summer instead of crouch !!

Bassong, Naughton?

: Mon Sep 21, 2009 12:41 pm  

Robbie Rotten wrote:

Bassong, Naughton?

Sorry I meant good defenders that are good enough to replace King the crock, lets face it if they would rather play him with no training they cant be owt special can they??