City Winners Despite Defeat...

Clearly losing a game of football is never an enjoyable experience, and as time passes it is a feeling that we are experiencing less and less of, especially at home.  When it does come though, it is a hollow feeling, and for me personally it takes me back, right back to the dark years of constant relegation when losing was such a regular occurrence.  The FA Cup Derby though was different, there was no hollow feeling yesterday as I walked away from Eastlands through the wind and rain, instead I felt buoyant and almost happy, I certainly was not tempted to dive straight under the bed covers when I got home and not come out until Monday morning which is my usual reaction to losing to United.  The interesting thing however, is that I think many of us felt the same yesterday, sure we had lost, and the red lot progressed, but in some ways we were winners and there was a massive amount to be proud of.


There is clearly a danger of slipping into the mindset of dishing out 'ifs and buts' and so I am instead going to deal with the facts, I am not going to get into discussing whether Kompany deserved to be sent off or not, because frankly that argument could and probably will go on for days yet.  Before Vinnie was dismissed we managed to dominate the game, and even after Wayne Rooney scored what we must acknowledge as being an excellent goal I genuinely believed we would run out victorious.  

After the red card things changed, we lost our shape and I don't think Mancini played the situation quite right, he should instantly have made the changes that he made at half time, with some excellent football United gave themselves a commending lead.  I suppose the highlight of the first half after the initial 10 minutes was a superb strike by Aguero that was somehow kept out by Lindegaard.


At half time and 3-0 down the atmosphere was clearly one of depression and misery, it had gone beyond anger, and there seemed a genuine air of disbelief, at that moment our season could have gone either way.  Discussions up and down the concourses featured lines such as 'this could be 6 or 7' or 'now it's just a case of damage limitation'.  Roberto Mancini and the players in the dressing room had a different idea, and the second 45minutes of football made me so proud to be blue, when Kolarov drove home his sublime free kick there was a flickering dream, and when Aguero made it two, 46000 believed.  We came so close to forcing a replay at the end, another Kolarov free kick well saved, a possible penalty shout, and that Richards over head kick that would have blown the roof off Eastlands.

The second period was a demonstration to everyone that City are a team, what was once a collection of talented individuals has been turned into a unit that will all fight for one another,  they battled and they put everything on the line.  At the fore front of this was James Milner and Sergio Aguero who showed the passion of someone who is totally sold on the 'project' and a player that understood what this great football club is about.  The fight lifted the supporters too, who created a din that I have not heard at Eastlands for a long time, possibly surpassing that night against Hamburg.


OK, so what about the result, we lost, but the manner of the defeat was fantastic to behold, our great rivals shipped six goals and were humiliated after playing 30 mins with 10 men, we played 80 mins with 10 and came incredible close to stealing what would have been a miraculous replay.  I think the players sum it up perfectly, many of you will already have read the comments that filled twitter after the game, but I feel they sum up feelings, and they give me the reason for writing this post:

Sergio Aguero: "Despite losing, I believe we leave the field strengthened. We almost equalised against all odds. With this attitude, anything is possible" and " I want to thank the fans of MCFC who inspired us today. If we stand together, both fans and players, we can achieve important feats."

Vincent Kompany: "The fans, the players and every single person involved with Man City FC were incredible today. Definitely the moral winners of this game".

Micah Richards: "We lost today but in our heads we won! Out team spirit is inspirational! The fans kept us going for 90 mins! Thank u. Ctid"

Pablo Zabaleta: "Hello everyone! Disappointed for the result today but very proud for the team,we showed fighting spirit.Thanks to the fans for your support!"

Nigel De Jong: "We might lost the game, but we won more respect among each other, for working that extra yard. Thanks 2 our fans for their support. Heads up"

Samir Nasri: "Thank you so much to the MCFC fans today you were amazing"

Adam Johnson: "Great effort today!! so unlucky.. fans and everyone involved were excellent!"

Joan Angel Roman: "With 10 men and 3-0 down..we should be proud of this team! Its a shame we didnt win but always looking ahead! C'mon City!!!"

Alex Nimely: "Proud to be part of MCFC"

Reece Wabara: "Damn.. Great attempted comeback from the boys though with 10 men aswell.."

Devante Cole: "I can handle that loss very good performance from us in the end :)"

Finally this is a text I received from a friend after the game, sums up my feelings perfectly:

"Today we showed a character, determination & sense of purpose which has hitherto been alien to our great football club. It is those ingredients that will serve us exceptionally well as we strive to lift the Premiership & now, more than ever before I believe we will achieve that goal. God help Liverpool on Wednesday-our Boy's will come out fighting. In the face of adversity our response was simply magnificent-a team reacting in the idiom of there Manager. A mild setback but oh how we have so much to look forward to-and oh how woeful United were in exploiting a remarkable opportunity. Privately, it is they who will know that they are simply not good enough. THIS IS OUR TIME"

A Few Thoughts On The Derby...

Some days it is really not hard to write about this wonderful football club, and today is one of those days.  This really is more of a collection of my thoughts in the aftermath of yesterdays tormenting of Manchester United, many things have gone through my mind in the last 24 hours and I have tried my best here to collect them together.


1) The Power Hasn't Shifted....Yet.

Call it what you want 'Six In The City', the 'Demolition Derby' or one of the many other puns doing the rounds but the real significance of the game is that City are now proving their point.  The power has not shifted, we will have to win the league a couple of times before we can claim to be the totally dominant team in Manchester/Salford but we can now stand proudly alongside that lot from Stretford, the 'noisy neighbours' are going to the next level.

For quite a while now, journalists, supporters and players have all spoken about Manchester City and said that having all this money is one thing, but they have to prove themselves to be real contenders and with the destruction of United yesterday we did just that, we all felt we should be have been taken seriously before this weekend but now more than ever the team has proved they are going somewhere, and that is great to see.


2) We Are Now A Team Not A Group Of Individuals

A common criticism of the club in the past has been that City have been merely a group of individuals and there have been questions about how much the players 'want it'.  I hold my hands up and say that at times over the past couple of years that attitude has been totally understandable, there have been some players that pulled on the City shirt with their mind on the money, not on the team or 'project'.  I think those claims can now surely be put to bed, the idea that there is no team spirit in the camp is now quite frankly laughable.  The celebrations at the end of the last minute victory over Villareal were fine evidence of just that, and the win yesterday has further underlined it, the collection of hugely talented players is becoming a team.


3) Nothing Is Won In October

As soon as the final whistle blew yesterday, Sky announced that City were now favourites for the Premier League title, a similar sentiment was portrayed by Alan Hansen on MOTD claiming it was our title to lose, apparently Collymore on TalkSport said the same thing...it's all a load of rubbish, we are in October.  Our form has been superb, played 9, won 8, drawn 1.  Five points clear of United, and 6 points ahead of Chelsea, there are no complaints from me, and we will be there or there abouts come May, but to claim the title race is over is farcical.  We must hold our hands up and say that before yesterday we had enjoyed a lovely run of fixtures, we past the derby test with flying colours but there are more challenges to come and nothing has been decided just yet so lets not get ahead of ourselves.  In many ways we need to ignore the pressure coming from outside and just focus on winning games of football, lets not worry about the title for a few months yet!


4) Just Who Is Our Best Striker?

A little bit of a stat attack for your, Edin Dzeko has hit 8 goals in 7 games, Kun Aguero has netted 9 in 8, and Super Mario has notched up 5 in 5.  All 3 are in absolutely devastating form, but if we just had to pick one, who would it be?  Going into the season Balotelli was probably 4th choice, but now he appears undroppable, the problem is so do Aguero and Dzeko.  The Italian linked up with the Argentine brilliantly at times yesterday, and Dzeko proved that although he may be a slightly erratic finisher at times he definitely knows where the back of the net is, in all honesty I still think Aguero looks the most prolific, but it is a very difficult quandary to ponder, one this is certain though, who needs Carlos Tevez?


5) How Good Is James Milner?

A lot of City fans feel the need to have a boo boy, someone to make a scapegoat for disappointing results and for long spells last season that man was James Milner.  At times I got sick of being one of the dissenting voices, insisting he was a top player.  He is starting to prove that now, and it may have been some time coming, but it has certainly been worth it.  He has managed to demonstrate not only his immense defensive skills, he has also shown his supreme work rate as well as some fantastic work in the final third.  It was not worth forgetting that he kept Nigel De Jong out of the team yesterday and that is no mean feat.  If he continues with this great form it is going to result in some real selection issues for Bob.