The focus will be on City losing a two goal lead and a couple of points at home, however I was more interested in the first half tactical decision that had Martin Petrov start on the right wing. Given that Petrov is quite possibly the most one footed person on the planet and it is his left foot I just don't understand this. City had a selection dilemma with the return of Bellamy but in this case I would have preferred Petrov to stay on his natural left side - which is what happened at the start of the second half.
Fulham was the type of game that City were set up to win this year. No European football has given the team the luxury of rest not afforded to most of their rivals. Fulham were 3 days removed from a high profile tussle against Roma. A draw is by far the most disappointing result of the year given the circumstances and the team available for selection.
Rags and Spurs lose, Arsenal, City and Villa all draw and Joe Cole returned to play for the first time in almost a year. Chelsea couldn't have scripted that much better if they had wanted. Cole is the key for Chelsea, not least the reason why I hoped City could have tried to sign him last January when Cole was still injured but City could afford to wait for him to heal.
Liverpool's win over the Rags will take the heat off of Benitez, but it doesn't change the fundamental issue that without Torres and Gerrard Liverpool are an average side at best. As long as Benitez is manager Liverpool will never win the Premier League. Then again, I'm pretty sure the same can be said of Hughes and City.
And speaking of Liverpool I was shocked at the lack of class shown by the fans on the return of Michael Owen. Wasn't as if Owen left Liverpool to go to United nor was he beating away multiple offers for his services this summer. Liverpool fans have always been of the very highest standard, they let themselves down on Sunday.
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Posted by lex 3 weeks, 4 days ago
"Then again, I'm pretty sure the same can be said of Hughes and City."
I hope you're wrong. But Fulham was a game City should have won after two draws and a full week's rest.
It's their defense. If they can tighten up there then they will be in the mix for the title at some point (not this season).
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Posted by Cityfan2513 3 weeks, 4 days ago
Petrov and Bellamy swapped throughout. Far too often really and without any real reason. I can see the benefit of having Petrov being able to cut in from the right onto his left foot, and also the benefit of swapping wingers when they aren't getting much joy. However, at times we had no shape and looked disorganised, with too many players seeming to have a free role. It is worth noting though, that Petrov scored his goal following a pass and run from the right of midfield.
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Posted by AlexC83 3 weeks, 3 days ago
I was at the game and to me it was more a case of bellamy taking every opportunity to go on the left after each (ridiculously dangerous) corner petrov took from the right in the first half. That wasn't a tactical thing from hughes - that was blatantly bellamy deciding that for himself.
The selection on sunday was a tough one - bellamy and petrov are both in too good form to drop but we needed the creativity of ireland and the trickery of SWP rather than the counter attacking pace of bellamy/petrov cos fulham play like an italian team, which is no surprise given their manager's excellence.
The point was disappointing but the reality is we've lost the least amount of games out of any this season - if we can keep that up for a while yet then I wont complain about a draw against the most well organised team in the division no matter how disappointing the dropping of two points was.
P.S. Anyone else think it's toure not lescott who should be coming in for more stick???
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Posted by Martin Nazimek 3 weeks, 3 days ago
Wallace,
Is this going to be a reacurring scene? Matches that we should win we end up with a tie? If thats the case we are going to be challenging for top 4, but not getting there. We need to be tactically better then other clubs and right now it seems we are not. We are surviving because we have a great squad, not because of tactics. And one more thing, why in the world is Ireland not starting? Is it a fitness issue? Because if he is not playing because he is not chosen then that is just horrible on the part of MH. CTID
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Wallace Poulter is an award winning video game producer, designer, industry consultant and writer. He has been a football fanatic since the day he moved in next door to Brian Clough. "Cloughie" being the acknowledged genius that he was promptly moved out and went to manage Derby. A serviceable senior school left-back in his youth, Poulter played one season of Sunday league football as a striker proving conclusively that he was a serviceable senior school left-back! Today Poulter remains involved with football as a licensed referee and most recently as a consultant on a Football MMO.