Wednesday 5 August, 7.45pm
Goals: Novo 20, Miller 53, Weir 90 for Rangers. Ireland 27, Petrov 52 for City.
City scored two excellent goals but they weren’t enough to prevent a last minute defeat that was a damning indictment on a shoddy defence.
Hughes named a strong starting line-up with Adebayor as a lone striker flanked by Robinho and Etuhu. Ireland was positioned in front of Barry and De Jong. Richard Dunne and Micah Richards both played their first 90 minutes of pre season while Toure, Bridge and Given made up the rest of the defence.
After a quiet opening, Robinho sprung into life with a backheel to Bridge who crossed for the Brazilian to flick a shot that was blocked by Bougherra.
At the other end Rangers were starting to create chances and scored the first goal with the City defence all at sea. Toure was out of position at full back and couldn’t prevent a cross to the far post where an umarked Rangers player had a shot which ricocheted around City’s box before falling to Novo who slammed it home.
City replied with Robinho narrowly offside as he produced a delightful finish to lob the keeper. The Brazilian was causing plenty of problems down the left hand side and linking up well with Adebayor. Another Robinho run saw him play the ball in to Etuhu, who with one touch moved it on to Adebayor, who played in Ireland for a cool finish, passing the ball into the net.
Robinho cut inside for another shot after 30 minutes as City took control for the remainder of the first half. City’s record signing then put Adebayor clean through, but the Togoese had the ball taken off his toe by a last ditch tackle.
We continued to press high up the pitch to get the ball back. It looks impressive until the opposition get beyond this, and then there is way to much space at the back with defenders frequently being left one on one. This was a trademark Hughes tactic last season and proved to be Dunne’s downfall. The question remains of whether Lescott or anyone else will fare any better in such a system.
Unfortunately half-time saw what proved to be a pair of kamikaze substitutions. Both Barry and De Jong departed to allow Petrov to come onto the left flank, while Robinho moved inside as a second sriker and Ireland dropped back into a midfield two with Zabaleta.
The defence was no longer being given any protection from the midfield and Bridge endured a nightmare start to the second half with balls continually being played into space behind him. He’s clearly encouraged to get forward, but someone needs to drop in and cover when he does. Nobody appeared to want to play left sided centre back. We know from last season that Dunne can’t play there and Toure also prefers the right hand side.
Suddenly a great ball over the top to Petrov sent him scampering away. The Bulgarian cut in and rifled it home for City’s second. Great goal.
Immediately Rangers went straight down the middle with a long ranger effort from Davis that produced a fingertip save from Given. City failed to heed the warning and shocking defending followed as Miller ran from deep without being tracked by midfielders, went through a cavernous gap between Toure and Richards, and lobbed the completely exposed Given.
Ben Haim came on for Ireland and at least he looked willing to play on the left of central defence. The downside to this was Toure, signed as a central defender, moving to central midfield alongside Zabaleta, signed as a right back. The lack of positional discipline was clear for all to see.
In the final substitution Weiss came on for Robinho and immediately produced a fabulous run, gliding past a pair of defenders and teeing up Etuhu who saw the ball taken off his toe. The youngster then played a beautiful pass through for Petrov to race onto. Frustratingly, he overhit his pass to the unmarked Bellamy and the chance for a City winner was gone.
Sadly the chance for a Rangers winner was still to come. A corner which Ben Haim headed partially clear landed at the feet of unmarked forty year old, David Weir, who fired home with the aid of a slight deflection. There was still time for Etuhu to hit the post before the referee blew for full time.
Amongst the post match platitudes, Hughes did speak of working on the defending:
“It is more about working with the back four and midfielders as a unit, [than signing a new player].
“That opportunity has really only come up now because Richard Dunne missed a week’s training. We have got to bed down the pairings, it is a week on Saturday that we think about, not this evening.”
With the complete lack of organisation in defence, it looked essential that we play two of Barry, De Jong and Kompany in front of them if we’re to have any hope of solidity. When bearing in mind that every one of our defenders on show have looked decent players under different managers, this asks a lot of questions of the current coaching and tactics.
If City continue to defend like this, they’ll struggle to be in the top half never mind challenge for the top four and Hughes ought to be mindful of Guus Hiddink’s potential availability in the Autumn.
External reports:
Official site
Manchester Evening News
Daily Mail
The Independent
The Guardian
Blog reports:
The Lonesome Death of Roy Carroll
Norstander
Video:
Goals on YouTube
Wednesday 5 August, 7.45pm
City take on Rangers tonight in the first half of a double header against the Old Firm clubs.
Given the ongoing injuries to Carlos Tevez and Roque Santa Cruz, expect to see more of Bellamy and Adebayor trying to forge an understanding, unless Hughes goes for a lone striker set-up.
Gareth Barry looks likely to get a run out after recovering from a minor knock and Kolo Toure should get another opportunity to familiarise himself with his new teammates.
Bellamy and Shay Given are the Blues with Celtic connections who can expect a “warm” reception. Both the Glaswegian giants are known for showing a competitive edge in friendlies, particularly against English opposition, even if Rangers didn’t cover themselves with to much glory in the Emirates Cup last weekend.
Arsenal put three past them and it will be interesting to see if we’re able to do something similar. For all the talk of pre season being about building up fitness, it would be nice to see Hughes’ team bang in a few goals and look the part of top four challengers.
Hughes on tonights game:
“We are looking to step up our preparation now. People have tried to read significance into our results so far because of the focus on us, but those games were more about fitness in the grand scheme of things.
“The players are at different levels because some were still playing internationals in June. You have to be conscious of that. Some will have the majority of the game and others will play a part.
“Don’t imagine that playing the Scots means any less to a Welshman than an Englishman! That old Celtic rivalry comes into it. You look at their stadium and their fans, it’s a great place to play and perfect preparation.”
A convincing result would give everyone that little bit more confidence as we try and shake off the memories of last season’s away form.
Given – Required to make a couple of decent stops and saw the woodwork rattled before being beaten late on. 6
Richards – Didn’t look unduly weakened by swine flu and had a solid game. 7
Toure – The debutant fitted in well alongside Onuoha, but doesn’t give the height we’ll need. 7
Onuoha – Still having to play as left sided centre half, and still doing it admirably. 7
Garrido – Just doesn’t convince defensively and it needs to be addressed. 5
Wright-Phillips – An improvement on his last showing but still not on top of his game. 6
De Jong – In a 4-4-2 with Ireland as his partner, there’s a big onus on his defensive qualities and he was up to it. 7
Ireland – Playing as a box to box midfielder, he showed some good touches and managed an assist for the goal. 7
Robinho – A much improved display where he linked up well with those around him. 8
Bellamy – Injury worries over as the Welshman covered more ground than anyone. His intelligent running constantly caused problems. 8
Adebayor – Would have been disappointed not to get his first goals. He always shows for the ball, but needs to attack the box more. 7
Subs:
Ben Haim 46mins – He was looking every bit as good as Toure until a gaff cost the goal. 6
Zabaleta 46mins – Mr Versatile came on at left back to provide some defensive robustness and ended up at right back. 7
McGivern 65mins – Another appearance for the youngster, but playing at left-back he wasn’t able to link up as well going forward. 6
Weiss 69mins – Another cameo from the Czech youngster, combining brilliance and some naivity. 6
Petrov 77 – A late showing that thankfully enabled the blues to get an equaliser. 6
Man of the match: Bellamy
Saturday 1 August, 3.00pm
Goals: Bogdanovic 83 for Barnsley. Petrov 88 for City.
A late goal by Barnsley followed by an even later one from Petrov provided a goalscoring ending to this entertaining friendly, where City showed signs of a team coming together as Kolo Toure was the latest debutant.
With pre season fixtures increasingly played on foreign shores as Premier League clubs seek to expand their brand, it was a pleasure to pay a visit to a more traditional home of English football. This latest friendly was apparently set up as part of the deal for Oakwell to host last season’s Uefa Cup “home” game against Streymur.
It’s not so long since we were visiting the Tykes in League fixtures, and it still feels a bit strange to be viewed as glamour opposition with our assorted multi-millionaires and Brazilian posterboy. Over 13,000 turned up and were treated to an open game with City’s stars showing some sublime skills if not much of a finishing touch.
Hughes played a 4-4-2 formation with Toure partnering Onuoha at the back. Nedum was again playing on the left side as our quest for a left footed centre-back continues. There was a welcome return for Richards after his bout of swine flu and he looked in good shape playing the full ninety minutes.
The midfield quartet of Ireland, De Jong, Wright-Phillips and Robinho asks a lot of the dutchmans defensive qualities and he proved up to the task. City started brightly knocking the ball about and controlling possession with everyone looking comfortable on the ball. Robinho looked fresher than in South Africa with his skills providing some early entertainment.
Bellamy’s willing running was stretching the defence and creating space for our other attacking players. With City over elaborating when they reached the opposition penalty area, it was only the Welshman who seemed willing to test Luke Steele in the Barnsley goal. A couple of efforts stung the palms of the Barnsley keeper. One such attempt rebounded to Adebayor who saw his first time shot halted by a brilliant reaction save that drew applause from Shay Given at the other end. The Togoese was also unlucky not to score when outjumping everyone at a corner.
Throughout the game, Bellamy ran the line well, providing a good test for the linesman as well as the Barnsley defenders. With the Welshman playing furthest forward and Adebayor not a natural tackler, this setup of the stirkers doesn’t provide much help for the midfield when we haven’t got the ball. It may be ok when we’re chasing a game or playing weaker opposition, but against teams that like to pack the midfield it would probably be a non-starter for me.
Credit therefore goes to De Jong and Ireland (playing as a box to box midfielder here) in ensuring we never lost control of the middle of the park. Barnsley’s chances came mainly down the flanks and it was again clear that a Garrido/Bellamy left flank just isn’t strong enough.
It was noticeable how the situation improved with the introduction of Zabaleta at left-back. With either Robinho or Petrov on the left wing, the competitive Argentinian looks better cover for Bridge than Garrido despite being right-footed.
As the first half wore on, Barnsley came into the game and started looking dangerous. For all Toure’s undoubted qualities we still lack height and an authority figure in central defence, particularly without the 6′ 2″ Dunne. Barnsley hit the woodwork and could have had a couple of goals, but thankfully we were spared the sight of Jon Mackem celebrating against us.
We reasserted ourselves at the start of the second half and an opening goal appeared only a matter of time. Adebayor hit the post following a delicious scooped pass from Robinho. The giant striker then resembled Bambi on ice as the rebound evaded him.
Bellamy and Adebayor are still to form a proper understanding, though Adebayor did put the Welshman clean through after 75 minutes. Bellamy slotted the ball past the keeper but just the wrong side of the post.
Ben Haim had replaced Onuoha at half-time and I was just thinking how he was looking every bit as good as Toure when disaster struck. In failing to cut out a through ball, he let Bogdanovic get away to show City’s strikers how to finish by flashing an excellent shot past Shay Given.
Barnsley fans celebrated raucously and the heads of the City players appeared to drop. The Blues picked themselves up and asserted some pressure with Weiss now on for Wright-Phillips. Finally Ireland put the ball across the box for the unmarked Petrov to finish from a couple of yards out.
That was just about it, and despite the scare of a near defeat I felt the team is starting to gel with Hughes having an outstanding assortment of players to choose from. I could watch them all day and just hope we get some decent results in the opening fixtures to keep the critics at bay.
External reports:
Official site
Daily Telegraph
Hughes reaction
Match photos:
A host of photos on barnsleyone.com
Video:
Fan footage of City’s goal