Thursday, October 25, 2012

The X Factor: Five Thoughts on Manchester City

photo by Sberla_via PhotoRee

A recently received postcard from Correspondent Ed:

I wanted to write about Spurs this week, but...that West Bromwich Albion versus Manchester City game was just too good to ignore, so here's five thoughts instead:

1. Ben Foster's reckless decision to come out and attack a Carlos Tevez free kick was so bad that it honestly made me wonder if he had money on City.  West Brom had an easy 3 points against a City side down to ten men after a first half red to Milner, when Foster just plain choked. Even his execution was terrible. Uggh.

2. Turning to James Milner, he was caught trying to recover from yet another poor play by Vincent Kompany, who's terrible season continues. That said, Milner's decision was not noble, but terrible, as well. You've got enough great players to recover from a goal - which was anything but certain, by the way - and leaving your team a man down just seems crazy even though it worked out.

3. How about Edin Dzeko? The guy puts two in the back of the net in about 15 minutes of play -- remind me, why isn't he starting? Not unlike their cross-town rivals United, City is stacked up top with Tevez, Kun Aguero, Dzeko and Mario alotelli.

4. As for Balotelli, I have to admit he was unfairly carded in the first half. After losing the ball he jumped up and went after it hard, something every player should do, and then was penalized on what looked to me to be a flop by a West Brom defender. Later, he did deserve a yellow card but wasn't given one, so I suppose in this case two wrongs do make a right.

5. Once again, Ya Ya Toure pushed the "X" button or whatever it is and burst past several West Brom midfielders with the ball. Dzeko did the same, albeit without the ball, when he ran the length of the pitch to finish on his second goal. It seems clear to me that the difference between the top players at this level is often not footwork but pure pace.

This is farlieonfootie for October 25.

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