West Ham v Man City - Sat 23rd Jan - 17:30

[Whitechapel]

Match day chat.

 

[claret50]

Would love to see us do the double as we did over Liverpool, but realistically I'd be more than happy with a point.

 

[silkyman]

Not confident with City's poor away form, but Aguero is coming into form, so who knows.

 

[silkyman]

Wow. A penalty... I'm having an attack of the vapours...

 

[Jarv]

yeah a dodgy penalty

 

[Tesl]

I wouldn't say that was a dodgy penalty. Looked pretty clear-cut to me.

We have very little control over this game and seem to be getting done in midfield. West Ham the better side so far, and if we didn't have Aguero doing things on his own we'd still be behind for sure. Unless we change something in the second half I think we are going to lose this.

That Payet lad ain't half bad either.

 

[Tesl]

*sigh* and there it is. So poor at the back from us.

I love Pelligrini but there is no doubt City have way underperformed in the league considering the strength of our squad and money spent. What will be 43 points from 23 games is not a good return when you want to challenge for the title.

 

[SALTIRE]

no doubt City have way underperformed in the league considering the strength of our squad and money spent.

Indeed, you should be cruising this league.

 

[silkyman]

I know it's never an excuse because everyone gets them, but I wonder where City would be now if the long term injuries had been to Bony and MDM instead of Aguero and Kompany.

Cest la vie

 

[silkyman]

And on that...

Sergio!

 

[Tesl]

It's all the worse when you consider how we were flying at the start of the season. I'm not sure what happened to that level of performance. I don't think it's just about Kompany, there was high intensity in those weeks which has vanished since.

28 points from 18 games wouldn't normally be enough to even get a europa cup place, but that's been our level since then.

I think whoever wins the league this year, all the other sides are going to be thinking it was a massive opportunity missed.

(2-2 as I'm typing. Perhaps it is as simple as to say we are a two man team and we've been without both of them much of the season...)

 

[Tesl]

Silva off. Unusually for him he's had a terrible game today.

 

[silkyman]

I don't think it was just about Kompany, but he wouldn't have made some of the daft errors which have worked wins into draws and draws into defeats.

 

[Tesl]

Probably. I think we've just been way under par even considering we have been missing Kompany most the season.

Iheanacho coming on has made a big difference. He should probably be starting for us.

(Another thought, in the home fixture we were robbed 2-1 by west ham. Any undeserved points here will be making up for that game!)

 

[Whitechapel]

I've never seen a team so dependant on one player than Man City are on Aguero.

 

[Tesl]

Lucky to get a point, we didn't deserve it. The contrast between our performances at home and away are amazing, we just can't travel at all.

It's also why we probably won't win the league cup. Even if we get by Everton, we won't win at Wembley. So frustrating.

 

[SALTIRE]

West Ham should have won that tbh, the better side throughout and neither team will be happy with that result. Good game though.

 

[Renegade]

Say it pretty much every time I watch him play, how does Payet play for West Ham? Such a fantastic player and superb fun to watch.

Aguero to the rescue again, quelle surprise.

 

[Boz]

Probably. I think we've just been way under par even considering we have been missing Kompany most the season.

Iheanacho coming on has made a big difference. He should probably be starting for us.

(Another thought, in the home fixture we were robbed 2-1 by west ham. Any undeserved points here will be making up for that game!)

This.
Pellegrini has been very poor at bringing on young players at City and he deserves an extended run-out.

 

[JimJams]

I know it's never an excuse because everyone gets them, but I wonder where City would be now if the long term injuries had been to Bony and MDM instead of Aguero and Kompany.

Cest la vie

The thing is though when you are in a position to spend ridiculous amounts on replacements then you should still be doing far better. When Kompany is out you have a 30 or 40 million pound defender to step in (depending on who you see as first 11 out of Mangala and Otamendi) When you've spent £100mill on attacking midfielders and 25mill on a striker in hte last 12 monhs then you should still be able to plunder goals without a magical Argentinian in your side. When you don't have Aguero or Kompany you should still be able ot piss all over just about anyone in this league.
If you lose Champions league matches to the likes of Barca, Real and Bayern etc then you can rue not having your abolute best 11 to field against them, but frankly given the money spent, your second choice 11 should be able to challenge for a top 4 spot on its own.

 

[silkyman]

I've never seen a team so dependant on one player than Man City are on Aguero.

To be fair, he's missed two and a half months of the season and City are still second, in the next round of the Chanpions League and the League Cup final. They must be scraping by somehow without him on occasion.

But yeah, the best striker in the division is quite an important player.

 

[claret50]

I stated before the game that I'd be happy with a point, I'm now slightly miffed that we didn't pick up all 3 points, well played West Ham.

 

[silkyman]

The thing is though when you are in a position to spend ridiculous amounts on replacements then you should still be doing far better. When Kompany is out you have a 30 or 40 million pound defender to step in (depending on who you see as first 11 out of Mangala and Otamendi) When you've spent £100mill on attacking midfielders and 25mill on a striker in hte last 12 monhs then you should still be able to plunder goals without a magical Argentinian in your side. When you don't have Aguero or Kompany you should still be able ot piss all over just about anyone in this league.
If you lose Champions league matches to the likes of Barca, Real and Bayern etc then you can rue not having your abolute best 11 to field against them, but frankly given the money spent, your second choice 11 should be able to challenge for a top 4 spot on its own.

At the back, I think it's fair to say that Mangala and Otamendi haven't quite lived up to expectations, but since City hadn't conceded a goal by the end of the transfer window, it wasn't something that could be addressed.

The bigger problem really has been up front and City playing to Aguero's strengths - as you would. Bony was meant to give a different option rather than be a direct replacement for Aguero, and although he weighed in with a few when he had a run, the whole side had to alter their style a bit.

Everyone's dropping points to sides you'd normally expect they would beat. It's a tight division, partly down to the new tv deal meaning that English mid table sides are now richer than half of Europe's top clubs. West Ham are having a very good season and have beaten a lot of the top sides. I think the days of top four going away to top six or seven and expecting a routine win, is probably over. Which is a very good thing, to be honest!

 

[Anon]

On the way back from the game. Thought all in all a draw was fair given for most of the 2nd half we ran out of steam and barely had the ball. Some superb play in the first 60 minutes though. Payet is sublime, Noble had a good game today too.

Can see Moses and Jenkinson returning to their clubs come the summer, Moses started brightly then has been gash since, and Jenkinson hasn't been half the player he was last season.

Thought was lucky to stay on the pitch, three yellow card offences though without the benefit of replay...

Also saw a small kicking off at the end of the game over where the home and away fans were split. 50 or so from each side. Not sure if that got a mention.

 

[Jackinky]

On the way back from the game. Thought all in all a draw was fair given for most of the 2nd half we ran out of steam and barely had the ball. Some superb play in the first 60 minutes though. Payet is sublime, Noble had a good game today too.

Can see Moses and Jenkinson returning to their clubs come the summer, Moses started brightly then has been gash since, and Jenkinson hasn't been half the player he was last season.

Thought was lucky to stay on the pitch, three yellow card offences though without the benefit of replay...

Also saw a small kicking off at the end of the game over where the home and away fans were split. 50 or so from each side. Not sure if that got a mention.

Where do you sit mate? I didn't see anything at all though.

Onto the game, it was a really exciting, action-packed game and I think we did do enough to win it, however, I suppose a draw was a fair result as we could've lost it.

 

[silkyman]

It was a pretty typical city performance this season. Start slow and end strong. And hope that the opposition haven't scored too many before you get going.

 

[Anon]

Where do you sit mate? I didn't see anything at all though.

The trouble was after the game in the centenary lower, I was opposite in the Bobby lower. Was chatting for about 5 mins, waiting for the aisles to clear, and then the two sides centre together. Doubt anything happened, combination of stewards and the seats probably got in the way.

 

[silkyman]

Hell of a save from Hart from that free kick..