CITY FINALLY STAND UP TO BE COUNTED
If Manchester City play the whole season as they battered Chelsea on Sunday, then not only the treble but the quadruple is on the cards without question for this great team.
I have always said since last season that City have the best squad and the best team in the Premiership, pound for pound, but did not have the manager to win titles as Chelsea do.
City finally lived up to expectations yesterday in an all star cast, and they still had a bench yesterday that would be the envy of even Barcelona at this moment.
Yes, it was a fake result, the final score line did not reflect what could have been and what should have been. It was a no contest at the Etihad, and as a Chelsea fan I already knew after five minutes that the three points were going to stay in Manchester, my only fear was for City not to annihilate Chelsea and Jose Mourinho.
City was a class above Chelsea: they look like the only English team to take on any European giant (If they believe in themselves). With Kompany and Mangala, they looked solid at the back, in the middle with Yaya and Fernandinho they looked strong, formidable and bullish, and on the wings or inside forward positions with Silva, Sterling and Navas they looked explosive with pace, craft and creativity.
Upfront with Aguero they have probably one of the best three strikers in the world at the moment.
Chelsea players were just chasing shadows all over the pitch, and for the better part of the game, and if not for Bergovic, the scoreline would have been a repeat of Germany-Brasil at the 2014 world cup. Chelsea just disappeared off the park in a one team show, and to think Boni, Zabaleta, Nasri, and even Demichelis were on the bench, good gracious!
I know it is early days; there would be injuries, suspensions and fatigue so we are not declaring City the league winners based on yesterday’s performance, but this team is a class above the rest and they put up a marker with their performance against Chelsea yesterday. Finally there is a good chance that the EPL can challenge for honours in Europe and get up there alongside Madrid, Bayern and Barcelona.
THE CHAMPIONS DID NOT SHOW UP
If the handwriting was on the wall against Swansea, the undertaker showed up at the Etihad yesterday. Ramires looked lost, Fabregas looked like he was playing a different game, Ivanovic looked like a fake, and Chelsea looked like a counterfeit of the teamthat dazzled us all this time last year. Jose’s army, or what is left of it struggled to find rhythm and were lethargic on the day, even Hazard didn’t resemble the player he was last year, and the whole structure that won titles looked tired, spent and disintegrated.
Let’s forget Eva Carnerio and John Terry, this Chelsea has been found out and there are no new variations or updates to the system that worked effectively last season.
Two seasons ago, the problem was breaking down lesser team, while it was easy to counter the bigger teams. Last season the bigger teams were check-mated while the lesser teams were opened up, but this season both the bigger and smaller are all wiser to Chelsea’s game: direct through the middle or the wingers, and if you block those channels, Chelsea find it difficult to find a way through because of personnel.
The wheels have come off the cart and the wings are broken: Chelsea wing backs do not resemble Dani Alves or Jordan Alba, and not even Kohlarov or Zabaleta going forward, so there is a struggle to be creative in that department.
On the wings, Hazard and Willian have nobody to make the forward runs behind them that create space for a winger to take teams on so it’s a dead end and in the middle, there is really only Diego Costa battling like a matador on his own, and as we saw yesterday, brutal strength is not enough when you play a team equally as powerful as you all over the park.
In the middle, Matic is built to protect so does not make forays forward especially playing beside Cesc who cannot defend and on the other hand as well, Cesc is not a Yaya Toure or Marco Reus or Cazorla or Ramsey who play box to box with energy and strength and goals
So what now? Can Cesc give the assists he gave last season I wonder? If every team now know who not to give time on the ball, it is Cesc Fabregas and the bigger problem is that Fabregas does not even seem to have any time on the ball any longer, so is he still battle weary from last season?
I am afraid with his physical condition at the moment, Jose needs to find another ‘type’ of player in the middle of the park, otherwise its lights out at the bridge.
On the bench? Oh well…..
Forget winning the league, it’s back to the future in 2012 and if the slide is not quickly arrested, Europa League is beckoning once again at the bridge, but then again there is Mr Mourinho, who knows?
UNITED STUMBLING ON
At Villa Park on Friday, I looked at the United bench: Sebastian Schweinsteiger, Andy Herrera, Valencia, Young, Hernandez, McNair (DeGea, Jones and Fellaini were not even on the bench)
As I envied the squad at LVG’s disposal, I found myself asking the question, with so much talent on display, how would Van Gaal play when everybody is fit and rearing to go?
United are a work in progress, and I’ve seen them in pre-season and in two premiership games, so I can imagine what they would look like when they finally become a finished project.
I said in my last article that I was not sure about Dephay in the middle, and LVG echoed that by putting him on the wing in a classic 4-3-3 against Villa. I have played in this same system with the Dutch and I recognised straight away where he would be most suited in that formation.
Janujaz was played in that position and he was not bad for his age, but you need a lot of legs and experience to play that role and see things that most would not see, that position is crying for a Mata or a Rooney.
It is early days but I am almost certain United would not get the best of Rooney if he plays at the top of the tree (as we used to say) either. Rooney needs to play in a free role just behind the striker.
What is interesting to note is that LVG is working a project, one that has already created competition everywhere on the pitch and which threatens to put United in pole position for this season:
Young, Janujaz, Mata and Dephay on the wings
Schweinsteiger, Shneiderlin, Carrick, Herrera, and Blind inront of defence
Herrera, Janujaz, Mata, Rooney in the no 10 role
Darmian and Valencia on the right, Shaw, Blind and Rojo on the left
Smalling, Jones, Rojo, and Blind at the back.
Rooney, Dephay and Wilson upfront and DeGea and Romero in goal
All these players can not all have a bad day, so LVG is creating a squad of champions, but whether he keeps himself out of trouble because of his ego is another matter that could potentially determine how this team ends up at season’s end.
ARSENAL WARMING UP
Wenger and his boys did what they had to do at Selhurst park, take the three points at stake. Fantastic team performance and Arsene Wenger has discovered how to win by scoring a goal more than the opposition. A year and half ago, this was the sort of game that Arsenal would throw away or gift the opposition two points, but now Wenger has sorted out his philosophy and Arsenal are ready to become ruthless winners.
It is early days but at least they have shaken off the cobwebs they had against WestHam for now.