Man City 5 Town 0
Picture from Mark’s Mobile Phone
Mark Harrison, Writer.
Twitter: @MarkHarrison15
I think I may have been suffering from Manchester City PTSD ever since a certain day at Maine Road in 1987. I’ve not set foot in the home of the Champions of England, Europe and the World ever since and it was to be BBC iPlayer I turned to for coverage of the game which I viewed from behind the sofa.
A call out for the commentary of Simon Brotherton and Leon Osman who were informative and recognised that there were two teams on the pitch. Better than the preview of the match on the BBC website which failed to mention Town at any point.
It is pleasing to see that teams have generally been selecting strong sides with fewer changes, in the third round of the FA Cup this season. It’s good for the integrity of the competition and Town named their best side possible to compete against a very strong home team bursting with top class internationals. Once again Town were hampered with no less than thirteen absent through injury, an Asia Cup call up and illness, so the scope for rotation was limited.
Back from a fruitful loan spell at Motherwell came Brodie Spencer, in on loan from our feeder club came Alex Matos and Bojan Radulovic, freshly arrived from HJK Helsinki, was named on the bench.
Both Spencer and Matos contributed fully to a disciplined, well-structured first half performance. They were both happy to engage the opposition with strong tackles. Akanji and Gomez will testify to this and Grealish got very little joy down the left against Spencer.
Manchester City probed and probed in their patient, precise and annoying way (for an opposition fan) Their play is on a totally different level to the majority of the Premier League, never mind a team struggling at the bottom of the league below. They were suffocating Town and although the resistance was there, it was just a case of when. To Town’s credit the first blow was not delivered until beyond the half hour as Foden struck with the first of his two clinical finishes. Only Tom Edwards got close to Foden and that was after the final whistle!
City are peerless on the ball and were so affronted when they lost it (rarely), that they soon won it back. Town’s only outlet was the ever-industrious Sorba Thomas, but very often he would go down a blind alley and get mugged by three City assailants. So, the pattern went on and City’s play yielded a second from Alvarez. Town trooped off at half time two down, with no shots registered, but had defended tenaciously.
I am sure the whole occasion was an eye opener for Kevin Nagle, who was present. A first-hand opportunity to see what needs to be done to aspire to a place in the same league as Manchester City, if not their state funded status. I hope he took away some useful learning and some ideas in the short to medium term that he can look to replicate at Town. One thing is for certain, it will have shown him that the road ahead is a long one.
The second half was more of the same really. Town were unfortunate in the big deflection off Ben Jackson for the third goal but stuck to their task even if they were to be clinically exposed by the introduction of De Bruyne and further strikes by Foden and Doku.
It was good that we troubled City on a couple of occasions when Thomas had a one on one with Ortega that the keeper blocked and then Radulovic forced another save following a decent turn in the box.
The thirty-minute cameo from Radulovic gave us a glimpse of what he could provide for the team. His composure on the ball and link play was superior to that of his colleagues on the day and he nearly capped it off with a goal. He could be the man to knit things together in the final third and be an excellent foil for those around him as well as being a presence close to goal.
The third and final substitution by Town saw the late introduction of Tom Iorpenda for the wilting Wiles. Darren Moore has indicated that we may see him more regularly as he has continued to impress in training. Brodie Spencer also indicated in his post-match interview that Iorpenda has a rare talent and that makes for exciting listening. It would be good to see more of him.
So, Town bow out of the cup at the first hurdle. Our terrible record in cup competitions was never likely to change as soon as our ball came out of the velvet bag for the draw. Damage limitation, plenty of endeavour and no injuries was the order of the day. I think we can say that this was accomplished.
Now we turn our attention to the more important stuff. Next week we play a team on an even playing field. It’s the start of a 4-game spell where Town simply must get points from to give us a sense of conviction about their chances of avoiding the drop.
Can Town build on the better last two performances at the John Smith’s and start to look upwards? It’s a spin of the coin in my eyes.
Matt’s ratings
In this section Matt will rate the players on a scale of 1-10 with 6 being used as an average to passable performance. TRIGGER WARNING! half marks will also be used if a player is between scores.
Lee Nicholls -6- Tough day and couldn’t really blame the keeper for any of the goals.
Tom Lees -6- Made a number of blocks and interceptions in 90 mins under the cosh.
Michal Helik -6.5- Steady away. Standard Helik.
Rarmani Edmonds-Green -5.5- Overworked down the left but very loose at times when on the ball.
Brodie Spencer -7- Did a good job on Jack Grealish on what was a good re-introduction to the side.
Jack Rudoni -6- Worked hard to close down the space but didn’t have much opportunity to effect the game going the other way.
Alex Matos -7- Impressive all action debut and the only player who could play at the same pace as the opposition. Looking forward to seeing more.
Ben Wiles -5- Worked hard but very little seemed to come off.
Josh Koroma -6- Worked hard on the defensive cover but little went back the other way.
Ben Jackson -5.5- Very unfortunate on the 3rd goal but a little too loose when passing the ball.
Sorba Thomas -6.5- Worked as hard as two strikers but sadly missed his chance to send the Town fans home with something.
Bojan Radulovic -6.5- Some nice and neat touches and clever runs. Had a chance to grab a goal but some promise for next week.
Brahima Diarra -6-Not a lot of chance to impress.
Tom Iorpenda -NA- Nice to see Moore put the youngster on for his Town debut.
