Official Match Thread: City v Stoke

[markuse]

Barry MOTM in my opinion. Just as I type also official MOTM.

Yeah, he's been huge for us today.

Yep, by far the best today. He was everywhere from our box to Stoke's

[The Original Special One]

That clean sheet, even if a little unsteady at times, will have done our defence's confidence a power of good
And a much improved performance from Toure

[carl_feedthegoat]

IN ALL FAIRNESS - AFTER THE TURMOIL WE HAVE HAD THIS PAST WEEK THIS IS AN EXCELLENT RESULT.

[ruralblue]

Chuffed to bits with that. Good game, good shape considering injuries and defensivly looked confident. Thank fuck he's off to a win and a clean sheet, long may it continue.

Well played City and good on you Mancini.

rural x

[Crossie]

Very good, every player just seemed more confident and composed.

Perfect result, clean sheet, 2 goals, nothing too exciting, just a nice improvement.

[Crossie]

Very good, every player just seemed more confident and composed.

Perfect result, clean sheet, 2 goals, nothing too exciting, just a nice improvement.

[Yesterdays Game...]

I like what I saw, full backs plaing in a much more organised manner obviously been told not to make mad sprints leave it to the midfield, Barry in undoubtebly his best game since we played Villa, Tevez just keeps shining and best of all we kept a clean sheet against them shit longballing mothefuckers!

[avoidconfusion]

I am impressed. We didn't look very exciting in the first half but towards the end we did some very nice one-two combinations.
I haven't seen Robinho trying that much in a while, granted he was still not very good imho but still.

Bellamy looked really quiet when he came on to the point where I was getting worried. Thankfully, Huth fouled him, he should have gotten a penalty but the ref didn't give it and Bellers was back to his old self giving the ref grief! :)

I haven't seen us play this composed in a long long time. We already looked very much like an italian side I think and I think we already got a taste of Mancini's tactical ability, switching Petrov to the right and 1 minute later we score. Nice to have a manager who can change a game. :)

[bobadji]

Professional performance today I think. Did the job well.

[The Original Special One]

Hard to pick out one player as MOTM; in the midfield and attack there were far too many misplaced passes, and poor crosses and shots.
But more important was that everybody was backing each other up, all over the shop.

Fluidity, and perfection will come in time.
Mancini has made a great start, given the train-wreck he had taken over.

He's put the train back on the tracks; next step is get the engine fine tuned and back in working order

[edge275]

I also liked how Mancini is not afraid to change things and is constantly analysing the game to see if we can improve anywhere. We started off 4-4-2 and he realised it wasn't working and switched to 4-3-3 sharpish. Also great idea to play Robinho on the left side and Petrov on the right since crossing it to Tevez wouldn't have made much of an impact so coming inside and shooting was a much better option.

[JB]

I will take a performance like that any day of the week. Pulis got desperate early and we handled the diving, cheating, ping-pong playing bastards really well, with no help from the ref. (Beattie and Fuller should have got yellow cards, the cheating pricks.)

Tevez MOTM for me but a great team perfomance.

[avoidconfusion]

I like what I saw, full backs plaing in a much more organised manner obviously been told not to make mad sprints leave it to the midfield, Barry in undoubtebly his best game since we played Villa, Tevez just keeps shining and best of all we kept a clean sheet against them shit longballing mothefuckers!

I like your signature picture!

[feedthegreek]

just listened to it on gmr cheeseman was saying,
looks like mancini reacts to situations, like bringing on richards for more height in the box.
and none of our full backs storming off out of pos etc.
bringing on garrido to shore thigs up in midfield.
looks like weve got a tactician at last.
get in, great win clean sheet, versus a team who only know 1 way to play lumping balls into our box.
well impressed.

[CitizenYank]

Best game I have seen us play in quite a while. Roberto seemed to have a plan and really communicated
with the players. Amazing play from Barry. Wow!! This has got to be his best performance all season.

[viking the Odd]

Pleasing result,feels just strange having kept a clean sheet for once, the defence looks better, as has been said before, the fullbacks kept to the game plan,and it helped.
Tevez motm for me.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Absolutely great result and a clean sheet to go with it. Shay's save from Tuncay was key. Also I think it's good that it wasn't a great exciting team performance to thrash Stoke so we have plenty still to improve on ....apart from the 3 points!

I love the comment that i'ts a masterstroke to move Petrov to the right bearing in mind the reaction last time that was tried. Made me laugh that one.

[The Original Special One]

just listened to it on gmr cheeseman was saying,
looks like mancini reacts to situations, like bringing on richards for more height in the box.
and none of our full backs storming off out of pos etc.
bringing on garrido to shore thigs up in midfield.
looks like weve got a tactician at last.
get in, great win clean sheet, versus a team who only know 1 way to play lumping balls into our box.
well impressed.

Agreed: tactical nous was something that Hughes lacked, big-time.

I knew Mancini as a cultured player, and am not at all surprised that he's identified our 'crazy horse' full backs as a major problem to sort out, but just wasn't sure whether it would upset our attacking and midfield balance.

There will probably still be a bit of tinkering to be done but he's clearling thinking on the fly.

I don't think he could have done better, to be fair, given the circumstances
10/10

[MARKMAKAVELI]

He's put the train back on the tracks; next step is get the engine fine tuned and back in working order

Lovely quote that. Chooo chooo indeed.

Great result, everyone has touched on how comfortable we looked and I can only second that. Lovin Petrov's crosses from the right flank with his left foot.

[Kiss_The_Goat]

I am impressed. We didn't look very exciting in the first half but towards the end we did some very nice one-two combinations.
I haven't seen Robinho trying that much in a while, granted he was still not very good imho but still.

Bellamy looked really quiet when he came on to the point where I was getting worried. Thankfully, Huth fouled him, he should have gotten a penalty but the ref didn't give it and Bellers was back to his old self giving the ref grief! :)

I haven't seen us play this composed in a long long time. We already looked very much like an italian side I think and I think we already got a taste of Mancini's tactical ability, switching Petrov to the right and 1 minute later we score. Nice to have a manager who can change a game. :)

I agree with all that. Thank god for a clean sheet. Overall I thought we looked a lot more solid at the back, although Toure still failed to win a single ball in the air and we still look susceptible from corners. We're need a center back in Jan.

Robinho did seem to be trying but I thought he was shocking! What the hell was going on with his first touch today? Good to see Bellers fired up and the crowd made a point loud and clear when he came on. Unlucky with his chance.

All in all, more than happy with a 2-0 win and most importantly a CLEAN SHEET!!!! WOO HOOO! Should be good for the defences confidence!