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Gotta say, i'm really impressed with Micahs form lately. There are signs that he is getting back to the player he once was. Powerful & fast going forward and a great goal yesterday. I'm well chuffed for him. He's still got work to do on his defensive duties but with age on his side and a good defensive coach, if we get one, then it's looking up for him and City i think.

De Jong: We really missed him yesterday and it showed what a valuable player he is for City. Kompany, while not exactly having a shocker yesterday, wasn't as commanding infront of the defence as De Jong is. Maybe De Jong alone wouldn't have stopped any of Boltons goals yesterday but he most definately would have stopped some of their attacks throughout the game in their tracks and would have stopped Boltons confidence from growing.

Sorry to be tangential, but I think it's fair game to say that Kompany was shocking last night. It's not a personal attack; he was one of our best players last season and was thrust into the side away from home and fresh off a long term injury, but for my money he was absolutely dire. A spade's a spade really and we really could have used De Jong's recent composure and confidence to settle us.

Spot on with Micah by the way. It's nice to see him delivering since ousting Mad Zabba the other week.

Re Kompany he really did have a bit of a mare yesterday. He showed a lack of composure on a few occasions which has to be a worry when considering he might be the replacement for Toure in january.

As for Richards I am really pleased with his attitude after being dropped and some of his play has been very good but it's those moments when he switches off or just gets too casual that concern me. Yesterday for their first goal after the ball broke to Davies he was a little upfield. His man moved wide of Davies for the ball and Micah sauntered back into a semi covering position but not close enough to stop the cross.

There was great emphasis in training on stopping crosses so I expect maximim effort to do just that but it didn't happen on that occasion. I hear about the so called poor coaching but when they are coached in precicely what to do but then don't do it..................

Douglas Higginbottom wrote:There was great emphasis in training on stopping crosses so I expect maximim effort to do just that but it didn't happen on that occasion. I hear about the so called poor coaching but when they are coached in precicely what to do but then don't do it..................

Thing is, I am absolutely certain.....as you point out and have done previously.....that the players are drilled on what to do and what not to do. The quality of coaching seems fine to me and I agree that the problem is that players are not doing what they have been instructed and shown what to do.

I don't know what the answer is....but I'm pretty certain that the management need to do something different (specifically for the defence) as they keep fucking things up again and again. And it is really basic stuff.....not picking men up, being sucked out of position, not closing the ball down fast enough. It's primary school level balls-ups

I suppose that's the difference between good players and world class players. World class players take what they have been doing on the training pitch onto the fild of play and good players have a tendancy to swith off at times.