Poll: Dzeko's Debut - marks out of 10

[Murph]

Thought Dzeko had a very good debut, gave him an 8. Once he's settled in I reckon he's going to be the dogs for us.

[colonel_muck]

conisdering the wolves centre backs spent the first half trying to remove his shirt i think he did better and better as the game went on. his first touch in the first half was atrocious but this got better and there was a class bit of dribbling on the touchline when it looked like he lost it. i think him and tevez are the way forward. hope it's same starting eleven (bar toure for lescott) on tuesday!

I still think we miss a play maker type without Silva on the pitch. Tevez is great, bur he's not one to open up play or to hit that ingenious through ball. I would like to see all three on the pitch, but this will unfortunately mean leaving Johnson on the bench.

i wholeheardedly disagree with you there nool about tevez not opening up play he played two phenomenal through balls in the first half yesterday, one for johnson and the other for pabs. no he's not a playmaker per se but he has got great passing ability (if he decides to use it!!!). It is a dilemma with silva cos i love both him and johnson. does anyone think we'd be alright dropping barry, letting nige and yaya do the dirty work (and obv yaya can go forward too) and having silva and aj on the wings? i for one think nigel de jong is good enough to break up the play on his own and lay it off to the tremendously hard working yaya, who can certainly open up play.

I would say that is where we are heading, but I get the sneaking feeling that even in a 4-4-2, Bobby will find a way to slot Balotelli in and we'll still see Johnson on the bench.

i think if we rely on Yaya as a defensive midfielder against any kind of half decent team we will get royally fucked. Next season maybe but at the moment he's nowhere near fit enough to cover the midfield. He strolls, he sprints once, then he rests, then he strolls again, then he sprints once, etc.

Imo Johnson was utter garbage v Wolves btw & added absolutely nothing to our attacking play whatsoever. Did himself no favours.

yeah i agree about toure. what i would do is have 4-4-2 against the lesser teams to get him accustomed to it, as i already mentioned nige on his own is good enough to handle the midfields of the west broms and birminghams attacking threats from the middle. obviously against the bigger teams you've got to get barry in there, though he is extremely inconsistent. as for johnson, you've got to let him have a bad game, more often than not when he's on the pitch something will happen, and it is beyond me that he's only just getting starts. hopefully he will keep starting despite being a non entity yesterday.

[mcfc1632]

conisdering the wolves centre backs spent the first half trying to remove his shirt i think he did better and better as the game went on. his first touch in the first half was atrocious but this got better and there was a class bit of dribbling on the touchline when it looked like he lost it. i think him and tevez are the way forward. hope it's same starting eleven (bar toure for lescott) on tuesday!

I still think we miss a play maker type without Silva on the pitch. Tevez is great, bur he's not one to open up play or to hit that ingenious through ball. I would like to see all three on the pitch, but this will unfortunately mean leaving Johnson on the bench.

i wholeheardedly disagree with you there nool about tevez not opening up play he played two phenomenal through balls in the first half yesterday, one for johnson and the other for pabs. no he's not a playmaker per se but he has got great passing ability (if he decides to use it!!!). It is a dilemma with silva cos i love both him and johnson. does anyone think we'd be alright dropping barry, letting nige and yaya do the dirty work (and obv yaya can go forward too) and having silva and aj on the wings? i for one think nigel de jong is good enough to break up the play on his own and lay it off to the tremendously hard working yaya, who can certainly open up play.

I had no sooner said that Tevez was not in Silva's class for unlocking a defence when he ran through 5 players and megged the keeper.

Aside from Tevez making me look silly, it also kinda proved my point - he had to do it all himself so I have to say that the point stands. Tevez is a different player and with Silva in the side, defences are gonna have a real hard time keeping tabs on Dzeko and Tevez' runs.

As for Dzeko, I voted 9 - on the basis that he played a superb game up there alone - although maybe my vote was given because I havent seen anyone play that type of game before in a long long time at city. He worked hard, won the ball, seemed to have quick feet and was always looking for a pass to play someone else in.

I said after Toure's goal that had it been my debut, i'd have probably gone through myself and tried to score rather than pass, so huge credit to him for the 3rd goal, and he dispelled the myth that he can't play counter attack

I said this to the guy next to me and I think that it is very important - he had every chance to go through himself but played the team ball perfectly - how many players on their debut would have done that - not many I think!

[getdressedmctavish]

Excellent,8. Most important for me he looks sane, intelligent and confident without a massive ego. And he constantly provided a focal point for our attack at the tip. looking forward to this guy a lot.

[ant london]

I like the irony of the fact that City have been crying out for a "traditional number 9" striker for ages....years in fact.

We have, in true City fashion, signed a littany of front men who like to play as a number 10, play wide/deep etc.....Tevez, Adebayor, Balotelli, Jo, Bianchi, Corradi etc etc.

Then we finally get the guy who plays up top

And we give him the number 10 shirt

[DoomMerchant]

I like the irony of the fact that City have been crying out for a "traditional number 9" striker for ages....years in fact.

We have, in true City fashion, signed a littany of front men who like to play as a number 10, play wide/deep etc.....Tevez, Adebayor, Balotelli, Jo, Bianchi, Corradi etc etc.

Then we finally get the guy who plays up top

And we give him the number 10 shirt

doesn't Ade have the Number 9 shirt Ant? that might have something to do with it.

I think. Maybe. Sorta. Somewhat. Kinda. Probably. Ish. Just a hunch...i dunno.

I'm sure in his current state Ade would have swapped numbers with the new guy...no probs. Odd.

cheers

[ant london]

Ah.....an American taking things very literally

Even when the concept of irony was set out quite explicitly in the post.

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose


(translation....I know who has the number 9 shirt you assclown, that wasn't really the point)

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

I watched him very closely yesterday and was delighted with what I saw:

• Physical Presence - He may not have won every header but he competed for every single one sent in his direction. This made the defenders job harder and they couldn't get a clean header away meaning we often picked up the second/loose ball. Barry and Tevez were very good at reading the second ball. Pleased that he's up to the physical challenge of the premier league.
  
• First Touch & Link Up Play - This was what I was most impressed with for a debut. High, low or at his midriff he controlled it well, got instant control and then laid it off quickly and most importantly of all moved into space to receive the next pass. Again, I noticed that him and Barry seemed to link up very well when we played the ball long.
  
• Passing - Some great short simple passes to keep the flowing football going, some very nice long cross-field passing and a sublime throughball with the perfect weight for a lovely assist.
  
• In the Box - AT LAST. We have a striker who loves to get in the box and inside the 6 yard box to boot. On 3 to 4 occasions he was there in the 6 yard box waiting for the ball to be played for a tap in. Unfortunately, Johnson cut the ball back, Yaya's pass nicked a defenders leg and Zabba's cross was too high but the signs are promising that he'll score a few tap ins this season.
  
• Engine - Seen as though this was his first game in 40 days (I think I heard) then he looks pretty fit to me and can easily last the 90mins

I'd go with this. I gave his performance a good eight and thought it was really encouraging. I especially have to agree with the point about someone in the six yard box. We have lacked that fox in the box who is constantly looking for that opportunity to fall to him. I knew he was like that from his time in Germany but I was delighted to see him not being bothered about bit of kicking and pushing.

One other thing, Hhe seemed happy enough to shoot outside the box when it was getting little bit too cute. Apart from Carlos, none of our lads have been doing it regularily and in order to create some space behind defensive line, we need to have crack 25 to 30 feets out every now and then. just to keep on their toes.

[Bingo Lewis]

7 from me.
Looks good but he's no Lee Bradbury.

[Blue Since 76]

9 from me. First he he struggled a bit, partly due to the defending, but also because we seemed to forget to pass to him. Second half, though he was excellent, especially his play down the left, which was unusual for a number 9 (10).

If he'd been with us since summer, it would have been a 7-8 performance, with a poor first half and good second. Considering he's not match fit, has only been with the squad a few days and it was his first game in England, I was very impressed. Compare it to the first few games for Silva or Yaya or for that matter, Carlos at West Ham and you can see how he's going to be suited to the English game. Despite his lack of pace, which means he won't make it.

[johnson]

9 from me too.

3 on Dzeko: