They let the fans down…

The party was beginning at half time and although well-seasoned City fans would NEVER count a 2-0, half time lead as ‘a given’ – especially against the league’s 2^nd-place team and in a derby – we were in control and should have put it out of sight before the break.

Missed opportunities…

 

D'oh!

2-0 up and cruising and then…”STERLING!” Miss…

2-0 up and cruising and then…”STERLING!” Miss…

2-0 up and cruising and then…Sterling has a longer-range effort / chance and hit it at the keeper.

2-0 up and cruising and then...Gundogan nips in for a well-timed run & headed chance but, once again, it’s straight at the keeper.

So, we get to half time and the talk in the concourse and at the bar was how the HELL weren’t we at least 4-0 up?! Other chatter was along the lines of very poor officiating but, I need to add, I thought they were very poor for both sides throughout the whole 95 minutes. There should have been sendings off for both sides, we should have had a penalty and there were even blatant throw-ins that were awarded to the wrong side! Very poor…

Even at 2-0 Gundogan was, once again, a threat and clipped the post early in the second half.

But…did anyone else noticed the ‘Matrix moment’ that turned the game? I can see it in my head right now as though I took a picture of it and as soon as it happened, I nervously murmured to my mate that it was very lax play and was leading to a Manyoo attack. Sure enough and in under 90 seconds….BANG! Goal number one for the visitors and we know the rest.

What was that moment? It was when the otherwise brilliant Fernandinho suddenly slowed right down / lost all urgency but also where he was lacking supporting options from his colleagues. We just seemed to almost…STOP! Of course, Manyoo saw this straight away, snatched the ball off us, which eventually lead to a throw-in on the Colin Bell-Stand-side after a run by Sanchez; leading to the visitor’s first goal.

Have that!

And to think, it looked like the ‘writing was on the wall’ for us when Vincent Kompany produced a carbon copy [from a previous derby-encounter], thunder-header to make it 1-0; despite being illegally grappled with as our Captain stamped his mark.

 

Worrying yet again

Why is it, lately at least, that we appear to be so easily rattled? Why is it also that, at times, we look like a team who thinks we can just stroll through games and that the opposition shouldn’t DARE make us rush our own game? And I say that after watching, throughout the whole season, such composed performances AND some very, very spirited ones from a squad of talented players who, overall, appear to be also highly motivated and very close-knit.

Anguish

But lately? Hufffff…we just seem to crumble whenever pressed or when we’re shocked by an opposition goal, which then appears to rock us back onto our heals (I’ve seen signs of the latter earlier on in the season too).

Okay, when we unbelievably went 2-3 down yesterday our boss made changes and the players stepped up, once again, and tried to 'right a wrong'. We hit the post, as I’ve said; David De Gea made a WONDERFUL save, we had another attempt scrambled off the line and, as I’ve already mentioned too, we should have had a nailed-on penalty (including a sending off in the same incident) late on in the game.

But, following last Wednesday’s fiasco away to Liverpool, to-then chuck that one away yesterday when we have so much quality on the pitch really makes it feel like the players, at least, let the fans down yesterday when history & records were within 50-minute’s touching distance.

Bloody hell! It was hugely disappointing but it's not THAT bad...

For a variety of reasons there won’t be a pre-Liverpool Blog-posting for Tuesday night’s game. I HOPE our players redeem themselves but should we get through, we’re gonna have to start showing a LOT more professionalism than they’ve displayed in the last 4 days.