Blues 0 - Manchester City 2

Last updated : 02 November 2002 By Richard Barker

Following 6 successive defeats against the team from the blue side of Manchester, including an aggregate of 11-1 in City's favour from last season's three encounters, hopes were high that Blues could see off their bogey side following their own poor form of late. However, such hopes were dashed by goals from Sun Ji Hai and Nicolas Anelka.

Steve Bruce welcomed back Darren Purse and Aliou Cisse - who returned to an emotional welcome following his personal tragedy of three weeks ago - whilst Darryl Powell was the latest player to try his luck in the troublesome left back position. Darren Carter and the injured Steve Vickers made way for Purse and Cisse.

Neither side really settled into the game early on, and chances were few and far between. For the visitors, Anelka and Israeli international Eyal Berkovic started to show their class, whilst the home side struggled with a somewhat subdued atmosphere behind them. City themselves were desperate for the points, and showed glimpses of the kind of brilliant football that saw them storm the First Division last season. In saying this, however, the football didn't appear as flowing as I had personally seen on a number of occasions last season.

It was City, though, who took the lead on the 24th minute. Powell was caught horrendously out of position in the centre of the park, and the visitors worked the ball out well to Berkovic out on the right, who was gifted acres of space due to Powell's wandering. Berkovic flighted in a perfect cross that picked out the advancing Sun Ji Hai who buried his header past Nico Vaesen for City's first goal in 5 games.

Blues didn't really fight back as you would have hoped in before half time, with only Clinton Morrison testing stand-in 'keeper Carlo Nash, with Paul Devlin firing high and wide when well placed. At half time the score was 1-0, and no one could have any real complaints following Blues' poorest 45 minutes of Premiership football thusfar.

For those who expected Blues to come out buzzing after half time, there was something of a disappointment. The defence continued to bypass the midfield with long balls up to Morrison and Stern John. Now, I'm no qualified football coach, but I look at a back three of Sylvain Distin who is 6'5", Richard Dunne, who must be the biggest player in the Premiership since Neil Ruddock (though Dunne played well) and Steve Howey, himself no slouch in the air, and I question the sense in hitting long ball after long ball at the heads of two skilful forwards who like the ball to feet. If you are going to persist with mixing the play up a bit - because Blues did try and get it down and play every now and then, mainly through Stan Lazaridis - then you need a centre forward who can hold the ball up. Geoff Horsfield has made a more than decent transition from Nationwide to Premier level football, and proved as such when he replaced Devlin this afternoon. However, surely it is now time that Horsfield started a game, so that we have a presence to rattle defenders like Distin, Dunne and Howey, who are hardly going to quake in their boots at the prospect of competing in the air with Morrison and John.

Once Horsfield was brought on, perhaps 10 minutes too late, Blues began to retain possession in the final third, with Lazaridis coming into the game more and more. Despite a load of possession, and a fair amount of pressure, though, Nash was not forced into a save. Morrison lobbed just over with a clever little flick, and Powell headed over from a corner, but Nash was simply not tested. The home players were not performing anywhere near to their best (Vaesen excepted who was faultless for both goals), with only the magnificent Robbie Savage anywhere near to an 8 or 9 out of 10. Cisse struggled and looked a shadow of his usual self (perhaps understandably), whilst Devlin was appalling for the second consecutive game.

As Blues piled on the pressure, Anelka was able to keep our defence occupied on the break on his own. Anelka possibly did more running and more general work for his team in 90 minutes this afternoon than he did in 3 years at Arsenal and Real Madrid. Following an excellent save by Vaesen from the French striker, and wasteful efforts from the disappointing Marc Vivien Foe and Shaun Goater, Anelka did finally make it two when played in down the left hand channel on the break after 87 minutes, and finishing coolly past Vaesen to cap his own sublime performance.

One point that should be made is that despite constant criticism over the past two seasons, Martin Grainger is being desperately missed. It is not the fact that it is Grainger himself we need, it is that we need a left back. Powell did well in patches today, but struggled at other times. The same can be said for when Darren Carter slotted into the role, and for Damien Johnson (who along with Kenny Cunningham was also missed). Whilst options are limited at the moment, perhaps it is time to look at Mat Sadler, who at least is a left back. Whilst his strength and maturity might not be at the level of other players, at least he's someone who knows the position, and is comfortable there, and will not be caught out of position.

For Blues, too many players underperformed. Man City did not look at the peak of the form that they hit last season, yet this was still comfortable for them. At times, the football they played was excellent, with Berkovic pulling the strings, but they did not look unbeatable, as their recent results have showed. Whilst people will comment that we have to get used to defeats like this, we also have to expect the players to perform, and today, bar one or two, they simply did not do that. Luckily, we've had a good start to the season, and still find ourselves ahead of City, but following two successive lacklustre performances, things have to improve.

PLAYER RATINGS:
Vaesen - Didn't do anything wrong
Kenna - Adequate
Powell - Struggled at times
Purse - Mixed game, another silly booking
Tebily - Still finding his way back to full fitness
Devlin - Very poor
Lazaridis - In and out of the game, but worked hard, and always an outlet
Cisse - Looked off the pace
Savage - Excellent, did the running for 3 or 4 players
John - The odd nice touch, but disappointing on the whole
Morrison - See Stern John, balls at his head don't help

SUBS:
Horsfield - Offered a new dimension and presence
Hughes - Energetic, if not involved
Kirovski - Didn't touch the ball