The Tigers bounced back from Wednesday's mauling by Tottenham to record a first victory of the campaign, and a first home win since December, against Bolton Wanderers. City invited pressure from the visitors but stood firm and nicked a tight game in the second half.
The Gaffer
Phil Brown's most match comments on Wednesday suggested that the players hadn't followed his instructions. I thought that was a nice way of not singling out Bernard Mendy and Mendy's exclusion perhaps bears witness to that. Daniel Cousin was also dropped from the 18, a decision that perhaps owed more to Jozy Altidore's availability than DC's disrespect of PB following his early substitution against Spurs. Both were big decisions that needed making, as was resting George Boateng and replacing Mouyokolo with Zayatte at right-back. On paper, we looked stronger and better set-up to cope with Bolton, who pack the central midfield area and have a good threat out wide. The manager got everything right in the starting line-up and then hit the jackpot with his substitutions. Altidore made an immediate impact and then Boateng and Fagan appeared to help the team face the final onslaught from Bolton.
The Defence
From open play, we looked a solid unit barring one or two slips. Elmander ran in behind too easily early on and his miss was a massive let off. Anthony Gardner was caught in possession later in the half but otherwise, we competed well. Our problems came from set pieces, of which there were plenty, when Bolton won far too many of the balls in and while they didn't trouble Boaz directly, a lot of the balls they won bounced around our box causing us anguish and occasionally leading to a shot on goal. Kevin Davies in particular seemed to get away from Gardner too often and when it came to a straight challenge, had the beating of Gardner in the air for a long while. When the going got a bit tougher late on I thought our five grew in confidence and showed great mettle and refusal to be beaten. We blocked, tackled and won every header, facing more set pieces and at one point, three successive corners but limiting Bolton to a couple of efforts from 18 yards or so.
Boaz had a superb game. He's coming for more balls around the six yard box and put in three useful punches and a clawed three crosses out of the danger area. When called upon, he made two outstanding save, both very low down to his right, but most impressively, he followed up both saves. The first, he punched the ball away from an on rushing Elmander to stop a certain goal and the second; he jumped up to his feet quickly and smothered the rebound. The only negative was his kicking out of his hands, which too often flew into no man's land.
At full back, we looked much stronger with the inclusion of Zayatte. He's erratic sometimes and took a while to find his positioning but he's committed, he's great in the air and he looked a competent attacking option. It was nice to see some interaction form him too, he looks a part of the group and he could be seen offering a word and a pat on the back which is something he didn't do last year. Dawson was terrific also, facing up to the thuggery of Davies and making things difficult for him. His positioning is first class and makes up for his lack of pace. He was strong in the tackle and they were well timed too. He had a little bit of trouble with Ricketts late on as Sam finally got involved in the game. Sometimes it helps to know your opponent but in this case, Dawson knew that Ricketts can cut inside as easily as he can go wide so he backed off and looked a bit indecisive. Once Ricketts had made his mind up though, Daws was a quick as him over 6-7 yards and timed his challenges. The centre back performance was the opposite of Wednesday night with Turner looking the more assured and Gardner making the few mistakes. Turner looked more assured, took up good positions, won his headers and was decisive. Gardner struggled in the air against Davies, who got himself in a position to get a run on Gardner almost every time. In the second half though, Gardner looked much better and the pair of them stood like two giant columns when Bolton put the pressure on.
The Middle
We had better shape in the middle and it was probably the right team to pick given the options but I felt we were let down by players who should be doing better. The first problem was that they undermined our defensive performance with their indiscipline conceding a stupid number of free-kicks within 40 yards of our goal which allowed Bolton to keep us penned back and pile men into the box. Some of the free-kicks were harshly awarded by the referee but overall, we left a foot in too often and pushed and pulled when there was no need to do so. It continually invited pressure. We didn't keep the ball well enough either though to be fair, we bypassed midfield far too often for them to get a foot on the ball.
Olofinjana had a poor first half. His first three challenges of the game were pathetic, being easily beaten by guys smaller and weaker than him. He improved a bit after that but looked a little bit lost trying to cover midfield all on his own and eventually picked up a yellow when he'd lost Elmander completely and had no choice but to pull him down. He needs to keep his hands down too; he's always prodding and pushing. After the break, he looked much better and was a vital part of the clean sheet, defending superbly late on. Hunt put in another fine shift and covered plenty of ground effectively. It's disappointing that we didn't get him on the ball in areas where he could attack Ricketts because he get crosses in early and Ricketts backs off. Geo continued to look hungry and had a fine game. He dropped deep in the first half and it was nice to see him coming looking for the ball and running at them. Once we'd scored, he was able to get himself between their midfield and defence and cause mayhem. He played two superb passes which should've resulted in goals (also made a lovely reverse pass in the first half but Ghilas was just offside) and looked as good as he ever has in open play. Only a fine save from Jaaskelainen denied him a goal in the first half from a fizzing low drive. He made a few poor decisions, losing possession up the pitch and lashing a shot high and wide when he had three men waiting for a cross but was otherwise superb.
Ghilas had replaced Mendy out wide and immediately showed more willing to cover back, to harry their full back and to win challenges. He combined that with getting and around Folan and looking to get in behind. He nearly broke through a couple of times but was given offside before eventually getting in for the goal, which he took superbly. He followed it up with another good off the ball run and a crashing strike onto the cross bar before skying the easiest chance he had all game. Had we conceded an equaliser, I'd probably be slaughtering him right now but because we held on and he got the winner, I'll give him the credit for getting into the positions in the first place. I hope he can become a bit more clinical though because he looks outstanding.
Boateng and Fagan came off the bench late on and helped us keep the ball a little better and get it into positions where we could run the clock down. Boateng was lucky not to concede a penalty when a rash challenge took down one of the fifteen million Davis/Davies' on display. That just leaves Kevin Kilbane who's a decent squad member as a left back but is an absolute waste of space in midfield. In the first half, he didn't make a tackle, he barely made a pass and he sauntered around doing a magnificent job of getting absolutely nowhere near any action whatsoever. The little kid in the West Stand who threw a ball back for a throw-in was more involved than Kilbane. Like others, he did a little better at the end, winning a few headers and putting some blocks in but his previous 80 minutes had been pathetic.
The Front Line
Caleb Folan lead the line again and to be fair to him, he did just about everything he could do. The balls up to him were hopeful at best and he competed for the ball and occasionally won it. He took some hard knocks and was never given the same protection by the referee that slimey con-artist Kevin Davies got. Folan doesn't have great ability but he works incredibly hard and did a decent job of holding the fort until Altidore was ready. I thought he competed in the air with Zat Knight aswell as he has with anyone. I do think he needs some hair though. I know that's an odd thing to say but the ball just skims off his sweaty nut every time. Hopefully a bit of hair might slow it down and give us a chance of latching onto the ball!
Altidore made an impact off the bench, playing the ball through to Ghilas with his first pair of touches. He held the ball up well and his headed lay-offs were more accurate than Folan's. Unfortunately, he missed two chances that could have seen his City career take off like a rocket. He latched onto a fine ball from Geo but just knocked the ball wide of the far post. He was visibly distraught at the miss. He probably had more time then he thought and should've done better. His second effort was much better, taking the ball in from the wing, spinning the defender easily and forcing a good save from Jaaskelainen. The way he got into the positions, shrugged off defenders and his ball control will stand him in good stead for the future.
The performance wasn't flawless, far from it and at times it was downright ragged. However, the attitude on show, the refusal to be beaten and the way we bounced back from a hefty defeat and the way we stood up against a notoriously physical side shows that we have a real chance this season. The performances from some of the new players shows we've got a bit of quality too and in Altidore, we've got a lump of coal that looks to have genuine diamond potential.
Ratings: Myhill 9, Zayatte 7, Dawson 8, Turner 7, Gardner 6, Ghilas 8 (Fagan), Hunt 7, Olofinjana 6, Kilbane 4, Geovanni 8 (Boateng), Folan 7 (Altidore).