After another amazing away trip, it was back to the KC Stadium this week for a very fitting game with Sunderland. Six years ago this week, Sunderland came to the KC to provide the opposition for the official opening, a game and an event that helped the club springboard it's way to the top. Today, we met the same opposition again, as equals, at the top level. It turned out to be a massive disappointment. Easily the poorest performance of the season so far and another home defeat.
Paul McShane, on loan form Sunderland, was ineligible for today's game so Phil Brown chose to employ Bernard Mendy at Right Back with Richard Garcia returning to the starting line-up for the first time since August. Garcia became the right hand side of a four man midfield with Geovanni and King remaining up front. City started the game poorly and rarely got above second gear throughout. There was a terrible sloppiness about everything we did. Heavy first touches, poor passing, clumsy tackling and a general indecisiveness. Sunderland were awful defensively and looked likely to crack with every ball forward but we were so poor that we rarely threatened to force them open. Going forward, they are quite tidy and have two front men who are strong and quick, Jones takes the knocks with his back to goal, while Cisse is always looking to exploit the space in behind. Sunderland took the lead after ten minutes when Collins cut inside Mendy on our right and squared the ball to Malbranque outside the box. It took an age for any City player to react to the danger and Malbranque was able to take control of the ball and fire it into the top corner. It was really poor marking. The City response wasn't particularly inspiring. Boateng and Barmby dragged us back into the game, throwing themselves into the challenge and doing well to keep retrieving the ball after it was squandered by team mates. We equalised before the twenty minute mark, a free-kick into the box was flicked on by Turner at the near post, saved by Fulop and Turner reacted quickly to poke the rebound towards Barmby (via a defenders leg) and little Saint Nick lashed into the net. The rest of the half was evenly fought with a lack of any real quality. Boateng was booked for a cynical foul on Reid. Geovanni forced a good save from Fulop with a whipped free-kick and very nearly scored from a corner, while two Sunderland corners found Jones' head 4 yards out but he missed the target. In general, the game was played in the middle third and played poorly. Jones caused us a problem. I'm not a big fan of him, he's pretty over-rated, particularly by Match Of The Day pundits, but he did a good job in the air against Turner. We did seem pretty comfortable with the opposition but caused problems for ourselves. There was no drive in anyone, no-one but Barmby and Boateng took any responsibility and as such, we looked like everyone was waiting for someone else to take responsibility.
The second half was even worse. Until Sunderland went back in front on 79 minutes, it had been totally disjointed. Chances were few and far between thanks to poor decision making and the offside flag. Myhill made a decent save to deny Malbranque a second goal and later beat out a drive from Cisse. Just before the hour, Phil Brown tried to liven up the City side, withdrawing Garcia and sending on Cousin to partner King. Barmby moved over to the right and Geovanni to the left. It didn't work at all, firstly because Cousin was awful and secondly because we lost some shape and presence from the midfield. Suddenly, we were second to every ball that dropped, every Sunderland clearance was picked up by one of their midfielders and Ashbee and Boateng struggled against their opponents. We were trying to create, without doubt, and we were looking to win the game. The approach was positive and the formation was positive but we were just so out of sorts. There was hesitancy about our possession, from front to back. We were open to the counter attack and had to reply on the pace of our defenders to avert danger. We did create one chance as Geo drove at them and found Cousin, who scored, but was adjudged to be offside. He looked it too, but only just. Then came the sucker punch. Sunderland moved forward and Kieran Richardson, who barely had a touch for the previous eighty minutes, hit a shot that Myhill had covered before it ricocheted off Zayatte on the edge of the box and into the bottom corner. Within minutes, we were also down to ten men. Ricketts, booked earlier for a dreadful challenge, caught Bardsley ever so slightly late trying to block a cross. Mike Riley couldn't wait to charge across and send him off; you could almost see the glee in his face. It was a really soft decision. Phil Brown had been preparing Halmosi as substitute and decided to still go with him, but played him at left back. Three minutes later, Malbranque easily beat Halmosi and crossed for Jones to head home from 6 inches. The remaining 10 minutes were torture as we could not do anything to affect our position, the ref's inconsistency continued to drive everyone mad and we lost a fourth goal as Cisse finally beat Zayatte for pace and finished well into the corner.
Ratings:
Myhill (7) made two reasonable saves and did well off his line. It's difficult for a goalie to come into a group of bodies to deal with a corner that is whipped in with pace but three of Reid's corners landed 4 yards from goal, plum centre. You'd like to think your goalie would come and deal with them and relieve the pressure. That's something Bo could do better.
Mendy (5) started at right-back for the first time in a league game. In the first 30-40 minutes, he looked fine in the role, doing reasonably well defensively and causing them problems going forward. He made one incredible run onto a beautiful long pass from Boateng, before he was charged in the chest by Collins, right in front of the linesman. The decision? Play on! As the game went on, Mendy got worse and worse. His use of the ball was really poor. Either his touch was heavy or he spent too long on it and as a result, most of his passes and clearances were rushed boots or pokes that invariably went to the opposition. Can we have Mendy back on the right wing next week please?
Ricketts (6) had a good first half, getting forward well, though he wasn't always picked out. He did a good job in defense, though sometimes looked hesitant, and they didn't threaten a lot down his side. When Barmby was removed from the left hand side, their full back Bardsley came into the game much more and Sam had to struggle against two oppos. His decision making was pretty good, he didn't dive into tackles, he timed them well and has learnt to hold up the player when he can't tackle and allow his team mates to get back into the game. That was all well until he made a silly lunge at Bardlsey for his first yellow, a decision he would later regret.
Turner (8) was the pick of our defence. Even he looked uneasy at times amongst the chaos and had a tough day against Jones in the air but his timing of tackles and particularly his reading of the game was terrific. You lose count of the number of times in a game that Turner just steps into an area of the pitch and intercepts a ball easily.
Zayatte (6) continued to be inconsistent. He looked like a nervous wreck on the ball and got away with it time and again. Up against Cisse in foot races, he was incredible but even then there was a situation in which he twice won the ball from Cisse and still ended up without possession because he just stopped and let him have the ball back. Like the team as a whole, it's just unfathomable how the guy can look like a world class defender at Anfield one week and yet be so poor a week later.
Garcia (6) was a strange selection, having only been involved sparingly in recent weeks. He didn't do a great deal with the ball to justify his selection. He rarely found team mates with head or boot, didn't get into threatening positions and didn't show the movement or awareness of a top flight player. Defensively, we looked a strong team with him on the pitch because he covered Mendy well and fought for the ball in that area of the pitch. Once he went off, there were big holes awaiting exploitation.
Barmby (8) had another good game. In fact, for a large period, he looked the best player on the pitch. His movement was terrific. When the ball falls in and around the penalty area, it almost always falls to Barmby. That isn't a fluke, his reading of the game and his positioning is almost flawless. Twice in the first half, Bardsley was forced into clearances as Barmby arrowed his way into the perfect back post position. My only criticism is that I want to see more of Barmby (and Geo) on the ball. When they have it, we automatically look better and I'm desperate to see more of it.
Ashbee (5) just wasn't able to lift the team. His own performance was below par, he didn't make tackles and he wasn't good enough on the ball. He should've gone off in the second half. We needed much more energy in the midfield and Marney could've provided it. Boateng was doing a better job than Ash. He's the captain, so he plays whenever available but sometimes, we need to take the tough decision to withdraw him when we don't need two defensive minded midfielders. He was slow today, chasing shadows at times.
Boateng (7) didn't have a great game, technically. He was sometimes caught in possession and gave some poor passes but overall, he was the person driving us from midfield. He put in a ridiculous amount of work and covered the pitch well. He cleverly took control of the midfield and held it until half time, when we just failed to turn back out. The only worrying thing is the failure of Barmby and Boateng to complete games. We need to be looking for players who can do what they do for 90 minutes because we lose something when they leave the pitch.
Geovanni (6) wasn't involved enough in the game. After the opening game against Fulham, we had two poor games with Geo playing off the front man where he failed to get into the games and we struggled to create much. King was stuck on his own far too often today and when Geovanni wasn't taking free-kicks or making a couple of runs from deep, he wasn't doing an awful lot. He doesn't suit the left hand side either. We need to go with two up front at home and then decide what to also do with Geovanni. Away from home, with space to counter, we can get away with just King up front, but not at home.
King (6) had another tough day. He battled away on his own and held the ball up quite well. His first touch wasn't as immaculate as it can be and so he was always playing a bit on the back foot. Chances were few and far between, there wasn't a great deal to work with.
Cousin (5) failed to get into the game. He didn't look at all willing to put in the work required and didn't react to the play at all. That been said, we did a rotten job of providing service to Cousin and King as a pair. We had nothing wide, Mendy and Ricketts had stopped moving forward and Geo and Barmby don't provide crosses into the box. It will be interesting to find out whether he was offside for the "goal". Stelios playd for about 25 minutes, replacing Barmby. You wouldn't have known it. Halmosi had the tough job of coming on at left back in a ten man team. He didn't have a chance.
The referee had a poor game; he was inconsistent, indecisive and fussy. It wasn't his fault that we lost though. The chant of "3-1 to the referee" from the East Stand was pretty silly really. The result is not a worry, the second goal was a fluke and the last two were the result of us continuing to chase the game (It's that British mentality, in Italy, they brick the goal up and live to fight another day in that situation!). The performance is what will worry Phil Brown. We were uncharacteristically poor, lacked ideas, lacked leadership and did very basic things very poorly. We've lost 4 of 9 games at home, which just isn't good enough. We can't win them all, obviously, and we'll struggle at home when the onus is on us to break down an opposition but we've got to be much, much harder to beat. It seems like a ridiculous thing to say, but we're 6th in the premier league and if we stopped gifting teams' stupid goals, we'd be even higher. Part of the blame today has to lie with the manager who went chasing a game that wasn't lost and paid a big price for it. Still, we're in a great position, we've got to work on the bad, focus on the good and believe that we can continue to match the high standards we've set ourselves.
Merry Christmas!