Manchester City’s unbeaten record in the Premier League came to a halt on Saturday evening as West Ham United ended our impressive record of eleven wins in succession with a 2-1 victory at The Etihad, which lifts the Hammers up to second place.
Goals from Victor Moses and Diafro Sakho were the difference for the East London outfit, with a fierce strike from Kevin de Bruyne at the end of the first half not enough to inspire City to a comeback, of which they would have duly deserved if it wasn’t for some resolute Hammers’ defending. City remain three points clear at the top despite the defeat, but it was a frustrating match nonetheless for The Blues as they gave everything, but couldn’t quite find that killer instinct on more than one occassion.
But just what did we learn from the game? I pick out five things:
Defensive opposition is still our weakness
It has become a familiar theme in recent years for City to very much struggle against teams that employ tight defensive game plans, with our high-tempo, attacking preference forcing teams to sit back and soak up pressure from afar. We are not the only side though. Arsenal and Liverpool have also demonstrated in both of their defeats to Slaven Bilic’s men just how difficult a team which essentially ‘parks the bus’ are to break down.
The stats don’t lie. City’s record of twenty-seven shots to West Ham’s six is enough to convince anyone that one of City’s main weaknesses is still their inability to play against teams of this nature. 72% possession to the Hammers’ 28% shows that West Ham were happy for us to have the ball, but ultimately, they did more with it when they had it, with the only stat mattering the most being the graphic in the top left of the screen. It didn’t make for good reading.
We were almost in exactly the same position last season as Stoke City ran out 1-0 winners at The Etihad, employing exactly the same tactics. These teams are as dangerous, if not even more, than the teams of our calibre with their way of grinding out results, and the sooner we find a way to break through these stern walls, the easier our lives will become.
European hangover?
Some fans prefer to take the more mental approach to these sorts of defeats, with City’s disappointing loss in Europe to Juventus last Tuesday possibly playing on the players’ minds. The game against Turin’s elite was a huge sucker punch for us as our progress in the Champions League is of paramount importance as our reputation continues to build, with the defeat forcing the players to arguably lose some form of confidence coming into the game against The Hammers.
Had we won against the Old Lady, would it really have set us up in a better position mentally in Saturday’s showdown? These questions will never be answered but will carry on being brought up, with the 2-1 loss in midweek quite possibly having an adverse effect on some of the Blues’ players as we succumbed to yet another 2-1 defeat. Here’s to hoping we don’t lose five on the trot now…
Silva lining missing?
The bad news for City came before the match had even started, with influential playmaker David Silva pulling up in the warm-up, forcing City to alter their tactics slightly. City’s number 21 was forced to sit out the game and watch his team struggle to break down the West Ham wall, with only a few openings becoming available as the Hammers defended for their lives.
Our record of twenty-seven shots is not one that shows that we overly rely on the Spaniard, but we were never able to find that pass to unlock the back line; something that David does expertly. Had he been in the side, perhaps this pass would have arrived alongside a lively Kevin de Bruyne. City could not play through their Spanish talisman, although the midfield still did a very good job.
Did we miss him? It’s hard to know, as the team mustered plenty a chance to take the lead from West Ham’s grasp, but if there was one player that could find a way through, it would have been Silva. Let’s hope he is available for Tuesday’s visit to The Stadium of Light.
De Bruyne and Otamendi look superb, at least
Amongst the likely flutters of negativity towards City’s defeat today, at least some form of praise should go to two of our new signings, Kevin de Bruyne and Nicolas Otamendi, who both shone in what was a frustrating game from a Blue perspective.
De Bruyne replaced David Silva in the attacking ‘No 10’ role behind Sergio Aguero, and the Belgian was assured in his play; stroking the ball around effortlessly and linking up well with the wide players. He scored a well-taken goal just before the first half interval, drilling the ball into the bottom left corner from distance after being set up by Aguero. It really did give us a glimpse of why we paid all of that money for him, as did the performance of Nicolas Otamendi, who made two excellent challenges, one of which prevented a certain goal, to keep the opposition score down to two.
The duo may have cost in excess of £80 million, but they both demonstrated the reasoning behind their relative price tags to a certain degree today. More of the same from them please…
A convincing defeat?
I know what you’re thinking: how on earth can you record a ‘convincing defeat’? Surely every defeat is a bad one? Granted, most of the time after a loss, it is likely that your team played badly. But not today.
City, despite losing the game, actually played relatively well. The match stats were certainly more in our favour despite the score line- as mentioned, we had twenty seven attempts on goal and forced Adrian into a string of high-quality saves. Yaya Toure went close with two driven efforts in the second half and Sergio Aguero had a golden oppurtunity to level matters in the first period, escaping the clutches of Adrian, only to see his effort falter wide of the far post. We were very much on top for essentially the entirity of the game, but it was our inability to cope with a fast counter attack and a goal mouth scramble, two of West Ham’s few chances, that proved to be our downfall.
We did enough to win the game, we were just not there to capatilise on the many chances that we had.
All is not lost- we still sit pretty at the top of the tree after six games, and if somebody had offered you this record after half a dozen encounters, you would definitely have taken it. We go again.
