Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Sheffield United 0 City 1

I had a feeling we would get something at either Sheffield United or West Ham, and all three points from the boxing day clash sets us up nicely for the trip to the capital where if we can come away with a point (or more) it will be a nice return from two games which were tricky on paper.

I caught the game listening on Radio Sheffield, and even given that it was the home commentary it did not sound a game where we really exerted a great deal of control, and their commentary team were almost in disbelief when Stephen Ireland put us ahead - a goal which of course won us all three points.

Reports in the press following the game were not in the main overly encouraging from a performance perspective and Andrew at purelymancity does a nice job rounding up the reports - and lays into Stuart Pearce's managerial approach a little as well.

I was interested in the formation that was adopted by Pearce for the game and feel it could be one that brings out the best in some of the players we have - namely Onouha more central, Dabo in a holding role and of course allowing Stephen Ireland a more advanced role which frees him up to exert more of the undoubted creativity that he has.

Playing this formation though requires a strong performance from the front man, and by all accounts Corradi had somewhat of a shocker, with Samaras not faring much better - although it was a cute chest down for Ireland's finish.

A good win overall, a welcome three points and helps us put a bit of breathing space between ourselves and the drop zone, but as usual we need to guard against falling back a step again in the next game and Pearce needs to challenge the side to actually put back to back wins together.

vote it up!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Merry XMAS and a happy new Year!
Having read the excellent "purely mancity" site yesterday.I feel it was put in a nutshell about SP's man to man tactics.
I would like to think that SP(do you think footballers surf the web to read what is being said about them -poor PD/GS/DC...) sometimes reads the web and makes a note of what is being written.
Read Pardews comment after Charltons draw last night..."saw enough to see that the team can be competitve."
The Pearce routine is usually pre match comments on the rival manager
and their "star" player -ego pumping- Everton game comes to mind, AJ could be the next Lineker.
The post match comments have changed over the year according to form and is far more individual and personal than you would hear from other managers regarding players.The referee comments were refreshing to hear but that to is becoming stale.
Finally I want SP to succeed with City but feel he requires some extra help/experience upstairs Wigley and Faz.... are not the solution and Osario's sudden departure at the beginning of the season was harder to chew than the two senior players leaving to Portsmouth-hence the training injuries etc.

Danny Pugsley said...

A good point regarding Osorio and you wonder what the training methods are and if they are contributing to the injuries we have had.
I remember that under Souness Blackburn had a terrible run of injuries and Hughes stated how poor their fitness was when he took over.