[The Green One]

Well, this is an interesting game. Get a win here and we move within 2 points of Pompey, who occupy 6th place, which currently is the intertoto cup spot. With Portsmouth in the FA Cup final we may well see them resting players, as an FA Cup win would see them into Europe, which would also mean if they finish 6th then 7th place gets intertoto. It'd be a real shame if we missed out on Europe, and the same applies to Villa, Portsmouth and Blackburn. In previous seasons these current points totals would have seen us all into Europe. We've all played well and deserve a reward, but 2 or 3 will miss out.

We drew 0-0 at Fratton Park, at a time when Portsmouth were in some real good form, so it was a good result. Can we build on that against a team with fantastic away form and with a free-scoring Jermain Defoe? We have a few injuries in defence, so will need to get some goals to be comfortable. I'd be interested to see if any of the FA Youth Cup winners are included in this squad, they could give us some defencive depth maybe, or we could see Weiss brought on for excitement. Here's what we could play:


---------------Hart
Sun----Corluka-----Dunne---Garrido
-------Fernandes---Johnson
Ireland--------Elano--------Petrov
-------------Benjani

Subs: Schmeichel, Castillo, Vassell, Mee, Weiss.

 

[The Green One]

No Sun Jihai means Elano plays at right-back It'll probably be an improvement.

Confirmed team:

-----------------Hart
Elano-----Corluka-----Dunne---Ball
---------Fernandes--Johnson
Vassell--------Ireland-------Petrov
-------------Benjani

Subs: Isaksson, Williamson, Caicedo, Castillo, Geovanni.

Williamson is a 19 year old left-back/centre-back from the reserves. He's pretty good and has captained the reserves on several occasions. I'd still have preferred to see Mee on the bench instead.

 

[MaidenMadness]

crap defending by pompey and city are 2-0 up

 

[Levski_Sofia]

Martin scored with right foot :sweeteye::sweeteye::dazed:

 

[Kyle]

2-1
Utaka

 

[MaidenMadness]

pompey down to 10 men

 

[The Green One]

2-1 HT, A great start from us, Vassell getting a mammoth haul of his 6th goal this season. Petrov also made his 6th goal of the season, amazingly with his right foot. There was the one abberation for Utaka's goal, but aside from that Pompey have looked poor with one striker, which when its Defoe alone is not too surprising. Harry was bigging up his tactics before the game, saying how successful they've been away from home. The thing is you have to play horses to courses, and Defoe is not a lone striker.

Hreidarsson deserved his sending off, it was cynical and blatant, with Vassell in on goal. He knew he was catching him outside the area to avoid the penalty, and he can have no arguements.

We've had some luck with James' error and a deflection for Petrov's goal, but we've been superior in possession, playing some bright, intricate football, with Elano still being able to create from a Dani Alves position Lets hope to tire them out in the second half, towards the 45th minute they couldn't get it off us as we played it around. With them playing one striker Elano can get on the ball without much pressure on him, allowing us to play it around and build from the back. Vassell is looking confident, and can help track back too. The onyl concern is that Dunne looks like he may have to come off with a sore hamstring. He looked to come off, but stayed on till half time thankfully. If he comes off, its Williamson on. I'd prefer nto to see that, but at least he'd be coming on when they have 10 men, so our midfield will help out at the back.

 

[Lista]

What the hell is Benjani smiling about!? He's a striker, and he couldn't score if his life depended on it, yet, he freaking smiles after every chance!

 

[Deano]

I only saw the first half, but it was very weird

 

[The Green One]

What the hell is Benjani smiling about!? He's a striker, and he couldn't score if his life depended on it, yet, he freaking smiles after every chance!

Pardon?

Benjani makes it 3-1, they could have made it 2-2, but we hung on. I think today showed how much more assured we are with Dunne and Richards in defence. We had two full-backs at centre-back, a 20 year old debutant at left back, and a trequartista at right-back. Lets give us some credit, we worked well, absorbed the pressure, and managed to get the win to move us within 3 points of 6th, occupied unfortunately by a Villa side who're finally hitting form again. Williamson came on and made a good debut, despite an unfair booking. He got forward well, and put in some important tackles, including one last-ditch one on Defoe. Thats Academy product number 26 :thmbup:

Good performance from Benjani, leading the line on his own well, managing to get a goal and almost a second. He showed great strength and pace, always troubling Campbell and Distin, and creating many chances, such as the first goal, through sheer perseverance. Good stuff from Ireland linking up too, and Petrov was back to his attacking best for along time in the game. The first half was City back at their best, passing around, creating chances and looking comfortable.

Anyway, thats 3 points to take the pressure off Sven, and its possible we can still get Intertoto football.

 

[tinoisawesome]

good match and ireally enjoyed this one.

benjani truly needs to work on his finishing but credit to him, he didn't give up and finally stuck one away. either he or petrov was involved with all of our chances.

great debut from williamson. he looked pretty fast and had one superb tackle to block a shot at the top of the box.

johnson also had some pretty brilliant positioning but made mistakes on his distribution. something to build on for him...but very promising.

i really enjoyed the formation on lineup. well done sven and city





oh, and other teams must be embarrassed that vassell is scoring against them

 

[The Green One]

Vassell is looking real confident right now. He's scoring goals and enjoying his football. He's finally found his niche at right wing, and hes a valluable member of the squad.

 

[Blaz]

Wow, anyone see Distin kissing the Pompey badge, that's a no-no....Coped ton of boo's after that..

 

[tinoisawesome]

yeah i didn't like that at all



it was impressive how quickly benjani turned away after scoring. it was practically still in front of the goal when he turned around. either way, well done benji

 

[The Green One]

Wow, anyone see Distin kissing the Pompey badge, that's a no-no....Coped ton of boo's after that..

****ing prick, the guy moved there for money, not love. I have no respect for him any more, we're better without him anyway.

 

[Deano]

I read somewhere that Man City could get Uefa Cup as fair play award.

 

[tinoisawesome]

i heard one of the commentators speaking about that....how exactly does that work

 

[The Green One]

City are the highest placed team in the EPL fair play table who aren't already in Europe (arsenal, United and Spurs are ahead of us). England are 2nd right now in the fair play table in Europe, behind Norway. If England is top, then we qualify for the UEFA Cup via fair play. We did it 5 years ago remember?

 

[tinoisawesome]

come on ENGLAND! LET'S BE FRIENDLY!

 

[Deano]

Its a good reason why silly bookings shouldnt be given out... like in the EPL there has been some overly silly bookings from the refs and its affects the table. Otherwise it could be top p