Diary of a Fan

Sunday, November 12, 2006

And A Draw Completes The Set

This team is certainly enigmatic. They have the stars, the stage, the talent hidden somewhere, and the fans. For five minutes they had the football to match. The last two minutes of the game plus three of injury time this was a side which looked like it could have ripped the opposition apart at will in every flowing attack; pace, commitment, skill, flare. For the other 88 minutes those were words we would have struggled to find in a dictionary. There is something very dangerous looking about the complete lack of cutting edge and a defence with more holes than a pack of polos. Had a nothing but average Man City side had their own cutting edge then those last five minutes would have been even more academic. As it was our inability to defend brought a string of fine saves and the disallowing of what seemed a perfectly good goal. Carr in particular looks worse and worse and I couldn't help hoping the knock he picked up might keep him as far away from our back line as possible. Not that his companions have much more sense of what's around them, or the nerve to take responsibility for a situation. One wonders what goes on at the training pitches such that any ball vaguely near the box can cause such panic.

Whilst the back leaks though the front seems to have become completely bunged up. Here it is not just the players who may be questioned but also their management. What purpose bringing in the obvious unfit Ameobi served, other than to lumber around the pitch entirely uninvolved, is beyond me. What is even more baffling though is the selection of substitutions. Ameobi was never going to last 90 minutes (arguably he couldn't last one) so why was there no replacement?? Instead we had a bench full of midfielders. While this squad may be overly supplied with them surely Carr's injury shows a covering defender might not have been a bad idea, and Rossi or Luque to play when Ameobi inevitably limps off. And why, with all those midfielders having a sit down, was Duff not withdrawn earlier---it's not like anyone would have noticed his absence; you'd have to have noticed his presence for that.

So with no strike force (once Ameobi was off we yet again had no forward on the pitch) and a leaking defence it seemed inevitable that we'd eventually capitulate and Man City could have the three points they deserved. Then came that last five minutes, in which we played football. Passing, moving, winning the ball, making space. Yet the thing is I have no idea, none, what brought on the sudden transformation from fucking awful to half way decent---and I'm willing to bet neither do the players, management, board or any of the other thousands watching. On Tuesday we actually won on penalties (though almost inevitably drew Chelsea in the next round). Yesterday we took a point we never looked like getting and certainly didn't deserve. And in five minutes we showed that somewhere in there is a side which can play football, if only we knew where the hell the switch is, and could flip it from the start, the season might have some hope.

(@15:11)

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