alexf

I appreciate what the lad has done for us so far this season but I didn't rate him before the season as a left back and i still don't now. Everything just seemed to work in terms of the team chemistry and defensive understanding during the unbeaten run. But without testing out Santon with the first team we can't really know if we were doing well in-spite of taylor or thanks to him. I think long term it is still better to see how our £5m left back fairs sooner rather than later

He's awful now

Soccer AM Showboat moment if there ever was one

doesn't look the player he did for arsenal last year where he was fantastic. Not sure why as it's not like he has changed leagues or anything but i guess just not currently "in-form"

August. It's been an unexpectedly swift and shocking decline. not really, it's been a slow and obvious decline for the past two years. slow, yes, but gave you the impression he could carry on with some level of dignity. that decline fell straight off a cliff this year though. Lost all his pace now it seems.

Tiote and cabaye/guthrie vs giggs and carrick (as they are playing today) is promising. Just need an injury to vidic and rooney this week and were good to go

urgh gota wait a week for this though. Going to drag abit more after a loss.

haha didnt even take the shirt off but yeah looked bit frustrated at giving away the pen and probs the result. Didnt really mind him coming off as he should start against man united and he will be fresher for that.

Can't wait to see how we fair against man united with hopefully tiote, best and obertan back in the squad. Still a hell of a game to try and get something out of but i think if we don't gift goals like today we could do ok as we are likely to get far more chances and the game should suit our players more.

Shame it fell on his right foot as well but looking at it, Hart probs would have saved it if it was any more inside the post anyways. Didn't think he was "too selfish" today either as people have labelled him as being. Really want a .gif of that skill on lescott in the first half. Bit of class there.

I know people will think im just defending him cus it's ben arfa but that pen was soft as fuck. on the slow mo from the side he clearly barely touched richards before he threw himself to the ground and then ben arfa toppled over him. Saw glimpses today of the style of football we could play when he has had a run of games in the team. The little through balls and dribbles he did were good.

Got exposed because jonas was dragged about by the quality of city. No excusing that 2nd goal though.

he is the new NOLAN haha

so unlucky

Can't be too annoyed with the lad was bound to happen eventually. Lucky he has gone this long without messing up too much. Hope he redeems it with a goal 2nd half

clichy is suspect as fuck at left back so either jonas, sammy or ben arfa should target him and try and get one on one.

Everyone's completely losing their s*** as I believe Mike would put it. They announced the teams too early man! Can't get us this nervous this early it's not fair

Tbh, I think HBA playing might psychologically make him back out of tackles a bit more knowing what happened last night. Nar that twisted cunt will be thinking put another "reducer" in earlier and make him scared of me.

Plus 1 +2 Really nervous now. I think it's because i was holding out hope a few more injuries would clear up. Sammy and Ben arfa is a big risk and im just having horrible flashes of de jong on ben arfa. BUT it could also be GLORIOUS!!!

Might make a difference playing from the start. Typical that cunt de Jong is going to be marking him. De Jong hasnt played that much from what i remember of man city this season so it is blatantly to try and intimidate Hatem. Give him hell lad!!

Ben Arfa and De jong basically lining up against each-other if he doesn't play too high up with ba What is the point in putting smith on the bench. Abeid or Vuckic would be far more useful

Fuck though if we get any injuries the only player i'd really want to come on against city is Santon. Maybe Shola if we are chasing the game but there is no way he is fully fit so he would be beyond useless. Cabaye and Guthrie need to be on the top of their games with ben arfa, ba and sammy all playing as they are not the most defensive of players,

Nice one Danny. 2 week fine coming up though

I could be flat out wrong here but it did look to me in the highlights that he pulled it in the run to get to the ball and not in the actual challenge.

Why not? Plenty of reasons to want to throw mud. I think they would be on it s*** hot? / pretty sensitive to adverse publicity. Didn't they say something about not responding to rumours and accusations in the press as they didn't want to give weight to the stories? Not advocating it as the best tactic - given the already low opinion of them by the vast majority of supporters - but it's their choice. Think they were on about transfer rumours when they first said that.