The Bigger Picture...

Right, enough of that...have we all recovered? Have the seemingly permanant smiles on our faces began to fade as the reality of a normal, mundane existence kick in thanks to Monday morning? Well then, what better time to address and deal with the real issues of that surreal Sunday?...

• Rio - Foster. Odly enough, at around the 80th minute, after Ferdinand had confidently dealt with another lofted ball into our area, I thought that he had had an utterly convincing game and showed his ability to be able to come back, after such a patchy spell on the sidelines, and perform with such authority. Bang on 90, he acted with the ignorance and apprehension of an under-21 novice playing his very first game. His flick to...noone was idiotic, and his inability to track back and cover Bellamy shows the ageing side to his game. Fair play to Bellamy, as his pace was blistering and he didn't allow Ferdinand to touch him, but the finish was tame and one that Foster, had he stayed on his feet like he was supposed to instead of falling to ground like he'd been shot, should have always been favourite to save; as he would have given Bellamy far less room to squeeze in the shot. Again, an immature act, this time by Foster, in reading the play so poorly. As for City's first goal, well as it was down the Stretford End I wasn't aware till later that Rio was involved, however still, I feel Foster was most to blame. By not getting a firm hand to the ball as it fluttered along the line, he allowed Tevez - with his ever quick feet - to snatch it casually and find Barry, who simply passed it into an open goal. These two mistakes - for their first and third goal - can easily be joined in the 'catalogue of United f**king up and giving City a goal' by the manner in which they scored their second. Here we gave Bellamy far too much room and time to drift closer towards the area and line up the ball to smack it in. Where was the closing down? The tackles? City had 3 chances on goal all day, and we gifted them every one. Before everyone starts creaming themselves over how they managed to score 3 at OT and come from behind each time, we need to remember how sloppy we were and how much help we gave them.

• So, on the basis of this game City are NOT true, worthy competitors to our crown, or even the top 4. They were weak in the centre of the field - with their defensive, holding players Barry and De Jong not being able to handle Anderson, Fletcher or Giggs - and up front, as explained with the lack of shooting chances they created, they were also average. The sceptics (i.e. City fans) are going to jump on this point and reel off all their injuries. Fair enough, the game would have no doubt been better were they able to field their strongest XI, however: firstly, they were strong (player-wise) in the defensive area of the pitch, with Lescott, Richards, Toure, Barry, De Jong and Bridge all playing, yet they still conceded 4 when they had conceded 0 in their opening 4 games; making it 6 goals in 2 games now. Secondly, had Robinho and Adebayor been playing, where would Bellamy have been?? By far their best player on the day.
  

• The 3 game period that we have just come out of: Arsenal (h), Tottenham (a) and City (h) - was geared up to be effectively make-or-break and an early, telling test of our resilience and ability post-Ronaldo; even at such an early stage of the campaign. The fact that we have successfully gained maximum points out of three extremely difficult games is indeed a credit to the team, manager and still convincing resources that are available to us.