04/12/06: City 0 Watford 0Updated: October 3rd, 2007
This was a match where the lack of depth in our squad was plain to see.
The three games played over the last nine days saw only one change in the starting line-up, when Onuoha replaced Samaras against Liverpool. Which makes you wonder what role fatigue played in yesterday’s performance.
Take the case of Reyna. Impressive in the last two games, yet almost absent yesterday. Presuming he hasn’t become a bad player in the space of five days, you have to conclude that the recent workload has been too much for the 33-year-old.
If City’s high tempo at Eastlands has made a succession of visiting sides look plain awful, this time it was the scrapping and organised Watford who pulled that trick on us.
A look at the bench also revealed the squad’s shortcomings, with not a single player you felt could steal the three points.
On the positive side we had a reasonable shout for a late penalty, and you wonder whether Watford manager Adrian Boothroyd’s recent moans about refereeing bias against his side had an effect on referee Mark Clattenburg.
Staying positive, the team will have two more days’ rest than United for the derby, so hopefully that will have a bearing on the game.
~ There was a time when the only hairdrier on display at half-time came from the manager. But the sight of a blow-dried Samaras coming out for the second half shows how times have changed.
~ Pearce’s post-match interview (audio)
~ Getty Images photos; BBC photos
~ Latest Premiership table.
The two Davids
I noticed David James wrote an article for last Sunday’s Observer (link), praising City’s plans for installing a wind turbine near the stadium and urging football to do more to help the environment.
It was a very well-argued piece. But it did remind me that the last top-flight goalkeeper who spoke so eloquently about the environment was David Icke, who was once a spokesman for the Green Party.
And on the subject of conspiracies, there was a fascinating article in The Times on Saturday (link) which reveals the dirty tricks ballboys are alleged to get up to.
Match stats
The stats (below) are compiled from the live commentary and differ slightly from Sky’s stats:
Match reports
City 0 Watford 0 (MEN)
All the assuredness of last week’s win over Aston Villa seemed to be lost as the Blues struggled to cope with a limited Watford side’s admirable enthusiasm.
City stalemate marked by thud and blunder (Guardian)
City, in particular, were disappointing given that their opponents already seem to have the chilly fingers of relegation around their throats. The home side were looking to gain back-to-back victories in the league for the first time in 14 months but theirs was a laboured and moribund performance.
Watford prove their point thanks to heroics from Lee (The Times)
The lowest crowd of the season at the City of Manchester Stadium was treated to a match made in heaven last night, but unfortunately the match in question involved two home supporters, who got engaged on the pitch at half-time, rather than the 45 minutes of almost unmitigated tedium either side of the interval.
Watford weather the storm to leave Pearce frustrated (Independent)
“Watford are organised and dogged and aggressive,” said City’s manager. “They stifled us and they will be pleased they have got a point at a place where it is difficult to do that. Yes, we are disappointed. But I’m pleased at least we never left the back door open, and sometimes you have to give credit to the opposition.
Season-on-season table
No change in the season-on-season table, which compares results to the corresponding fixtures from last year.
Results against Watford are compared to West Brom, who we drew 0-0 with at home last season.
(Results against last season’s relegated clubs - Sunderland, West Brom and Birmingham - are compared to Sheff Utd, Watford and Reading respectively)
Here are the next three fixtures with the results from last season:
(A) Sat Dec 09: United (drew 1-1)
(H) Sun Dec 17: Tottenham (lost 2-0)
(H) Sat Dec 23: Bolton (lost 1-0)
Player ratings
Ratings come from (in order): Grob, Dr Spectrum, french_tony, comeoncity, MEN, Sky and Sky Your Rating.
Weaver: 8, 8, 7.5, 7, 6, 7, 7.7 (av: 7.3)
Decent early save from Francis; little else to do. (MEN)
Wicked save in the first 10 mins from Francis and good goalkeeping allround considering the wet conditions. (Grob)
Great saves but is scaring me with his kicking… (french_tony)
Kept us in it. (comeoncity)
Richards: 7, 8, 7, 7, 6, 8, 7.7 (av: 7.2)
Eager to get forward, solid at the back. (MEN)
Solid display, great effort in the first half and unlucky in the second when played in by Barton. (Grob)
One of our best players but didn’t do much going forward. (french_tony)
Done well and unlucky not to score a couple. (comeoncity)
Dunne: 7, 8, 6, 5, 6, 7, 7.5 (av: 6.6)
Kept Henderson at arm’s length. (MEN)
Solid on the whole, didn’t look like he was enjoying the conditions though. (Grob)
Not his best game. Young caused him problems. (french_tony)
Not his best. Should have been our inspiration tonight. (comeoncity)
Distin: 7, 8, 7.5, 8, 6, 7, 7.3 (av: 7.3)
Didn’t shirk the difficult battle. (MEN)
Easily dealt with the Watford strikers but his heading was all over the place in the first half. (Grob)
MOM usual self. (french_tony)
Only player that really looked bothered. Geared up the crowd as well. (comeoncity)
Thatcher: 7, 7, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6.5 (av: 6.4)
Caught out of position once or twice, but not serious trouble. (MEN)
Aanother solid if unspectacular display from Thatch. Some decent crosses too. He tends to hoof the ball a little too much for my liking. (Grob)
Did a job but again offers nothing. (french_tony)
Thatcher’s Thatcher!! Funny when he had a go at the linesman for a bad tackle Mahon made. (comeoncity)
Trabelsi: 6, 5, 5, 6, 5, 5, 5.6 (av: 5.4)
Little chance to show his creative spark. (MEN)
The game bypassed him. Some decent crosses in the second half and started to see more of the ball when Watford tired. (Grob)
Non-existent. (french_tony)
Not his greatest game. Service to him was very poor though. (comeoncity)
Barton: 6, 6, 5.5, 7, 5, 6, 7.1 (av: 6.1)
Battered from start to finish, with no protection from the referee. (MEN)
Similar to Reyna only he hit some sweet dead balls. His passing was very patchy tonight. Didn’t dominate like he should have. Disappointing. (Grob)
Great free kick and started to get into it last 20 mins, rubbish 1st half. (french_tony)
Quality free kick. Keep it up son. (comeoncity)
Reyna (Hamann 80): 5, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5.3 (av: 4.6)
Struggled in midfield scrap with Mahon and Francis. (MEN)
Wow, was he actually on the pitch? Francis must have been sick and tired of running past him. Must do better. (Grob)
He was playing? (french_tony)
Go back to the States. (comeoncity)
Vassell: 7, 5, 5.5, 6, 5, 6, 5.5 (av: 5.7)
Not an awful lot to shout about. (MEN)
Saw little of the ball out wide left and was always a threat when the ball was near him. Our best attacking player. Looked much more at home when moved upfront. (Grob)
LOOK UP!!!!!! (french_tony)
Worked hard, shooting accuracy must improve. (comeoncity)
Samaras (Miller 64): 6, 4, 5.5, 5, 4, 5, 6.1 (av: 5.1)
Early chance aside, rarely made an impression. (MEN)
Not having the best of times at the moment is George. Needs a goal. Service to him was beyond appaling. (Grob)
Shouldn’t have come off, looked livlier than Corradi and our best passer. (french_tony)
6mill???? I’ve said it all along. (comeoncity)
Corradi: 6, 5, 5.5, 5, 5, 6, 6.3 (av: 5.5)
Took a whack or two, but soldiered on. (MEN)
The odd nice touch and a good effort at the end. But the service into him was dire.
Is just faster than Hamman….unlucky with penalty appeal and late volley. (french_tony)
Chievo please take him. (comeoncity)
Subs:
Miller (Samaras 64): 6, 6, 5.5, 6, 5, 6, 6.7 (av: 5.9)
A couple of decent runs, but no end product. (MEN)
Everytime I see him, I can see potential, but he is so raw with it. Needs to go out on loan for experience desperately. (Grob)
Couple of good runs but pushed off very easily for a big lad. (french_tony)
Another talent in the making. (comeoncity)
Hamann (Reyna 80): 5, 4, - , 3, 6, 6, 6.4 (av: 5.1)
Helped to shore up the midfield in the closing stages. (MEN)
Nearly cost us a goal at the end and has the mobiltiy of a milkfloat. He looks past it. Must do better. (Grob)
I refuse to comment on him. (french_tony)
The worst player I have ever seen. (comeoncity)
Subs not used:
Isaksson, Dickov, Onuoha