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Episode 5: Match-review Monday
8 Plays10 months ago
Manchester City Daily - Today, Jack Ward breaks discusses our opening day victory at Stamford Bridge and what positives we can take from the 2-0 victory over Chelsea.
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Transcript
Introduction and Overview
00:00:05
Speaker
sports podcast network work Welcome to Manchester City Daily, brought to you by the Global Sports Podcast Network, the only place that you can get daily news and updates from every single Premier League team every single day. Now, this is your one stop shop for all things Sky Blue and Manchester City related.
Matchday Review: Manchester City vs. Chelsea
00:00:26
Speaker
ah today is matchday review monday and of course bringing you your mo your post match debrief is myself jack ward flying solo today actually very much missing my irish and welsh counterparts but don't worry They will be back this week as there is plenty and I emphasize plenty to talk about as we start the brand new season and I am absolutely buzzing. So without further ado, let's get stuck into the main topic for today, which is of course Manchester City to Chelsea.
Oscar Bobb's Injury Impact
00:00:57
Speaker
niil Now, in the first segment, I'm going to be talking about
00:01:00
Speaker
What we had going into the game leading up to it, some injury worries and woes and of course both teams form and how has that affected or is starting the season. So Chelsea and Man City, what have we had to do ah in the lead up to this game? Well, Manchester City particularly faced a massive, massive injury below earlier this week as Oscar Bob was sidelined, confirmed to be sidelined for about three to four months not going to be returning until ah December at the earliest most likely. That's due to him suffering a quite a serious leg break in training earlier this week. Now the severity of this break is yet to be decided really. Still a little bit up in the air but it seems to be quite a serious injury that's going to keep him on the sidelines for yeah like we said a few months at the very least. Now
00:01:58
Speaker
Initially, this was looking like it was going to be quite a complicated injury, particularly to talk about it affecting the ankle. And we all know that any time a player gets a serious ankle injury, that's an injury that's going to be hassling them and annoying them for the rest of their playing career. So it was sort of a silver lining to hear that it was just a straight, clean leg break, and because once that's fixed, usually a player recovering from that type of injury gets back to playing how they have been playing. It's a big injury, it's a massive setback, but once they get that fixed, healed, they'll play how they normally play. Whereas if it's an ankle injury, it's a little bit more serious, you're going to be feeling that constantly, the way your move changes, you might lose that little bit of pace. So hopefully, there's a silver lining in this and a little bit of a cloud on the horizon.
00:02:52
Speaker
with Oscar Bob's injury in that he will hopefully come back fit as a fiddle and ready to attack the second half of this season. Now, this has been disappointing for many, many reasons, but will this affect Man City as a team? Can we manage without him? I can't speak for the other lads, but me personally, I think we'd have been okay.
Potential Replacements for Bobb
00:03:16
Speaker
I think we'd been fine without him. I think on that right wing, we've got cover.
00:03:22
Speaker
in Bernardo Silva. It's not my favourite position, seeing him play on that right hand side. and We've also got players like Phil Foden, who can play out there. But again, yeah're you're talking about players who can operate on that right hand side, but it's not usually their best position. We like seeing Bernardo in the middle of the park. We like seeing Phil Foden behind Erlen Haalander, the striker, playing in that 10-roll in the pockets, going forward attacking. But we've also just signed Savino from Troyes,
00:03:52
Speaker
who cannot write oh who can operate on any kind of side on that front three, up top on the right hand side, on the left hand side. So that is a positive sign. So would we have been okay as a team? I think Manchester City are capable of managing without him on the right. I think we've shown it last season. He had a bit of a part role, but I think this is disappointing in a different reason. and it It's an absolutely huge blow for him. It's devastating for Oscar Bog because He's probably the brightest looking player that we've had in our pre
Bobb's Pre-season Promise
00:04:23
Speaker
-season. I'll get onto pre-season a little bit, but he's been our bright spark during the pre-season. He started every single game. He's looked amazing in every single game. He's got one goal, I think three or four assists in the pre-season games, and he's just looked electric. He's looked sharp. He's looked fit. He's looked hungry.
00:04:45
Speaker
and We've got a player who can go forward, attack a man, but he's almost like, think I remember Pep saying it the last couple of years, it's almost like someone had made him in a lab for Pep. He's kind of the most Pep style player you could possibly imagine.
00:05:04
Speaker
He's quick, he's strong for someone so small. He's agile, got a small center center of gravity. He's capable of beating a man, but he's also got that tight, close control akin to the likes of David Silva. He's almost the perfect control on that right-hand side. And when you look at Pep's kind of theme of wanting to play midfielders all over the park, he is kind of the perfect winger in the sense that he has that control without actually being a midfielder. He's still very capable of beating his man going forward,
00:05:34
Speaker
putting his side on his left, going on his right, quite a few footed in that regard. But I think the best thing about Oscar Bob is that he looks like he has an instant connection with Earlan Harland. And of course, playing for the same national team will help with that massively, ah but they just look like they've been teammates for years and and you can really kind of get the sense of that connection. So this injury is just so significant for him. And I think City fans as well,
00:06:00
Speaker
I've spoken to quite a lot of City fans over the course of the past few weeks and months, and and the same thing comes up every time, and every single person is so, so, so excited to see Oscar Bob this season. that He is the player that is exciting us the most, more than any new signings that ah that have come in. I think it's the same with me as well. Keelan's such a big fan as well also, and I know Jules will echo this sentiment that we was probably looking forward to him as if he was a new signing.
00:06:29
Speaker
because he's just that exciting a player and you kind of felt like this was going to be his breakout season, sort of like Phil Foden just a few years ago. So it is devastating to see him sideline, but I have every confidence in him that he'll use this time and to want to get himself better and want to get himself back ready. And I know he's not going to lose any hunger whatsoever just because of the character and the personality that he has Oscar Bob.
00:06:54
Speaker
So a huge blow for for City fans, for himself, but I think we'll manage without him just about. But of course that's going to sap a little bit of that creativity out of the team because he's just such an exciting player. But I think we'll manage it without him.
Pre-season Performances: City vs. Chelsea
00:07:11
Speaker
Elsewhere going into the match, we'll look at the pre-season form because oh we kind of have to, that's all we've got to go off at the moment, but I don't really like to look at pre-season form as as as too much importance to be quite honest with you. It is making sure that our players are there, fit, getting some game time and and and some playing into their bodies, but I don't think the results matter whatsoever.
00:07:36
Speaker
If you look at Chelsea's pre-season form, they started the pre-season with one win, two draws and three losses. ah One of those losses coming against Manchester City in that 4-2. I think that was a Harlan Hatrick game. Great game, but again, I wouldn't look too much into it. It was just a bit of fun. One thing I will say about Chelsea's pre-season is that they got some pretty dubious draws. I mean one of them granted was against Inter Milan but a 2-2 draw against Rexxin has got to give Chelsea fans a little bit of something to worry about. Just because you've got to say that the quality on the pitch in that game was so disparaged that there kind of has to be a point where the quality a player takes you over the line regardless of settling into a new team, a new manager and new tactics.
00:08:25
Speaker
but I think if you ask any Chelsea fan really that they'll start to see little bits of styles of play kind of forming into this Chelsea team under Maresca that you can notice distinctively as a feature of his management as opposed to the recent years with Poch where maybe you've not got a distinct style you know granted you've got that free flow and attacking football but you've got a system now under Maresca that's akin to Pep Guardiola that kind of death by a thousand passes times you know situation But yeah, Chelsea's preseason form has not been anything to write home about.
00:08:59
Speaker
and a 3-0 win against Club America is their only win. But one thing I will say is that both Manchester City and Chelsea share a loss to the kind of trailblazing Celtic in preseason. Now, our preseason form was actually a little bit worse than Chelsea's, to be quite honest with you. We suffered two draws and two losses. But well like I said, one of them coming to Celtic in our opening game, actually. That was a pretty exciting 4-3 game there.
00:09:30
Speaker
and But again, 3-2 to Milan, a 2-1 to Barcelona. and Oh, sorry, it wasn't two draws, two losses, it was one win, one draw, of course, because we beat Chelsea 4-2 at the Ohio Stadium in a Columbus. and That was the last game of the pre-season tour, which was quite a fun fixture to be fair. but I mean, that that just comes back to that Bob injury because Bob featured in all of those games, starting all of them. And he just looked fantastic. He looked so exciting. and So it really is a big blow. But if you join us in part two, we're going to be talking about the game this Sunday, just gone against Chelsea. What happened in game for Chelsea? What was to like? What was not to like? And the same again for Manchester City, just after a quick word from our sponsors.
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00:11:08
Speaker
Now let's get back into
City's Victory Against Chelsea
00:11:09
Speaker
it. My name is Jack Ward and this is Manchester City Daily. Today we're delving into the weekend fixtures, specifically Manchester City 2, Chelsea, Neil at Stamford Bridge. ah This was always going to be a tough game going into it because Chelsea just seemed to be a little bit of a hit and miss team for us, particularly at Stamford Bridge. Now me personally, I hate when we go to Stamford Bridge, even when the games that we win, it's just always a bit of a difficult sludge. We don't play well, and they just know how to get at us. I think Chelsea have actually the smallest pitch size in the league. Don't quote me on that, but I remember reading that somewhere. And it just feels like it's like a gauntlet. It is like a cauldron at Stamford Bridge when the when the crowd get behind them. Fortunately, it didn't go this way and for Chelsea this time round.
00:12:01
Speaker
now It was the opening game for both teams this Premier League season and Manchester City have won that opening Premier League game of the season in 13 of the last 14 seasons with the other game being a 1-0 loss to Spurs in the 2021-22 season. and and That was our only loss. Now Chelsea have now lost their first Premier League match of the season for a third time in the last eight seasons. They've won four, drawn one, lost three.
00:12:31
Speaker
as many times as they did in their first 25 seasons in the competition. Now is that something that Chelsea fans kind of need to be maybe worried about? I'm not too sure but their opening day form does kind of leave a little bit to be desired. Now this is going to be like the eighth or ninth game opening game in a row from Manchester City that we played away from home. I think it must have been like 2014-15 was the last home game that we played on the opening game. But yeah, that's how it's going to go. Now, looking into the game, let's have a look how it how it kind of broke down.
Chelsea's Performance Evaluation
00:13:13
Speaker
Now, the game started
00:13:15
Speaker
pretty well for City. I mean, we didn't look to be kind of too confident going into it. Chelsea were always going to make it kind of difficult for us. But we'll talk about Chelsea first, because I hate to say Chelsea fans, because it's not a lot to talk about. So we'll get this done relatively quickly. Did they look OK? They looked fine, to be honest with you. And if I'm a Chelsea fan, I'm probably not looking at that game too, too worried. Of course, you're playing the champions in the opening game.
00:13:44
Speaker
The home form is there, but you're still facing an uphill task. and In terms of the style of play, there was something there. there was a little bit This is coming from a Manchester City fans perspective. There was little bits of identity there that you could see creeping through. When they had the ball, they did relatively well with it. They were passing it from side to side, moving forward, up the pitch, putting some decent passageches passages of play together.
00:14:10
Speaker
but It almost seemed like the formation that Chelsea were playing was with kind of two, two touch line wingers who were just kind of stretching the pitch and getting in really wide and behind. And in a play like Cole Palmer and and Christopher Nkunku were both playing either side of Nicholas Jackson. You've got two very, very lethal players there who you want to be getting forward in and around the box.
00:14:35
Speaker
they just weren't effective in this game. they I don't know what it was, but they weren't getting into positions where they needed to be and and it didn't work out for them. So in terms of wow how they were playing,
00:14:47
Speaker
it looked okay. There was some stuff there that you can kind of pull positive from going forward into the rest of the season. If you're a Chelsea fan, I think there is some positives to take from this game, particularly Romeo Lavia. and This was his first Chelsea start in the competitive Premier League game. Can you believe that? Signing for 58 or so million last summer.
00:15:09
Speaker
and absolutely blown with injuries last year really unfortunate season for him but he looked every bit like the 58 million pound player that they paid for him because he was so short on the ball really calm everything you want from a lone six in possession out of possession just looked like he really fitted that Chelsea system to be honest with you but where I thought Chelsea were kind of weakest today was that back line. That back line just didn't look self-assured. Of course, they're playing probably not their first choice players. ah Wesley Fafana, who's played a bit-part role in the past few seasons for Chelsea since signing for god nearly 80 million a few seasons ago, he looked rash at times, to be quite honest with you, as did Levi Colwell, who looked sort of comfortable on the ball in possession at times, at moments, but is defending left for me a little bit to be desired.
00:16:02
Speaker
Now, the only probably bright spark was Kukarela on that left-hand side in the first 15-20 minutes, and who had great joy against Jeremy Dokku, defended him quite a lot, so much so that him and Savio had to switch sides. But when that happened, that's when Kukarela really started to struggle. He got beat two, three times just before the first half ended, really, by Savio. But he was sort of their only bright spark in defense because Over on the other side, on the right-hand side, Malo Gusto just did not look good at all, looked really uncomfortable, got out-muscled by Docu when they switched, and not kind of a lot to be you know talking about there in terms of positives. Same with Robert Sanchez, I think he could have done a little bit better for that first goal.
00:16:50
Speaker
and Obviously that was not not for that first goal, that one being really harsh on. That was a a terrific kind of solo run into the box there from Erwin Harland. The second goal from Mateo Kovacic in the second half just 10 minutes before the end of the game. I think if I'm a Chelsea fan I'm wanting Robert Sanchez to do a little bit better there.
00:17:11
Speaker
and Now, if you join us in the next segment, we're going to be talking a little bit more in detail about what we can take from Manchester City's game and the positives that we can talk about there after another word from our sponsors.
00:17:24
Speaker
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00:17:52
Speaker
Welcome back to Manchester City Daily, brought to you by the Global Sports Podcast Network, the one-stop shop for everything you need to know, news and gossip wives for every single Premier League team, every single Premier League club, every day. Now, today we're talking about Manchester City 2, Chelsea 2, specifically in this segment when we're gonna be talking about Manchester City. what we can take away from that, who played well, who looked a little bit unsure of themselves and what are the positives we can take from that game going into next week against Ipswich.
Player Ratings and Performances
00:18:22
Speaker
Now, for me, I want to talk a little bit about some of the player ratings given to the city players from Manchester Evening News. I want to talk a little bit about them because there are some that I agree with, some that I disagree with. We'll start with the big man up top. and It was his 100th appearance for the club, Erlen Haaland, and he got given a seven
00:18:41
Speaker
I thought that's relatively fair. Obviously he got his goal off the mark straight off the bat. It was great to see him back playing for City because of course we missed his action in the Euros without Norway qualifying but 100th game, 91st goal.
00:18:58
Speaker
What's there left to be said that hasn't been said already about that? That big man up top, he's absolutely phenomenal. and Lots of criticism about him in the past couple of seasons about his link up plays, general play, what he's doing when he's not scoring goals. For me, all of that is just complete noise because when he is scoring goals, when he is hungry, he just looks phenomenal and I absolutely love him. Some other players who maybe were a little bit quiet in that game,
00:19:27
Speaker
Jeremy Dokku to start with. and My issues with Jeremy Dokku is that he makes the hard things look easy and easy things look hard. He's so, so good at beating a man. The licks him past him, making him look like a fool, sending him to the shops. But when he gets into that final third,
00:19:47
Speaker
His final ball, his decision making, leaves so much to be desired. And this game particularly highlighted it for me. I was a little bit disappointed with his performance, not from what he was doing, because when he was getting the ball, beating his man, particularly when he switched over to the other side to play against man on gusto, he was having so much joy. But nine times out of 10, when he gets past a player, that final ball into the box or over the top,
00:20:16
Speaker
is wrong, his decision making, when to pass, when to shoot, when to hold, when to keep moving with it, it just seems a little bit off and that's something that I think Pep Guardiola will look to tweak for this season. Another player who was a little bit quiet though was Kevin De Bruyne, kind of seeing him come back, I'm hoping he doesn't rush back but he looked sharp, he looked quite quick and he looked very fit but wasn't much involvement from him going forward. I think we all know what De Bruyne is capable of and we all hold him to such a high standard that we probably are disappointing when he plays a game like he did today on Sunday against Chelsea where he was just fine. He was fine, he was involved, linked links well with the forward line but just a sixth rating from Manchester Evening News from him and I'll be honest with you, I can't disagree
Savinho's Debut and Kovacic's Excellence
00:21:09
Speaker
ah But if we're looking at debutants, we'll look to Savio, Savino, who got given a seven. He started on the right hand side and he looked bright. He really looked bright. and But when he switched over to play against Kukureya, that's when I think he kind of had the most joy. He started to skip past him a few times, and looked really bright actually, ah looked like a kind of that Brazilian flair that we were lacking over the past few seasons. and it's it's It's a sign of good things to come, I think, because with him on that right hand side and his ability to play on the left hand side as well, it just offers that dynamism and fluidity and attack where you've got players like Jeremy Dokko on the other side who can switch with him over the course of the game. and He got given a seven. I can't disagree with that. I thought he was a great ah kind of debut, just really unfortunate to get
00:22:05
Speaker
that injury that's seen him benched at half time. and So I think he'll be back. I think it might have been a precautionary thing. So hopefully it's nothing too serious and we'll see him over the course of the next few games. But my two man in the matches is what I want to talk about next and finish off with here. Because of course, Mateo Kovacic is the man everyone's talking about right now, looked so assured at the base of that midfield. And what I was really impressed with was that It just looked like we had Roger on the pitch. It really, really did. He's sort of a different player to him, but this was kind of the most Roger-like performance that I've seen from him. He played that lone six, and he really looked like the most experienced midfielder in the middle of the park, playing alongside an inverted Rico Lewis, who I'll get on to next.
00:22:51
Speaker
They just complimented each other so well. and It was a massive ask for Kovacic to stand in for Rodry. And in games last season when we were asking that from him, he kind of stalled at times, but this this performance was exactly what I want from Kovacic and exactly what I was hoping for when we signed him last year. He did the dirty work, but he was also great at driving forward with the ball. He's quick, he's strong, his decision-making is great, and his final pass is fantastic.
00:23:20
Speaker
and a Pep Guardiola player through and through and and that goal just sealed it for him it' to be honest with you and he is my man in the match. But one player I need to talk about because he's just absolutely blown me away over this pre-season and today was no different. Rico Lewis, I'm running out of superlatives to talk about with him because he started it right back and inverting into midfield this role that we've seen him do over the course of last season. and I don't quite think I'm going to echo a sentiment actually that George has stated on this podcast before. I don't think people quite understand the role that he's been asked to play over the past few seasons for Pep Guardiola. For a 19 year old to be able to achieve what he's been asked to do, play as a right back, inverting into the midfield, playing up as high as I can have eight and a 10 at times, he's just phenomenal.
00:24:12
Speaker
And today was no different. He was so strong. He uses his body really well for someone that was so small. He had a couple of great goal line clearances to keep us ahead. And I mean, let's just say.
00:24:25
Speaker
Kyle Walker will be watching on from the bench without a smile on his face because he's going to have to fight his way back into the 11th Manchester Evening News giving him an 8th rating alongside Mateo Kovacic, which I completely agree with. Those two are my man in the match players for today. Now that is all the time we have on today's match review Monday. We're back next week and hopefully I'll have a few more voices joining me in Jaws and Keeling back this week. So do not worry.
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Speaker
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00:25:23
Speaker
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