Manchester City 3 - West Bromwich Albion 1

Date:	Monday 21st April 2014
Competition:	Barclays Premier League
Man City: 6.9
WBA: 4.9	(?-?-?[-?]) Foster 6.4, Jones 5.5, Dawson 4.7, Olsson 6.6, Ridgewell 3.0, Mulumbu 5.3 (Morrison, 84 5.0), Dorrans 7.6, Amalfitano 5.6, Sessegnon 5.2 (Berahino, 76 4.3), Brunt 3.5, Vydra 4.8 (Anichebe, 60 5.6) Unused subs: Myhill, Reid, Yacob, Lugano Manager: Pepe Mel 4.5
Scorers:	Dorrans (16)
Referee:	Phil Dowd (Stoke on Trent) 6.5
Attendance:	46,564 Home Fans 4.7 Away Fans 6.6

Summary:

The Sky Sports commentators frequently described City's performance tonight as "routine". Sadly, the same could probably be said of Albion's.

Their cause wasn't helped by Gareth McAuley getting injured in training and being replaced by Craig Dawson, but the team struggled to maintain any defensive shape, probably illustrated by the fact that different reports show their formation as 4-2-3-1, 3-5-2 and 4-4-2. The players seemed equally confused as Sergio Aguero got a powerful shot off at Ben Foster in the third minute and the Baggies man could only palm the ball one-handed to the unmarked Pablo Zabaleta to head home, and they didn't seem any more organised in the tenth when Aguero managed to get his next effort straight past Foster.

Graham Dorrans pulled one back with a superb touch that turned Gael Clichy inside out and belted the ball in off Joe Hart's left hand upright, but it was only a temporary respite and City turned the pressure back up before half time when Martin Demichelis had to do little more than stand still to finish from Vincent Kompany's flick-on.

The second half was relatively flat by comparison, Albion seemingly accepting their fate as City prolonged the awarding of the Premiership title by at least another week. Albion end the weekend in sixteenth place, three points above the relegation zone but with a game in hand over three of the teams below them.

Mark Koppel:

Yes Man City have ?billions to buy the title and all the best players but our performance tonight was a massive contrast to Sunderland's fighting draw last week.

All the other Teams at the bottom are battling for their lives, we are limping pathetically towards the Championship.

Ridgewell preferring to walk off and leave the Team with only 10 players, rather than play on for just another 5 to 10 mins, sums up this awful, awful season.

Lots of bad decisions have been made that have got us in this mess, here are just a few:

Appointing Steve Clarke who had no Management experience because he was free and available. He was found out eventually when the Hodgson/Ashworth impact wore off.
Replacing the Head Scout with a Solicitor???
Signing a complete load of unplanned, non-targeted players in the summer, but no Defenders!
Signing Anelka despite the fact he has been trouble everywhere he has been before.
Waiting a crucial 4 weeks to replace Steve Clarke.
Appointing another Head Coach with no experience of the PL, and also no English.
Selling our most experienced striker in January.
Not supporting Pepe Mel in January with any transfer budget.

Players ratings tonight are:

Foster 7 - Could have been much worse if he hadn't made a few great stops.
Jones 6 - Improved as the game went on by not being too narrow as he tends to be.
Dawson 3 - Have you noticed we never win, or defend properly, when he has to replace Olsson or McAuley? Tonight was no different.
Olsson 7 - Got to feel sorry for him. Often defending by himself tonight, and never lost his patience once.
Ridgewell 1 - I have said a few times that this lad is a coward. Would have given him only a 3 tonight but reduced it to 1 for leaving his team mates stranded for the last 10 minutes with 10 players. If there was any backbone at West Brom, which there isn't, he should be fined and never play for the Club again!
Sessegnon 5 - Fading again second half like against Tottenham. Hilarious shot second half just from outside the box and that didn't even reach the goal line it was so screwed.
Mulumbu 6 - Tried but not too impactful.
Dorrans 7 - Great goal and was our most creative player.
Brunt 3 - Back to his most frustrating worst. Wasted loads of crosses, either over hit or straight to the keeper. Also after over 3 years of terrible free kicks going over the bar the question has to be asked does he ever practice his free kicks to get better?
Amalifano 5 - Some nice touches but like Sess, only a 45 minute player.
Vydra 3 - Powder Puff. Not sure why Pepe thinks he is better than Vic.

Subs-

Big Vic 6 - Should have played in the last two games. Much better option than Vydra.
Bad Boy 4 - Did little to show he is over his frolics.
Morrison 5 - Hope he was not fully fit as left on the bench for far too long otherwise.

Pepe 4 - Predictably his lack of PL Management experience, and judgement as a result, is really starting to cost us now. Some bad decisions again tonight (i.e Vydra for Vic) really makes you question his decision making. I don't blame him though, it is not his fault he doesn't speak English and has no PL experience. Peace is to blame for appointing him simply because he was free and available.

West Brom Fans 10 - ?56 quid, no show from the Team, Monday night Sky Sports TV game, and still you only heard our fans chanting at the end!

Paul Gainham:

Poor team played really good team. Really good team won. The End.

Unfortunately THAT?S how routine and predictable it was last night as it seemingly always is every time we visit the Etihad. Amazes me City are not walking the PL because when they are in attack they look brilliant the way they move as a team and the skill in one or two of their key players.

Our biggest problem was we started in a shambolic state our players were still literally looking at each other trying to figure out what they were supposed to be doing and by the time we had, we were already 2-0 down with no way back. Also, if you get the opportunity, watch this game again and watch a copy of the Man City vs Sunderland game again and do a compare and contrast.

The Biggest difference?

Fight.

We simply had too few players last night who either don?t care enough to realize or who are simply not concerned by our current predicament and believe they can simply wonder around the pitch treating the game as almost a training exercise.

Did I expect to get anything from the Etihad? NO.

Did I expect my team to turn up and give it a real go? YES. In fairness some of them did, Olsson and Dorrans most notably but too many of the rest were a combination of not good enough and don?t care.

As for Mel, I am tired now of making excuses for him. Yes he was handed a hospital pass but he took it and despite what looked early promise, we look as disorganized as we did under Clarke. A good coach, a really good coach could get more from this squad with all of its limitations. Neither Clarke or, unfortunately, Mel, have the nous to do that.

Looks like we will be looking for our next coach at the end of this season wherever we finish.

Player Marks

Foster 6 Couple of good saves but badly at fault for their first
Jones 6 Good to see him back, tough night for him
Ridgewell 5 Had played some of his best games recently, this was not one of them
Olsson 7 MOTM. Showed real determination and leadership, at fault with Ridgewell for their 3rd
Dawson 3 Quicker we offload the better. Amazes me the blind patriotism of some in relation to him. He is a Championship player at best
Dorrans 6 Always engaged, great goal
Mulumbu 5 Another below par performance from him
Sessegnon 5 Some flashes but just did not do enough
Amalfitano 5 Another one who flatters to deceive. Occasionally looks good then disappears
Brunt 4 Corners and free kicks were woeful
Vydra 4 Nice set up for Dorrans? goal but way too powder puff for this level

Subs

Anichebe 5 Did not really make any difference, turns like an oil tanker at times
Berahino 5 No real impact
Morrison 5 Only on late, no impact

Coach 3 I can?t see a way forward for him. The excuses have worn thin and he simply has delivered no lift.

Fans 10 Quite sad to only see 2.5 Albion coaches at the away end but the fans did what they could to lift the team.