Great performance, a good result, and crucially another victory ticked off. 14 down, 16 to go. My take on the season so far as follows.........
Plan A is possession-based football. Plan B is do Plan A better - yesterday, we moved the ball quicker in the 2nd half, started breaking the lines. Most teams are parking the bus in hope of nicking a point/counter-attack goal - patience is the key. We are creating so many chances, many in the last 30 mins, eventually we'll pummel a side by 5 or 6. Those 5 or 6 goals are more likely to come in the last 20 mins of games. We are developing and you can see the work done on the training ground - more diagonal passes hit towards JJ yesterday, Hermansen looking longer and for space in behind. 3rd man runs from the midfield 3/wingers are happening, we just don't always see it/want to play that ball for fear of it skipping through to the keeper.
All this is geared for playing at a higher level. Possession will be less in the PL, and we'll need to be more clinical but we will look to dominate teams in the bottom half at home. You can also see a much more intense pressing game - the front 4/5 all chase the ball down. All the top teams play like this and if we are to get back into the top 10 of the PL, we need to stick with this system, evolve it, get better at it and sign better players who are used to it.
As for the perceived lack of entertainment, I see it like this - Man City have to endure matches like this, particularly at home against the bottom 14 PL sides, with opponents lacking ambition. Only the top 6 really take it to them at the Etihad, which makes for a fast, cut & thrust type of game. I think there are only 3-4 sides who will have a go at the KP, and we've seen 2 of them (Sunderland, Leeds) do it, but there won't be many. Games away from home more likely to be entertaining as the home team have to come out and play with ambition.
