A little bit of luck....

.... some breaks on the officiating, poor finishing by Liverpool and great saves by Joe Hart combined to put City clear into second place.  I watched the match with a Liverpool fan, my father in law and our kids.  Wow, what a match!  My father in law, who is not a fan of the sport at all, found it to be a fascinating game.  Both side were playing wide open and a lot of chances were created. Liverpool are definitely a dangerous side, and should be proud of their performance.  The result certainly may have been different if not for an egregious offside against them in the first half when their man was clear through.

But we'll take it!  And closing in at the top of the table.  We'll hope for a draw in the Liverpool v. Chelsea match this weekend and hope that our side keep their perfect home record intact.

BTW, am I the only one who thought that Kolarov's defending was atrocious?!  I there were at least two mistakes that should have resulted in Liverpool goals.  I hope the boss watches the tape and decides to put Clichy back in the starting eleven!

What we are thankful for.....

We've got a lot to be thankful for after our match with Fulham:

1) Regardless of the outcome of the Arsenal v. Chelsea match on Monday, we've moved up a spot in the table to 3rd.
2) We scored four goals on the road and won!
3) We came back after blowing a two goal lead
4) Joe Hart made some nice saves, particularly the early one which was low to his left, a weak spot in previous weeks.
5) Two great assists from Silva and Negredo.  The Negredo pass from 40 yards out off the outside of his left boot right onto Milner's foot was AMAZING!
6) The boss said that Jovedic, Aguero and Zabaleta may be back sooner, rather than later.

Looks like we got our Christmas present early!

OUCH!

Recent injuries to Zabaleta and Aguero, combined with existing injuries to Richards, Nastasic and Jovetic are making me worried.  There is a lot of football around the holiday season, and we'll be playing Liverpool on Boxing day, who are currently playing out of their minds.

The problem is particularly acute at right back.  Who will Pelegrini put there?  My guess is Javi Garcia.  Wait!  No!  I didn't say it was a GOOD idea.  But he seems to be the man who fills these holes, at least according to what the boss has done so far.

I guess we'll see on Saturday!

Nice Result!

City put on another fine performance at home, and took all three points from the EPL leaders, Arsenal.  As was pointed out to me after the match, one of the best things about the performance was that City scored within 5 minutes of each of the Arsenal goals, which is a fine fighting spirit.  The announcers made much of how tired Arsenal looked, but they had several players who did not play on Wednesday, so there seems to be no excuse for it.

Arsenal did play some good attacking football, and it seems that Pantilimon could have done better on the first goal.

We are almost half way through the EPL season, and 5 teams are within 5 points of the top!  Seven teams are within 10 points.  Amazing!

We'll wish Arsenal much better luck next week as they play Chelsea and we're glad to see the right team the first leg of the Maggie McGarry's Derby!

The Maggie McGarry's Derby

This Sunday will be the first of this season's Maggie McGarry's "Derby".

For those of you who don't know, the pub is home of not just the City supporters, but the Arsenal supporters, too.  This makes the match a "pub derby"!  I'm sure Arsenal will be trying to clip our home form and that City will need to take some points from the team at the top.

For those of you going, I suggest getting there a little early as the good parking spots will go quickly.  And make sure you wear your City colors!  No hooligans at this pub, particularly not that early in the morning!  We've already heard that a couple of our remote members are coming and there may be other surprises, too!  It will definitely be a big day!

p.s. looks like we are going to have Kyle and Elaine sightings, too.  AWESOME!!!

While it seems like forever

While it seems like forever ago, Southampton beat City 3-1 in February as some Barry and Hart mistakes cost us, dealing a huge blow to the title defense.

As I write this the squad has not been announced.  But we can be sure that Barry will not be in it.  Let's hope we see the continued improvement in the Away form.  The Premier League is amazingly tight with 9 teams within a dozen points of the leaders, so loosing a game can make a big difference in your place in the table.  Let's hope it is Chelsea and Arsenal relinquishing points this week!  C'mon Stoke, Everton and Newcastle!

Is today's match important?

I think that's a very interesting question.  We're playing a team currently 12th, who's home form is 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses.

The two losses came in the first two home matches and one of the draws was against Arsenal.  So, the haven't lost at home in 3 months!  I guess what I'm saying is that the match should not be a pushover, despite West Brom being a little down in the table.

But we're six points behind.  Arsenal is showing no signs of catching their breath, much less slowing down.  We need to hang within striking distance.  We've already lost 4 matches away this season.  Our only win coming at the expense of West Ham.  If we're going to win the Premier League, there are only so many losses we can take.  We expect to loose to other top clubs occasionally, and have a banana peel or two with the lower clubs.  But we've already had a full quota of banana peels for the season.

We need a win!