Santa Draws City's Home Run To An End

City 2 - 2 Rovers

Well it had to happen sometime I guess, and City's 100% home record is sadly no more.

It was a shame however, that the eventual result of yesterday's game was settled by a controversial decision by the referee and his linesman - something that is quite a common thing at Eastlands these days.

Was it offside or wasn't it? Was David Dunn "active" or was he not? What's clear is that the offside law is a mess and needs sorting out so that the match officials are not put into the unenviable position of making a split second judgment on something that is a purely subjective matter.

This "active" and "inactive" nonsense is completely unworkable and leaves little scope for consistency for big decisions, something the players, managers and fans are all desperately craving.

As for the game itself, if I'm being totally objective (something that doesn't naturally come easy), I guess you'd have to say that a draw was a fair result on the balance of play. City looked good in short spells with Petrov at last showing what he's capable of, but Rovers dominated the 2nd half with City struggling to win and keep hold of the ball.

Having extolled Bianchi's virtues in my previous article, he was pretty disappointing up front and how he missed that goal line tap-in I will still never know. Somehow, I fear his City career will not be a long one!

I was surprised not to see Geovanni again as he's looked quality in his few cameo appearances to date. City were crying out for a bit on invention in the centre of midfield and you would have thought that resting Hamann and Elano would have given Geo his chance - I really don't understand that at all.

Next up is another tough game against Liverpool - never an easy match.

Even if we draw, that will mean a disappointing three points from the Xmas fixtures; a win of course would make things look a whole lot better !

Time To Take City Seriously

City have often been the butt of many jibes about being a club that cannot be taken seriously. Some of the criticism has been deserved, but last week's battling performance against Fulham and today's 3 - 1 win over a decent, but Owen-less Newcastle has sent out a message that we are a much tougher proposition than in previous seasons.

Even the reddest of the many anti-City hacks must now (grudgingly) accept that Sven's influence has transformed City's fortunes and the club is unrecognizable from the lumbering, mis-firing team of the last few seasons.

For the second week running, City went a goal behind, but instead of crumbling like they would have previously, the teams' newly found confidence and self-belief meant they were soon on level terms with a quality finish by Petrov from a tight angle.

Although Newcastle had their moments in the first half, City were the dominant side after the break and with Mpenza wrong-footing Given with a clever header from Petrov's cross almost immediately from the restart, there was only ever going to be one outcome to this match.

City contained Newcastle without too much difficulty for the remainder of the match which was rounded off with a sensational free kick by Elano from 25 yards which flew past Given into the top of the net before he could move such was it's power and accuracy. Sky TV measured it at 76mph.... not quite as fast though as Didi Hamann as recently clocked by the Cheshire police ;-)

This was probably City's best performance of the season so far and was especially memorable for the performances of Martin Petrov and Elano who were both just outstanding. Petrov for his trickery, strength and pace down the wing and Elano for his silky skills and reading of the game. Sven took some stick for spending "big" money on these guys, but they look now to be very shrewd investments with many clubs sizing them up with envious eyes - expect some big-money bids in January, but luckily for us, we don't need the money.

Just a couple of thoughts to finish with:

1. Seeing Joey Barton sitting uncomfortably behind the Newcastle bench, probably thinking " what the hell have I done ?" .... ditto for Distin

2. Wondering what life would be like if Big Sam had been appointed City manager instead of Sven and being very grateful that the right choice was made