Feel you, Roman. Had the same face afterward.
There will be those who call it poetic justice? But then, what about the pro-Foucault crowd?
- No complaints. A pedestrian second-half display. Are we becoming the Arsenal? Speaking of which, does anyone out there with a love of statistics care to figure out how many goals we've conceded with respect to attacks we've actually had to defend? Our ratio must be the worst in the Prem.
- Fatigue. Ancient legs x midweek matches = problems. It's been touched on before; it's an even bigger issue now, you know, with this recent injury crisis. Speaking of which, this season feels all little too much like '07...
- Hilario is hilarious - again? The Portugese keeper appeared to have absolutely no confidence. City's opening two goals likely would have been saved by the injured Cech, no doubt about it.
- Lack of discipline. Professionalism. Belletti, why? And then there's Ballack. I can accept your irrelevant display, but to sell the team out, knowing we were already down to nine men and were also aware of our current injuries, with a tackle of such disdain is inexcusable. Not impressed, at all.
- Substitutions. What the hell, Carlo? Joe Cole, off. Mikel, off. Neither should have been pulled. The absence of Mikel, in particular, plagued the side in the final 20. Throwing on a handful of strikers, two of which are hardly game-changers, and expecting results seems a tad optimistic.
- Have Terry's transgressions and the ever-growing media circus affected the squad, specifically morale? Focus maybe, too? We were excellent, then it all kind of changed. Not to say we haven't played some quality football since the scandal but, overall, it has certainly been below the standard we had set. Probably ridiculous just to suggest; nevertheless, an interesting view.
- A massive shout out to our fabulous pair of commentators. City have "arrived"? Just last week Mancini was on the way out...
Player Ratings
Hilario 3
Good lord.
Bane 7
Bright. Stuck in.
BJT 6
It's still a struggle, though slightly better than recent displays. Caught on the Tevez equalizer to close the opening half.
Ricky 6
Like Terry, was rattled on City's opener. Substituted, bemusingly.
Flo 7
Committed. Efficient shift.
Mikel 7
Egregious back header ultimately cost us on City's opener. Had absolutely no chance against Bellamy after the break (Who would? Ashley maybe.) Still, I thought he was controlled and covered well.
Joey 7
Not half bad surprisingly. Quality set-up for Lampard's first. Drifted in the second half.
Super Frank 7
OK. But just OK.
Ballack 2
Coasted in and out of the match. That was until he decided he was ready to go home. Ludicrous stuff.
Drogba 6
Spurned a great opportunity during the first half. Not at his best.
Anelka 7
An improvement. Appeared he would fade into obscurity once again in the opening half, but reinvented himself in the second. Deserved a goal.
Kalou 6
Not much to report. Shocking.
Sturridge 4.5
Not good. Only real contribution was to gifted possession to City on numerous occasions.
Belletti 3
Dross. Inexplicable decision which led to the penalty and subsequent red card.
**NEW** Manager rating 5
His substitutions failed spectacularly. Hey, he tried though, right?