As mentioned in my last post I still haven't sat in my new seat as this time I am away in Turkey and unable to figure out the new ticket exchange from my sun lounger the seat unfortunately lay empty!
However my step brother in law, if there is such a thing!, managed to stream me a sky feed of the game which thankfully rarely buffered! So from my Turkish leather couch I watched with utter delight in the first half as to how we played football! Now that is entertainment! That's what I pay 700 quid a year for! Good on you Pep and it is equally as good to see the exciting mix of intelligence and passion from the man himself on the side line. This is what I have been banging on about for seasons never underestimate the bosses ability to infect the team with his personality and energy. With Mr 'fizzy water' being anything but a soda stream, rather leaving us flat and tasteless even though he was given most of the right ingredients for something tasty. I used to look at him on the sidelines and his demeanour and tactics made me want to cry with frustration at times!!! The power of one 'flat' 'fizzy water' to flatten 11 on the pitch and 50,000 in the stands was uncanny! Where as 'Pep' he has done exactly what his name says! that he's pepped me up and everyone else and not just in the 90 minutes on the pitch once or twice a week, rather: on my way to work, sat on this sun lounger, even whilst playing football myself! Good on you Spaniard and long may it continue!
Indeed his power is such that although the don't sell Joe Hart song is still sung it is followed by chorus after chorus of Pep's instant hit!!! I think it has already been sung more time's than Pellegrini's ever was and I am being quite literal with that statement! Creating a really fascinating dynamic at the club, one I like and highlighting no one is bigger than the manager!
Whilst on the topic of things bigger than the club one thing I have as yet not touched on is Yaya, as it just hasn't been as important as it once was I think, for years bigger than the team, the club, his boots, and a frustration for all as he was our best weapon with his delightful touch, vision and shooting but just wouldn't work for the team. As I have stated in previous posts Pellegrini bottled it last year when King Kev should have always started in front of him and silva should never have been moved to accommodate him. Pep is in and he has done exactly that for he is no idiot limiting him to an appearance against that pub side last Wednesday when he did ok as a squad player. Firmly sending the message to all players of I'm the boss and if you want it you have to fight for it no matter who you are or were, and so it should be like that! This new mentality really excites me, and it is overshadowing things like Hart and Yaya which would have been huge catalysts for rifts in the past.
On the topic of forgotten men for me it was great to see Nasri come on and really contribute for I am firmly in camp Nasri. Yes he can be a petulant French prick at times!!! But can't they all!!! However a few seasons ago he was brilliant making us forget silva was injured, then he was injured and was seemingly eating a few too many croissants!! (Have you seen what goes into them!) but last season he came back and made you gutted he wasn't in the champions league squad! Keep him Pep he's worth it and alternating between him Nolito and Sterling through the season would be great, Navas a distant 4th for me at the moment.
Anyway the game! Sterling finishes really well after great build up (is he the same player from last year! Who had no composure in front of goal!). Next DeBruyne sends in a wonder cross, as always, and Fernandinhio I just love your dependability. What follows is tonnes of chances after great link up play and we paid the price a bit in the 2nd half for not finishing one of them! However some decisions didn't go our way for there left back should have seen red as Sterling took the piss out of him once more and Aguero was on side when he broke free. Yes the 2nd half wasn't as good and yes Slavan figured out how to make his team play some football again, but we now don't seem to panic or collapse and finally to see Sterling's new found composure was just delightful as a city fan and we could have had 2 or 3 more at the end thanks to the new found impetus Nasri brought with his introduction.
So job done, 3-1, we are growing as a football side, with a lot of positives in a transition period, and we are top of the league! Now I have been known to eat my words before, read back and see what I first thought of Pellegrini!, but this time I don't think it's too early to say I/we love you Pep!
Finally I am going to do a media witch hunt update each post now! This week my observations are:
1. Why as an ex-player is Quinn's commentary so negative towards us it's like he wanted us to collapse! Only 3 weeks in and sick of you already Niall!
2. Bitter Souness can get chucked in that boat for me as well after seeing them both before and after the Stoke game! We haven't got players anything like Barcelona players to play that kind of football? DeBruyne for me is absolutely outstanding and makes top 5 players in the world for me, who wouldn't want him? Silva still makes Top 10 with Aguero there-or-there-abouts with a lot of solid team players to back these superstars up who rank highly in the debates over their specific positions. Sick of you too Graham! If Liverpool had our team and manager bullshit would you be saying that, you would be all over the glory years being almost back!
Colin Bell Stand, Third tier.
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