Stoke City v Manchester City: #CityStats

Playing before United was a perfect opportunity to heap the pressure back on them before they take on Fulham. However, Stoke are never an easy team to play at home. Chelsea, Liverpool, United and Spurs had all failed to walk away from the Britannia with a win.

Match Stats

The possession and passing roughly follow the season-long trend, with the possession increased considerably and you can partly see why with Stoke's passing average. At 66% it is way below par on any level, let alone Premiership standard.

Unlike recent games where City were creating an abundance of chances, 'only' 16 shots were taken compared to the average of nearly 19 through the season and. It is also below the 18 City generally create away from home. This is still higher than any other team in the league but due to City's lack of incision they are often being taken in front or in the middle of a packed defence. Something that needs to change, and has been mentioned numerous times over the season.

Something that I find a little frustrating from watching the game and is shown in these figures is that very few players were willing to run with the ball. Even Stoke, who aren't exactly known for their incisive runs notched up more than double that of City.

Several opportunities to break away on a counter attack were once again dismissed and instead City worked the ball slowly up the pitch while Stoke got back in numbers.

Defensive

As with previous games, you can see just how involved the full-backs are. Zabaleta (6) and Clichy (5) put in more tackles than anyone else on the pitch. Neither one of them can be pulled up about their defensive duties. Zabaleta also pulled off a fantastic goal line clearance in the first half.

What is encouraging is that almost every outfield player were willing to stick a foot into a tackle and that is a large contributing factor in how much possession City ended up with. The only outfield player who was on the pitch any length of time who didn't make any tackles is Kolo Toure.

Richards, again filling in at centre-back had another good game and made more clearances (15) and effective clearances (11) than anyone else on the pitch, also winning 3 aerial duels during game. Only Crouch (5) won more 50/50s than him.

As far as the conceded goal is concerned I don't think any player can too upset about it. Fans on the other hand will point to yet another foul on Barry in the build up to the goal. It was a speculative shot that came off good and proper and I doubt he could recreate that too many times in training let alone in the middle of a match. I certainly don't think he will be scoring another like that again in his career.

Tckl = tackles won, Int = interceptions, Clr = total clearances, Eclr = effective clearances, Foul = fouls committed, BS = blocked shots, AD = aerial duels

Offensive

When Balotelli was left out of the Italy squad for their friendly against the USA, it looked as though he was going to storm the rest of the season in an effort to be included in the Euros in the summer. That seems to have evaporated after a couple of games as he was subbed at half time against Chelsea and didn't have a particularly good game against Stoke either. Compared to his 8 shots against Swansea and Bolton, he has only managed 4 shots in his last 135 minutes of play. 

The majority of his close control during the 90 minutes against Stoke, apart from a little jink to the left to take it past 2 defenders, was pretty poor and can be seen by the number of turnovers (5).

The way Stoke were permitted to play didn't help though, and Balotelli seemed to get more than his fare share of knocks which can also be partially seen by the 4 times he was fouled, and was even pulled back by his face at one point. The number of fouls could have easily doubled had Howard Webb not had a stinker of a game for the most part.

Like the goal conceded, City's solitary goal came from a pretty tasty strike too. It did take a slight deflection that helped it but it was a great strike non the less. I'll admit though, with Yaya's shooting being rather wayward for most of the season the words "Oh ffs don't shoot from there" left my lips as he walloped it. I'll gladly be wrong on every occasion if it means the ball hits the back of the net like that.

Shot = total shots, SoT = shots on target, Drb = successful dribbles, Foul = times player was fouled, Dis = times player was dispossessed, Trn = turnovers committed, Tch = total touches of the ball

Passing

As you might expect when you face a team who defends narrowly and in numbers, through balls will have limited success. Out of the 8 attempted, only 2 were successful and neither resulted in a goal.

Nasri finally appears to be growing into the team as Silva appears to be succumbing to fatigue. Nasri has had a higher passing % all season but he is now creating more chances than he first was and created 4 during the game against Stoke with old Arsenal teammate next in line with 3.

Nasri also fired in more crosses (9) but only 1/3 of them were accurate. With James Milner

A notable feature is Hart's distribution. Hoofing the ball up field against a team as big as Stoke was never going to bring much measure of success and I don't think 43% is much measure of success.

Whilst on the subject of pass success rate, Dzeko once again comes bottom of the list for outfield players, although it is still better than 6 of Stoke's on the day. He is actually ranked 246th out of 284 players for his passing throughout the season. That's 102 places behind the next City player, Balotelli, and is comparable to forwards Grant Holt and Jay Bothroyd.

It's certainly something that many fans find frustrating about him despite the effort he undoubtedly puts in. It's a good job he's scored a few goals throughout the season. 

Ass. = assists, Pass = total completed passes, KP = key passes, P% = pass success rate, C = crosses attempted, AC = accurate crosses, LB = long balls attempted, ALB = accurate long balls, TB = through balls attempted, ATB = accurate through balls

As I mentioned earlier,  Chelsea, Liverpool, United and Spurs had all travelled to the Britannia and failed to pick up 3 points. There appears to be a general consensus, even from several neutrals, that Howard Webb was far too lenient towards Stoke and had a fairly poor game throughout, missing incidents on both sides.

Although it should be viewed as a point gained, it's still difficult to stomach when the team you saw tear apart sides with ease are now looking devoid of ideas. On the upside though, City still in the same position as they were before kick off; Win the remaining games and they win the Premier League.

Twitter: @MikeWalshMCFC or @mcfcDSLeftFoot
Facebook: David Silva's Left Foot

Manchester City v Chelsea: #CityStats

After falling behind United in the title race and seeing them go 4 points clear after Wolves capitulated with barely a whimper, let alone a growl, it was imperative that City continued their stunning home form. This was a game that didn't disappoint.

Match Stats

Chelsea came into this game after 4 straight wins in all competitions as Roberto Di Matteo and John Terry took over from Andre Villas Boas. Terry was absent from the touchline last night though but I don't think he could have helped the final outcome. 

City rather dominated the game as they have always done at home this season. With 61% possession and 21 shots on goal compared to Chelsea's 7 it has certainly renewed some fans depleted hopes of a first Premier League title for the club come the end of May.

What is still a little annoying though is how wasteful City have become in front of goal. Only 5 of the 21 shots were on target, 4 if you take away Balotelli's shot in the first half that was 'saved' by Petr Cech.

It didn't matter in this game, but it has in previous games and could do again in the next 9.

Defensive

It's fair to say that on the whole it was a good defensive display from City. Both full-backs provided great cover, making 7 tackles and 6 interceptions between them.

Micah and Kolo were also solid in the centre with Toure making a number of clearances with only Cahill (10) and Luiz (9) making more, which is to be expected given how busy the were.

The number of players who made interceptions is a good sign of how hard they all worked to keep Chelsea from getting much of a foothold in the game. It's only surprising that Barry isn't one of the players who made one, but as City pressed Chelsea more and more in the 2nd half he was able to get further forward limiting the opportunity to cut out long passes which he is usually quite effective in doing.

Tckl = tackles won, Int = interceptions, Clr = total clearances, Eclr = effective clearances, Foul = fouls committed, BS = blocked shots, AD = aerial duels

Offensive

At one point it looked as though Nasri was destined to have another game where he didn't find the back of the net despite hitting the woodwork. His overall contribution deserved a goal, and he eventually go it with a skillful chip over the falling Cech.

It was possibly Nasri's best game in a City shirt and one that will hopefully be the start of a more consistent run of form.

Although Aguero can be happy with his contribution, he did lose the ball more than usual. However, I don't think this is anything to worry about though despite being the worst on the pitch for it in this game. Torres came 2nd after losing possession 8 times for Chelsea.

What is a little worrying though is the continued dip in form of David Silva. I don't think he actually had a bad game, but his contribution in the final third has dropped dramatically recently.

He has played more games than any other outfield player for City, and looks as though he could do with being rested for a week. His ongoing problem with his ankle could be what is affecting his game with a little fatigue.

Shot = total shots, SoT = shots on target, Drb = successful dribbles, Foul = times player was fouled, Dis = times player was dispossessed, Trn = turnovers committed, Tch = total touches of the ball

Passing

City's passing was clicking once again, and although it was a little laboured at times you can't argue with an 88% success rate.

As usual, Yaya comes out on the top of the pile with attempted, completed and pass %. He is also joint top of the list for key passes (4), with Zabaleta (3) the next in line out of all the players on the pitch.

Tevez (4) is the other player alongside Yaya with the number of key passes as he made his first appearance for the first team in over 6 months. He was by no means 100% match fit and still looks to be carrying quite a bit of weight compared to his peak form last season. But he did put in a good team performance and provided the assist for Nasri's goal with a perfectly times reverse pass, which incidentally was City's only successful through ball of the game.

Dzeko is the only player in the team to drop below 80% pass success, and only Petr Cech had a worse record during the 90 minutes. He continues to work hard though but appears to be the player who least fits into the system City utilise and rumours continue to circle about his future at the club.

After having a very impressive couple of months, Mario Balotelli seems to have taken a step backwards again despite the increasing faith shown in him of late. Mancini was not impressed with his contribution against Chelsea and was subbed at half time.

Ass. = assists, Pass = total completed passes, KP = key passes, P% = pass success rate, C = crosses attempted, AC = accurate crosses, LB = long balls attempted, ALB = accurate long balls, TB = through balls attempted, ATB = accurate through balls

The title is still within reach, and such a performance should serve as motivation for the players and fans. It should also remind United and several pundits who felt a capitulation was inevitable that City are not going to go away quite so easy.

It was the first time City had gone behind at the Etihadand seen again last night.

Twitter: @MikeWalshMCFC or @mcfcDSLeftFoot
Facebook: David Silva's Left Foot

Swansea City v Manchester City: #CityStats

Certainly not the result that City wanted, the stats from several players are certainly not what we're used to either. Overall, it was a very disappointing performance which makes City's challenge for the title that little bit harder. So here they are;

Match Stats

Swansea set out their stall exactly how everyone thought they would do, and exactly how they have been doing the entire season. Lots of possession, mainly in their own half, frustrating other teams and denying them opportunity to create chances.

Well, that worked for the most part, except City actually had 22 shots on goal which is higher than usual. But as with the last #CityStats edition, City were very wasteful with only 27% of their shots even on target. Vorm made a couple of good saves but he was not tested enough at all.

City lost possession numerous times in the first half when they tried to loft the ball forward and almost every time Swansea came out with the ball, winning 67% of the total areal duels during the match.

When Swansea came to the Etihad Stadium they made more overall passes than City, and it was no different at the Liberty Stadium, with City making over 100 fewer passes.

Defensive

Richards is the standout performer when it comes to tackling, making more tackles than anyone else on the pitch, which in itself is a little odd as Swansea did most of their attacking down the right hand side.

When you look at the interceptions though, Clichy did a pretty good job of stifling their play with 3 tackles, 5 interceptions and 3 clearances.  It only makes it a shame that he was way out of position when Savic gave the ball away on the half way line which directly lead to Swansea's goal.

Although Savic will no doubt get the brunt of criticism for the goal, he had actually done a fairly good job of keeping Swansea at bay with 6 of his 7 clearances being effective (more than anyone else on the pitch) and also blocking a shot.

There is one thing that might not initially stand out, but take a look at the fouls... 11 of the 14 players committed fouls. Now I'm not going to go into officials, but I'm not entirely convinced all of those were actual fouls.

Tckl = tackles won, Int = interceptions, Clr = total clearances, Eclr = effective clearances, Foul = fouls committed, BS = blocked shots, AD = aerial duels

Offensive

Balotelli makes up for nearly a 3rd of City's shots and sums up the team's lack of clinical ability in front of goal at the moment. Only a quarter of his shots were on target.

He also gave the ball away more than anyone else in the squad, party due to the type of pass that was coming his way in the 1st half and Swansea's determination to retrieve the ball.

The 2nd half saw City grow into a game they should have taken hold of much earlier and Yaya Toure acted as the starting point for attack which shows in his 109 touches of the ball. Most of this was inside Swansea's half of the pitch as City pressed for a goal.

As with the fouls committed, most of City's players had a shot on goal, only Barry and Hart didn't have a shot. This gives you an idea of how much pressure the Swansea defence was under in general from open play and set pieces. Sadly, as mentioned before, very few of these were on target.

Shot = total shots, SoT = shots on target, Drb = successful dribbles, Foul = times player was fouled, Dis = times player was dispossessed, Trn = turnovers committed, Tch = total touches of the ball

Passing

This is the area of the game that is really disappointing as it is usually City's strength. The statistics don't show it, but the passing in general was far too slow with opportunities to counter attack missed.

There is a higher number of attempted long balls than usual with several of the key players misplacing many if not all of them. Yaya, Silva and Clichy, who are all good passers of the ball were also all major culprits wayward passing at distance.

Silva had a mare all round really. At half time he had only completed 59% of his passes. Poor by anyone's standards, let alone someone as talented as him. By the end of the game it had risen to 73% but it is well short of what we have come to expect from him.

It has been picked up on before, and it is one thing that had improved a little this season compared to last, but Joe Hart's distribution was as poor as I've seen in a long time. Each and every time he hoofed the ball out it was picked up by Swansea, several times without a City player even near it.

Ass. = assists, Pass = total completed passes, KP = key passes, P% = pass success rate, C = crosses attempted, AC = accurate crosses, LB = long balls attempted, ALB = accurate long balls, TB = through balls attempted, ATB = accurate through balls

Mancini is left ruing City's lack of precision in front of goal once more, a recurring theme in recent weeks, something that Mancini and the players need to address quickly if they aren't to fall further behind United now they have gone top of the league.


Twitter: @MikeWalshMCFC or @mcfcDSLeftFoot
Facebook: David Silva's Left Foot

Manchester City v Bolton Wanderers: #CityStats

This is the return of a once popular feature of the blog (or at least I like to think so). City Stats has had a bit of a face lift and is a little more in depth this time round. This time focusing on City's record-matching 19th straight home league win, which came against Bolton Wanderers.

Match Stats

The Match Stats really do tell their own story here as City were rarely put under any real pressure from Bolton. City's possession and passing have followed a similar trend throughout the season, although these are all improved on the season's average (58% possession, 86% pass success).

The most impressive figure of all may well be the number of shots City had at Bolton's net, creating  5 more chances than their average of 19.

However only 8 of these shots were on target which is only marginally better than the 7 averaged usually, but statistically worse when looking at percentages (33% v Bolton - 37% for the season).

Maybe Balo's attention was divided between scoring the game and scoring in an altogether different way at the strip club, if rumours are to be believed.

Defensive

Although it was Bolton doing the majority of the defending, there are some fairly impressive defensive stats when you look at City's players.

Gareth Barry managed to stick his foot into 6 tackles, more than anyone else on the pitch. Sam Ricketts of Bolton is 2nd with 5 tackles to his name. Maybe a couple more would have earned his side a point, but he may have been too busy thinking about who will win the title.

Vincent Kompany leads the way for interceptions, and not for the first time this season, with 8. This figure is once again the best on the pitch and double the total achieved by Bolton's Zat Knight (4), who had the most for his side.

Tckl = tackles won, Int = interceptions, Clr = total clearances, Eclr = effective clearances, Foul = fouls committed, BS = blocked shots, AD = aerial duels

Attacking

As you would expect after a game like this, City's attacking stats look pretty good (unless you're looking at shots on target).

Mario Balotelli actually had as many shots on goal as the entire Bolton squad with 8 shots, but with only half of them on target, Papa Mancini will be wanting a little improvement from the young Italian. Balo is the only City player to score though as Clichy's attempt is likely to be given as an own goal once the dubious goals panel takes a look at it.

Something else which has been a less than impressive trend this season is Yaya Toure's shooting. Only 1 of his 5 shots was on target today and his lack of clinical finishing is why he is looking at falling short of his 6 league goals that he achieved last season, with 3 so far. But there's still time to amend that. 

David Pizzaro's first start for City since his switch from Italy in January really did highlight his strengths. Due to his lack of match fitness I don't believe we have seen the best from him, but as far as his anticipation and vision he was as sharp as ever. The 3 fouls he drew were results of players attempting to tackle a ball that had already been moved on.

Shot = total shots, SoT = shots on target, Drb = successful dribbles, Foul = times player was fouled, Dis = times player was dispossessed, Trn = turnovers committed, Tch = total touches of the ball

Passing

With the higher than average possession comes higher than average passing statistics. Yaya Toure making the most passes in the squad as usual with 98 passes at a success rate of 91%.

In terms of total passes made, Gareth Barry is next in line with 83 in total with an 89% success rate.

Toure and Gaz Baz together made more passes than the top 5 passers for Bolton.

Yaya also leads the way with key passes with 4 in total, Adam Johnson a close 2nd with 3.

As we are seeing more and more, several players in the squad are hitting percentages of over 90% success for their passing. No fewer than 9 players achieved this, although only 7 of them were on the pitch for an extended period of time.

The only thing that is particularly disappointing is that there were no accurate crosses out of the 13 attempted.

Ass. = assists, Pass = total completed passes, KP = key passes, P% = pass success rate, C = crosses attempted, AC = accurate crosses, LB = long balls attempted, ALB = accurate long balls, TB = through balls attempted, ATB = accurate through balls

When he looks back at that game, Mancini should be quite satisfied. The team was missing Micah Richards, David Silva, and Sergio Aguero, 3 major players in the squad and City dominated very comfortably without being particularly spectacular for most parts, but did have a couple bouts of showboating in and around Bolton's 18 yard box.

On another day, with Nasri and Balotelli wearing their shooting boots, it really could have been 10.

If you have anything to add, or would like to have your say, feel free to leave a comment underneath.


Twitter: @MikeWalshMCFC or @mcfcDSLeftFoot
Facebook: David Silva's Left Foot