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
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
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