thought we played well considering we the state of the pitch,the size of the pitch n the heat.jo startin to settle now apart from his shockin miss in the 1st half was unlucky not to score more n hope fully his 2 goals will give him the confidence he seemed to be lacking a bit.game at eastlands man city 4 omonia 0.

thought elano played very well tonight....dunney does look a fish out of water at times.

get real MEN marks should have been:
5 HART: looked uncomfortable all night,one great brave save on edge of area.

6 ZABALETA: slightley better than sat,some good link up play.

4 DUNNE: never ever slated this man before, but he was abysmal tonight, could not tackle.

5 RICHARDS: turned every time,if playing a class team would have looked like a little boy

5 GARRIDO: outpaced all day long

7 ROBINHO: lots of tricks and effort but he was up against one of the better defenders

6 IRELAND: lots of lovely neat passes and movement and could not score in a brothel

7 KOMPANY: solo shield hard work but he never looks anything less than elegant

6 ELANO: tried too hard to make something happen rarely passed to a blue shirt all night

8 WRIGHT-PHILLIPS: had the beating of the left back and created hatful of chances superb thank god for this little man

7 JO: nightmare first half when he missed a sitter turned full circle after the break

Zaba deserved more than a 6, he got forward well and put in some good aggressive challenges 100% better than last game probably because of jet-lag.Agree about SWP getting highest marks.Jo could have easily had four goals(conservative estimate) and deserved an 8 and won everything in the air.What about Robinhos movement and did you see that outrageous reverse overhead pass to Jo? (I think thats how you can describe it!)HA!!

only managed to catch the 2nd half but a bit concerned about dunney and richards, teams are getting in behind too often. robinho looks promising though and i'm surprised by how hard he works.

why has elano got a six just becuase he didn't do the things he was doing last season. he was given a job to keep the football together in the middleand pick out some passes which he did. i would of give him at least a 7 very harsh m.e.n

Garrido proved again he doesn't belong in this squad, and while some of you don't rate Ball, he's light-years better defensively. Garrido was a 4 at best. No excuses for Dunne & Richards being shaky tonight, but covering for Garrido takes a lot of work. It would be nice to see this Berti fellow in the cup next week to see if he can at least provide cover for Ball.

Can't believe Dunne has been given a 6 again. He's useless and struggles to impress against very mediocore opposition like these. We will go out of this comp if he continues to play because against class teams he will be found wanting.

I agree with Bodman regarding Elano, the MEN seem to have marked him for this game as an attacking midfielder, which i agree by the rule of thumb he is, but tonight with SWP, Robinho, Ireland and Jo in the side was asked to play more of a box-to-box midfielder, break their attacks up and start ours along with Big Vinny, which he did very well, he never gave up, got stuck in and passed the ball to a blue nearly everytime. So he while not the best on the field (SWP takes this accolade once again well done sweep) he should have at least a 7. Watched it on tele tonight (well done those who made it over to cyprus) and Dunne and Richards at times only seemed to realise that the Omonia players could play a bit once they had turned them or got passed them. They need to sharpen up and play as if they are playing the rags every week.

Anyway, well done blues for getting the Job done, bring in Pompey!!!

good result, and vital pitch time for the new signings and i hope that jo has got all his misses out of his system for this season i just hope he gets that many chances on sunday

Hart 6, Zabaleta 7, Garrido 5, Dunne 6, Richards 5, Elano 7, Kompany 6 SWP 9 , Robinho 8, Ireland 8, Jo 6

Dunne 6? Ireland 7?? was i watching the same game? they were shockin...AGAIN.

Ireland doesn't know the meaning of the word "position" & why does he find it impossible to do the simple thing rather than try the extravagant? Brazilian this kid ain't, so why does he keep thinking he is?!

ste, cheshire
anyone who can give elano a better score than Kompany on tomights performance should obviously be watching bowls, or hockey!!
Elano was non-exsistent.

well played city. a bit of everything in this game! we created bag fulls for once but looked shakey at the back too!

the forwards created chance after chance and on another day, they will really embaress some teams in the PL.

Jo seems to have been marked on his terrible miss rather than his all round good performance along with his good poaching for the 1st and cracking finish for the second.

that doesnt just show quality, it shows character.

i like the look of him. he holds the ball up brilliantly and is good in the air. there will be a lot of defences not knowing what to do about him. hes very hard to handle.

Robinho always shows class but didnt get in his best positions enough but played well. As I could have said months ago though...he is world class and will show everyone just how good he is.

Kompany is quality

I've been wondering who MH might buy as replacement for Hamman but tonight think I've seen him. ELANO.....He could do the job perfectly with a bit of tackiling practise. Discuss?

CTID

Elano had a couple of great long passes and several lovely through balls, weighted as only he can. He's had a very nice game going forward and showed real intent in the box, as when his shot was blocked. Was playing further back today, deserved at least a 7 imo.

Sorry Dunney but you had biggest shocker i`ve seen you have in donkeys years! You`ve been sitting on that PlayerOfTheYear sofa for too long in an average side mate, although well deserved compared to the other 10 who have played with you in that period. Fraid the bar`s been raised Dunny - rise with it please `cos I want to see you leave City with your head held high - you deserve it for your loyal service!

it was a god game and we played some good stuff.

I think Kompany got pull out of position too much as he was doing work of 2 but what he did he did well.

attacking wise we did well. I thought Irlands none stop chasing was top draw but his final pass/finish was way off. it seem with irland that the more time he has the worse his pass is he should just play instinctly.

i also though Dunne and micah had poor games and did not have the excuse that they were playing a top side like on sunday.

saying all that on the whole a good team performance and a good away victory

bring on Pompy

The result was the ultimate objective, therefore the mission to Cyprus was a success. Jo looks better every time I see him, although I don't think he relishes playing on his own. I'm sure that a pairing of Jo & Robinho or Jo & Boj when he returns would cause the opposition far more problems.

IMHO, Elano was way off with his passing, however he covered the pitch and certainly got his share of tackling in, playing the Johno role fairly well.

Robinho showed flashes of his undoubted ability but the most inventive player on the night was Stevie Ireland who has the technical ability and the football brain to communicate with the Brazilians.

SWeeP was as industrious as usual and never gave up runing all night.

Zabaleta had a good solid game and although not the quickest he won't let many get past him. Kompany is a rock and tonight we needed him as the back 4 were not at their best. I hope we see Berti given a game to see just what he can offer to the defence, hopefully at LCB.

I like Garrido as a left midfielder but he's not solid enough as a left back. Neither he nor Ball is top class, although Ball would be preferable purely as a LB. Hopefully Taiwo, or someone else as good, will be high on the list for January.

All in all not too bad a result on a tricky pitch against a team that were far from bad. Let's hope that the return leg will be more straightforward.

Largely agree with ste's ratings: Micah Richards again the weak link in our defence: a long way off his standards of this time last year.
Garrido was poor in the first half, but improved greatly after the break and if Hughes can get him to work on his concentration he could be the future at left back.

I also think Elano-Kompany could be a quality DM combination, although Elano hit more than his share of stray balls tonight but I think it may be a combination of rustiness and loss of confidence due to being marginalised.

Hard to separate Ireland, SWP, Jo and Robinho: all 8s (at least).
Wonderful to see the way they link up together, and they can only get better.

Hard to see Petrov getting his place back!

Cannot understand the criticism of Ireland and praise for Elano. All Elano did was one nice turn in the first half other than that, he constantly gave both the ball and free kicks away. Ireland was energetic, creative and linked up superbly with SWP, Robinho and Jo. I don't think Elano has a future at City under Hughes as I cannot see where he is going to play especially when Petrov regains fitness.

Thought Zabaletta looked the part tonight but Dunne and Richards struggled again. Surprised Ben Haim did not feature.

Good win though and will give us the chance to field some of the 2nd string in the 2nd leg.

If you cant see the vast improvement in Irelands game and physical presence this season I can only assume that A.You dont know much about the game. B.You have an axe to grind with the guy as you are affronted by Pink trim on Black Range Rovers. C.You are Ray Charles. D.You are Stevie Wonder or E. A friend of his Nanna (either one). The lad gets better with every game and its obvious to anybody that has watched him over the last 3 seasons how hard the kid has worked to improve his game. With a bit of encouragement, confidence will grow, and he will become one of our better, classier playmakers hopefully for years to come. Think Liam Brady before he mastered the 50 yard drop on a tanner passes. If we get rid it WILL absolutley bite us in the arse down the road He's 22, he's talented, he's Acadamy and he deserves our support, give him a break FFS. This is Stevie Irelands breakout season, If not feel free to hurl abuse my way at the seasons end.

I thought Jo put in one of the best shifts for a City forward in many a long year. He held the ball up, was a presence, created chances for others, linked with the rest of the team superbly. He reminded me of a performance I recently saw of Jan Koller (no please dont laugh) The whole game ran through him, but in addition to Koller hes got the pace and scoring nouse to top it off. Well impressed.

Even when he hit the posts he did everything right, sure it was a horror miss 1st half, but he didnt hide and let it destroy him, he came out and was brilliant. Thoroughly deserved his goals. Well impressed.

Generally we created a ton but were dodgy on the break, but I think that was down to the very attacking formation Hughes chose more than anything more sinister. I cant see us playing that way very often, so I guess it does beg the question, "hereto with Elano?" One would have to assume that Petrov would come in at his expense. Ireland too will probably have to make way for the slightly more defensively minded (unless in a scrap with a bouncer) Johnson or Hamann more often than not.

Very encouraged by the game, not so encouraged by the hammered Scotsman trying to kick off with me in the bar, as he wanted to watch the Ryder Cup Highlights from 2006 instead of letting the barman turn on to Sky One. My god he was boozed up, it was 5:30 for gods sake!!

we got there in the end! what has gone wrong defensivly? they frigtened me to death,same against chelski.dunny keeps giving ball away,think i would like to see ben haim along side richards.as for the positives, it is slowly starting to gel,stevie ireland was exellent, a real plus and man of match.ctid.

really excellent football at times last night. stringing 30 or 40 passes together of real quality. Just before all the usal knockers start and at least 3 have already written in - Ireland set-up, ran, passed and won back more ball than other City player last night. Check the official stats.

Can the knockers also watch who gave away the free kick for the goal (Kompany) and who was standing in goal and should have had that side covered as the wall did the rest of the job (Hart) before getting on the back of Dunne. Also watch goals 2 and 3 from last Saturday again and see where our defensive midfielder was? I think Kompany will be a star but posters should make informed comments rather than acting like a bunch of village idiots chasing vamipres out of town

Where are the true supporters?