That was the worst performance I've seen by Elano. Wa sit just me or does he only pass to Robinho?!

Dunne and Onouha were our best players today. Shame we never looked like scoring!

woeful, woeful display :-(

marks are about right,thought Dunnie looked his old self

Where were our midfield players??

Lot of those ratings look a tad high. Perhaps individually, but once again the team performance was woeful. Movement off the ball once again non-existent and the number of misplaced passes was too many to keep track of.

I dont think Elano was the worst on the pitch, SWP had his worst game in this 2nd stint at City, and given we had absolutely no midfield 1st half and Elano was seeing more of the ball in the 2nd not sure why he made way so early.

Off on a slight tangent, it still infuriates me at this level when players warm up before the game on the pitch and as still cannot get the decision right on moulds or screw-in cleats, with several players having to change them after slipping around. Another handicap you dont need when you're already chasing a game.

I just knew we were gonna be in for a rough ride when you seen who was reffing! Yup Red Riley!

As for the game, I have to give Dunne an 8..maybe 9 for performance today..

Guys ... Im not being funny when I slate MH off...but again I have to question the taking Elano off to replace with Etuhu! What was that all about!

Again a poor decision!

I thought Boj looks a bit too top heavy ..a diet needed badly there!maybe Poj!!

Hughes has just said dissapointed with the tempo and performance. About time he was honest!

Bring on summer and some great buys to the squad!

CTWD!!

NUFF SAID!

Well that was the same away City as I have watched most of this season, we don't pressure the other team and we don't attack - the ball constantly gets passed back. Shay Given, Onouha, Dunne and Bridge all played well but I dont understand this 4-1-4-1 formation being played we need a magician like Thierry Henry if we expect to get anything from a lone striker. Also Chelsea seemed to find it very easy to pass into the huge gaps this formation gives well I suppose its better than 6-0 like it was last season and slowly we do seem to be building from the back. For me it seems to be Stevie Ireland and SWP that don't play anywhere near the way they do at home not sure what to say about it really and Kompany and Da Jong were not there today. I thought Etuhu was a good substitution to make and Boj still 1-0 is not too bad and it does help Chelsea get closer to the Rags.
Mike Riley is a horrid little man that cannot do his job properly.

JUST watched a totally clueless manchester city side get away with a 1-0 defeat.And by the way we played and the reactions from the players and manager at the end they actually looked like they were pleased with a 1-0 defeat.Let me tell you that we have in no way shape or form improved as a football team.It was like men against boys out there and it could have been 6-0 easy.We cant pass,we dont mark we dont have any formation or tactics.I am also sick to death of seeing micah richards run down a wing to see him trot back into position,he has no urgency to defend for the shirt of manchester city,once again we had no width to our play,and no ideas.
why the hell can this manager not see that we should put someone on the left ie garrido,what is the point in the likes of garrido and berti(the invisible man) being on the bench? he wont ever use them.
EUROPE is yet again a smokescreen for a very very poor year.i have been watching city for 40 years and that performance was no better gainst the top teams than we have been putting together all those years.
IT WAS CRAP!!

I've seen worse !

Can anyone explain why it took 80 mins. to replace Rob. Boj. did more in 2 minutes than rob in 80. Sixes for our mid is a bit generous. We were given a lesson in movement & fight by a far superior mid. Not trying to dish our lads, we're just not in the same class. Onuoha again had a top game, for me our best on the day. Zab made one mistake & got punished.
tomorrow we will be 7pts behind the hammers. So come on CITY win the UEFA cup.

Disapointed we realy struggled with out Kompany and De Jong leaving only one defensive Midfielder it could of been worse but these are not the sort of games we are ment be winning its like beating teams like Sunderland,Hull,West Brom,Wigan,Bolton teams like that

Yet another defeat to add to our apalling away form and after every away game I wait for an apology from the manager and to hear that he has been sacked,I doubt that either off these will happen,which beggars the question,have the owners got the clubs interests at heart.This manager is a disgrace,he has put at risk our premiership status by making the UEFA Cup games his priority,when only half of the clubs supporters are interested in this second rate competition,the reason is that his results in the premiership have been a disgrace and he thinks the only way he can save his job is by UEFA Cup success.He should never have been given the job,his background made him totally unsuitable,and his record is shocking,get him out before he does any more damage to our club.

The back 4 and Given were excellent and saved us getting hammered 6-0.

Zabaleta worked his socks off, but sadly his only lapse led to Essien's goal.

Shaun and Stevie worked hard. But Elano made too many mistakes and slap happy passes that easily got intercepted. Can't understand why he was suprised to be subbed he's far too casual. But good for penalties.
Robinho is too slight to be effective against hefty defenders. He should be like a whippet running rings round them - why isn't he ??? - Certainly not worth £32 million anymore.

As usual our careless wayward passing let us down. Either the ball was too easily intercepted or not passed to the feet. There's not much MH can do about that. Eventually our defence resorted to hoofing the ball up field with their fingers crossed. Not good enough City ! We have to get that sorted out before we can progress.

For all the midweek talk, SWP was utterly dire YET AGAIN! Time we got some strength in this team ans started competing.

A decent result given it was 6-0 last season and given how abysmal we were yet again - how nay shots on target? None?

A truly inept management yet again doing nothing to even inspire the team to fight and entertain......

No De Jong or Kompany or Bellamy so we will hopefully play better when they are back!

Bugsy Blue,
15/03/2009 at 15:38

have noticed did you see that on thur he was passing to anyone and had the best game he has had since middlesbrough at home last year.

i think he needs to go and we need 6 more new players (thats without the replacing the dead wood).

CTID

i wonder if trying something radical like 2 upfront and a midfield 4 might work ?? maybe 4-4-2 ?? as 4-3-3 hasn't worked in the previous 14 games!!!!!!!!

Agree mostly with these ratings. Thought the players looked really tired today and we missed the spirit and drive of Bellamy who would have led by example. With the european game coming up it was important to stay injury free and hopefully that was the case. I thought Boji might have come on earlier to get more match minutes under his belt but Hughes opted for Evans maybe because of his lively showing on Thursday, but i know who i would have put on first. If the Hammers beat WBA tomorrow we will be 7 points adrift in the chase for probably the last european spot and we will do well to close that gap before the end of the season.

BTW the substitions were laughable - Kelvin Ehutu did well for Rochdale a few seasons ago but that seems about his level....... Ched Evans - no better than League One to be fair. Then Bojinov who runs like a rhino, slow and heavy.... hasn't played in years and will take `10 games to get the PL pace at least.

How on earth either of these can change a game against one of the top sides in the world is laughable!

Tottenham just gone 1-0 up vs Villa! Looks like they will finish above us too - as well as Fulham and West Ham and Bolton - truly horrific season! Thanks Mr Hughes.....

Not a great display, missing Kompany and De jong didnt help matters as they would have made us more solid in the middle of the park. On a positive note I thought Ned was superb and Dunney. For me Ned has been a revolation since he came into the side he has pace to die for and will improve even more. Lets hope his injury problems are cured as I think we have one hell of a centre half in the making. Lets not get so negative after this performance when all said and done we had a good result against Villa and another against Aalborg.

Crap game I was really was bored watching us give the ball away too many times well basically everytime we got the ball, Robinho looks like his heart is not in wearing the City shirt and with the season nearing its close it looks like we wont be making a Europa League spot next year which again makes it harder to bring in the best players, I do think MH looks like he knows his time at City is coming to an end I just hope with Mourinho looking like his time with Inter is nearing that we splash the cash and get him in and top players will follow as its not worth buying KAka for £91 million and not having a manager who can handle these big stars and get the best out of them, fingers crossed for the summer.

Will someone get rid of that bias idiot commentator Burley. I would love to see Robbo get out of first gear and put is heart in to it.

can we all stop the moaning - we are a team that is in transition. Mark Higes's signings are all good - without out bellamy, vincent & De jong it was always going to be hard - but petrov & johnson are also close to returning to our bench will get stronger as will competition for places
keep the faith CTID Powelly Northwich

I really hate getting on players backs but Caicedo was awful today. If we had had bellamy playing or a top quality CF we would have scored today because there was a goal there for us. Caicedo had two golden chances and missed them - 1 of which he should have played back to SI who would have hammered it into an almost empty net. You don't get many chances against Chelsea so we really needed to put them away. As for the marks they're more or less spot on. I would have given Ireland a 7 as I thought our best players were him Dunnie and Onuoha. Again. Elano was poor he rarely tackles and when he does he gets a yellow. We definitely missed Bellamy Kompany and de Jong. Once again SWP and zab worked their socks off and Boj looked lively when he came on. I cannot wait until he is fit enough to lead our line alongside bellamy. We played a chelsea team that has won every game under Hiddink. They have quality all over the pitch. Michael Essien who IMO is one of the best midfielders in the world. Lampard who had an off day to be fair. JT and Carvalho in defence. Drogba up front. Maybe in a few years down the line when we could be like that we'll tear teams up like Chelsea did today. Like liverpool did yesterday.

I heard Andy Townsend saying if Robinho doesn't get his act together he's more pf a problem that a plus for the team. I think that's been the case all season and the evidence bears it out, there will be some who respond that he's a world class player and we're not getting the best out of him. I'd reply to that by saying rubbish!
He failed to impress at Real apart from step overs and the odd bit of trickery but that doesn't make a great player or win games. We play a formation to suit his narrow inside left channel role that he supposedly prefers, the same role SWP looked much better at when he was just filling in.
Robinho is a myth, a distraction, a waste of £32m and a player not worth his place in the side! We'd benefit from dropping him and playing two up front. No ego is too big to bruise for the richest club in the land!

edski vega - just do one eh if youve got nothing constructive to say. what attacking alternatives do we have ....do tell us all who you wouldve brought on from the bench. our first 11 picked itself today cos we have an injury crisis and down to bare bones. bojinov did ok when he came on so dont slag players for the sale of it.