At this stage it is getting the players fit,and their individual performance.
The results that matter to me is when CITY play the competitive games in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
Then the only pre-season game at home the game versus Porto, this is when Stuart Pearce should be saying "this is your Manchester CITY team".
Come on you BLUES!

We are conceding too many goals. On the plus side, our squad size seems to have increased. We subbed nearly the whole team even without Dunne, Onuha, Thatcher, Dabo, Reyna, Vassell and Cole. We genuinely seem to have a 1st team squad of 20 players. We will need some strength in depth once injuries happen.

matthew mills looked a million miles away from being the central defender we will need to replace distin when he goes. SP needs to be looking at a quality central defender to play alongside dunne. and as we keep conceding goals maybe a striker like lualua will have to wait !

did anyone go? what formations did we play, any hint of what the starting line-up might be?

We are currently being quoted as 500-1 for the Premiership title I wonder why!

Where is Cole, Onuoha and Sun Jihai???????

I was at that match and the first half performance was a disgrace we were totally played of the park, second half was how it should be as we totally dominated the half and dale had no chances on goal. Sibierski continues to get unfair criticism when he played better than samaras who looks useless and a complete waste of six mill. lee croft looked out of his depth against a league two side never mind premiership, he like bwp isnt premiership quality. we need a defender to replace distin who seems to think he will get european football at pompy, also a creative midfielder and a left winger.

i know were playing rubbish ,but thats impressive by samarias 3 goals

ok, so we conceeded 5 goals but a lot of good things have come out of this!
Miller looks able to perform on the left and he's been creative! Samaras looks to have found his scoring boots! we've not looked dodgey on penalties! we've got some good players in. we havn't lost - The main thing is fitness at the moment - the fizzy pop teams all start their pre-season much earlier - I would say how we fair in the next game bears more importance rather than the first two!
Come on Citeh!

Sun Jihai has a slight injury and won't be risked before the China tour. Cole and Nedum should play at Port Vale. Played 442 at Rochdale but 433 at Wrexham - seems we might have options this year.
All goals conceded so far have been due to defensive mistakes - Micah and Matt Mills looked half asleep on Saturday.
Best to get them out of the system before the season starts!

I was there also..very poor first 20 minutes, and the amount of changes ode make it difficult to see what is going on....Against Chelsea we will not be allowed to be as bad..Staing line up for me at Stamford Bridge

James
Onuoha
Dunne
Richards
Jordan
Barton
Hammann
Dabo
Vassell
Corradi
Samaras

Discuss........

Was there Saturday as well. Errrm Sibs getting unfair critisism ?! Wheres he been for the last three years. Hes slow and he cant score goals. Whilst Samaras didnt exactly shine on Saturday he still scored and had more about him then Sib.
Was very suprised Sib was even playing as given the fact we`ve got Samaras,Cole,Vassell,Dickov,Sturidge and now the Italian, Sibs shouldnt get anywhere near the first team!.
Which makes it even more suprising he got a contract extension last year.

Does anyone know what's happened to Trevor Sinclair? Injured I assume, but for how long? Ta.

Alex, Rochdale did you actually go the game?
Sibierski played better than Samaras! Did you not see the easy header Sibs missed.
as for Croft, yes he was poor 1st half but everybody was and the lad played out of position. In the 2nd half when he played on the right he was better.
Overall we were poor but it's only pre season.

I was hoping to get on here earlier and beat the post-Wrexham moaners, but there doesn't seem to be that many, which is good. Citymatt, Shaun Goater's yacht: Yeah I went on Saturday and for what it's worth, here's my account. 4-4-2, starting line-up: Weaver. Jordan, Distin, M.Mills, Richards. Croft, Hamann, Ireland, Barton. Samaras & Sibierski. Yes...we were awful in the first half. No communication whatsoever at the back, no creative spark (apart from Ireland) and the passing was woeful (apart from Ireland). We were posing little threat up front, although I doubt we'll be starting the season with a Sibierski/Samaras partnership. Yeah Matt Mills didn't look too clever, but I'm not judging him so early on in pre-season. Croft was in an unaccustomed left-wing role and played much better in the 2nd half when switched to the right. Although he had a much better 2nd half, Barton just isn't a right-winger for me; he needs to be in the 'thick of it', in the middle of the field. But with Dabo & Hamann brought in during the summer, I can see Pearce using Joey on the right more & more. Much improved 2nd half performance and for me, the following players had particularly good games over all: Richards (in particular), Ireland & Barton. Dickov too for the little time that he was on the pitch. To anyone else who went, how poor was the bar service...again? No preparation whatsoever. And does anyone know why that City "fan"/Muppet was fighting so fiercely with Police & Stewards a few minutes into the 2nd half? It couldn't have been through too much beer, unless he got plastered OUTSIDE the ground...

Steve, that Muppet was fighting with the police because he wouldn't sit down. He and some more muppets were standing up near the centre aisle entrance and were blocking the view of the fans sat down on the first two rows and wouldn't move for the stewards. Their complaint was that they had bought seats from City but Rochdale had sold so many on the gate that they couldn't sit in the seats allocated and wouldn,t go and sit in any other seats. The row went on for all the first half and part of the second and was only resolved when the Police went in heavy with the one guy. I was sat near the front and it totally spoiled the match for me and others around me.

Steve, Droylsden - whatever it was with the guy in the second half there was a lot of it about on Saturday. One bloke by me went completely ballistic when he found someone in his seat and carried on long after they'd moved. Another guy near me gave Barton loud abuse throughout the game until he was told to shut up by everyone around him and something kicked off in the first half in the corner of the City stand.
As for the comment about Sibs being better than Samaras - the only Samaras he was better than was Grandma Samaras - and that was a close call.

north stand (maine rd), manchester. yes i did and i stand by my comments as sibierski who i think needs to go to a differant club as he is also playing out of position does show some nice touches and actually runs about but samaras looks useless, he doesnt run, carnt get the ball of the ground when he shoots, looks more lazy than anelka and needs two or three touches to control the ball before he shoots. croft looked useless on the right last season and wasnt any better when i saw him play in the reserves. theres a big differance between rochdale and wrexhams defence and chelseas. dont think cole, vassell, dickov and corradi have anything to worry about.

Jack Thorley, DONT have more than a hundred on. !

Talking about formations
How about 3 5 2
richards dunne distin
holding mid dabo,
then four across midfield
sinclair barton hamman plus 1
cole samaras. Souns good to me.

I thought Samaras looked okay and scored a decent goal whereas French Toni managed his trick of putting in a clearing header when faced with an empty net from six yards out, Truly awful. Croft is not the answer on the left but looked far more comfortable on the right after half time. Ireland had moments, Barton played well. Matthew Mills got turned over by fatty good style, Danny Mills made NOT ONE mistake in a second half we dominated as you would expect. We played the last twenty with the youth team on. That Hamnn doesn't run very much does he?

Went to game, 1st half awful, 2nd half alot better. Thought Barton (2nd half), Ireland and Laird when he came on all did well.
Mike London, went to Trafford Centre after match to find Tricky Trev shopping with his family. He said he wasn't injured and that SP was using the whole squad so that those who weren't going to play got the afternoon off.

COME ON YOU BLUES !!!!!!

Who cares about trevor sinclair he is old and rubbish!!! slow bad touch i could go on.

I was there on Saturday and Croft and Ireland were the best players on the pitch. Barton passed to Rochdale players 90% of the time. What on earth happened to Weaver? His first half performance was dire. I have always thought he was one of the good goalkeepers but he was almost totally to blame for the two goals.

Where was Dunne? Dickov played ok but needs match practice.

It must cost Rochdale a fortune in balls with at least 3 going over the top of the stands and on to the main road outside!!

And what were they playing at with the tickets.?The number of people who just sat anywhere and then had to move when people came along who actually had numbered seats was amazing. No wonder the first 25 minutes were taken up by the safety stewards moving people away from the aisles and the area against the wall at the front.

But all in all a good afternoon out although not the best game I have ever attended.