Sergio Aguero

[Zabba]

What do you make of him heading straight down the tunnel. Subbed too often for my liking but I can fully understand today. We cannot afford to lose him for the CSKA game and I am sure this was in Pelle's mind.

I want a happy Aguero because he is an amazing player.

[gavin]

I'm glad that he's not happy at being subbed. Yes, he should stay and support the team but I wouldn't read too much into it. How much did we pay for him?? He's been well worth double for his play and his attitude. Class player, seems a decent bloke too. I fully understand he didn't want to come off today. In fact I thought it a strange decision myself as he is a massive danger on the break and the scum had to press forward at some stage.

[Lekos]

It was conerning how we sat back for the last 15/20. One thing they have is a decent attack, but their defence is a shambles. Why sit back and let them utilise the best area of their team. Strange.

[clevblue]

Our lads seemed very nervous, under a lot of pressure to win and afraid to make any mistakes

[Rowley Birkin QC]

I suppose you could argue that in Peller's mind players like Aguero and Silva are such vital assets you have to protect them as much as possible. However that raises the question as to why was Silva risked at all in the League Cup?

It was conerning how we sat back for the last 15/20. One thing they have is a decent attack, but their defence is a shambles. Why sit back and let them utilise the best area of their team. Strange.

Yes, our old timidity returned - we dithered with the ball and started to give it away too often. The subs didn't help, but I think part of it was the rags thinking "What the hell" and just going for it towards the end. Their tempo lifted, they put us under some pressure and a few of the 50/50 balls broke kindly for them in dangerous situations. I'd like to see us take better control of games when this happens - we have the quality to quick-pass our way out of trouble and keep the ball, but as we've seen before this season City are slow to respond when opponents up the intensity.

We should indeed have posed much more of a threat on the break in those last 15 minutes - especially considering the defence you describe as "a shambles"    - made even more so by the loss of Smalling, Rojo, and the introduction of a 10 year old.