@ Luton

[gavin]

CITY XI: Ederson, Walker (c), Dias, Ake, Gvardiol, Rodrigo, Kovacic, Bernardo, Foden, Grealish, Alvarez

Subs: Ortega Moreno, Carson, Phillips, Stones, Gomez, Akanji, Nunes, Bobb, Lewis

As previously mentioned in the other thread, big Erl misses out. That team should still win though.

[The Blue Blooded Maniac]

Might be a good thing for Haaland and the team to have a break from eachother.

A good showing today and he might have to work hard to get back into the team.

[Hesperus]

What a joke.

[gavin]

We played reasonably well first half and just need to keep going with a bit of extra cutting edge. Phil has looked good. Jack needs to do more.

[Hesperus]

We need to show some real character 2nd half and improve our attacking play massively. Dominated possession 1st half but created very few good chances.

I note their goal came from down our left side. Too easy to put that cross in.

[Stephen Paul]

piss poor , simple

[gavin]

A great win and well deserved at a tough place to visit.

[Hesperus]

Good come back in the 2nd half. We really needed that.

[gavin]

It was obvious watching them play Arsenal in the week that this was going to be a very hard match especially given the pressure on us from the media after the last few Premier League matches. I thought we handled it really well. We were on top from the start and we created chances even in the first half. Obviously, we needed to take those chances or we were always going to be susceptible to the sucker punch that we got. At least we eventually took a couple to win the game. Luton didn't create much at the end but it is always going to be tense at 2-1. It was a much more City performance throughout though. Phil and Bernard were our best players but it was great for Jack to get another goal.

[reddishblue]

Phew!

[Hesperus]

Thought we played better with more of a midfield than we've been used to recently. The Haarland enforced change meant we had that extra man in the middle. We seemed to control the game better.

[gavin]

Haaland is a great player but far from our most important. We've already shown how to win the league without a striker and we could do it again. But, he can make a difference in any game. He's had a poor season so far despite scoring so many goals but I expect him to up his game in the second half of the season. Getting KDB back will make a big difference to Erling and the team. We just need to be within a win of the top of the table going into the last couple of months.

It will be interesting to see what Pep does about the Rodri situation. We have to find a way to win games without him.

[Stephen Paul]

The rest of the season will be challenging but apart from Villa the other challengers are playing average 

[gavin]

Villa will fade. I still think that we are by far the best side, especially when KDB is back.