City Vs Roma

[bry the guy]

makes me laugh how they rave and purr about silva yet he cant get into the team of the season.

[Stephen Paul]

Good confidence booster for Sterling

[nimrod]

Decent first half, thought Caballero could have saved Pjanic's shot.

Silva looks like he's mid-season not pre-season. Good start for Sterling, looks better on the left than the right. Garcia and Iheanacho looking promising too. Defence still looks fragile to me.

Looked better when Denayer came on I thought

[bluebrendan]

Yes nimmers, Denayer is a great prospect. Overall not a bad game for a friendly, the 2nd half tailed off a bit, our midfield didn't look quite as sharp after the substitutions.

[Swiss]

Cabellero looks short for a keeper, no?

So a good practice match. Was Roma's Team strong?

[Rowley Birkin QC]

Oh right, I thought you'd been back since then. I'll look out for you on the telly! 

Back in April this year Brendan. Was planning to go to the City v Hammers match, but the buggers moved it for TV and I had commitments on the Sunday I couldn't get out of. I was really disappointed.

However - I really enjoyed tonight! An entertaining game for a friendly. It was kind of strange taking the short trip into town to watch my beloved Blues in Melbourne, and I think that's the first time I've seen us win a penalty shoot out 

Most of all I wanted to see Aguero, but when I realised there was a Copa America on this summer I knew straight away that it was unlikely we'd see any of the senior Argentinian boys in Australia. Never mind - I got to see David Silva and he was worth the admission price alone! A cut above everybody else on the pitch, the Roma players look mesmerised every time he was on the ball. I can't help feeling that if Pellers had given him another 15 - 20 minutes after the interval we would have won quite comfortably. He was a joy to watch.

I had a good chuckle when Sterling scored. His first touches were all heavily booed by the Roma fans and the neutrals in the crowd (there were a few Liverpool shirts dotted around) but his goal stunned most of them into silence. Some-what less booing after that 

I was impressed again by young Garcia, and I liked the look of Iheanacho (took his goal well and caused the Roma defence a few headaches). Yaya lumbered around like a grumpy dinosaur during the second half, but there was still the occasional Yaya flourish to admire. Navas and Nasri were lively.

If some of the players were a bit pre-season rusty - then so was Mark Clattenberg. Bottled a pen for us in the first half and seemed intent on giving a free kick to any Roma player who went anywhere near Yaya!

Quite a good atmosphere, in spite of the vast size of the MCG and the relatively poor crowd. The local media have spent the last couple of days telling us that 60,000 tickets had been sold for this match, and yet the attendance was only 41,000. Go figure... But not many empty seats where I was sitting (second level, behind the goal they utilised for the penalty shoot-out). Lot's of applause, oooohs, ahhhhs, comments and banter. The Roma fans below us were good value on the singing front, but the City fans at the other end made themselves heard from time to time. Lots, and lots of City shirts (far more than Roma I would say) including a few 'vintage' Kappa and "First Direct" examples dusted off for the occasion. I saw only one rag shirt (hidden under a jacket!)

All that - and the added drama and amusement of a penalty shoot-out! And we won!

[Swiss]

Coolly taken

too much time but still a nice shot. Hard to tell how close willy got to the ball 



They haven't got the other two

[Swiss]

What's the codeword for non-youtube vid's?

It's not a .gif but an MP4

[bluebrendan]

However - I really enjoyed tonight! An entertaining game for a friendly. It was kind of strange taking the short trip into town to watch my beloved Blues in Melbourne, and I think that's the first time I've seen us win a penalty shoot out 

Most of all I wanted to see Aguero, but when I realised there was a Copa America on this summer I knew straight away that it was unlikely we'd see any of the senior Argentinian boys in Australia. Never mind - I got to see David Silva and he was worth the admission price alone! A cut above everybody else on the pitch, the Roma players look mesmerised every time he was on the ball. I can't help feeling that if Pellers had given him another 15 - 20 minutes after the interval we would have won quite comfortably. He was a joy to watch.

I had a good chuckle when Sterling scored. His first touches were all heavily booed by the Roma fans and the neutrals in the crowd (there were a few Liverpool shirts dotted around) but his goal stunned most of them into silence. Some-what less booing after that 

I was impressed again by young Garcia, and I liked the look of Iheanacho (took his goal well and caused the Roma defence a few headaches). Yaya lumbered around like a grumpy dinosaur during the second half, but there was still the occasional Yaya flourish to admire. Navas and Nasri were lively.

If some of the players were a bit pre-season rusty - then so was Mark Clattenberg. Bottled a pen for us in the first half and seemed intent on giving a free kick to any Roma player who went anywhere near Yaya!

Quite a good atmosphere, in spite of the vast size of the MCG and the relatively poor crowd. The local media have spent the last couple of days telling us that 60,000 tickets had been sold for this match, and yet the attendance was only 41,000. Go figure... But not many empty seats where I was sitting (second level, behind the goal they utilised for the penalty shoot-out). Lot's of applause, oooohs, ahhhhs, comments and banter. The Roma fans below us were good value on the singing front, but the City fans at the other end made themselves heard from time to time. Lots, and lots of City shirts (far more than Roma I would say) including a few 'vintage' Kappa and "First Direct" examples dusted off for the occasion. I saw only one rag shirt (hidden under a jacket!)

All that - and the added drama and amusement of a penalty shoot-out! And we won!

Yes I thought you'd enjoy watching Silva in the flesh, as well as his skill on the ball his movement off it is sublime.

Did you manage to get a ticket for the Madrid game, Rowley?

[bluebrendan]

What's the codeword for non-youtube vid's?

It's not a .gif but an MP4

I think it may be down to the site that hosts the vid, Swiss - it seems to want a QuickTime plug-in to play it on my browser.

[Swiss]

Oh well, there's highlights on the OS

[Rowley Birkin QC]

Did you manage to get a ticket for the Madrid game, Rowley?

No Brendan. 'Sold out' in an instant - except for the really expensive, corporate box stuff, and to be honest, if I'm going to be charged the price of a luxury 5-Star weekend break to watch a game of football from behind a pane of glass I might as well watch the TV from the comfort of my living room!

And unlike most of the media here, I am not so seduced by the attractions of watching the Prancing Pony play... unless he signs for us that is 

[reddishblue]

Coolly taken

too much time but still a nice shot. Hard to tell how close willy got to the ball 



Was this posted by Stevie? Maybe Swiss is Stevie...

They haven't got the other two

[bry the guy]

Its very very hard to tell lmfbo

[nimrod]

Yes nimmers, Denayer is a great prospect. Overall not a bad game for a friendly, the 2nd half tailed off a bit, our midfield didn't look quite as sharp after the substitutions.

It was live on telly here so I didnt have to watch on my lappy, Denayer imo is more solid than Magala, the massive difference 2nd half was no David, this lad is purely world class and I agree with all that Ken said about him, hope to fcuck he doesnt get injured anytime soon, Lopes and Barker had good flashes but Lopes drifted out of the game a bit, funny to see Dzeko & Jovetic both looking very forlorn on the bench...........and well done Joe