Post Match report for the Man City game - Saturday, 29th September 2018
PREMIER LEAGUE; Man City v Brighton
ALBION DOUBLE BLANK AGAINST CENTURIONS
VENUE; Etihad Stadium, Manchester. Fourth away game of 7 fixtures.
RESULT; 2-0 . (h-t 1-0) . SHAPE; 4-5-1
OVERTURE; it might have been the end of September but Seagulls had already played four of the pre-k-o top seven placed clubs in the league. On balance of PL form along the road from 2017, travelling fans were not anticipating very much from this contest.
GATE; 54,152
CHRIS HUGHTON tinkered with the starting eleven by introducing Locadia in lieu of Murray up front. Kayal took over from injured Stephens. Choices in central midfield were limited with regard to changes. But Bruno and Izquierdo featured among substitutes.
TEAM; . . . . . . . . . 1 Ryan
. . 22 Montoya, 4 Duffy, 5 Dunk, 3 Bong
. 11 Knockaert, 7 Kayal, 24 Propper, 20 March
. . . . . . . 8 Bissouma, . . . . . . 9 Locadia
BENCH; 27 Button, 2 Bruno, 30 Bernardo, 14 Balogun, 17 Murray (73), 16 Jahanbakhsh (78), 19 Izquierdo (83)
GOALS; 29 - 1-0. Visitors lost the ball in a midfield area and paid the price for being played around at the back.
65 - 2-0. World class skills were highlighted by lack of strong defending as another fast counter took effect.
INCIDENTS; 85 - a case of myopia from officials as hosts handball went unpunished in their area.
YELLOWS; 9 - Knockaert studs up. 42 - Duffy weighs in. 87 - Montoya took one for the team.
SUBS; 73 - Murray replaced huffing & puffing Locadia. 78 - Jahanbakhsh came on for overplaying Knockaert. 83 - Izquierdo got a cameo when battling March was withdrawn.
ANALYSIS; keeping a clean sheet was a forlorn hope given firepower of the reigning champions. Yet another fail to score stat seemed likely with regard to formation and personnel at kickoff. In the event it was a numbers game.
NUMBERS; poss 80%-20%, on target 8-1, off target 13-1, corners 10-3, fouls 4-10, yellows 0-3, subs 3-3.
Fatmanslims
TABLE:
Po . P . GD . Pt
12 . 6 . -2 . 7 Palace
13 . 7 . -4 . 7 West Ham
14 . 7 . -5 . 5 Brighton
15 . 7 . -5 . 5 Southampton
16 . 7 . -8 . 5 Fulham
17 . 6 . -3 . 4 Burnley
18 . 7 . -6 . 2 Newcastle
19 . 6 . -11 . 2 Cardiff
20 . 7 . -13 . 2 Huddersfield
