It's an early-morning trek to Hackney Wick with daughter Lola and City fan Catherine for the 12.30 kick-off. In a cunning plan to deny Matt a programme there is a mysterious dearth of programme sellers — eventually we find a stall by Block H.
Inside the London Stadium we find Matt wearing last season's second-choice away kit to remind him of the Wimbledon defeat in the FA Cup, plus Fraser, Michael, Lisa and the Clacton contingent of Alison and Scott. Scott predicts a 4-0 home win while I opt for a mere 2-1. Well, you have to be optimistic at the start of a new season. Meanwhile Part-Timer Nigel is at Trieste airport as part of his cycling tour — the closest to Europe he'll get as a WHU fan.
West Ham play reasonably well for half an hour without creating a clear chance. Haller lays the ball off well and Antonio causes a few problems with his strength. There's an early VAR debut as a penalty claim by Lanzini is correctly turned down. Wilshere elects to pass when he should shoot, but at least the Hammers match City initially. There's also a strange VAR red card check for a challenge by Antonio that doesn't even result in a yellow card.
It all falls apart after half an hour. City's Walker speeds past Cresswell with embarrassing ease and crosses for Jesus to score with an instinctive flick. Pellegrini really should have addressed the Hammers' left back problem.
FIRST ON MATCH OF THE DAY
Fornals comes on for Antonio at the break, but the game rapidly drifts away from the Hammers. De Bruyne skips past Balbuena too easily, Fredericks has had to cover and the unmarked Sterling prods under Fabianski. It looks like it's 3-0 when Sterling crosses for Jesus to score. But after a lengthy VAR debate via the big screen it's ruled out for Sterling's shoulder being marginally offside and the home crowd reacts like it's a goal.
With the crowd roused the Hammers try to get back into the game. Diop heads a corner over when he might have scored. The crucial moment comes as Ederson saves from sub Chicharito's prod goalwards and then races across goal makes a fantastic save to deny Lanzini.
City, well-marshalled by new signing Rodri, simply wait for their moment on the break. Mahrez plays in Sterling who looks offside. The England man controls instantly and lobs in with some class. Another VAR pause ensues and it turns out that he's just onside even if two inactive City players are offside
Heads go down and the Irons lack leadership without Noble. There are huge gaps between attack and defence and Rice is overworked defensively in a team of number tens. The isolated Haller looks increasingly frustrated as City break at will. A terrible kick from Fabianski sees Diop panic and give away a penalty. Aguero's effort is saved only for VAR to spot that Rice has encroached before clearing the rebound from Fabianski's save. Aguero buries the re-taken penalty. At least City fan Catherine is enjoying it, even if she's not allowed to cheer.
It's five in added time as Haller is caught in possession and Sterling gets between Diop and Cresswell to poke home after the badly-positioned Fabianski has presented an inviting target. "At least we'll be first on Match of the Day," quips a fan behind us. And the new home shirts do look quite nice.
Mystic Matt remains relatively resigned to the defeat — perhaps confused by the question of should he be abusing ref Mike Dean or VAR judge David Coote? He does sensibly query why Chicharito is allowed to fire a late free kick over the bar when he's never scored from outside the box in his career.
"We go 20th!" texts Nigel, now in Munich. To take the positives, Fraser does manage to get us to the boat bar by the giant swans on the River Lea, which serves bottles of Doom Bar and pints of San Miguel (sadly there's no hemlock) and isn't too crowded.
A worrying start, even if it was Man City. We need to get something from the next two away games before the relegation six-pointer against Norwich. Things can only get better.
PLAYER RATINGS: Fabianski 4; Fredericks 4, Diop 4, Balbuena 4, Cresswell 4; Anderson 5 (Chicharito 5), Rice 6, Wilshere 5 (Snodgrass 5), Lanzini 5, Antonio 5 (Fornals 4); Haller 5.
4 comments:
You could have used the headline for the Bilbao game...
"But there's a nailed-on defeat heading our way on Saturday." And I was totally Mystic.
It was foretold... but Cassandra-like Mystic Matt's warnings were ignored.
It's essential for sponsors and exhibitors to streamline their process and with the help of event organizers to ensure that they see and respond to as many leads as possible. event thank you email and conference gift bag ideas
Post a Comment