No Complaints

All in all we didn’t really have any cause to complain about Wilfred Bony’s transfer to Manchester City, at least for the rest of this season. How UEFA will allow Manchester City to balance their books is none of our concern but what the transfer did give us was a considerably weakened Swansea team to use as shooting practice for the tougher games ahead. 5-0 away from home IS a big scoreline even by our superb standards.

The home side looked totally lost against a resurgent Chelsea without their big man to provide them with a target upfront. Granted that Chelsea offered them little space to maneuver but what did they have to gain going forward anyway? Gomis is a decent striker but he is not the 1 you choose to lead your attack if you are trying to get past the second best defence in the league. And Bony’s national assignment with Ivory Coast at the AFCON means we don’t have any bony business till next season.

So no reason to complain at all.

After the Spurs game on the New Year the media everywhere were making honest mistakes in finding adjectives to describe the 5-3 defeat. I recall thrashing was used. And mauling. I think some pieces that I nearly didn’t read used massacred. So as benevolent as Chelsea is we had to educate them on what game you can describe with those words hence the performance at the Liberty Stadium. Funny enough they don’t seem to think this game deserves those monstrous words too. One paper used “near-perfect”.

No complains there too.

Costa and Oscar bagged a brace each on Saturday

It took 58 mins for the Van Gaal to understand that maybe he needs to pay attention to the United fans. Before then the team was playing the infamous 3-5-2, Di Maria was playing as a striker and Phil Jones was taking the corner kicks. What exactly goes on in this man’s head is up for debate for those of us who cant read minds but from what we could read from the game, it looks pretty much like he wanted to be a magician but turned to football when he could not pronounce “Abrakadabra”.

The 3-5-2 does not work for United no matter how pretty it may be. And its not pretty too. It leaves your back-line stretched when your wing backs cant get into position in time. It leaves your midfield crowded which cuts out much needed space for your playmakers. United spent all that huge money in the summer buying players that will fit into this system but it is just not working. This is a traditional team that has 4-4-2 written in their genetic code and anyone who can change them to fit into a formation that is mostly unfamiliar, not for United alone but the BPL in general, must be one hell of a magician.

Louis Van Gaal on the United bench

How long did it take for Arsene Wenger to understand that you cant play every game the same way against every team? A very long time I must say and arent we all glad that he has? Sunday’s win at the Etihad was just about the biggest performance they have put on since they won at the Allianz Arena and that much was just a formality for the Germans. On Sunday, Arsenal were more than happy to let City do all the huffing and puffing but made the most of the ball when they had it and that is how to play against the big teams away from home, especially in Europe.

Manchester City have now not won a single premier league match without Yaya Toure since April last year. Now how about that for dependency? City played well on Sunday and were undone by that penalty but even with Aguero and Silva on you could still feel them lacking that extra swagger that they normally have and Arsenal capitalized on that. They face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge next. How will they fair without their big man at a grounds that is naturally for all teams? In previous meetings Jose Mourinho has always tasked Nemanja Matic to do a job on Toure. With him absent the Serbian will have all the time in the world for Silva and that will only be to our benefit.

Yaya Toure and Matic battles for the ball

So tough luck to City when we meet but tonight all eyes are focused on Anfield where we meet Liverpool in the Capital One cup semi-final 1^st leg. This will be a wonderful match. It always is with Chelsea-Liverpool in cup games. I think a draw wont be bad for the Scousers.

See you at Anfield blues.