18 Jan 2026 10:42:14
I watched the match and then watched the highlights this morning. I don't remember any team giving City that sort of battering, it was a proper shellacking.
We won at Anfield in dramatic fashion but on another day, that result could have gone the other way. Whereas yesterday, we were completely on top throughout. Yes we had players back giving us a stronger first 11 and stronger bench, and yes it is just one game, but what a game.
442, playing with pace and urgency, you do wonder where this passion has been so far this season. Too often in the past, we were aimlessly passing it across the back 3, yesterday we were very direct.
Its mystifying how we can pull that kind of performance out of nowhere, but as Carrick said, we need to do it consistently.
And finally, was that third goal offside? It looked onside to me and I didn't see any graphics confirming it was off which is unusual. Just me?
18 Jan 2026 11:25:49
Thought the same and the only graphic I've seen of the 3rd was showing the defender next to him, not the one in the middle who would've been the one playing him onside. It was weird watching how long it went on for to decide without really any explanation.
18 Jan 2026 11:26:53
That’s it ajh, the result was brilliant but it was the performance that was even more impressive. No smash and grab, we battered them. If we repeat that next week no matter the result then I’ll be very happy.
{Ed025's Note - you were excellent Tim, i dont think City were great but im taking nothing away from that performance mate, best of the season i would say..
18 Jan 2026 11:40:21
New manager bounce and a derby game. Agree that came from nowhere. It was a battering that could easily have been 5. Let’s see in two or three games time if the bounce is still there.
On the third goal, I was mystified, it wasn’t shown. I have looked at the picture and the graphic now. Looks like the graphic is a few frames later than the photo. Cunhas body position on the graphic doesn't look the same as in the frozen still picture. I think there should be questions to referees body about the timing of the still graphic frame. Didn’t look right.
18 Jan 2026 12:31:11
AJH we played brilliantly yesterday. Best of the season. I don't like this rewriting of history to suggest it was dour under Amorim. We'd multiple excellent performances this year like Chelsea, Brighton, Sunderland, Liverpool. It was refreshing to see Carrick be his own man and to not blindly do one formation but actually transition between formations already depending on defence and attack phases.
Hopefully this pragmatism continues because Fletch went straight to an alternative and rigid set up and it definitely didn't work.
I cannot understand why that 3rd goal was disallowed. Only thing I can think is Mount was offside on the original pass but he wasn't interfering so not shouldn't have mattered. Bizarre.
18 Jan 2026 13:32:56
You’re right ed City weren’t great but I have to laugh as I’ve seen a few city fans online saying that they’re in a rebuild and pep needs 3-4 more players. Seriously?! Everyone had city easily yesterday but now they lost then they’re short.
Yes they’re defence was weakened but I think pep’s selections were more of an issue than who was available. Hopefully we can continue in this vein as now we’ve set a standard we shouldn’t be falling below it.
{Ed025's Note - it was a top top performance Tim, but you have to build on that now mate and keep up the intensity of yesterday and top 4 could well be in your grasp..
18 Jan 2026 14:33:52
Can't judge where we are based on a game against city. We have always been able to turn up in the big games. We live to sit back and counter. It is very effective. We cannot do that against 90% of the league, so let's see how we do against the mid table and lower table before we start booking our tickets to Europe next season.
Having our afcon players back made a big difference. New manager bounce made a big difference. We should be happy we won, but our failings have not been against the bigger teams.