Thursday, October 27, 2011

Six and the City

Sorry, couldn't resist throwing in one of the many puns out and about. I honestly am still having trouble believing that it actually happened in that fashion. As I said before the game, I expected City to win, but to win 6-1? Obviously, the red card had an impact on the result, but even if Evans hadn't fouled Balotelli, Balotelli would surely have scored and we would have been 2-0 up at the start of the second half. I'm sure we would have gone on to win from that position.

The game itself was amazing to watch. Some of the moves that City put together were mind-blowingly good. I loved Aguero's goal, the flick from Balotelli in the buildup was sumptuous. Silva's no-look 30-yard volley splitting two defenders to find Dzeko for the sixth was simply unbelievable. That game will live on in the memory for quite some time.

However, it is way too early to say that this means anything definitive. City are the best team right now, I don't think there's any doubt about that, but it's not necessarily going to continue and we should all just...

Nah, screw it. City to win the league. Not because of this one game, but because through the first quarter of the season, they have been demonstrably better than everyone else and they have a large enough squad to cope with just about any injuries. City's goal differential is higher than their points total at +26, they have the largest SOG differential, the 3rd most possession, the highest Finish Rate, and the second-lowest Opponents' Finish Rate.

More importantly, the other challengers haven't looked nearly as good. United have the worst defensive efficiency in the league, meaning they give up more shots on goal per opponents' time of possession than anybody. Chelsea don't have a real weakness the way United does, but they have been behind City in all aspects of the game. It's hard at this point to see either outplaying City over the rest of the season.

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