MY TAKE ON THE GAME BETWEEN EVERTON VS MAN CITY .

yesterday man city played everton . everton defeated city and man city's title charge is over . this is the team which is gaurdiola is making looking ordinary . to be honest some of his body postures and the him not having answers is seriously denting his image as the best coach . while i am saying this but at the same time i am saying this that the tactics that he deployed had worked very nicely for them and they were not lucky not to put the ball in the back of the net . he showed his innovation by playing zabaleta in the middle of the park with toure and silva but at the same time he should had shown heavy hand and removed stones and bought somebody who could have atleast contested with lukaku . a coach can only do is teach you in the practise but its the players who had to improvise on the field and i feel that stones in particular let him down . stones didnt had to win against him but atleast should had shown the willingness to contest with him . he should had been toe to toe with him . stones is a central defender and his balls playing capability is an asset but his main job is to defend . just look at man utd's phil jones yesterday all he was doing was keep passing the ball back to de gea and showed little ball playing ability but at the same time defensively he was solid and did his job perfectly well so the coach has no reason to  drop him for the next match . stones should had aleast contested the ball with lukaku but he kept dropping back and at times didnt even contested . secondly when you play at the back your other aim is to organise the team and i think stones too failed in that respect he failed in reading the game and also in dealing with his opposite number.

everton started the game with 3-5-2 formation while city started the game with 4-3-3 formation . the notable changes for for everton were that jagielka was dropped and holgate was played in his place while young davies was playing alongside barry . man city started the game with 4-3-3 formation with zabaleta starting alongside toure . everton had a very simple game plan it was to sit back congest the middle of the park and then hit long balls to lukaku and try to play on the counter through him . now even though city are criticized for the result for the first half they were very good . everton were always going to congest the middle of the park and not give space over there but at the same time they were playing three at the back and there fullbacks were playing high up the pitch so city were trying to exploit that space that was left by the fullback . even though everton had so many players in the park they were not that properly organised and if koeman does looks at this match and views it throughly then he would look at the mistakes that his players had committed . first off in the first half there was considerable space between everton's centre half . city were moving the ball in the space between fullbacks and centre backs and one of the centre backs was getting dragged on that side but the other two were not moving and were sticking to their position and if you looked at the match then city were guilty of not exploiting that space . city moved the ball very well . the crosses that they made were low and it troubled everton and they just barely cleared it . everton had their fullbacks high up the pitch and the three centre backs had the field day in the first half . city's passing was crisp they moved the ball from back to front very quickly and even though they went down with one goal their play was better till the end of the first half .

man city finding space in everton's half . 

everton's offense was very clear they were trying to hit long balls to lukaku and he would try to hold the ball and bring others in play . even though koeman is the dutch coach but he had been the best exponent of the english system . lukaku had barkeley and mirallas along side behind him who would try to run beyond him . in the first half everton at times were trying to hit long balls to lukaku more too often when they could just pass the ball and keep the move the going and then bring him in play . the first goal was a good thinking by the kid davies untill that all the everton's players were guilty of passing the ball to lukaku too quickly while they could had kept the move th going by passing it around . davies won the ball and fed it mirallas instead of lukaku and here city were poor . there was only lukaku in the box while city had two . city should had made the proper game reading and adjusted themselves with the play and would had averted the goal . city's weak link was stones and koeman had very finely noted it and he put lukaku against him and stones instead of contesting just backed off and that resulted into city's debacle .
in the second half just as everton went 2 up they just closed the game with proper substitutions and city too lacked the impetus with players spending too much time on the ball and lacking ideas . here gaurdiola needed to put his chin up and needed to be behind his players and his players needed their coach behind them . he should had rallied them just as jose did with man utd yesterday .
in the first half city moved the ball very well they did every thing right except for putting the ball back in the net . secondly the kid davies was selected for his ball playing ability but the position that he plays he needs to protect his back four and there were a couple of times when he was caught on the wrong side of the player and he commited the foul and he needs to learn the positional aspects of the game as to when  does he needs to come out of the defense and the defensive side of the game but he was selected for his ball playing ability and he showed that with the first goal when he could had passed the ball to lukaku and messed the chance but he showed maturity by passing it mirallas as well as with the third goal .