Manchester City 2 - West Bromwich Albion 1

Date:	Saturday 9th April 2016
Competition:	Barclays Premier League
Man City: 6.2
WBA: 6.8	Foster 7.4, Dawson 6.7, McAuley 6.7, Evans 6.8, Chester 6.7, Sandro 6.6, Fletcher 7.3, Sessegnon 6.7 (Leko, 80 6.4), Berahino 5.7, McClean 6.1, Rondón 6.1 (Gardner, 21 6.4) Unused subs: Myhill, Olsson, Yacob, Anichebe, McManaman Manager: Tony Pulis 6.3
Scorers:	Sessegnon (6)
Referee:	Mike Jones (Chester) 4.1
Attendance:	53,920 Home Fans 4.4 Away Fans 7.0

oshawabaggie:

Up against a top team so I expected a good performance and that's exactly what we got. It's all the more puzzling why we can't show up against weak sides.

One weak penalty call given against Sess and a nailed on clatter in the back against Sandro, not given, robbed Albion of a rare and deserved win agonist the millionaires. I'll keep banging on about video reviews for penalties until they get with the programme.

Berahino missed a couple of good chances late on and MacLean was desperately unlucky with a last gasp effort from a corner. Talking of corners, there were some really poor deliveries today. Great goal by Sess and a very strong team performance all round. Shrug and move on.

Johno:

I thought we played well today.

When Rondon went off surely that was the time to play Gardner out wide on the right and give Sess the roaming central role. It is so obvious that Sess will not give sufficient support to Dawson and even when he does track back he is just going through the motions and never closes them down. Even when Nazri scored he should have following him, but he stood and watched.

He scored a great goal and then spoiled it all.

Brendan Clegg:

In all fairness this was a really good performance and fair officiating or a smidgen more fortune we'd have got something out of the game - we certainly deserved it.

Pulis was bang on in his assessment of both penalties after the game - Sess made a clumsy challenge without actually playing the man so theirs was very soft and Mangala's challenge on Sandro was utterly stupid to the point of being hard to believe but was absolutely a foul.

General comments about our style of play and tactics - we were pretty good, we obviously went with 2 wingers and strikers, and we pressed high for a large part of the game. It worked and we caused City lots of problems. We entertained.

We also really tried to keep the ball - Evans in the back line, Fletcher in the centre and Sess/Saido/Rondon all took great care to put a foot on it and keep it. We were, again, much better for it.

It was a blow losing Rondon who had caused Mangala a fee problems in his limited time on the pitch.

And if there was anything to be critical about, it is that although Gardner and McClean run all day for us, would run through walls for us and our faultless in their commitment and effort, they're decision making and quality over 90 minutes just isn't good enough. Both are capable of great moments but there were many situations where we broke or won the ball high only for us to make the wrong decision, concede possession too cheaply or hit the first man.

We also missed some of the games best chances and half-chances.

And I have to say that I thought Pulis was wrong to bring Sess off with 10 to go. Delighted that Leko got a chance but Sess was creatively our best player by a mile and we had nothing to lose. A less creative or more defensive minded player could've made way.

Ultimately we were hard done by but also missed an opportunity to beat a City side that didn't have Kompany, Silva or Toure in the starting lineup.

Foster - 8 Faultless. Has hit his best form. Made some great saves and good decisions.
Dawson - 7 Pretty good defensively, did quite well on the ball and going forward.
McAuley - 7 Another really good game from the big man.
Evans - 8 Just shades GMac as my pick of the back 4 because he was so good on the ball and carried it forward so well at times.
Chester - 7 Kept it simple. It's margins but having to go with his wrong foot led to the block for the 2nd goal but I thought he was big, strong, committed and did his best to keep the ball.
Sess - 8 Probably our best player and our biggest weakness. Was great going forwards but was probably only 70% at it the other way.
Fletcher - 8 In terms of quality & reading the game he was the best midfielder on the pitch. He did struggle against their speed though and his tiredness in trying to keep up led to some sloppier passes as the game wore on.
Sandro - 7 Did a very solid job and kept it quite well.
'Howling Mad' McClean - 7 Not many have the legs to keep with Zabaletta but he did a job on him all game and pressed high. Only let down by what he can't do.
Rondon - 6 Started brightly so it was a shame he went off.
Saido - 7 He probably should've scored but I thought he was really good - held it up well on his own, link up play and awareness was excellent. Contributed a lot.

Gardner - 6 as honest as the day is long but some awful set pieces, erratic shooting on his wrong foot when better options were on and sloppy passing. Battled away.
Leko - 6 Did OK. Was confident enough, and created chances. Looking forward to seeing more.

Mark Koppel:

Multi Billionaire City v Boys From the Black Country

Stirred to write a report today after watching and getting very annoyed at a totally home bias display by the ref , especially second half. Not only have Man City the advantage of having 16 players all costing £8 billion each versus our £1.5million Championship level James McClean, but the ref decided today Man City must win.

Nearly every little 50:50 decision went City's way, and then he ignored a massive push in the back on Sandro when in their box.

Despite all this I thought we gave it a real good go this evening. And if Berahino would have been anywhere near his best, we would have at least got a point.

Player Ratings:

Foster 7 - Sound and great save with his feet from Aguero.
Dawson 5- Remains hard as nails but lacks quality on the ball, and crosses were a bit hit and miss.
McAuley 7- Amazing still, worth another year one thinks.
Evans 7 - Well timed tackles and was of the few Albion players who at least questioned the very dubious referee decisions.
Chester 6 - Better than earlier in the season. Could be a regular next season with continued progress.
Sandro 7 - His best for West Brom so far, and as said won a "Stone Wall" penalty.
Fletcher 5 - Too many passes went astray today and miss- controlled what would have been a big chance second half.
Sess 6 - Typical Sess, great goal(if only his second all season) then defending a total liability.
Saido 5 - Very good on the ball but I cannot believe how he missed 2 golden opportunities.
Mad Man 3 - A winger who cannot cross is likely a Lorry Driver who cannot drive or a Chef who cannot cook. In fact, apart from lose his temper, what can he do?
Rondon 6 - Lets hope it is not another long term injury we have to suffer as his improving season doesn't need any more set backs.

Subs:

Gardner 7 - Great free kicks and good corners. Much more loved by West Brom fans than he use to be.
Leko 7 - Is he really 16? Anymore promise and he will be off to Chelsea or Man City Reserves soon to rot!