The Pedmachine is a little unsure as to why Mahrez seems to be getting battered for just about everything as well as his glaring penalty miss. I’m totally sure that had the Algerian fired City to three points yesterday he would probably be a hero today and all other press outlets would have changed their tune.
I find it hard to believe that anyone would have said that Riyad played awfully but was a hero in the end. It’s much easier when he snatched a draw from the jaws of victory to put the silencers on the end of the guns and fire them at him.
Let’s face it, in the light of City’s general misery at Shamfield, how many of you would have taken a 0-0 draw when you were eating your Sunday breakfast or your Sunday roast?
Like all you Blues out there, I want City to win every match, every week, but when I was in the Red Beret having a pre-match scoop with my dear old father, yes I would have accepted the draw. It meant that barring a ridiculous score in the Chelsea -Southampton match, we would end the day on top of the tree. Don’t forget that once City got there last season, they stayed there until the end. This season, because of a hand-ball, offside goal at Wolves it has taken a little longer, but the feeling among us now is surely that City can stay there. And don’t forget this has been achieved without last season’s talisman Kevin de Bruyne who is chomping at the bit to get back amongst it.
I get those readers who believe Leroy Sane should have started. At 4.30 yesterday I was one of those, but when you see the tactics that Pep deployed – a far cry from the usual “up-and-at-’em” – it probably wasn’t a bad selection especially as it was Sane that earned the penalty drawing a clumsy challenge from the “he-can’t-put-a-foot-wrong” Dick Van Dyck.
With our international retirees getting a fortnight off now, the Blues and in particular David Silva and Segigol should be ready for the next challenge and if KDB is back in the reckoning, there will be another selection headache for Pep. Especially when you see how well Bernardo has stood up to the plate in the absence of the Belgian.