It appears that some of the Manchester City players got a rocket up their backsides after Saturday’s miserable display at Goodison Park. Although Sven-Goran Eriksson’s men only lost 1-0 to Everton, their usually mild-mannered Swedish manager (along with their Thai chairman) was appalled by their team’s performance, with The Guardian reporting some unusually harsh words of criticism from Sven.
“We kicked it long 18 times in the first 45 minutes and I have told the players that’s not our style of play,” he said. “I told them, ‘We need to play football.’ It was awful watching that first half. We didn’t even try.”
Thaksin Shinawatra was at Goodison Park and made no secret of his own displeasure. “He had the same opinion as all of us – that it was awful,” said Eriksson. “When I spoke to him the first thing he said was, ‘I’m recovering from the shock’. Nobody liked it and, if you asked the players, they would say the same. It wasn’t one or two or three players, it was all of them.”
Were Manchester City really that awful? It’s fair to say that they didn’t create many chances against Everton, although Sven’s team have already surpassed many people’s expectations this season. It seems that, despite winning at Newcastle earlier this month, they are still finding it tough on the road.