Forever Blue With Ian Cheeseman

It’s been quite a week to be a Blue! The magnificent wins in Bruges and Brighton were almost perfect.

I had an excellent view of the game in Belgium, from the press box, as I reported on the game for the viewers in India on Sony Six. City’s movement was mesmerising. The great advantage they had was that their opponents didn’t know where their goal scoring threat was coming from.

There’s been much discussion among Blues, and indeed all the pundits, about whether City need a specialist striker. As I watched City bag five in Bruges and then another four in an equally impressive win at Brighton I wondered what all the fuss is about. Anyone can score in this City team and their opponents know that and don’t know how to stop them.

At Brighton I was stood in the away end, alongside my fellow Blues, so had a very different view. I’m not a big fan of that perspective but the big advantage is the close up view you get of the unglamorous part of the game. I could study the performance of central defender Ruben Dias and was very impressed. It wasn’t the big things he did that caught my eye, it was the things you don’t always notice.

There were a few occasions when he would stretch into a challenge and be just about able to toe poke the ball away from one of their players, but even when at full stretch and being fully focussed on simply making contact with the ball without committing a foul, he had just enough control of his leg to guide the ball to one of his team mates. He did all that without any fuss or fanfare. When the ball was at the other end, being turned into the Brighton net, everyone seemed to notice who had supplied the assist and who the goal was scored by.

Of course, the creative side of the game is the bit that catches the eye and it is the goals that are repeated on the TV highlights and on social media. It’s no surprise that the highest wages and biggest transfer fees are paid to the creative players and in particular the goal scorers. I’m as guilty as anyone of idolising the magicians who entertain me at the attacking end of the pitch, but it’s that attention to detail in the less eye catching positions that makes this team so special.

I started this column by describing City’s performances as mesmerising and I stand by that word, which perfectly describes how City’s highly talented midfielders move around and pass the ball, at speed, to create the goals that win the games but it is that intelligent, unsung role that players like Dias play that are just as vital to City’s current run of form.

I watched United get battered by Liverpool on Sunday afternoon and it was as clear as the nose on my face that they don’t have the same trust and team ethic that City do. Ruben Dias typifies what’s needed by every player for them to be special. City play on the front foot. As soon as they win the ball from their collective press the recipient of the ball immediately turns his movement into a sprint or plays an early accurate ball to the feet of a team mate before the opposition has time to get into a defensive shape.

The only way I can relate, on a personal basis, to the way City are coached is to remember back to my school days when I was coached by a former England player at Badminton. He always told me to play on my toes and to move towards the shuttlecock and never to wait for it to drop. “Try and hit it while it’s still on the way up, or as high as you can by stretching up rather than waiting for it to drop to a more comfortable position which allows your opponent the time to anticipate where you are going to play your shot”. That was great advice. I had a never say die attitude, so the combination helped me overcome my more naturally talented rival at school, Dave Travis, to win the school Badminton Cup.

Dave didn’t fight like me so there were times when I kept a rally alive when he hadn’t expected me to. He’s a lifelong United fan. City currently have a greater will to win, more collective talent and play the ball on the front foot together. I wonder if Dave can see the similarities between how we were back at school and the difference between the club’s we support right now!