Half Time West Ham Crude Mechanicals 0 Manchester Aristocrats 1

Well the gulf in class is huge. Even without Tevez, Man City are so much in control of this game that it is frightening. Before kick off, I said that the first 20 minutes would be crucial, that we had to get in amongst the Unreal City playboys and ruffle a few feathers. We did the opposite. We sat back. We tried to be compact. We invited them on, thinking that we could prop ourselves against the ropes, fend off the punches and get lucky with a haymaker blow. After four minutes, Balotelli missed an absolute sitter and the writing was on the wall. Faubert is being ripped apart down the right, Upson and Tomkins are struggling to cope with the interchange of Balotelli, Jo and Silva, and we have no answer for Yaya Toure who is sitting in the hole and murdering us because neither Parker nor Spector are picking him up.

Going forward we have offered very little because we can't get the ball. Stanislas cut inside, inevitably given he has no left foot and is again on the left, and had one shot comfortably saved by Hart. A Stanislas free kick went into orbit as soon as his foot connected with the ball. Parker has let fly with two hit and hopes which flew wide. And Piquionne climbed well to meet a cross but headed over. Barrera also cut inside and let fly from outside the box. Apart from the Piquionne header, we have not managed to pass or cross the ball to a man in the box - which shows how disjointed we are from back to front.

It is the same old problem. If we set up to defend, we offer absolutely no attacking threat! God knows what Grant can do to change things. I said before kick off that he had picked the right team. The trouble is, the players aren't good enough - as Man City are revealing cruelly!

At the moment, I would put money on a three goal defeat but who knows...Grant may give a fantastic fight them in the air, fight them on the beaches speech...so, it's a 3-0 defeat then!!!!