mancityblues.com

This was maybe the fourth best performance of the season, bettered only by the Chelsea victories and the Arsenal win. Finally, we are looking like a cohesive unit, and with important players raising their games and players coming back from injury and suspension, City's chances of reaching the Champions League are looking better than ever. Putting 5 past Birmingham is a notable achievement. Ratings -

Given 6 - protected well by his defenders, so not that much to do.

Ned 8.5 - opposition players do not fancy it against Onuoha, the lad is a beast with brains. Has to keep his place vs Utd, and could easily have won MoM today.

Kolo 7.5 - I think having Steady Neddy on his right and Big Vince on his left suits Toure. We'll see when we face the likes of Spuds and Utd, I suppose, but the captain did well today.

Kompany 8 - very solid and calm, kept Jerome in his pocket for the most part.

Garrido 7 - generally sound, although he did have one or two shaky spells. Linked well with Bellamy as usual.

De Jong 7 - I'm liking the less frenetic, more complete approach by Nigel. Whether this is down to design or coincidence is unclear, but he was a good foil for Barry today.

Barry 8 - another quality performance from Barry. Kept the ball moving, probed and spread the play well, and tackled back when required.

AJ 8 - some fancy footwork backed up by end-results and graft. Robinho take note.

Bellamy 8 - took the game to Birmingham, and it was he and AJ that stretched their defence to breaking point.

Tevez 8.5 - more quality from the Argentine, allied with an unquenchable workrate and will to win.

Ade 8.5 - the Ade that we paid 25 million for showed up today - let's hope he sticks around for 5 more games at least.

SUBS - to late to rate.

Mancini 9 - whatever you're doing, keep doing it Bobby.

David Pleat 0 - what a sad bugger this guy is. The City performance and victory really stuck in his craw.

As for the remainder of the season, this is where the rubber really hits the road. I hope that Mancini can keep the players steady, because although the displays of recent weeks have been very good, the likes of United, Spurs, Villa and Arsenal will want to bring our bandwagon to a halt - only the best possible performances are going to suffice.

If the rags lose against City, and Chelsea win, then I understand that Baconface cannot win the league, so this will be a titanic game. Spuds have nothing left to play for except 4th place now, so that too will be a struggle - I don't buy the line that the cup defeat will demoralize them. As for Villa, I'm sure they will do their utmost to prevent Barry and Co. a berth in the Champions League, and it's still possible that they'll be in with a shout too. Arsenal will be going for at least second spot and the Adebayor drama will no doubt spice things up, so I can see another huge battle there. ~Bloovic~