Who doesn?t love an international break"

Yes, that?s the opening line I used last week and nothing that happened over the weekend has changed my mind.

After the last international break, on the back of the first win under Johannes Hoff Thorup, City limped to an insipid 1-0 defeat to Swansea.

This time, following the thumping 4-0 victory against Hull, they managed a 1-1 draw with Stoke.

But that?s where the comparisons with the Swansea game cease. This result was far more nuanced than that listless performance in South Wales.

First of all, there?s the Narcis Pelach factor. A man who until a few weeks ago, was central to Thorup?s transformation in City?s footballing style. A man who was personally responsible for coaching Borja Sainz, City?s talismanic Spaniard.
Pelach?s solution to stop Sainz seemed to be to assign two players to him, with one seemingly guarding against the trademark cut inside. As with all such tactics, it left gaps elsewhere, and it was only partially effective in stopping the Spaniard, but he was much quieter than of late.

Secondly, there was the loss of Angus Gunn due to the side injury that took him off at halftime against Hull.  In his place, George Long did okay. He made some good stops, getting swiftly down to shots and was alert and quick off his line whenever Stoke went direct and played balls behind the City back line.

However, I?ll admit, I had to google how tall Long was after watching the Stoke equalizer....