Poor United thumped at City! Manchester City 4-0 Newcastle United

Silva makes it two just before half time Newcastle once again felt the pain so regularly inflicted upon on us Manchester City this afternoon as they went down with barely a whimper losing 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium.

I honestly can't say that I'm overly surprised that we lost the game. I maintained from the start that I'd already written this one off and would have been very surprised if we'd have got anything out of it.

And so it proved as City ran out comfortable winners at the former City of Manchester Stadium, with a mad five minute spell before the interval proving costly and effectively putting the game out of reach before the start of the second period courtesy of goals from Carlos Tevez and David Silva, and with another two goals added after the interval by Vincent Kompany along with an own goal from James Perch.

Newcastle had been lucky to last 40 minutes without conceding a goal as City carved out chances seemingly at will with Rob Elliot, poor finishing and some last ditch defending being the only things that prevented City from taking the advantage. United rarely threatened and only went close through Papiss Cisse who volleyed Vurnon Anita's lobbed pass towards goal with the shot going just wide.

Then came those mad minutes I spoke about. Gael Clichy's weak cross from the left was allowed to cross the width of the penalty area without a United defender getting anywhere near it until Carlos Tevez got the better of Jonas Gutierrez at the back post and slid the ball into the roof of the net.

That goal came on the 40 minute and two minutes into added on time City effectively wrapped up the points when David Silva smashed home Samir Nasri's pass at the near post to cap what was a poor half for United.

However 2-0 is a dangerous scoreline and one goal can change the complexion of a game. In fairness to United they started the second period brightly and created a number of chances, most notably through Moussa Sissoko who played in Yohan Cabaye who saw his volleyed effort fly inches wide of Joe Hart's far post. Much improved from the away side.

But it didn't last long and on 56 minutes it was 3-0 to City. An initial Manchester City corner was cleared by United only for Gareth Barry to pick the ball up on the edge of the box and try his luck with a shot at goal, which was going wide until Vincent Kompany flicked a leg at it which in turn deflected it into the back of the net. Opportunity knocked and Kompany answered.

It was 4-0 with 20 minutes to go as Yaya Toure surged into the United penalty and evaded two challenges. The ball didn't though yet it always bobbled back to the Ivory Coast midfielder who shot from a narrow angle and bet Rob Elliot on his near post via a deflection off the boot of James Perch. It's actually been given as a Perch own goal which I feel is harsh but that's just splitting hairs...

City eased off and United seemed shaken and in the end the game petered out with the scoreline staying at 4-0. A bad day at the office for United, worse than I expected, even though I knew we'd more than likely get beat. It wasn't pretty and too many players were below par today, and in the end that is what caused us to lose so heavily and not the brilliance of Manchester City.

Onwards and upwards!

Man City: Joe Hart; Pablo Zabaleta, Vincent Kompany, Joleon Lescott, Gael Clichy; Gareth Barry, Yaya Toure; David Silva, Samir Nasri, Carlos Tevez; Edin Dzeko

Subs: Costel Pantilimon, Kolo Toure, Aleksander Kolarov, Javi Garcia, James Milner, Scott Sinclair, Sergio Aguero

Newcastle: Rob Elliot; Danny Simpson, Steven Taylor, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Jonas Gutierrez; Vurnon Anita, Yohan Cabaye; Gabriel Obertan, Moussa Sissoko, Yoan Gouffran; Papiss Cisse

Subs: Steve Harper, Curtis Good, James Perch, Gael Bigirimana, Dan Gosling, Sylvain Marveaux, Adam Campbell