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
Don’t start the party just yet, Mark. He phrased it as a question, not a statement. 🙄 😆
Wellington(Quote)
Welly at 448 keep up fella. I’m pretty sure I’ve already said earlier that pards may have a case for injuries at this moment. I’m looking for a season long table. your table is simply current, yeah? I’ve already mentioned qpr as the only other team to get quality replacements.
Blackley & Brownlie(Quote)
it was a hopeful suggestion. a promising start B&B… keep them coming. anything will do when we’ve been waiting for months.. 😆
mark(Quote)
Mark I had to be sure everyone was clear on the parameters and the caveats first and that it would serve no useful purpose. You should know that there are people on here who love to misrepresent your words as their only defence when theyve had a pummelling. April fools day anyway, yeah.
Blackley & Brownlie(Quote)
B&B – How about you present your injury table that shows there has been no real problem? You’re the one making the case. (To make it easier for you, the data on individual players will be at transfermarkt. 🙂 )
Wellington(Quote)
Oh, I can’t do it. 😥
Here’s the table, B&B, use it to defend your hero all you like: http://injuryleague.com/injury-league/
Wellington(Quote)
The thing that concerns me is that every season we seem to be competing for the most injuries award. If you look down the table there are clubs with 2 or 3 players in the treatment room. Stoke have one guy out with a knock. 😕
DJG(Quote)
DJG – we’re a fixture in the top 5, but Arsenal usually beat us on injuries. Last term Man U hammered us on injuries, 308 player weeks to 218. http://injuryleague.com/injury-league/archives/20112012-2/ (By the way, this table provides a nice prosaic reason for City’s championship and loss thereof.)
Wellington(Quote)
Can’t believe the nob ***** are having a go at Cisse again after Man City.
Don’t remember any of our players having too many touches of the ball apart from Elliot taking it out of the net.
We could have had Messi up front and he would have done **** all. Ba would have done nothing himself. He’s got far better service now at Chelsea and he hasn’t scored any more goals than Cisse has since January.
For me the problem is our coaching, our tactic and our manager. He is such a negative manager. That negative approach isn’t good for morale and we are on the back foot against nearly every single opponent waiting for a piece of brilliance to bail us out of the ****.
The performances of nearly every player who first arrives have deteriated.
Sissoko has been aweful in the last three fixtures. Gouffran has been very average. Mbiwa has made at least four Bramble like errors. Obertan doesn’t give a **** anymore and neither does Simpson.
Hadaira and Debuchy are both out. So the players they replaced have lost heart.
Its the managers job to make players feel wanted. But Pardew kicks players to the curb, treats them like ****, and then expects them to play 100% when he needs them. They may be professional but it doesn’t work like that!
Cisse is most definately out of form, but I put that down to Pardews great “man management” too.
Absolutely clueless. He needs to go at the end of the season, but he won’t.
He is able to ride the highs but when the team hits a dip he becomes a babbles idiot and hits a blank when teams work us out.
If he managed Barcelona, after about three years they’d be finishing around third or fourth in the league at best.
JJ(Quote)