It was back to normal business being resumed at Fortress Etihad today, but only with dollops of good fortune as lacklustre City ploughed their way through a difficult looking fixture to triumph comfortably.
The first half was a tale of two trailing legs, one at each end. In City’s first attack Dzeko in the inside left slot and inside the box was invited to collide with a stupid effort by Fonte, leaving a back-heel style trailing leg in his way. He hit the deck in an almost puzzled manner to find Chris-the-Red-Foy already pointing to the spot.
Up stepped Yaya avidly watching the goalkeeper, Gazzaniga’s move to the left, before neatly placing the ball to the right. Three minutes in and City 1-0 to the good.
Southampton do play attractive football in a sort of top-of-the-league fashion, without top-of-the-league personnel. Looking in on their tactics and with City, as they did last week at the Emirates becoming profligate and lethargic in equal measures, there was definitely enough there to cause City consternation. They have a lively front division led by Rodriguez and Lambert, prompted by Cork and Lallana and they certainly had Kompany and company worried for great periods as the half started to close in.
Yaya was starting to play in treacle, Silva not finding his men and Nasri strangely absent. Dzeko, having “earned” the penalty then went on a number of his near miss syndromes, when it was more difficult to miss than score. In fact, around twenty minutes or so it was City chasing the shadows of the Saints as they found it hard to get hold of, let alone command the football. Indeed it was Dzeko’s profligacy after 34 minutes which gave rise to Southampton’s equaliser.
A free kick just outside the right hand edge of the box saw a beautiful cross from Silva, right on to Dzeko’s unattended head at the far post. He couldn’t steer it into the net and in the next movement it was payback time as Cork also ran down the inside left channel. With Navas and Yaya ineffectively closing him down, Zabaleta hung his leg out to dry and Cork almost gleefully accepted it as he tumbled to the grass. Up stepped Lambert to strike an excellent penalty to Hart’s left, but even so, Joltin’ Joe was only inches away from it.
On the balance of play it was a deserved equaliser for the Saints and a timely reminder for City that the title does not come cheaply. But they found it difficult to resume their tempo. With Rodriguez replaced due to an odd looking injury where he fell awkwardly and didn’t get back up, the Saints were far from weakened as this seemed to make them step up to the plate. For their part City needed to string some passes together and try to resume the job of getting on to the front foot, but it was looking unlikely.
Then, as the signal went out for six minutes of added time, came one of the moves you just love. Nasri started it around thirty yards out playing in Yaya. His direct pass was neatly back-heeled by Dzeko to Silva who looked offside. The magician’s first time cross found Nasri completing a rugby league style runaround to pop-up behind the defence to drive home from the edge of the six-yard box. A sigh of relief audibly almost rang around the Etihad. Surely City wouldn’t give away the lead for the second time, would they? Well no, in fact they would go on to increase it in short order.
Kolarov was not having a particularly fruitful game down the left and the east standers, the Pedmachine’s father included, were getting rather agitated at his apparent lack of commitment to the cause as he turned back the clock from recent efforts, to the kind of performance that at one time seemed to be directing him to the exit chute. Dzeko, too was having “one-of-those-games”. But one thing for sure is that Dzeko keeps going in the hope he will get something. And his statistics show that he invariably does. Today he accepted an unusual chance.
In the fourth minute of first half stoppage time, once again Silva and Nasri with newly-found venom were probing twenty yards out. The Frenchman played in Kolarov who had got himself clear on the overlap. Kolarov drilled in a howitzer of a cross which only a moron would have tried to head home. Today the moron was indeed Dzeko, who directed the ball home using the pace of the cross. It hit the back of the net as we expected his head to hit the middle of the South Stand.
And that was it to all intents and purposes. City could now close out the game from a commanding position against opposition who probably didn’t deserve to be 3-1 down. But that is often the difference when you have the type of footballers that Pellegrini has at his disposal at the Etihad.
The second half saw the Saints try hard to get back into the game, but without Rodriguez something was definitely missing. Lambert bravely led the line but found Kompany a bridge too far without ever really trying to get the worst out of Demichelis. They didn’t exploit the weakness down City’s left to best effect and with Fernandinho withdrawn following another needless booking, they found the addition of Garcia, who was also cautioned soon after he came on, another brick in the wall.
Dzeko must have missed a double-hat-trick of chances before he was replaced by the Beast and Silva, too got himself some rest time as once again Jovetic returned from the treatment table. And it was this combination that made the biggest contribution to securing the match as Kompany played a delightful ball out of defence to unchain Navas. His swift cross into the six yard box rolled back the months as Negredo, double-covered couldn’t quite get his toe to it. However if you double-up on one man, someone else is unattended and this was Jovetic who had ghosted in unnoticed to tap home from a handful of yards and give City a 4-1 cushion and game, set and match.
Without playing to the best of their ability, City delivered what looked like a 4-1 crushing defeat to a team that probably, after Liverpool, played the best football seen by a visiting team at the Etihad in the Barclays Premier League this season. It is indeed a relief to see a team come along and take the match to City without camping out on the edge of their penalty area for ninety minutes. On another day they might well have got a reward for their endeavours, but it wasn’t to be today. Without being relentless, City scored four goals. BT Sport gave Silva man-of-the-match. Beyond him it would have been difficult to select an alternative, although after a sticky start, Kompany did get to something like his best.
It was an accomplished performance but City need to get the 1-0 Blues out of their system. The match is not over because you score in the first few minutes, and it is difficult to hold attacking teams at bay for say 87 minutes. Next week Liverpool will be a very dangerous proposition on their own soil and Yaya will need to rise to his best, Silva pass to his best and whoever gets the forward nod, score to their very best if City are to overcome the biggest challenge in their hunt for the title. Not losing next weekend is a must.
The final word has to go to the City fans. When Rodriguez had to leave the field on a stretcher the entire stadium stood to acclaim this prodigious new talent who now looks destined to miss the chance to go to Brazil and at the same time sentence the nation to the likelihood of his replacement being the clown formerly known as Welbeck. Goalless in Sao Paulo!
Equally, when the Pedmachine thought he’d lost his car keys, he found them in the ignition of his car with, obviously, the doors open! Still, who would want to steal a yellow car that looks like a mobile garden shed?
I enjoyed a visit to the curry mile after the match, where I shared the experience with half a dozen Southampton fans. The score apart they had enjoyed their day in Manchester and were very impressed at the compassion shown by our fans towards Rodriguez and also the cross-segregation banter down on level one in the south-east corner. I’m sure they’d have got the same delights at a stadium just outside Manchester, aren’t you?
UPCOMING DATES FOR YOUR FILOFAX:
all times East Manchester BST unless stated
Su 13Apr 13h37, Liverpool, Anfield, PL
We 16Apr 19h45, Sunderland, The Etihad, PL
Mo 21Apr 20h00, West Brom, The Etihad, PL
Su 27Apr 16h10, Crystal Palace, Selhurst Park, PL
Sa 03May 15h00, Everton, Goodison Park, PL
We 07May 19h45, Aston Villa, The Etihad, PL
Su 11May 15h00, West Ham, The Etihad, PL
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