The morning greeted us with hail, rain and sun, it greeted us with a thunderous Chelsea v Arsenal while City`s biggest title rivals annihilated Le Professeur on the event of his 1000th match in charge of the Gooners. It also therefore greeted City with the need to ensure that they cast aside Chelsea`s neighbours, Fulham in similar emphatic fashion.
To that extent it was not unexpected that Pellegrini, adopting the adage of the next game being the most important, despite the fact that Stretford Steelers and Arsenal are both lying in wait for the visit of City over the next seven days.
Would the constant changes in the weather see a change in City`s fortunes? The free-scoring atmosphere of up to a month or so ago seems to have deserted the Blues, who now look content to steal 1-0 wins, and truth be told if they win all of their remaining Barlcays Premier League matches 1-0, another title trophy will be making its way along Rowsley Street come the middle of May.
But it is a long time since the Pedmachine made his New Year`s Resultion to no longer predict the outcomes of City matches, the result being them snatching the title from the Stretford clutches on that amazing day in May 2012.
Pellegrini selected a robust eleven with a sever dusting of flair, bearing in mind that Fulham know how to give your team a kicking when they feel it necessary. The Pedmachine was delighted to see that “Nosey” Parker wasn`t in Fulham`s starting line-up although it did afford us the like of Sidwell, unknown for subtlety. It also included the two most gigantic centre backs in Premier League history, Heitinga and Hangeland both capable of holding down a job with the Harlem Globetrotters?.well Manchester Giants, maybe.
The Engineer selected a back four containing Demichelis and Lescott in the centres, as Vincent Kompany was banished to Box 55 as a result of his red card last week at Hull. The inevitable “Manc” Zabaleta and the improving and more confident Kolarov added the full back dimensions.
Ahead of Zaba Pellegrini today opted for Milner which might suggest he has Navas in mind to terrorise Evra on Tuesday. The rest of the midfield more or less self-selected with Nasri, Silva, Yaya and Fernadinho on duty leaving “the Beast” as the attacking pivot and still looking for a goal since his shoulder injury.
Well the game started in typical fashion at the Etihad with City in command of the ball and Fulham sitting back in wait, clearly intending to soak up the pressure and try to keep City out. The fam,iliar pattern of nine on the edge of the box, a goalkeeper and one up front emerged quickly as City starved Fulham of the football and set about weaving pretty patterns without causing Fulham too much damage. On the odd occasion that Fulham sprang forward they found Lescott in excellent form and for me looking to secure his place alongside Kompany for the run in, whilst putting himself in the shop window at the same time if his days at the Etihad are to be numbered. Alongside the accident-riven love child, Lescott was tidy, robust, timed his tackles well and moved the ball quickly without ever really looking to be under threat. That said for the second time in seven days, Demichelis looked less of a liability and some of his tackling looked less last-ditch and he was clearly listening to the Pellegrini words of wisdom to not sell himself short on the edge of the box.
Silva and Nasri were keen to get the attacking portion of the midfield ticking along, bringing Yaya and Fernandinho into play in equal proportions. Milner looked to be trying perhaps a bit too hard and not a lot went his way. Negredo was often ploughing a lone furrow, was not taking up the positions that made him the Premier League`s most feared marksman at the end of 2013 and not a lot seemed to go right for him.
And for much of the first half of the first half it was difficult to see where a goal would come from. City boasted 70% of the possession but were not hurting the visitors. Indeed the best chance probably came from the ex-Stretford, Richardson who had Hart at full stretch with a neat drive that went wide. There has been a pattern this year of ex-Reds over-performing against City and they have been the cause of some of the Blues poorest results this term, but today it was not to be.
It did however at last shake City up a bit as Milner`s searching ball in the direction of Negredo, saw him hauled down with a shove from behind by another far-from-tiny Amorebieta. Referee, Jonathan Moss deemed it to be penalty sufficient and up stepped Yaya to send the hitherto solid performing Stockdale to one side of the goal and the ball to the other.
Fulham had to look lively and City seemed prepared to soak up whatever they offered and saw out an untidy half leading by the penalty. Kolarov nearly made it 2-0, seeking a rasping shot touch a defender and cannon off the crossbar with Stockdale grabbing handfuls of fresh air.
At the start of the second half City got back on the front foot. Chelsea had whacked Arsenal for 6 and the Anfield Machine was making a comeback against Cardiff in a way that City could not earlier in the season. So goals needed to be on the menu. As “City time” was approaching its end Silva found space and burst into the penalty area only to be cut down by Amorebieta, this time leaving Mr Moss no option than to once again point to the spot and this time go to his top pocket to leave Fulham short-handed.
Whatever Gerrard did last week so Yaya can do this week and once again poor Stockdale found himself in one corner and the ball in the other. City had doubled their lead and now looked destined for bigger things.
Indeed they got back to their goalscoring best without a contribution from a known striker. Ten minutes after his second penalty, Yaya was heading for the history annals. Having already emulated Gerrard from last week, it was time to step up in class and emulate none other than the Magician himself as he fastened onto the ball around 25 yards out with plenty of traffic between him and the the goal line. It was like poetry in motion as his shot looked destined for the North Stand curled deliciously round, flew past Stockdale and into the net. This brought the entire stadium to its feet, probably even the measly 632 Fulham supporters who could be bothered wending their way to the Etihad today.
Some of City`s recent attempts to bring the contents of the training ground to the Etihad have left us mystified and laughing in equal samples. Today`s attempt saw a corner played deep to Fernadinho. With the crowd yelling “shooooot”, he stepped to one side of a Fulham defenders and the chance looked to have gone. Not this time, baby. Head down and bang! The ball simply whizzed past Stockdale making his despairing dive look as though it was in slow motion.
City were now looking to clock up a big score and restore the days of not too long ago. Liverpool were leading in Cardiff in a match that was to finish 6-3. When City`s final goal of the afternoon arrived it was from the most unlikeliest of sources, even though it was well-worked and at least twice looked as though City were playing too much football. But the final ball into the box found its way to of all people Demichelis who had a Beast-esque tap-in to perform to make it 5-0. This certainly gave the crowd a chuckle after the stick that this much-maligned player has endured for his part in City`s elimination from two cup competitions.
The Blues are now poised for probably the most telling week of the campaign so far. With Stretford starting to show a bit of form in beating such important teams as Olimpiacos and West Ham, they must now look to strike it lucky against Manchester`s better Club come Tuesday. As Mr Glass Ankles, Robin van Hamstring lies once again on the physio`s couch, it is once again down to Rooney to lead the red line. City will enjoy having whacked Fulham 5-0 and will be sharpening their blades in time to lock horns in a stadium where the last two visits has prided them with a 6-1 and a 2-1 win over the last two seasons. And we all know, it should have been ten.
Yaya was rightly voted man-of-the-match for taking home the match ball, but I also thought Fernadinho was magic and Lescott had a very solid match in the centres. Yaya has now topped 21 goals this season and 51 in total since he signed for City. And this is someone who Barcelona played as a holding midfielder and emergency centre back. Guardiola probably missed a trick there. Not even he is perfect!
With Chelsea having probably catapulted Arsenal out of the title race, will next weekend supply City with an easier match or a team smarting and looking for some sort of revenge. What a week lies in store for us.
It was pleasing to see yet another comeback for Jovetic. I really think this guy has something to offer, if only he wasn`t beset by silly little injuries. I`m afraid Rodwell will probably be heading down Rowlsey Street come the close season.
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