Sunday, August 19, 2012

Manchester City 3 Southampton 2: Tale of two Cities as Saints try to write the script

The trophy count may slowly be building — it is now three in the last 15 months — but the DNA remains unchanged.
This was supposed to be a gentle reintroduction to the Barclays  Premier League for last season’s champions, Manchester City.
Instead this game could have been lifted from the pages of several books about this club’s colourful history that have appeared on the market over the summer.
In it goes... Samir Nasri rescued Manchester City with a late strike to make it 3-2
In it goes... Samir Nasri rescued Manchester City with a late strike to make it 3-2
Matchwinner: Samir Nasri (centre) celebrates scoring the winning goal for Manchester City
Matchwinner: Samir Nasri (centre) celebrates scoring the winning goal for Manchester City

MATCH FACTS

Man City: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy, Silva (Balotelli 72), Rodwell, Toure, Nasri, Aguero (Dzeko 14), Tevez (Kolarov 87)
Subs not used: Pantilimon, Milner, Savic, De Jong
Goals: Tevez 40, Dzeko 72, Nasri 80
Booked: Nasri
Southampton: Kelvin Davis, Clyne, Fonte, Hooiveld, Fox, Ward-Prowse (Steven Davis 65), Lallana, Schneiderlin, Puncheon (Sharp 86), Rodriguez (Lambert 55), Do Prado
Subs not used: Gazzaniga, Richardson, Shaw, Seaborne
Goals: Lambert 59, Davis 68
Booked: Fox, Schneiderlin
Referee: Howard Webb (S Yorkshire)
Att: 46,190

As dramatic as it was unpredictable, this match briefly pointed City in the direction of a rather embarrassing opening to their Premier League season.
Ultimately, it ended in a breathless victory for Roberto Mancini’s team and the Italian will only hope that the defence of the title won with the final kick of last season will be rather more serene from this point on.
Before we take stock of some of City’s failings yesterday — and there were several — it would be wrong to overlook the contribution of Nigel Adkins’ impressive  Southampton team.
Swansea came to the Etihad  Stadium as newly promoted  cannon fodder on the opening weekend last season and were swept away by four clear goals.
Yesterday this never looked likely to happen to the team from the south coast.
Trailing to a Carlos Tevez goal scored late in the opening half, Southampton didn’t panic and broke in devastating fashion to score twice in 10 minutes through substitutes Rickie Lambert and Steven Davis midway through the second period.
Briefly, City were staring down the barrel of a defeat to overshadow any of the embarrassments that befell the likes of Liverpool, Queens Park Rangers and Norwich on the opening day. A defeat here and there would have been a modicum of pressure on them ahead of next weekend’s visit to Anfield.
Ultimately, they rallied with  purpose and direction and that is to their credit. Unlike last May’s victory over QPR, City’s comeback was completed with 10 minutes to spare and goals from Edin Dzeko — hitherto hopeless — and Samir Nasri — superb throughout — were enough to clinch the points.
Blow: Southampton's Nathaniel Clyne (left) slides in on Manchester City's Sergio Aguero
Blow: Southampton's Nathaniel Clyne (left) slides in on Manchester City's Sergio Aguero

 
Afterwards Mancini admitted that his team’s defending had been ‘poor’ and the general performance merely ‘so-so’. He also suggested that he was ‘worried’ about the knee injury suffered in the opening exchanges by Sergio Aguero.
It was, on the whole, that kind of day for City and certainly the early injury to Aguero set the tone.
There was nothing wrong with the tackle by Southampton right back Nathaniel Clyne in the eighth minute. Aguero’s knee clearly twisted as he fell, although a scan last night hinted that Mancini will not need to get busy in the transfer market.
Perhaps unsettled by that, City struggled to get going against a Southampton team who, with goalscorers Lambert and Billy Sharp left on the bench, were understandably designed to frustrate.
Even the award of a 16th-minute penalty for a foul on Tevez by Jos Hooiveld wasn’t enough to settle City down, David Silva taking a dreadfully weak kick that Kelvin Davis saved with some comfort.
Agony: Aguero writhes around on the ground after hurting his knee (above) before being stretchered off
Agony: Aguero writhes around on the ground after hurting his knee (above) before being stretchered off

Agony: Aguero writhes around on the ground after hurting his knee (above) before being stretchered off

What they need in the window...

Manchester City: Ideally, still need a holding midfielder who would enable Yaya Toure to be released further up the field, a quick and direct winger and, if possible, a ball-playing central defender.
Southampton: Nigel Adkins’ team impressed but had a 17-year-old debutant in centre midfield so a bit more experience in that key area may help as the season progresses.
As was to be expected, City enjoyed most of the possession and Nasri excelled from the start. Tevez was dangerous, too, but elsewhere there was only mediocrity. Silva looked short of fitness and Dzeko — on as Aguero’s replacement — was lethargic and awkward.
Five minutes before the interval, City did at last score. Nasri’s pass over the Southampton defence was superb and Tevez’s near-post finish with his right foot assured. A goal ahead, City looked to kill the game and with finishing of anything approaching Premier League standard they would have done.
Instead, Dzeko failed to apply a definitive touch to Nasri’s cross, Gael Clichy then bundled a Yaya Toure ball over the bar from close range while Silva steered a knock-down from Nasri on to the bar and over when it looked as though he would score with his eyes closed.

Fluffed his lines: David Silva missed a chance to put his side in front when he saw his penalty saved
Fluffed his lines: David Silva missed a chance to put his side in front when he saw his penalty saved
In front: Carlos Tevez fires the ball past Kelvin Davis to open the scoring for City against Southampton
In front: Carlos Tevez fires the ball past Kelvin Davis to open the scoring for City against Southampton
Manchester City's Carlos Tevez scores past Southampton's goalkeeper Kelvin Davis

All these chances came and went in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Soon after, City’s profligacy was punished.
Southampton — growing in  confidence — broke rapidly and, when substitute Lambert’s pass towards Guly Do Prado came back to him off City defender Joleon  Lescott, he stroked the ball beautifully beyond Joe Hart with his right instep to draw the visitors level.
Lambert has worked hard to reach this level, briefly working in a beetroot factory after being released by Blackpool 10 years ago.
He was the guy who put the lid on the jars. Here he was in the Premier League for the first time, though, and the nature of his finish suggests he will not be out of place.
If Southampton were surprised to be level they didn’t show it. Jumping for joy: Tevez celebrates scoring City's opener as the champions begin the defence of their title
Jumping for joy: Tevez celebrates scoring City's opener as the champions begin the defence of their title
Carlos Tevez celebrates his goal for Manchester City
Minutes later they broke from defending a corner to profit from a poor pass by City debutant Jack Rodwell and, when the ball broke to Davis, he applied a finish equally as admirable as Lambert’s to sweep the ball across Hart and into the same corner.
Just as it was in their title decider against QPR 97 days earlier, City found themselves shaking their heads in disbelief. How had this happened?
This time, though, the response was swift.
New boy: Jack Rodwell made his Manchester City debut against Southampton
New boy: Jack Rodwell made his Manchester City debut against Southampton

Party time: Southampton celebrate Rickie Lambert's equaliser against Manchester City
Party time: Southampton celebrate Rickie Lambert's equaliser against Manchester City


Manchester City's Jack Rodwell appears dejected
Southampton's Steven Davis (8) celebrates after scoring his team's second goal
Contrasting fortunes: Rodwell (left) rues his mistake as Steven Davis celebrates putting Southampton in front

Dzeko swept in a loose ball after some bagatelle from a corner in the 72nd minute and, eight minutes later, Nasri finished expertly after a  Clichy cross was only half cleared.
As Mancini acknowledged, City will have to be a little better than this. You can be sure they will be.
Level pegging: Edin Dzeko slams the ball home to score City's equaliser (above) and then peels away (below)
Level pegging: Edin Dzeko slams the ball home to score City's equaliser (above) and then peels away (below)

Back on terms: Dzeko celebrates after scoring City's second goal to bring his team level
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