As opposed to the Spurs match, this one went EXACTLY as I expected it to. City looked the better side from start to finish, although I thought Wigan acquitted themselves well. They created a few chances, and I thought Victor Moses (who we almost landed around the same time we got Adam Johnson) and substitute Crusat were impressive. If I’m Roberto Martinez, Crusat walks into my starting lineup, probably at the expense of Di Santo, moving Rodallega to the center.
The gulf in class (and spending) was apparent from the start. Mancini elected to rest Dzeko but not Aguero, which was surprising considering he traveled to Bangladesh during the international break. Tevez, Aguero, Silva, and Adam Johnson started as the front four, and the build up play between them was superb. Tevez and Aguero were both pressing the back line, and as a result City dominated possession early on. Kompany went close off a corner, with Lescott clearing over the crossbar by accident. Then Tevez made a nice run down the left, cutting it back to Silva, who unselfishly passed to Aguero, who did well to let the ball run across his body before putting it in the bottom left corner in the 13th minute. It was just the start City were looking for, and were hoping to put the game out of reach early on. Just a few minutes later Silva won a penalty after a clumsy (and unnecessary) challenge by Lopez, and I thought it was all over. Tevez stepped up to take the penalty, and hit a weak shot to the left that was easily saved by Al Habsi. City had several more chances, including a fantastic move by Richards where Tevez made a brilliant pass to play him onside. Richards tried to chip the keeper, and hit the bottom of the crossbar. By halftime, it easily could’ve been 3-0 or 4-0, with Wigan creating a half chance or two, but nothing of significance.
In the second half, it was more of the same – a few decent spells for Wigan, sandwiched by great lengths of time where City dominated play. Nasri was the first sub by Mancini, who came on for Tevez with about a half hour to go. He couldn’t have been on the pitch for more than 90 seconds before David Silva laid a perfect ball off for him just outside the area. Nasri put the easiest of touches on it, leaving it right in Aguero’s path to get his second. It was Nasri’s 4th assist in about 91 minutes of play. Just 5 minutes later and it was Silva working his magic again to get away from 3 defenders, before playing a great through ball that left Aguero 1 on 1 with Al Habsi. Kun stayed incredibly composed, finishing in the bottom right corner, leaving Al Habsi with no real shot. Balotelli got his first 20 minutes of action, and Abdul Razak got a nice cameo, and City came away with 12 points from their first 4 matches.
The good: The link up play with Silva, Aguero, and Nasri looks like they’ve been playing together for years. I said it at the before the start of the season (before I took over this blog) – if Silva stays fit and is not on the list for POTY, I will be absolutely shocked. His close control and ability to weave through defenders to find the strikers is unmatched in England. The fact that he now has players at the level of Aguero, Nasri, and Dzeko to set up is going to make our attack formidable, even on the inevitable off day. Aguero’s finishing was also great to see – his three goals were all in the corner, where Al Habsi never could’ve gotten to them. Dzeko was able to be rested, and Razak was given ten minutes at the end, showing that Mancini has no problem brooding a few youngsters.
The bad: Defensively, we still shut off the concentration for brief moments. Wigan weren’t able to take advantage, but better teams will. I think Mancini made the right move taking the captaincy from Tevez – his next move should be to take the penalty taking responsibilities away as well. Tevez has never been a great penalty taker – he usually just blasts it to one side or the other, with no regard for placement or juking the keeper – but his last penalties (at the Copa America, and today) have been beyond poor. I haven’t seen Dzeko or Aguero take a penalty, but Balotelli is more than capable when he is on the pitch, and I’d imagine Aguero would do just fine. We are quickly becoming a team that doesn’t need to rely on Tevez to be successful, as opposed to last year, where he was our talisman, and we were at a distinct disadvantage when he wasn’t available.
I got to watch most of the first half of the Cesena – Napoli match today, and I think we’ll have our hands full on Wednesday. Napoli played 3 at the back in a 3-4-3 formation. They looked dangerous going forward, but also looked very open at the back. They got beat on the counter a few times, and they might be worse than City at defending corners. Cesena consistently was able to get free headers, though they couldn’t put any on target. I’d expect to see our strongest possible lineup – something like what we started with at Spurs, Barry’s fitness pending. If he’s out, I’d expect Milner to slot right in.
It should be a great match, and a great atmosphere. Champions League was always step 3 of the Manchester City project – now we just have to get through the group stages.
Because the games are coming so quickly over the next few weeks, I’ll be doubling up on subjects as I post. I’ll be back later in the week to review the Napoli match, preview Sunday’s Fulham match, and hopefully post a few thoughts on our first NextGen match against Barcelona. It’ll be interesting to see how we match up at the youth level, because I feel like our roster has improved leaps and bounds in the last two years in that area.
Cheers,
Jeff
@hill_jeffrey
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