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City!
Joe Hart – Spectator in the first half, held Faheys second half strike well. 7
Kolo Toure – Largely untroubled due to Birmingham’s defensive formation. Neat and tidy in possession. 6
Vincent Kompany – One decent clearance when 2 v 1 in his own box. 7
Jerome Boateng – Went missing on one occasion, sure and steady. 6
Aleksander Kolarov – Tried to get forward and support attacks, largely unused as City looked wide right for Johnson, great threaded through ball for Tevez in second half, taken off on 81. 7
Yaya Toure – Comfortable apart from one loose pass, took shackles off in second half and pushed forward regularly. 6
Nigel de Jong – Combative won his tackles and distributed well, picked up customary booking. 7
Adam Johnson – Looked to get at blues backline, one decent chance scuffed wide, was always cutting back into traffic on left foot. 7 James Milner – Usual neat and tidy self, only has Tevez to aim at which hinders his creativity, 2nd half strike cleared well by Carr underneath his own crossbar, replaced on 66 for Santa Cruz. 6
David Silva – Almost created a chance with header across goal, looked to get at blues backline wherever possible.
Carlos Tevez – Cuts a forlorn figure, playing against a back 4 alone, usual terrier like performance, booked in first half, unluckily pulled left foot shot just wide on 68, strangly replaced on 83 min for Barry. 7
Subs:
1 – Shay Given
5 – Pablo Zabaleta – Replaced Kolarov on 81, kept possession well. 6
2 – Micah Richards
24 – Patrick Vieira
18 – Gareth Barry – Introduced on 83 for Tevez of all people, great strike on 90 well saved by Foster. 7
14 – Roque Santa Cruz – Came on for Milner on 66 minutes, didn’t get enough of ball to make an impression. 5
Birmingham City
Ben Foster – Largely untroubled in first half, one scare when Tevez used hand to score, handled well in second half as Man City pressed, fantastic save from Barry in last minute. 7
Stephen Carr – Dealt with threats with minimum fuss, unable to get forward as much as usual, great clearance from Milner. 6
Roger Johnson – Won his headers and tackles, as dependable as always, Colossus at the back when needed. 8
Scott Dann – Like Johnson won his own personal battles, Dependable. 7
Liam Ridgewell – Unable to roam forward and support attacks as usual. 6
Barry Ferguson – Won the ball when asked and tried to make the blues play, bad backpass to put Tevez clean throug
Keith Fahey – Largely ineffective, first half passed him by, one great strike in second half denied by Hart. 6
Sebastian Larsson – One horror moment as missed his clearance, luckily Adam Johnson scuffed his shot, good delivery as always, more of an attacking threat after the break. 7
Craig Gardner – Plenty of effort and endeavour without really effecting game, replaced on 48 min due to injury. 5
Nikola Zigic – Won a few flick on’s to help blues on the break, needs to be more physical to impose himself on Premiership defences, replaced by Hleb on 65. 5
Cameron Jerome – Really needed better service to get in behind the City backline, caused the city backline problems when he ran at them. 6
Subs:
13 – Colin Doyle
21 – Stuart Parnaby
4 – Lee Bowyer – Introduced for Gardner on 48, steadied the ship. 6
22 – Alexander Hleb – Came on in 65th minute for the ineffective Zigic, some decent touches. 6
9 – Kevin Phillips
14 – Matt Derbyshire
23 – Jean Beausejour
Overview:
Calls of sack Mancini rang out on 83 minutes. When fulltime was reached the ground was nearly empty apart from a hardcore section ‘booing’. For a side that has intentions of Champions League football playing 1 up top against 17th place Birmingham until the 66th minute is seriously not good enough. Fans will accept defensive displays against the United’s and Chelsea’s of the Premiership but, not the so called lesser teams. Birmingham on the other hand can take massive confidence from this performance and a rare clean sheet means there starting to show the mentality of last season. A good solid defensive display against their Billionaire opponents. A fair result.
Follow Steve Featherstone on Twitter @Feathersworld
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