Barclays Premier League Review: Manchester City 3 – West Bromwich Albion 0

And so we have it: another commanding win by Manchester City at the Etihad. What a surprise, given the events of recent weeks.

But the game wasn’t played out scrappily; the game was completely dominated by City. An even more dominating display then Newcastle at home a month ago had City register a whopping 43 shots (16 on target) – compared to Albion’s 3 (none on target). City took control of the game from start to finish, with Gareth McAuley’s mistaken sending off setting the tone for the game.

McAuley tried to play a back pass to some point between Craig Dawson and 2^nd-choice ‘keeper Boaz Myhill. High-pressing Wilfried Bony intercepted it and took a touch past Dawson. Dawson lunged into the Ivorian forward and got tangled up with him. Without the illegal tackle, he would’ve been clean through on goal. The whistle was blown, but Bony kept on running, before being challenged again illegally, this time by Gareth McAuley. This caused the case of mistaken identity with a straight red card being shown to McAuley despite the foul-in-question (1^st foul) was committed by Dawson. This sent the Twitter world, the pundit’s galley, and the fans in the Etihad into silence and confusion.

That opened the door for some already-anticipated Blues dominance. Lateral rugby-like passes were the name of the game, and as they all say, patience is a virtue. City would pass the ball around the edge of the 18-yard box, before threading the odd through-ball or over-the-top ball or just having a go, constantly keeping Los Angeles-born Myhill on his toes. Corner after corner came, but nothing in the first 25.

Then Bony’s account was opened. One of many short corners was worked again to the edge of the penalty area before Fernando decided to have a crack. It was well blocked but only fell to Bony, who calmly lofted the ball over two defenders before smashing it into the top left. Goalkeeper no chance. Blues fans were ecstatic over this news: our new $30 million striker with high expectations has finally gotten off!

But the good news didn’t start there. West Brom needed to press forward to get anything out of the game, so gaps started opening up at the back. However, nothing really troubled Joe Hart in the first half with the Baggies registering no shots during that period. This is when the extra man really came into play – scared of being caught on the counter, Albion didn’t commit many men forward, which in turn sucked the venom out of the attack. I’ll take it, though.

 

City got another corner late into the opening period and this time it was whipped in. Mangala jumped towards the ball with a foot raised up high and the challenge for the ball should’ve resulted in a free kick going the other way. The referee had other ideas and waved play on, only for defensive mistakes by keeper and center half to let the ball drop kindly to an unmarked Fernando. From then on it was a simple matter of tapping the ball into an empty net. 2-0.

Into the half we went with plenty of controversy, as always, but the really highlight at the break for me was the Bony goal. It summed up what a player he is for me: strong, technical, and powerful.

 

The second half was less exciting, with the Blues still enjoying plenty of possession and chances, but with the score still at 2-0 and with around 20 minutes to go (I’d reckon), West Brom whipped in a dangerous ball from the corner. Last time out against City the Albion scored from a corner so they definitely knew what they were doing. Jonas Olsson headed the ball on to England youth international Saido Berahino who, at 2 yards out, somehow managed to smash the ball onto the post. That was the heart-in-throat moment for all inside the Etihad Stadium. It seems like that every game the Blues have to torture their loyal support in some way. But Joleon Lescott headed the following rebound high and the chance was gone. City escaped from a potential nervy last 15 minutes.

 

After bringing on Stevan Jovetic for Frank Lampard and deploying him on the wing, weirdly. Jovetic is not an out-and-out striker, but is he a winger? Jovetic shined anyways and it is really a shame that he isn’t being played as often. He was lively down the left, made a darting run into the box that resulted in a weak penalty shout, and set up Silva for the third inadvertently.

After winning another corner, City played it short again after realizing that the crosses don’t beat the first man more often than not. The ball was worked to Stevan Jovetic, before unlashing a shot that was heading towards the goal. David Silva then had the deftest of touches on the ball that confused Boaz Myhill. 3-0.

City closed the match out with relative ease and cut the goal difference gap between Chelsea to 1 goal. Three points behind Chelsea having played two games more. City are doing all they can to cut the gap and to hopefully reconstruct the cushion between themselves and the other teams from 3^rd to 7^th battling for those coveted Champions League spots. Overall a good performance for the lads right before the international break. Let’s build on this in two weeks on Monday afternoon when we travel down to take on Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park. Until then.

By Rob Ming