Full Time Report - Manchester City Vs Tottenham Hotspurs: City show 'Hart' to hold onto nil nil draw
Manchester City took on Tottenham in the opening fixture of the Barclay’s Premier League. The stands were overflowing with fan's who couldn't believe that the new season was upon them. The fans of both teams had their voices heard through out the course of the game.
The match was being played at White Hart Lane, which is Tottenham's home ground. This meant that the London club had the home ground advantage in their favour.
Tottenham were fielding a signature 4-4-2 formation, while Manchester City opted for a 4-1-2-3 style of play.
Tottenham's line up was as follows, Gomes was selected as keeper, Assou-Ekotto, King, Dawson and Corkula formed the back four. Bale, Modric, Huddlestone and Lennon formed the midfield. While Defoe and Crouch were chosen to play up front.
Manchester City on the other hand deployed, Hart in Goal, Richards, Kolo Toure, Kompany and Kolarov as their defensive wall. De Jong was playing as the holding midfielder while, Yaya Toure and Barry played as the central midfielders. Up front, Mancini opted to go with Tevez, Wright-Phillips and Silva.
The match got under way with both teams looking to go at it from the start. Both the teams were going toe to toe initially, until Tottenham slowly muscled their way to retaining more possession. On the ninth minute, Bale whipped in a beautiful cross to Peter Crouch, whose fist time downward header pulled a terrific save from Joe Hart. Hart leaped over the bouncing ball and tipped it over for a corner.
Soon after on the eleventh minute mark, Joe Hart was at it again, he pulled out a breath taking reaction save, to a goal bound volley from Defoe. The ball was certainly heading for the back of the net until Hart leaped towards it and managed to claw the ball away.
On the sixteenth minute Hart was there to rescue City once again. He punched away a corner kick straight into the path of the on rushing Tom Huddlestone, who unleashed a volley on the return but Hart managed to react brilliantly to tip the ball over for another corner.
Two minutes later on the eighteenth minute Hart was at it again. Assou-Ekotto unleashed a pile driver which took a wicked deflection but Hart somehow managed to spring towards the right hand corner to tip the ball over for another corner.
By now Tottenham had taken the reigns of the match and were looking to score a goal but the only thorn in their way appeared to be Joe Hart and his brilliant goal keeping.
The first time that Hart managed to get beaten was on the thirty first minute mark, when Bale unleashed a brilliant grounded shot which beat Hart, but didn't manage to beat the post. The ball came back of the post to Bale and Tottenham's despair and no one was available to follow in the rebound.
The match continued in similar fashion and after watching a brilliant attacking display from Tottenham and equally capable defensive display from City, the match went into the half time break.
Mancini had a lot on his hands during the half time break, as the most expensive squad in the Premier League was failing to show just what it was capable of.
Right after the break, however, City seemed to finally get a grip of things. Wright-Phillips sprung the offside trap but took way too much time on the ball and was eventually brought down by, Ekotto.
The match calmed down relatively for the next twenty minutes with neither team creating any clear cut chances.
On the seventy second minute mark, Tevez had a ball squared to him by Johnson; his fist time shot took a colossus deflection but ended up going behind for a corner. Tottenham looked to hit City on the break a minute later with Pavlyuchenko combining with Modric, but the striker was kept at bay by none other than Joe Hart once again.
The game seemed to die down near the closing stages on the second half with both sides loosing the ball far too easily. After playing four minutes of added time, the referee blew the whistle signalling the end of the match. The game ended with both teams level at a score line of nil all. Joe Hart was awarded the man of the match award for his tremendous goal keeping display.
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