Manchester City versus Tottenham Hotspur – First half review: English Premier League (Part 2)
Despite Tottenham’s rampant start to the match, Manchester City played their way back into the encounter by hitting the away side frequently on the counter attack. City’s strategy worked well for them as Adam Johnson’s pace coupled
with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/David-Silva-c10601’s trickery caused the away side a lot of trouble when they were without the possession of the football.
Tottenham’s best chance of the match came in the 28th minute through http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Vedran-Corluka-c35947. Lennon used his pace to get past Pablo
Zabaleta and then he had the vision to slide the ball into Luka Modric’s path who was making a last minute run into the City penalty area. Disappointingly enough Modric was inaccurate with his follow-up shot as the ball sailed past Joe Hart’s goal.
In the 30th minute, Tottenham were punished for Modric’s missed chance as Manchester City scored down the other end. The home side were awarded a corner kick which was taken with a short pass by http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/David-c10409 Silva.
The Spanish midfielder played in James Milner inside the Tottenham penalty area and as the Englishman crossed the ball towards Edin Dzeko, Peter Crouch intercepted to a disastrous effect for the away side. Crouch mistimed his clearance
and the ball ended up in the back of Tottenham’s own net as the English striker was credited with an own goal.
With the score line at 1-0, Tottenham’s heads dropped as Manchester City began to dominate the proceedings. Harry Redknapp’s team were dealt another blow in the 32nd minute when http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Wilson-Palacios-c36948 went down with a hamstring
injury.
The Honduran midfielder was substituted as a result as Redknapp replaced him with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Steven-Pienaar-c34208. This change also prompted a shift in Tottenham’s formation as Pienaar took up Modric’s position on the left wing and the Croatian
playmaker descended into Palacios’ midfield role.
In the 37th minute, Edin Dzeko came close to increasing Manchester City’s one goal advantage on the night as he almost connected with James Milner’s cross from the right hand side. Unluckily for the former Wolfsburg
striker, Milner’s cross was a bit too high for him. Shortly after, David Silva tried his luck on Carlo Cudicini’s goal but his long ranged effort sailed over the cross bar.
Nonetheless the first half came to an end with Manchester City in the lead thanks to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/James-Milner-c17706 cross. City maintained cruise control after Crouch’s mistake but it was Tottenham who spurned various
goal scoring opportunities following their impressive start to the match at the Eastlands stadium.
Tags: