Roberto Mancini finally showing some guts
It is a very old cliché in football that the best teams know how to grind out victory in the most difficult of circumstances. It’s not easy to eke out a result when you are not at your sublime best and it certainly is not easy when there is a huge burden
of expectation on your shoulders.
This weekend Manchester City saw off the challenge from Cris Hughton’s Newcastle United to move to the 2nd place in the English Premier League table and that will give their owners and fans something to smile about.
The game may well have been tainted by the horrific challenge by Nigel De Jong on Hatem Ben Arfa that left the man on loan from Marseille needing a stretcher and oxygen support to be carried off the pitch the result would have certainly delighted the Eastlands
faithful.
It can be said that Manchester City had the rub of the green in the match when the ref ruled in favour of Tevez awarding the Argentinean a penalty, which at best looked harsh on Newcastle.
Martin Atkinson got two penalty calls wrong in the game and certainly helped Manchester city, but forget everything Manchester City have finally arrived in the Premier League and right now they are dining in some style at the top of the Table.
The cliché about winning a game while playing badly can only be relevant, if the man in charge is willing to take the necessary risks, to make things happen, and, Mancini certainly did. With Mancini in charge there is always a risk that the defensive approach
of the Italian might come to hinder their progress but on Sunday this was not the case.
Ahead of the clash on Sunday, Carloz Tevez and Emanuel Adebayor had only shared 14 minutes on the pitch in City’s previous 5 outings as Mancini likes to stick to his 4-3-3/4-51/4-6-0 formation. The defensive approach resulted in City having the fewest shots
on goals in the opening five games of the league barring Wolves and Rovers.
Mancini’s master plan ahead of every game is to keep a clean sheet at any cost and it’s a plan that is not designed to entertain the crowds but it is definitely a plan that worked wonders against Chelsea and it is a plan that can see Manchester City piping
Tottenham or anyone else to that coveted 4th place and a spot in the Champions League.
But on Sunday Mancini betrayed his own beliefs as he ventured into unchartered territory, at least for himself. On 57 minutes he substituted the defense minded Yaya Toure with Adebayor, a decision that certainly had an impact on the game but still did not
bring him glory.
Then 10 minutes later Mancini took Gareth Barry off and on came the twinkle-toed, electric paced Adam Johnson and the ex-Middlesbrough man magically created a goal. Helping City win a game that looked beyond them and in the process lifting his side to a
heady second place and perhaps more importantly above Manchester United in the table.
Perhaps it helps just a tad bit when a team goes into a match with 70 million pounds worth of talent warming the bench – Capello’s choice and England winger Shuan Wright Philips didn’t even make it that far – but on Sunday, Mancini showed that he certainly
has the guts to challenge for the title and that’s exactly what Sheikh Mansour and the fans wanted to see.
His starting lineup was of course super-duper defensive, with safety his primary concern but the Italian was in no mood to settle for a point against an ambitious Newcastle side.
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