City make shredded tweet out of the Canaries

MANCHESTER CITY 7 - 0 NORWICH CITY

Johnson (o.g) 16' Silva 20' 

Nastasic 24 'Negredo 36'

Toure 61' Aguero 70' Dzeko 86'

Nastasic celebrates his 1st City goal and the home side 3rd

Manchester City gave the Canaries a good thrashing at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday as they well and truly clipped their wings, winning 7-0 with five different scorers for the home side in the massacre.  It also means the Blues have scored 20 goals in 5 Premier league games at home this season, with 2 being the lowest amount of goals they have scored, it was inspired City side whose performance  was equal to that of the drubbing they handed out to their cross city rivals Manchester United last month.

City came into the game with talk yet again focusing over Joe Hart and would City boss Manuel Pellegrini had the courage to drop the England no 1 in place of Romanian keeper Costel Pantillimon for the goalkeeping jersey for the match.

Pantillimon was handed the duties between the posts for the game and in all honesty he was merely a by stander in the game ,while he watched his team mates rip apart Norwich from the opening minute of play as the home side dominated their visitors in a fairly one sided game. Norwich seemed to try and play football, however City shown them how to use the ball and create a lot of headaches as the Norwich defence was pulled them all over the place and had them at sixes and sevens in the half.

The architects in attack for the home side were mainly the midfield trio of Yaya Toure, Samir Nasri and star of the show the player named "Merlin" by City fans, Spanish star David Silva. City had their first chance of the game in the 14th minute of play, when good link up play between the forwards and midfielders saw a move started off by Samir Nasri nearly finish it off too, but the Frenchman  strike hit the outside of the near post and go for a goal kick. City dominant possession and good play eventually brought them a goal, as in the 15th minute a mad scramble near the 5 yard line box saw the ball balloon over John Ruddy in the Norwich goals as the keeper had already dived one way after a blocked Aguero shot came off a couple of Yellow shirted players legs and looped in after it came off Bradley Johnson last giving the home side the 1-0 lead.

Ruddy HELL! John Ruddy watches ball loop in for City 1st

Pellegrini men doubled their lead a few minutes later, when the home side build up from the back and when Nasri took control half way in his own half he put a high through ball towards Sergio Aguero up field who controlled it well, the Argentine then took it into the penalty area before spotting the run of David Silva in the area and he unselfishly laid the ball off to Silva whose effort was struck well and hard to which Ruddy couldn`t stop it from going in for a 2-0 score line after 19 minutes.

David Silva celebrates City 2nd

City weren`t in the mood to just settle for two nil, as four minutes later they made it 3-0 game thanks to a goal by Serbian defender Matija Nastasic and a first for his club as well when he headed goal wards to the near post with a despairing dive by Ruddy who was having a bad day at the office for the visitors. Talk of John Ruddy being the rival for Joe Hart as the England number 1 on this performance was light years away as he was anything bar a rival, though if it was on errors then he would be challenging for Hart. City`s fourth of the game came after an 11 minute spell without a goal, as yet again a beautiful crafted move by the home side down the Norwich left, saw Fernandinho Silva and Toure all combine before the Ivorian midfielder chipped a ball over the back line and saw Aguero latch on to it, with him then playing a ball across the face of the Norwich goals for the 'the Beast' Alvaro Negredo to put home into the roof of the net for a 4-0 lead and make the game safe already after only 35 minutes.

Norwich tried to respond, as the ex Manchester United youth striker Anthony Pilkington had an effort tipped away by the Pantillimon as that was the only bit of action he faced all game.

The home side had a lot of possession and could have had more goals in the opening 45 minutes of play, as they battered the away side and even had the odd home fan shouting out the infamous outburst of Norwich City fan and board member Delia Smith in the crowd, with cries of "We need the 12th man here, Where are you?, Let`s be havin you!". Phil Dowd mercifully put the Norwich side out of their misery in the first half at least as he blew for half time.

Negredo makes it 4-0 :Pic: BBC SPORTS

Norwich in the second half made a couple of changes after the start, with Josh Murphy and ex-Bolton Wanderers striker Johan Elmander coming on for the Norfolk side, meanwhile Manuel Pellegrini was looking ahead to Tuesday night and the Champions League game against CSKA Moscow, as he replaced Alvaro Negredo with striker Edin Dzeko for the second half of play. Norwich were gifted a couple of half chances by City Centre-back Martin Demichelis as the Argentine defender was giving the ball away sloppily on a couple of occasions and thankfully for the home side nothing came of them.

City seemed to take their foot off the gas as they weren`t as forceful in attack as in the first half. They just played the ball around like it was a training match as they didn`t have as much cutting edge as in the first 45 minutes of play, City were playing like they did against United as they just controlled the game and never gave the Canaries a sniff of the ball, as it was really men against boys stuff. 

Norwich then was gifted yet another chance by the City centre-back, as Demichelis had slid to cut out the pass, but as a result gave it right back to the opposition and from it saw Elmander trying to divert the ball at the near post and failed to find the target with no one near him at all and wasted a great chance for the away side.

The Blues had a chance to make it five when good passing play by the City players on the right wing, saw Silva nicely cut a ball to Pablo Zabaleta and as he tried to get free passed it to the feet of Nasri who then fired on goal and was stopped by Ruddy, with the ball running loose towards Aguero, who tried to dink it over the keeper only for Ruddy to spread himself big and make the forward put it side netting.

Yaya Toure scores another spectacular free kick for 5-0

Edin Dzeko then won a free kick for the home when Bradley Johnson brought him down in mid strike, which gave them a free kick from just outside the area and the Ivorian another opportunity with a set piece. From the free kick he curled it high and quickly over the Norwich wall and past Ruddy`s out stretched hand for 5-0, just before the 60th minute.

City all but killed the game off really with the 5th goal if they hadn`t already, Aguero then tried his luck with an effort from outside the area as it dipped and curled away from goals and shown City weren`t finished yet looking for goals. Pellegrini made a change with Samir Nasri getting a standing ovation from the home fans as he was replaced by James Milner and saw City hit Norwich for six soon after. Silva was switched to the left side and it instantly paid off as he evaded a strong challenge down the Norwich right before crossing into the area where Bassong for Norwich saw his clearance fall to Aguero and he smashed home in the back of the net for 6-0 after 70 minutes of play.

David Silva got a standing ovation himself and a well deserved one too as he was running the show and pulling the strings too as he was then replaced by fellow Spanish midfielder Jesus Navas. Fernandinho who had a exceptional game in his defensive midfield role himself was an unsung hero for the home side and he had a little run on goal, before he was stopped and the ball went out for a corner kick.

Dzeko and Aguero then linked up well, with the Bosnian striker flicking the ball back to Aguero and saw his shot blocked by the defender and safely to Ruddy hands, but they were playing fantastic football the blues much to the home fans joy. Martin Demichelis then kicked one down field and had Navas chase it down like a greyhound on a hare to catch it , as his shot was saved by Ruddy to deny them a goal. 

The home side won a free kick after Michael Turner tackled Aguero off the ball as the striker tried to run into space.Yaya Toure had another free kick and his blast through the wall fell to Demichelis in the penalty area and his effort was well stopped by Ruddy produced a good stop to avoid it being seven for the home side.

Norwich however couldn`t stop the juggernaut known as Manchester City scoring again, as Edin Dzeko made it 7-0 for the home side to put them in seventh heaven with Jesus Navas coming in off the right wing, he then played the ball to Dzeko inside the penalty area and Dzeko turned sharply and curled his effort low at the far post to beat Ruddy.

Dzeko celebrates City 7th  pic: IBN LIVE

The Blues nearly made it eight when a chip by Toure into the area was brought down by Dzeko, but saw his effort blocked and saw the ball fall to the in running Sergio Aguero who tried to score only for Ruddy to deny him a second goal, as the little striker was like a magnet to the ball all game.

As the rain fell down on the Etihad Stadium, the City fans were still demanding more goals by their side as with three minutes added onto the ninety, Zabaleta was given a chance to score as Aguero passed to his fellow Countryman and he just couldn`t get his shot on target. 

Pantillimon celebrates his side scoring PIC: Yahoo sports

The Full time whistle came and the Blues had hammered their guests 7-0 and shown they are tough nuts to crack at home at the Etihad stadium with the home side avenging their 3-2 loss to Norwich at the end of last season and show they are still a side to reckon with in the league.