Below par City just hold off brave West Brom

MANCHESTER  CITY    1 - 0    WEST BROMWICH ALBION  

Manchester City last night (Tuesday) secured Champions League football for next season after a below par performance by the blues edging past West Brom 1-0 and to be honest they was very lucky to pick up the win.

City Manager Roberto Mancini had made 8 changes to the starting up from the side that played a bore draw with Swansea City on the Saturday, The City Manager had one eye on the FA Cup final this coming Saturday evening against Wigan Athletic at Wembley Stadium and played a team that wasn`t as attacking as normal but one that had experience too.

Mancini welcomed back into the side, injury returnee’s midfielder Jack Rodwell Defenders Micah Richards and Brazilian Maicon as the three were fully fit again after Hamstring and knee injuries respectively. Edin Dzeko was given the main strikers role as he staked a claim to be among the forward line for the Cup final on Saturday as he led the line with Carlos Tevez too.

City had rested a good core of players such as Vincent Kompany, Pablo Zabeleta, David Silva and with Gareth Barry & Sergio Aguero on the bench should they need to be introduced in to the game as well.

Yaya Toure was missing as well as he is currently nursing a knock but he should be fit and ready for Saturday.

West Brom had an attacking look to it as they must have been happy to see a few of the regular first team players not on the team sheet for the home side, as that looked to have boosted them early on in the game as West Brom could have took the lead after a minute in. as sloppy defending gave Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku a chance as Joe Hart had to be alert to save it as City defenders were caught asleep.

Lukaku was causing problems for the home side defense as he took possession and shot one from just outside the penalty area which went wide of goals and West Brom were the best side in the opening 5 minutes of the game as City looked uninterested and like a side that was going through the motions.

The Baggies could have easily been 3 up within the opening 10 minutes of play, as Lukaku was the star man for the visitors as his first three shots had they been more clinically taken they could have had the home side in trouble very early on indeed. City was very slow with their movement and their passing was woeful especially by Javi Garcia whose radar with his passes to blue shirts was massively off.

Carlos Tevez then decided to try and run at the West Brom defense as his effort went wide, but at least it had the home side showing signs of an attacking threat as it was the first chance the home side had created as they looked lethargic early on, Markus Rosenberg had another chance for the away side but his shot failed to hit the target and so Joe Hart saw the ball go out of play.

City then found some rhythm as it came predominately down the West Brom Left through James Milner as he had the away side in tangles trying to deal with the england international and the more of the ball he saw the more City grew in confidence it seemed as the home side came to life.

Jack Rodwell had an effort that went over the bar from close range and you sensed City were gaining the upper hand now after a very slow start by the home side, Aleksandar Kolarov then picked up a yellow card as the Serbian defender went for a ball at the same time as Gabriel Tamas. But it was Tamas who lowered his head to get the ball and got caught accidently by the defender which drew blood. 

Kolarov immediately apologised as it was complete accident and the referee Phil Dowd had a conversation with his assistant on the far side over the challenge as it could easily have been a red card for dangerous play, But after the chat the referee deemed it wasn`t as bad a sending off and so the City man got a caution and Tamas had to get treatment with his head all bandaged up.

Carlos Tevez again had a shot from inside the area but his effort went high and wide over the crossbar, moments later the Argentinian had another strike from outside the area and the crossbar came to the rescue as the move and strike would have been a fantastic goal.

pic: Reuters

City then found some rhythm as it came predominately down the West Brom Left through James Milner as he had the away side in tangles trying to deal with the England international , As the more he saw of the ball the more City grew in confidence as it seemed to ignite the home side.

Jack Rodwell had an effort that went over the bar from close range and you sensed City were starting to gain the upper hand now after a very slow start by the home side. Aleksander Kolarov then picked up a yellow card as the Serbian defender went for a ball at the same time as Gabriel Tamas, But it was Tamas who lowered his head to get the ball and got caught accidently by the defender boot which drew blood. 

Kolarov immediately apologised as it was completely accident and the referee Phil Dowd had a conversation with his assistant on the far side over the challenge as it could easily have been deemed as a red card for dangerous play.

But after consultation with the linesman, the referee deemed it wasn`t as bad a sending off and so the City man got a caution and Tamas had to get treatment with his head all bandaged up.

Carlos Tevez again had a shot from inside the area but his effort went high and wide over the crossbar.

City were on the attack more now and had the visitors in trouble as they had West Brom on the ropes for the first time in the match, City then took the lead in the 34th minute as a ball was played forwards to Tevez  inside the West Brom half and was border line to being given as offside. Tevez ran down the wing looked up saw Edin Dzeko unmarked in the box and crossed to the Bosnian striker who controlled his volley on goal and despite Myhill getting a hand on it ,he couldn`t stop the ball going in and his shot gave City the lead.

The away side came close soon after, as Romelu Lukaku had another chance go begging as his shot was wide of the target and City breathed a sigh of relief. James Milner came so close to doubling the lead as Milner picked the ball up from outside the area and launched a thunderbolt which struck the post and the visitors cleared the ball away from danger.

Jack Rodwell had another chance to score, but the midfielder just didn`t have his scoring boots on as he could have had a hat trick in the first half from all the chances he didn`t take.  First half came to an end with the home side going into the break with the lead and West Brom were counting the chances they didn`t take as the match could have been so much different had they taken the chances on offer.

Second half was dominated by West Brom as they restricted the home side to any good play they tried to put together ,as Rosenberg tried a shot from outside the box which went to the left hand post of Hart as City were still not fully switched on as the away side had chances. Joelon Lescott then had an attempted headed clearance  latched on to by Lukaka, but the striker had his attack cut out and cleared away by Kolo Toure for a corner.

Samir Nasri then had possession in a rare attack near the Baggies area before the Frenchman was upended by Claudio Yacob for a free kick, before both players got up and went nose to nose as players tried to break things up before things could escalate further.

Dowd gave them both a yellow card and play continued on with Kolarov taking the resulting free kick to which was poor, even by his standards as the free kick hit the wall and was cleared away.

City were struggling as they were under the cosh as their opponents was doing nearly if not all the attacking in the half as they went in search of an equalizing goal ,which to be honest would have been no more than West Brom deserved as their play was much more deserving of more ,as City couldn`t get any type of hold in the game and they seemed to be trying to defend the 1-0 lead more than trying to kill the game off. City then decided to try and shut up shop and get players behind the ball against an aggressive side , as they looked increasingly likely to score as the City defenders had to earn their money as Richards and Toure played a rearguard role stopping any attacks the visitors constructed.

Mancini brought Gareth Barry on for Samir Nasri for the final 18 minutes of the game to try and get the midfield shored up as the visitors camped in home side half as Steve Clarke`s men push onwards for this goal, Markus Rosenberg had a free kick that struck the bar from 25 yards out and moments later he made way for Peter Odemwingie, who came onto the pitch to a very silent reaction from the West Brom travelling support to the Etihad Stadium.

Liam Ridgewell then had a shot from outside the area which went over the bar and you felt it was only a matter of a time before they did strike, due to the amount to possession and play that West Brom was enjoying. Even all people associated with West Bromwich Albion couldn`t believe how they were carving City up without finding the end product.

Shane Long went closer for the Baggies as his shot went a whisker away from the target and it was looking like it was going to be a nervous 10 minutes or so for the home side. City did have a couple of chances but the defense at the back for West Brom was brilliant at cutting out any attacks the home side made.

Peter Odemwingie then had a effort that went wide of Joe Hart goals and City were hanging on for this win, City managed to close the game out and hold on for 3 points which guarantees Champions League football for the 3rd year in a row, but they need 1 more point to consolidate 2nd spot in the table. 

West Brom will count themselves unlucky not to get a point as no one would have begrudged them a point based on the performance they put in and City now fully concentrate onto the FA Cup final v Wigan Athletic on Saturday evening and hope they bring some silverware back up to the Etihad Stadium, though it will be as hard against Wigan as it was against West Brom as Wigan have the players to beat City on their day so the blues will need to be professional and play to their strengths.

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