Norwich tweet City to a final home loss

MANCHESTER CITY   2 - 3 NORWICH CITY

Norwich City condemned manager less Manchester City to defeat in the final game of the season on Sunday, as the East Anglian side beat the former the former League Champions 3-2 at the Etihad Stadium. Manchester City was going through the worst period of their recent history as they had lost the FA Cup final to Wigan Athletic 1-0 the previous last Saturday. 48 hours later the club decided to sack Roberto Mancini as manager after reports of severe unrest within the City camp and for them not hitting the targets set. This game saw the first time City had played at home since the sacking came and there were flags dotted around the stadium of the Red, White and Green of Italy in support of Mancini. 

Brian Kidd took charge of the game for the Blues and chose a team mixed of regulars and fringe players too, as the first choice centre back pairing of Vincent Kompany and Matija Nastasic were missing from the squad , Sergio Aguero, Gareth Barry and David Silva all sat on the bench for the City team. Kidd also gave a start to Jack Rodwell as the young England midfielder has had a torrid time this season with injury upon injury in his debut season at the Etihad Stadium.

Pic from : ESPN

As the teams came out onto the pitch for the pre match traditions ,the fans had took to singing out Mancini name as the players handshakes were going on. Lot of signs were held up thanking the Italian manager for all the contribution he had made to the club over his reign and the home fans weren`t forgetful of that fact either.

As the game got under way it was a far cry from the tension built atmosphere of last season, as this game lacked it in droves, it was Norwich that looked the brighter side of the two, as they playing some very nice entertaining football and looked far from a side that struggling down at the bottom end of the table, as they looked and played more like top 6 side.

Norwich had a good deal of possession of play which gave them their chance, but Grant Holt was flagged offside when he was away on goal. Edin Dzeko had a header goes over for the home side as they tried to get a way into the game; Carlos Tevez was pulling the strings for City as he was easily their best play on the pitch.

Norwich found themselves in trouble, when Kolarov produced a great whipped in cross into the area which eluded the heads of Dzeko and Lescott from a corner kick. Holt had a great a chance to give the visitors the lead as he managed to turn from a tight space but his shot went wide of target and sent clear danger signs that they weren`t here just to defend and make things easy for the home side.

Dzeko had another chance go begging as Samir Nasri spotted the run of the Bosnian striker but his headed effort went into the arms of Ruddy in nets. Norwich fans were certainly enjoying themselves as Norwich were passing the home side off the pitch in the first half hour of the game as their fans cheered each pass that their side made, as City just looked content to let them have the ball as they seemed mostly uninterested. There was a claims of a penalty by the away side as a shot that came in looked to have been blocked with the raised arm of Yaya Toure in the area as the ball went for a corner. From the resulting corner Ryan Bennett had a header going goal wards till Lescott cleared off the line for the home side and the home fans roared the home side to wake up and get into the game.

Pic from : theguardian .com

With all the good play Norwich City had they were unlucky to make it count, Eventually they broke the deadlock and on 26 minutes, appalling defending by City gave Norwich the chance to break as Pilkington slotted the ball past Joe Hart after Wes Hoolahan knocked the ball into the path of the striker and he finished the move off. Pilkington sent the away fans into delirium as they celebrated the goal and gave the Canaries a deserved 1-0 lead. 

The lead lasted all of 3 minutes as a good passing move by City found Nasri who played the ball towards Dzeko in the area, he then laid it off for Jack Rodwell who took it on his right foot before moving it back onto his left foot and pulled the trigger to make it 1-1 and score his first goal for City since his move in the summer.

Pic from : yahoosports

The Home side then enjoyed a purple patch in the game as they had the ball and started to attack a bit more in the Canaries half. Norwich had a free kick outside the area and Joe Hart tipped over from the Snodgrass attempt, when it seemed easier to catch it with the lack of pace on the ball.

Tevez and Nasri combined in the penalty area and when the Frenchman tried a one-two with Yaya Toure till he put too much on it and went out of play. James Milner then started an attack for City as he put a low ball into the area which saw a Norwich defender put Dzeko off as his shot went wide of the target. Wes Hoolahan for Norwich put a good cross in for Grant Holt but the Striker just couldn`t get on the end of his cross, Snodgrass had a shot go just inches wide of the goal, as if any type of a touch had occurred it would have gone in.

City were struggling at the back as the Norwich forwards were having a field day with the defenders as they were performing badly, Tevez was then fouled by Johnny Howson, Tevez didn`t appreciate the challenge on him as they had a little bit of handbags over it just on the stroke of half time.

Pic from : ESPN

Second half started and Norwich were still looking the brighter side of the two teams as Joe Hart made the first save of the half stopping a Johnson header, as the midfielder headed it downward and the England keeper pushed the ball away. Snodgrass was a pain to City as he was getting under their skin and at one point went down theatricality in the area from a Toure challenge.

Kidd then made the first change of the game as he brought Carlos Tevez off for what looked like his final game in a sky blue shirt as he waved to the crowd as he got a standing ovation from the Home faithful as it seems by the applause, if it was his last game he had got back in the good books of the Home side fans after last season incident.

He made way for his fellow countryman Sergio Aguero and the Argentinian nearly scored, As after good play by James Milner his attempted lay off for Aguero was cut out by Martin and cleared away for Norwich .Moments later Grant Holt got the goal he deserved as he was causing lots of problems at the back for City and his play was fantastic for the Canaries. It was a very well crafted goal by the Yellow & Green shirted men , as Kolarov was caught out of position when Hoolahan spotted the man in space on the City left and sprayed the ball to him, Snodgrass managed to controlled it very well before putting a low cross in the area which was missed by players running in but Holt was ghosting in on the back post to side foot the ball home and put Norwich back in front at 2-1.

Pic from :EMPICS Sport

City once again drew level and once again it was that man Rodwell, Yaya Toure first real play all game put a long through ball upfield for the England midfield to chase down and when Rodwell out run Whittaker down the Norwich right, he continued to run into the area and from a tight angle put it far post and scored a fantastic goal to give him his second of the game and was like buses, you wait all season for one and two come along at once.

Sergio Aguero then had a shot go over the bar with an effort , before the home fans let out another rendition of "Mancini", the chants quickly went silence when Norwich scored a third goal. The ball looked to have gone out of play by the managers technical area twice in the build up to the goal, but the linesman never flagged and so the ensuing attack saw Johnny Howson score a magnificent solo goal which started from the centre circle. 

Howson beat off Six City defenders with him finally fending off Micah Richards advances as last man before tucking it away past Hart for 3-2.

City`s 2nd change came in the shape of Rodwell going off in place of David Silva, the chance made no sense as the best two players on the pitch in blue shirts had both been taken off by Brian Kidd and after that City looked slow, disinterested and lacked any effort at all.

Edin Dzeko had a chance to make it 3-3 but fired over from close range after a good move by the City forwards. There was a little flashpoint as well involving Kolarov and a section of City fans in the South stand, as when the fans were displeased with Kolarov defending and the fans let him know about it he allegedly made hand gestures to the fans in that part of the ground and was greeted with whistles and boos.

For the next few minutes or so whenever the Serbian defender had the ball the section of fans in that block booed his every touch and serenaded him with "There`s only one Gael Clichy" as a way of getting back at him. 

Pic from :yahoosports

Manchester City looked increasing unlikely to score as Norwich were high on confidence and controlling the game, It also saw the final yellow card ever dished out by Mark Halsey, as this was the Bolton official’s last game in charge as he was retiring due to the age limit set for referees.

Lescott was shown the yellow card for barging into Hoolahan when he made no attempt to win the ball.

City had a good spell of pressure in the remaining minutes, but nothing that caused Norwich any problems at all and so the whistle went to bring the curtain down on the 2012-13 season and one City will look back on a poor one in many ways.