Negredo magic sees sluggish City beat Tigers!

MANCHESTER CITY      2   -   0    HULL CITY  

65.   Negredo,   90 Toure



Att:46,905 

Alvaro Negredo scoring the opener in 2-0 win : pic via Yahoo sport.com

A very below standard performance by Manchester City saw Substitute Alvaro Negredo spare the home sides blushes, with a header to ignite his team and see them finally see off a spirited Hull City 2-0 in the lunchtime game at the Etihad Stadium.

City got out the blocks quicker than their opponents did, as they were playing some very fluid and attacking football, however the City in the question was that of Hull City not the home side.

The newly promoted side in the Barclays Premier League is managed by ex-Manchester United player Steve Bruce. It`s fair to say they look a tough nut to crack this time around in the top flight  than their last experience in the league, with the East Yorkshire side not looking to just park the bus like most teams do at top 5 sides grounds.

Hull gave as good as they got and could easily have gone ahead before the 7th minute mark, When Sone Aluko dropped the shoulder to go one way and saw him trick Joleon Lescott, as the striker broke through one on one with only Joe Hart to beat and with the goal at his mercy, he failed to hit the target as he pulled his shot wide of the right side of goal, wasting a great opportunity for Hull to take the lead. 

Manchester City had a rare chance at Hull`s goal, when from a Jesus Navas corner Aleksandar Kolarov tried to head home at the near post and saw Tigers keeper Allan McGregor make a good stop to put the ball out for another corner.

Hull thought that they broke the dead lock on 10 minutes when a Robbie Brady cross was put home by Danny Graham, only to be denied by an offside flag on the far side. 

Scottish keeper Allan McGregor was called upon yet again by Hull, when the home side had a little spell of pressure on the Tigers net. David Silva put a good cross into the area as Joelon Lescott had his header tipped over by the goalkeeper as he made sure the kept the score goalless.

Hull had another chance go begging, this time when a Tom Huddlestone free-kick was cleared , but went only as far as Robert Koren which saw the Slovenian hit a strike from outside the box and go inches past the post. Hull really should have had City buried by now with all these chances they created and possession they had in the game as well.

First booking of the game came when Maynor Figueroa came into the back of Jesus Navas and saw him picked up a yellow card off Phil Dowd, but he had hardly any time to put his book away, when Fernandinho then got added as he went in the book after a late tackle on Sone Aluko. 

City then shown a glimpse of what they can do, when some one-touch football between Aguero, Silva and Fernandinho in a tight space, saw them get the Hull defence panicking but no one was there to pull the trigger for the home side as the fans were getting irrate and restless with their side unable to do anything in the game, though credit goes massively to Hull ,with the way they stifled all City`s play over the pitch.

Manuel Pellegrini would certainly need to break away from his cool as ice image, with City looking a shambles on the pitch as it was like they were still struggling to shake off the Cardiff hangover.

Pablo Zabaleta then put a hard but fair challenge on Aluko who was feeling it, Hull wanted the ball played out but City continued on, till Brady then turned into a Rugby player as he tackled Zabaleta off the pitch near the by line and complained about the challenge on Aluko as he felt it was an unfair one to start off with.

City had one last chance in a poor half for the home side, as Navas put a cross back post for Yaya Toure, but his jumped was mistimed as it went high and went for a goal kick.

Nastasic battles with Hull`s Aaron McClean: scmp.com

Half time came with Steve Bruce and his men having mixed emotions on the half. On one hand they would be delighted with holding up City and stopping their attacking threat they posed. While on the other hand, they will look back and think that they should`ve buried their chances too and take a lead into the break.

If you had never watched football before and had to guess who was the millionaires, then you`d think Hull were the team with the quality players put on show,as they torn City apart and bamboozled them, especially Robbie Brady and Sone Aluko.

Second half saw Manuel Pellegrini make a change and try to inject some impetus and attack to the side. The City boss brought on Spanish forward Alvaro Negredo for fellow striker Edin Dzeko who had a pretty poor half and was missing in the first half of play. 

Negredo had a great chance minutes from coming on as a beautiful ball was played into by Silva in the box,  but the Spanish forward skewed his header very wide of the target and he couldn`t believe it as it was a simple chance for him. 

Joe Hart who has come in for some criticism of late for his goal keeping ability, nearly played himself into more trouble, when he did step over to trick Brady who had closed him down and managed to get out of trouble and had he got that wrong more people would been on his back.

Graham had another effort for the Tigers, when a poor header from Pablo Zabaleta was controlled by the Hull man and he managed to lashed the ball over the bar.

The home side were starting to come into the game more now, in the 53rd minute the game Spanish trio of Negredo, Silva and Navas combined with Navas just failing to get his foot round the ball and saw City gain confidence in attack.

Nastatic then went into the book, when with Hull on the attack he brought down Aluko to earn himself a yellow card. Hull were still coming at City, but the home side was soaking up the pressure of the away team as the game became stretched and more open.

Robert Koren then became the fourth man to go into the referee’s book, as he hacked down Kolarov to end a possible City attack.

Then in the 65th minute despite all of Hull`s good play and looking the better side in the game at this point, Alvaro Negredo got his head on a Zabaleta cross and beat Hull keeper Allan McGregor who stretched himself big to block it, but couldn`t stop the Spaniard scoring his first league goal at the Etihad Stadium after he was robbed of one on his debut against Newcastle United.

City made their second change, when Samir Nasri came on for David Silva at the restart of the game and minutes after Sone Aluko ,who was the main threat for Hull up front went off for the Tigers with an apparent hamstring injury. He became the third player this season to be struck down with a hamstring injury at the Etihad Stadium, with Jonas Gutiereez and Vincent Kompany picking up similar injuries in the first game there.

Curtis Davies then picked up a yellow card for catching Navas down the right wing even though he didn`t agree he should have been booked. 

Pellegrini made his final change for the home side, as he brought on England midfielder James Milner for Sergio Aguero, who had a quiet game by his standards. 

Hull were looking a bit tired now as the game went on, after all the good work they had done in the first half it was now starting to catch up with them now while City were getting stronger in the final 10 minutes of the game. 

Samir Nasri then won a free kick for the home side just outside the area in the same position that Yaya Toure had score from in the previous home game against Newcastle, would history repeat it`s self.

The answer was yes, as Yaya Toure produced a curling free kick in the top corner of the Hull City net,  which was more impressive than the one in the previous home game. As Toure had to get it over the defender`s head on the line as well as over the wall and past the keeper too score.

YAYA TOURE celebrates his goal for 2-0: pic nacion.com

The Ivorian midfielder extended the lead for the home side to 2-0 right on the 90th minute mark, making the score line very flattering to the home side indeed though the score didn`t tell the full story of this game.

Hull could feel rightly robbed, as they certainly deserved something from this game for all the attacking play they had and were they more dominant side, but had they been clinical in front of goal then the game would have been far different. But as it was, City took the win and moved into Second place temporarily till the other sides played their games in the day.

Man City boss :Manuel Pellegrini

City boss Manuel Pellgrini, will know harder games lay in wait and judged on the last 2 games against the promoted sides, he will need a massive improvement from his team of stars. With the defensive problems sticking out like a sore thumb they will need work on it, while Captain Vincent Kompany will be away for a month with his Hamstring injury.

However on the good side of things, City kept a clean sheet and Alvaro Negredo showing that despite missing chances, he isn`t afraid to keep going as it showed as he scored his 2nd goal in 3 games, though it should be 3goals in 3 games.