City give toffees away day Blues

Manchester City           3   -   1         Everton

             
Negredo 17',  Aguero 45' ,  Howard 69' (og)                                          Lukaku 16'             

Manuel Pellegrini got a response from his Manchester City side in the early Saturday lunchtime game against Everton, after his side was humiliated in the Champions League clash this past week against German side Bayern Munich. Talk before the game was whether Pellegrini would drop the England no1 Joe Hart due to his string of poor performances along the way of late, waiting in the wings was that of Romanian keeper Costel Pantilimon who has played in the cup competitions for the past couple of seasons for City and has played very well too, as well as helping them get to the FA Cup final last year, before then Boss Roberto Mancini chose to pick Hart over him.

Despite all the talk of Hart being possibly dropped and replaced, the City manager stuck with his number 1 keeper for the game as he made a few changes to the side  that lost to Bayern Munich Wednesday night. In came James Milner, Aleksander Kolarov, Joelon Lescott, Pablo Zabaleta and Alvaro Negredo to side. For the opening quarter of the game, Everton was by far the most attacking side between the two as they pressured City and carved them open without really troubling the goals really.

City had the opening chances in the game with Kolarov shooting from outside the area and hitting the side netting, as well as then having a header from a David Silva corner go just over the bar by the Serbian International defender. Everton had the majority of possession in the opening quarter of the game and they eventually made it pay. Everton defender Phil Jagielka played a ball up field which was latched on to by Romelu Lukaku down the right flank and who had beat the off side trap thanks to the two Manchester city centre-backs playing Lukaku onside.

Everton`s Romelu Lukaku scores opener  Picture via :Theguardian.co.uk

Lukaku then danced his way inside the area before shooting on goal and having the ball go under Hart in the goals, who took some pace off the ball. But not enough to stop the ball going in for an Everton goal after 15 minutes in. The lead lasted all of 90 seconds, before City first attack after the goal saw them level the score. Some good work by Yaya Toure saw him get free and then played a beautiful through ball to Negredo who then put it home to draw level at 1-1, this then kick started City into gear.

Aguero then wasted a glorious chance for the home side, after a well crafted set piece by the blues saw a great passing move in the Everton area come to the feet of Aguero who put the ball wide of the far post from a great position. There was then a massive problem for the home side when Vincent Kompany stayed down as he picked up a thigh injury. Despite getting treatment he walked off down the tunnel for the second time this season at home with another injury blighting his season, the Belgian was replaced by Matija Nastasic, as Pellegrini was forced into an early substitution for the Blues. Everton had a very good claim for a penalty, when Nastasic seemed to barge Lukaku over in the area as the ball was going out of play.

Negredo draws City level      Picture via :dailymirror

Sergio Aguero then had another great chance to possibly fire City ahead when David Silva played a lovely ball across the area for the striker, only for the Argentine striker to stumble as the ball came to him and the chance went begging. Alvaro Negredo and Seamus Coleman got into a heated argument prior to home sides second goal, after Coleman had swung the Spanish striker round the neck outside the area to which Negredo wasn`t too pleased with Coleman over. Tim Howard came out of his goals to try and calm the situation, before quickly running back in goals as City broke away on the attack.

Silva had led the charge towards the Everton defence and he spotted Aguero before laying the pass to the striker, who with a tight angle drilled it past Howard far corner for 2-1 City lead just before half time. Referee John Moss blew for half time but then called James Milner over to show him a yellow card as the players were walking off the field of play for half time, after the City player challenge injured Coleman and after Everton player showed their displeasure towards the referee, he then show the yellow card to Milner as took two Everton players out with a strong challenge.

Sergio Aguero scores for 2-1 Picture via : bbcsport

 Second half saw City boss Manuel Pellegrini once again forced into a defensive shuffle, when a clash between Kolarov, Nastastic and Naismith from Everton saw play stopped due to injury to both City defenders. Kolarov had sustained a cut that needed treatment and was bad enough to see the Serbian defender swapped for Gael Clichy. City must have thought that their defensive ranks were cursed when no stranger to giving to blood to the cause in Pablo Zabaleta, the argentine picked up a bloodied head as he was given some stuff to help stop the bleeding for the City man when home side was suffering with defensive problems the whole game. Zabaleta was then involved in a penalty incident, when the Argentine defender ran onto the ball in the area and some contact by Coleman saw the City man go down in the area and had Moss award a penalty to the home side. Sergio Aguero was given the task of making the game safe with the penalty kick, but he failed with the spot kick and saw his effort hit the post and then bounce off the back of Tim Howard`s head into the net for a 3-1 lead.

 Negredo and Coleman go nose to nose prior to 2nd City goal                            Picture via : RTE.IE

Sylvain Distin had a chance for Everton which was collected by Joe Hart as he had hardly anything to do in the second half at all, Negredo then had a chance to extend the lead for City but Howard was equal to it. The final chance of the game fell to the home side, with some good play between Toure and Nasri down in the Everton corner, Nasri managed to weave his way into the Toffees box (no pun intended) and was denied by Tim Howard at the near post otherwise it was 4-1.

 City took the three points and in doing so handed Everton their first loss of the season and showed a response from their defeat midweek and shown resiliency to come back from a goal down to win the match, the win also moved City up to third place before the rest of the games took place.

   

Hart blunders as City get taught European lesson

Manchester City           1  -  3        Bayern Munich

Negredo  79'                                                                                  Ribery '7 , Muller 56', Robben 59'

Manchester City got a lesson the hard way by Bayern Munich last Wednesday Night, when the German Giants ripped and torn apart the blues on their home turf at the Etihad Stadium. Two weeks before in matchday 1 everything seemed to look bright and rosy for City after they had comfortably beat Viktoria Plzen 3-0 in the Czech republic and that result looked like the Blues could give the German champions a run for their money in matchday 2. Sadly for City that proved to the most opposite thing possible as the game with Bayern Munich showed their opponents was more ruthless from the as they dominated from the first whistle and from looking like world beaters against neighbours Manchester United in the derby, they looked more like lost sheep in this clash.

Both sides had early chances, with Arjen Robben heading over from a cross by David Alaba for Bayern and then Micah Richards went close for the home side with a powerful header from a Samir Nasri cross, as the defenders header was easy dealt with for Manuel Neuer who collected. Then a hammer blow came to City, when Franck Ribery moved within 25 yards of the City goals and the French International let loose a strike which wasn`t dealt with by Joe Hart, as he made yet another mistake in a string of errors by the England International goal keeper of late. Bayern took full control of the game as Ribery, Robben and Muller was running the show for the visitors, with the home side unable to stop the Bayern side as they played most of the first half camped inside the City half with Munich looking much like the side that won this tournament last season.

Bayern looked extremely dangerous and threatened on every attack they made in the match, Robben was cutting City to shreds once again in midfield, when the Dutchman put a fizzing  ball across the face of goal, where Muller was just unable to get a touch on it as the ball was hit a bit too much with pace for the striker to convert. Alaba saw his powerful volley deflect off Matija Nastasic chest and get collected by Hart in goals as the deflection could have easily gone in the nets. The first booking of the game came against City, when a poor challenge by Sergio Aguero on Ranfinha saw him collect a yellow card as City were clearly frustrated at not being able to contain the German side in this match. There were boos aimed at the home side by the fans, as they were watching their side completely outplayed and was embarrassing them too, with City putting up hardly any fight at all as Bayern snuffed everything out they threw at the away side. Half time came luckily for the home side and  where they could time to sit down and reflect on what they had to do to get back into the contest, as they can count themselves very very lucky to be just 1-0 down at the break.

pic via: Eurosports

Second half was much in the similar vein of the first half,  Bayern were still by far in the way of things in control of the game, as City started to look a bit brighter in the game yet Bayern were beating City with ease and they should really have been out of sight in the game by the time Thomas Muller doubled the lead for the visitors. Bayern`s 2^nd goal started from a long ball by Dante and Gael Clichy was caught ball watching as well as trying to play offside and got in a complete tangle, which gave Muller time to collect the ball and put past Hart for  a 2-0 lead as City were in a total mess in defence. Pellegrini decided to make a change for City as he substituted Edin Dzeko who did little all game for Spanish forward Alvaro Negredo. Arjen Robben showed his dangerous trait as he made sure the points were going back to Germany, when he teased and terrorised Nastastic pulling him one way and another before he finally drilled his shot near post beating Hart to make it 3-0 as Bayern scored 2 goals in 3 minutes to see off City and the contest as a whole.

Pic via BBC:

Bayern had 65% possession at the halfway point of the second half, as Hart was called into action making saves from Kroos as well as two Robben attempts as well, this was a reversal of fortunes for City as they were having done to them what they did in the derby. Nasri picked up a yellow card before the City manager made two changes to his side as he tried to tighten the midfielder up which had more holes than swiss cheese in it. Aguero and Nasri made room for David Silva and James Milner, as the City pair seemed to make the team a bit more solid for the first time in the game. City had to play for pride for the remaining 20 minutes or so in the game as they were out over by the Bavarian side. Milner collected the home side`s 3rd yellow of the game for a foul on Kroos and Muller nearly made it 4-0 for the German side when his shot came back off the post and had Hart well and truly beaten. James Milner had an effort on goal tipped over by Neuer as City mounted a mini revival.

Arjen Robben then went off to a standing ovation from the Home supporters after his display for the Bayern, as he was one of the main reasons his side won due to the chaos he caused for the Blues with his attacking runs and play. Then with 12 minutes from the end to go, Alvaro Negredo gave the home fans at last!..something to cheer for, when he score a beautiful goal. The man named “the Beast” took the pass outside the area and turned away quickly from the ex City defender Jerome Boateng and he then curled a shot far corner past the out stretched glove of Neuer for 3-1 score and could City make an unlikely comeback in this game. Franck Ribery then got subbed for Mario Gotze for the visitors, we then had a City attack get stopped as Yaya Toure broke through on goal and then got brought down by Boateng outside the area was shown a red card for being last man as it gave City a slight bit of hope for the remaining 8 minutes of play.

pic via : theguardian

The resulting free kick by David Silva saw him beat the wall and keeper, but not the wood work as it struck the bar and the ball got cleared away by the Bayern defence. Milner was giving Bayern a few problems late on with his pace as he made a surging run down the wing and managed to pick out Negredo, whose header went goal wards and saw it agonisingly go just past the post for the home side. The German side held on a very comfortable and terrific lesson on how to pressure and retain the football. This display made them look a lot more powerful and dominant than last year`s success which is a very scary thought for the rest of the sides in the competition. For City, it`s back to the old drawing board and regroup with the next two games vital for Champions league qualification, as they take on CSKA Moscow both home and away in their group as it seems all but certain that Munich will take top spot. 

GROUP D

    

                                               PLD    W     D     L     F      A     GD   PTS

1 Bayern Munich         2   2    0    0    6   1     5       6

2 Man City                 2   1    0   1   4   3     1       3

  

3 CSKA Moscow         2   1    0   1   3   5   -2       3

4 Viktoria Plzen                 2   0    0    2   2   6   -4       0

Phoenix thrash Phantoms and skin the Cats!

MANCHESTER PHOENIX  11 - 0 PETERBOROUGH PHANTOMS

The Manchester Phoenix made it yet another 4 point weekend with victories over the Swindon Wildcats and Peterborough Phantoms with them completing two shutouts in both games. Saturday seen the Phoenix travel down to Wiltshire and come back with the 2points as they beat the Wildcats 4-0 as they put four goal past arguably the best goaltender in the EPL, goals came goals for Manchester came from Player-Coach Tony Hand and the Czech trio of Michal Psurny, Rob Schnabel and Frankie Bakrlik as the Phoenix made it 5 wins from 5 games.

Sunday`s game against the Peterborough Phantoms was another complete performance by the Manchester outfit as they outclassed, outworked and out muscled their opponents for the full 60 minutes after they dismantled the East Anglian side 11-0 at home at the Silver Blades Ice rink in Altrincham.

From the drop of the puck both teams played an even steven game at first, but it would quickly become clear that Phoenix held the upper hand in the contest as their devastating attacking prowess in this game would be unleashed with their forward`s showing what they can do when they click. Phoenix controlled a majority of the first period as Peterborough weren`t allowed to get any kind of foothold in the game at all, as the Phantoms had been involved in a bruising home win against the Bracknell Bees the night before and the match seemed to have took a bit out of them.

Phoenix showed they were a physical side too as the home side was finishing off their checks on their visitors with ex-Phantom player Richard Bentham laying a stiff hard check on Peterborough forward Marc Levers in the Phantoms zone which saw Levers hit the ice hard.

Robert Kovar went close to opening the scoring for the home side, but he was denied by Damien King between the pipes for the Peterborough side as the young netminder faced a lot of rubber from Manchester, with his defense not helping him much in the game. At the other end of the rink, Manchester Phoenix netminder Steve Fone who was fresh from his shutout win against Swindon the night before nearly got embarrassed when Slovakian forward Erik Piatak blocked a Fone clearance and the puck just trickled past the Phoenix nets and got cleared away. Peterborough nets was being peppered by the Phoenix attack with Czech forward Michal Psurny and Bentham both coming close for the home side.

All the pressure the Phoenix were putting onto Peterborough finally told when Andy McKinney and Richie Bentham combined the nets before Bentham put the puck out front for the incoming Liam Chong to skate onto and up it high up in the Phantoms nets for deserved 1-0 lead at 8:45. James Archer had a deflected shot nearly catch King out with the netminder making a save to stop another ex-Phantom from doubling the score.

Phoenix was creating a heck of a lot of chances, yet the home side just couldn`t quite find the finishing touch that was need to score. Then at 13:05 Phoenix forward Jack Watkins flew down the left wing before skating freely in the Peterborough zone and finished off with a back handed flick to put the puck home over King shoulder from a tight angle as it bounce in and out, after a littles hesitation with the goal judge and the referee a goal was awarded eventually to Watkins, Robert Kovar and Frankie Bakrlik was credited with assists on the 2nd goal.

Frankie Bakrlik then went to the box for the first penalty of the game at 13:46 when he was called for Cross Checking on one of the Ferrara brother`s as he sent him crashing to the boards and the Phantom wasn`t very happy either with the incident. Peterborough did try to get into the game, the only problem was that Phoenix was in another gear to their guests as they played a fantastic style of hockey.

Manchester looked comfortable on the penalty kill and so when time ticked down on the Bakrlik 'Cross Checks' penalty, the puck was cleared from the Phoenix zone and bounced off the boards near the penalty box and just as the penalty happened to expire, Bakrlik race out of the box and took the puck forwards and fired it top far corner on King for a great goal at 15:45, with McKinney setting the playing up. For the remainder of the opening period Phoenix controlled the period and Peterborough was just unable to deal with the home side attack.

In the Second stanza Phoenix kept the high tempo up and that pressure paid off, when two Phantoms defensemen had a fail on their own blue line which resulted in Bakrlik pinching the puck off them and then skate unopposed into the Phantoms zone and fired home from the slot for a 4-0 score line after 23:00.

Phoenix was cutting through the Peterborough defences with ease as King was left hung out to dry so often for the visitors, as they tried to forced their way back into the contest but they just couldn`t get to grips with the home side at all as it was becoming embarrassingly easy for Phoenix. To be fair though on Peterborough, they put up a brave effort for the first period and half of the second, before Manchester went through the gears and went onto dominate the game from then on.

Peterborough forwards were taking shots at distance which saw Phoenix netminder Steve Fone save every shot the visitors put on net as they weren`t troubling Fone at all, at the other end Phoenix was shooting at will at Damien King who must have felt like he was a one man team at times.

Czech forward Michal Psurny made it 5-0 for the home side at 31:58 when Joe Graham passed to the Zlin native and he blasted it in at the near post to beat King. 

Players stand back as Andy McKinney tangles with Greg Pick

From the restart Greg Pick started a fight with Andy McKinney who both dropped the gloves and helmet and the build up lasted longer than the actual fight it`s self, Pick thrown a few punches which didn`t connect, McKinney then threw some bombs too which had one catch Pick and McKinney got the take down for the narrow win with both picking up 2+2 for Roughing.

A few minutes later Phoenix were still creating chance upon chance as the goal judge put the light on when Kovar at the front of the net managed to somehow lift it over the goals from close range, however goals were always likely for Phoenix as they were tearing them apart with the Phantoms leaving lots of gaps at the back which saw quite a few breakaways.

Goal 6 came in the shape of Frankie Bakrlik scoring at 34:26 with James Neil passing up ice to the Czech forward and Bakrlik laser beam beat King to complete his hat trick and pile the agony on Peterborough, with them looking down and out now and completely out of ideas. For the Phantoms the shipping of goals was not over in this period as they conceded a seventh goal when James Archer came back to 'Haunt' his old employers, as he was first onto a loose puck at the front of goals and he scored from close range with Tony Hand & Joe Graham assisting at 38:10.

In the final period of play Manchester Phoenix player-coach Tony Hand decided to coach from the bench and gave some precious ice time to back up netminder Jorge El-Hage.

At 45:06 Michal Psurny scored for the home side to make it 8-0 with McKinney and Captain Luke Boothroyd grabbing assists on the goal for a thrashing now. Peterborough then won a penalty shot when Erik Piatak was upended when through on goal by Luke Boothroyd and Pering awarded a penalty shot to the Phantoms. From the resulting penalty shot El-Hage denied Piatak who took the shot himself as the goaltender made sure he preserved the round number in the away side column.

Jaroslav Cesky who was seen as the main attacking threat for the Phantoms had gone missing for the away team in this game, but he managed to pick up a 10 minute misconduct penalty for abuse of official after he complained to referee Pering about something off the play.

El-Hage denies Piatak a goal from a Penalty shot

Manchester got back to scoring ways, when Robert Kovar got on the score sheet from some good play by Bakrlik to hold off the Phantoms defensemen as he shielded the puck, before passing to Kovar who put the puck in the net with some nifty stick work and then back handed it for a 9-0 score at 52:48. Bakrlik then scored a well taken goal as he received a pass from Rob Schnabel and the Czech forward collected the pass faced goal and fired in his fourth goal of the game, to make it double figures for the home side at 54:34 with James Neil getting the 2nd assist on the goal to make it 10-0.

The scoring was completed in the game when Schnabel set up the man who had started the scoring off and also finished the scoring off too in Liam Chong, as the forward turned and shot at King and saw his effort go in for 11-0 at 55:20 as the home side could easily have scored 20 in this game, as they were so dominant as, which was helped by Peterborough playing poor too.  

Phoenix  defence nets from rare Phantoms pressure

With over the minute of play left in the third, Phoenix were caught with 'too many men on the ice so they finished off with a man down, but Phoenix earned a second Shut-out in two days as they stayed top of the league in the EPL table after 6 games gone, but it`s early days yet in the league but will be a marker for how they will want to play for the season for sure.

Penalty shot save by El-Hage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCvf5aDVw9E&feature=youtu.be

Phoenix Podcast: http://manchesterphoenix.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/not-ghost-of-chance.html

Aguero double massacre United in Derby

MANCHESTER CITY   4   -  1  MANCHESTER UNITED

 

Aguero 16',47  Toure 45'  Nasri 50'                  Rooney 87'

 Yaya Toure scores to make it 2-0 for City                    PIC:BBCSPORTS

Two Sergio Aguero volleys helped Manchester City earn the bragging rights in Manchester till the return fixture next year, as him and his team mates in the sky blue shirts massacred Manchester United 4-1 in the 166th Manchester Derby at the Etihad Stadium. Manuel Pellegrini had said in the build up to the clash of the two Manchester rivals that they had to win to show their credentials in the title reckoning this season and that the game with arch rivals across town would be a good marker down for where they were.

The Chilean Manager at City had said previously that the most fiercely contested derby he`d been involved with was the Famous Argentina derby between River Plate and Boca Juniors in the Superclassico.

For United they were given a blow before kick off with the news Robin Van Persie was out of the game with a thigh strain as United added Marouane Fellaini to the line up for the derby clash.

Manchester United Manager David Moyes had never won an away derby with Everton in his tenure at the  Goodison Park club, but he did have a very successful record at the Etihad Stadium with Everton, so he was hoping his record would transfer over to his new club.

City went with a change of attacker as Spanish forward Alvaro Negredo was picked to partner Sergio Aguero up front as Pellegrini looked to set his side up in an attacking manor on his managerial debut in a Manchester derby.

From the first whistle it was City who pressured, punished and bossed United around for almost of the whole game, as the blue side showed they meant business in this derby game. In the 3rd minute of the game a sloppy pass by Nemanja Vidic went straight to Jesus Navas outside the United area and the Spanish midfielder struck a shot that went just over the bar and let their neighbours know that City were up for it.

Moments later saw the first card of the game brandished by Howard Webb, when the home side Matija Nastasic was the man to pick up the opening yellow card of this contest, when the Montenegro defender went up for a header with Chris Smalling and saw the defender slightly mistime his jump as he clashed heads with the United man and saw Webb show a yellow card which was a poor decision.

City`s midfielders were over running the non-existent midfield of United with Yaya Toure, Samir Nasri and Jesus Navas all working hard for the home side as they caused them a lot of problems. The home side kept possession fantastically well too as they pinned there visitors back in their own half and led to them breaking the deadlock eventually in the 15th minute.

Move was started by Frenchman Samir Nasri picking the ball up just inside the United half and running at Chris Smalling in the United defence, before the midfielder stopped just to the left side of the United penalty area, as he waited for the run of Aleskander Kolarov to come. Nasri then back heeled it into his path with the Serbian defender crossing into the area for an unmarked Sergio Aguero to volley home and give City a deserved 1-0 lead.

Aguero celebrates his first goal.      PIC: Yahoosports.com

City nearly went two up minutes later, when more pressing by home side saw the Red devils defense in trouble and from a Jesus Navas cross, Pablo Zabaleta went up for a header with Smalling and saw the ball come down to Nasri to which the midfielder struck it first time as it went inches over the bar with City very much in the ascendancy.

United`s only player on the pitch seemed to be Wayne Rooney as the rest of the team was nowhere to be seen in the match. Rooney and City Captain Vincent Kompany were having a real tussle all game with neither giving ground and giving as good as each other gave back to one another.

United rarely got out of their own half in the first half as attacks were few and far between for the away side, everything they did create came to nothing with City snuffing everything out that involved a red shir.

Rooney then picked up a yellow card after an accumulation of 4 fouls, with the official Howard Webb speaking to him and told him, it was his 4th offence in the game and so he had to show him a card for the persistent fouls he`d racked up.

Toure was running the show in the midfield, as the talk of who would win the battle between him and Fellaini in the build up was answered emphatically with Toure giving United a terrible time, along with Nasri too. City Strikers Sergio Aguero and Alvaro Negredo were causing chaos for Rio Ferdinand and Nemandia Vidic in the defence especially Negredo, who is nicknamed "the Beast" and he shown his beast like strength throughout the game, as the Spaniard put in a great performance in his first outing in a derby.

United enjoyed their first bit of possession, but they wasn`t making any head way at all at the final third as they had their first chance of the game come in the 41st minute, when a Antonio Valencia shot was dragged wide of the target, much to the enjoyment of the home fans. 

Ashley Young then summed up United attacking threat in the first half, when the midfielder picked the ball up midway in the City half and then was caught into two minds what to do with the ball, Young then seemed to try a curler from a long way out with seemed to be like a half shot, half cross as he saw the ball go out of play and fair to say it wasn`t one of his best performances in a United shirt.

City doubled their lead before half time when all the pressure they put United under in the game saw them rewarded with second, when Yaya Toure directed a Negredo header goal wards into the back of the net from a Samir Nasri corner, with Toure giving City a commanding 2-0 lead at the break.

AGUERO puts city 3-0 up      PIC: Indianexpress.com

David Moyes will have given his troops a good grilling after their poor first half display, as he will have wanted a response from his side, however the one he got wasn`t the one he wanted. Two minutes after the restart saw Manchester City break up a United attack and led to them starting up their own attack, when Toure again was at the heart of the move as the Ivorian passed to Nasri, who collected the pass knocked it inside the area to Negredo who used all his strength to hold off Vidic, before he put a ball across goal for Aguero to volley side foot for 3-0.

The home fans couldn`t believe what they were witnessing and neither could Moyes as his defense was looking static and were getting embarrassed by the home side now, as this was anything but a Champions display by the away side. 

United were going to make a change as Tom Cleverly was stripped off ready to come on for United as the reds conceded the 3rd, the reds were stunned by City`s play as thoughts started to creep in to the minds of City fan`s that they could possibly replicate the 6-1 win they dished out a couple seasons ago.

Things got even worse for the visitors when Kompany broke up play by United just outside the City area and he set up another break, with the Belgian Captain setting Navas off down the right flank before he put deep across goal into the area with Samir Nasri volleying home for 4-0 much to the joy of the home fans and Captain Vincent Kompany as everyone was enjoying the massacre now on the Blue half of Manchester.

Nasri had been vilified by the City fans in the 3-2 derby loss against Manchester United back in December last year, when the Frenchman was adjudged by many fans to have wimped out of blocking Van Persie`s last minute winner against the blues. As Nasri seemed to shy away from making any real effort to block the free kick that led to the winning goal, so forward 10 months later and he got some retribution as he fired the goal that all but cemented the win for City with only 50 minutes gone in the game.

City came close to making it 5-0, when Jesus Navas spotted the movement of Alvaro Negredo towards the front of goals and if not for Vidic intervention then it was certainly looking like another goal for the home side. For United, it was nothing more now than a damaged limitations exercise for Moyes and his team and when Rooney had an effort go over the bar from a great position, it almost seemed to show that this was not to be their day at all.

Samir Nasri wheels away after he makes it 4-0  for City    PIC: theguardian.com

The blues seemed to take their foot off the gas after the fourth goal as United started to take over in the possession side, but they just couldn`t find a way past the City back line as they were stopped at every turn especially by Vincent Kompany, who had an immense game for the home side. 

Tom Cleverly gave United a bit of freshness in the midfield as they had more of the ball in the second half as they huffed and puffed at the City defense but nothing was doing for the men from Old Trafford, as they just couldn`t work anything at all that was threatening for Joe Hart.

Marouane Felliain then struck one from outside the area that saw Joe Hart come to life, with the England International tipping the ball over for a corner as it was the first real shot on the goal that United had created all game.

Antonio Valencia then went down far to easily inside the area after he battled with Kolarov down the right wing and seemed to wait till he reached the area before going to ground. He wanted a penalty that he was never going to get and Valencia voiced his displeasure toward Mr Webb as he ran up to Webb and earned himself a yellow card for dissent.

Negredo then had a chance before he pulled his shot wide of the target, when he snatched at a shot outside the area when the striker went fro power instead of accuracy.

Manuel Pellegrini then substituted Alvaro Negredo to a standing ovation from the home crowd, as he was replaced by a player who has fond memories of past derbies in Edin Dzeko, who scored 2 late goals in the infamous 6-1 win against United during their championship season. 

Dzeko tried a long range effort with wasn`t fully collected by De Gea in the United net, as he was almost embarrassed when the ball slipped from his grasp and headed towards the goal.

United then came close themselves, when from a Wayne Rooney corner Patrice Evra saw his header come back off the post and in the same passage of play, Rooney had two attempts at goal which was both stopped by Hart as he make a double save to keep the Champions at bay.

In the 85th minute Sergio Aguero came off for Javi Garcia as they tried to see the match out, but there was still time for Rooney to curl a spectacular free kick past Joe Hart to make it a 4-1 score line as it was nothing more than a consolation for the reds and a deserved goal for Rooney, as he was the only player for Manchester United to come out of the match with any credit at all.

The Last kick of the game saw Edin Dzeko go close with a shot that just went wide of the far post and had beat De Gea all ends up too.

Full time 

Full time whistle blew and Manchester City had not only thrashed their cross-city neighbours 4-1 but their main title rivals too as they showed the rest of the league that City are a force to be reckoned with after this performance by the Pellegrini`s squad.

Lancashire crowned League Champions

Glen Chapple receives Div2 title        pic: LCCC.co.uk

Friday saw the Red Rose county back where they belong in the top flight of Cricket`s elite with a drawn match against Gloucestershire down in Bristol. Lancashire also had help off Kent, who have played a hand in Lancashire promotion and title winning exploits too in the past couple of games of the L.V Championship.

With draws against Lancs rivals Essex and then holding off 2nd placed Northamptonshire in Northampton in a rain affected game.

Lancashire needed just 12 points for the Championship as they had gained promotion against Worcestershire last week.

The visitor`s found themselves in trouble on a rain affected day 1, where only 10 over’s were bowled in the day, but Gloucestershire gave their visitors problems as they lost 2 quick wickets as they ended on 33 for 2, with Paul Horton and Ashwell Prince making ducks.

Day 2 saw better luck for Lancashire, with them mounting a comeback despite Karl Brown making just 3 runs to his overnight score, as he went for 23.

Luis Reece and Luke Protor put a few runs on the fourth wicket stand with Reece departing for 35 as Will Gidman took his 3rd wicket of the Lancashire Innings.

Luke Proctor reached his hundred for the visitors before he was trapped lbw by that man again Will Gidman, as he headed back to the changing room scoring a good knock of 106.   

Alex Davies made 12 runs before Gloucestershire`s Matthew Taylor got the Lancs man out, with Roderick taking the catch behind.

Lancashire Captain and stalwart at Old Trafford Glen Chapple was then dismissed for a 1 off Benny Howell bowling and Will Gidman taking the catch.

Tom Smith was last man out for Lancashire as he was bowled for 88 by Gidman, to give the Gloucester bowler figures of 5 for 61 as Lancashire declared looking to try and force a result in the stop-start match.

Lancashire had their hosts in trouble too, when they got to 44 for 3 with the opener`s removed for the home side.

New Zealander Hamish Marshall and Alex Gidman put on a little recover for the Gloucester Innings, till batsman Marshall was out for 26 with Oliver Newby grabbing his second wicket of the Innings.

Tom Smith then took the wicket of Alex Gidman for 45 trapping him lbw as Lancashire restricted the home side to 133 for 5.

Tom Smith grabbed another two wickets to help the Lancashire title cause, as he removed Benny Howell for 6 lbw and then got Will Gidman out for 3, with Andrea Agathangelou taking the catch.

Oliver Newby picked up his 3rd wicket when he had Agathangelou take the catch of Tom Smith for 13 and then Lancashire`s own Tom Smith then got Craig Milnes out for 0 with Kyle Hogg taking the catch. 

Lancashire were then frustrated by the final pairing of David Payne and Matthew Taylor, as the two tail-ender`s put on a 50 Partnership as the Lancs bowlers saw the home side slowing up their progress to the title. 

Eventually Oliver Newby wrapped up the Innings, when he got Payne out for 16 with substitute fielder Agathangelou taking his 3rd catch of the Innings, as Lancashire dismissed the home side out for 209 with Matthew Taylor unbeaten on 30.

Lancashire open batsmen started off fantastic for the visitors in their Second Innings, as the pair hit nearly every ball as they reached 100 with no wicket falling in quick time.

Paul Horton then fell before he could reach his half-Century, as he went for 49 off Tom Smith bowling with Howell taking the catch. 

Ashwell Prince came to the crease to partner Luis Reece as Lancashire went in search of pushing on for victory and their title cause was being helped by Kent up in Northamptonshire.

Where Kent was forcing a draw in their game, which meant Lancashire needed just 7 points to take the title.

News was filtering through that the match at Northampton had been drawn and that saw a mix of emotion for Lancashire, as they knew they were champions of the division and then saw Luis Reece miss out on a Century,  with David Payne clean bowling him on 97 with Prince finishing unbeaten on 40.

Handshakes were offered and meant that the celebrations could start, as the Red Rose County could now celebrate a bounce straight back return to the top division and where there is some unfinished business after last time round.

 

  LANCASHIRE L.V DIV 2 Champions 2013     pic: LCCC.co.uk