February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
It’s not the first of Tiatto’s reds for City. Madness is what we can put it down to, as the colossal Aussie jumped in with two feet on top of Blackburn’s David Thompson. Two-nil down, a man sent off, it looked all over for Kevin Keegan’s team, especially in the 71st minute when Nicolas Anelka had a great chance to head home but couldn’t get the ball on target.
Blackburn with a two-goal cushion could sit in and hit City on the counter. Peter Schmeichel looked tired in the second half. With 15 minutes to go, City could be pulled apart throughout the field. Then in the 79th minute, Anelka found himself on the end of some nice fluent passing in the Rovers box. Anelka’s shot was strong enough to go off a defender and into the back of the net, making it 2-1. He was causing concern for the Blackburn defense. Then Marco-Vivien Foe got in on the 83rd minute but just couldn’t keep the ball low enough and over the bar it flew. City were working their way back into the game and looked like they could equalize. City the went down on the same flank, onto the backline again, and sub Shaun Goater was there in the right place at the right time to make it 2-all. Keegan once again comes to the Premiership and entertains football fans at Manchester and every where else for that matter.
With two minutes left, City was on back-to-back corners and Eyal Berkovic was the player the Sky Blues wanted on the ball. His impressive midfield display has paid off. Blackburn squandered a free kick and the game was over. City made a great comeback with 10 men and the Tiatto incident was forgotten about, for the moment.
It was a great finale to watch. City are exciting. Shaun Wright Phillips, Sylvain Disdin, Bervokic and Anelka looked sharp. Overall, City made some defensive slip-ups dangerously gave the ball away to set up the opponent’s attack. But the dramatic ending reveals Keegan doing what he does best: making the game entertaining.
Blackburn, meanwhile, looked good at the start. They opened well and strung some good stuff together. Andy Cole was reading the game smartly. He broke away from the defense into space and was through on Schmeichel like a flash to shoot under the Dane’s legs. But Cole pulled his hamstring and once he left the field, the Rovers’ attack was less effective. Rovers will look forward to getting Damien Duff back out on the left wing ASAP. Graeme Souness has his Rovers are playing some decent stuff but he is looking back on the game as one they threw away.
Souness believed that with a two-goal advantage and City a man down the game should have been over. In typical fashion, the fiery Scot didn’t mince words, casting blame right where he thought it belonged: “Dwight Yorke could run the extra five yards on their free kicks. We were not prepared to put in the extra yard of effort. When it really, really mattered, we couldn’t dig in. We had three points in the bag here. The game was there to be won. Everyone needed to dig in and hold on to the 2-nil but we did not do that. I blame Dwight for not running back from the free kick. What happens on a hot day is you get tired. This [the brain] takes over and tells you, `My legs are not tired.` We do not have enough people who can do that; I cannot do that for them, I am so cheesed off.”
While King Kev was furious with Tiatto, the City boss remarked: “We came back from the dead. We didn’t seem to have the belief we normally have that we can go and cause them problems. But at 2-0 down and with 10 men we had nothing to lose and I guess the belief came. Defeat here would have left us down for a few days but having come back well we’ll take the pluses from it.”
Scorers tell the tale
Anelka has hit four for City so far this season. He’s right up there with the big guns that are firing on all cylinders. The main hit men in the EPL are Sylvain Wiltord and Thierry Henry. Edu joined them to make it 3-nil against Charlton over the weekend and thus securing Arsenal nicely on top of the league. For Chelsea, it’s Gianfranco Zola who was on song in a 3-nil win over Newcastle United. Chelsea is in fourth place with a very important unbeaten record, the early start they truly needed to be contenders. Behind these top shooters are Mark Viduka of Leeds, Sylvain Legwinski of Fulham, Danny Murphy of Liverpool and a very noticeable pair from Boro, Massimo Maccarone and Szilard Nemeth.
What is even more noticeable is the fact there are not many Manchester United names on the leading scorers’ sheet. Ryan Giggs has two for United as he just about gets into the leading pack. The absence of United names on the score sheet is a concerning sign for things to come. There was a time when it was all United, when they would have two or three players right up there, just like Arsenal has now. Harry Kewell may well have started his scoring campaign after he headed the winner against Man. U. sending Elland Road into a frenzy of celebration. Ian Harte’s superb cross found the Aussie unmarked in front of the Man. U. goal. Tottenham Hotspur, at this early stage, are the team who replaces Man. U. in top flight. Anthony Gardner scored in the 89th minute to give Spurs a 3-2 victory over West Ham United keeping the Hammers nailed to the bottom of the table.