FT REPORT : Everton Vs Manchester City
Brandon Smith reports
Sunday afternoons Premier league fixture between Everton and Manchester City saw the league favourites pitted against the blue half of merseyside who have 6 clean sheets in 10 at home.
Manchester City had won 8 premier league games on the trot and were looking for a ninth, something that had not happened in the top flight for them in over 100 years.
Roberto Martinez had said before that match there are always great games between the two sides and expects "today to be no different".
Everton's game against Watford was questionable, however there 3-0 win away against Southampton was much more convincing.
Star Striker Aguero had scored 79 goals since his debut in 2011, the most anyone had done in that period. And the Argentine looked to continue that straight from kick off but saw his shot saved by American International keeper Tim Howard in the second minute.
Possession was Changing hands in the early stages but City's strong start was noticeable and Everton tried to hit back immediately but Vincent Kompany had been in good form and was confident when intercepting a teasing through ball for Lukaku.
Link up play between Navas and Silva allowed Aguero to get a first time effort away in front of goal but once again Howard was strong with his legs to make the save.
Everton looked to be fighting back and the ever physical Gareth Barry was penalised when strongly holding up David Silva.
The visitors were pressing hard but Everton were defending harder and it was beginning to show when Silva who is usually the man to break down defences was given no option but to try an optimistic 25 yarder which was once again saved by Everton's keeper.
Controversy surrounded Sterlings transfer to the Manchester outfit and after his failed attempt at goal from a seemingly perfect chance had City fans with their heads in their hands after Silva played in a delightful ball low into the six yard box but Sterling failed to make any contact at the far post.
Silva seemed to be the man to watch for Evertons 11 and corners were being forced thick and fast by the spaniard as he linked up well with Navas on the right wing.
Everton did have the ball in the back of the net on 24 minutes but Lukaku was found to be just offside after a lovely ball into the box from Arouna Kone.
Toure is never shy from a long range effort and that seemed to be the case after he attempted a strike which was yet again stopped simply by Howard.
Seamus Coleman was then given the opportunity to put the toffees ahead after Cleverly cleverly found him (if you'll pardon the pun). However the Irishman put the ball wide of Harts near post.
Chances were certainly not in low supply as it was then Manchester City who had the option to score as sterling raced into the box and forced Howard into action once again with a curling shot which was put behind for another Manchester City corner.
Then a great counter attack from Everton forced a corner from Mangala. The delivery was a good one and Phil Jagielkas header deserved a better finish but instead was just above the crossbar.
19 year old Brendan Galloway had worked hard and that was beginning to show as the wing back then needed medical treatment. He continued to stay on however even though he looked uncomfortable when moving.
Barkley was a thorn in City's side, contributing in nearly all of Everton's attacks, and he was causing trouble when he won a free kick in a great position which also saw Mangala go into the books for the first card of the game. However the England man blasted his shot well over the crossbar to a Chorus of Jeers from the City faithful.
Galloway was on borrowed time with this match and his injury caught up with him a minute into stoppage time. He was replaced by another young player in the form of Tyias Browning for his first appearance of the season.
Another booking then ensued for Manchester City as Cleverly was thrown down by Fernandinho midway through a promising run at the Sky blues back four.
Barkley was pushed aside by Romelu Lukaku for this free kick just before the whistle, but the big Belgian saw his strike go agonisingly close as it smashed against the crossbar.
There was no changes at the break but there was a glum face on the bench from Galloway after his premature exit from the pitch before half time.
The Manchester City fans were off there seats 2 minutes into the second half as Raheem Sterling cut deep into the box only to see his strike hit Howard's near post.
Silva was continuing to be a nuisance and forced some good defending from Tyias Browning. The silky spaniard then appealed for a penalty after he was tripped by Barry but his cries were waved away by referee Anthony Taylor.
A good ball from McCarthy was seeking Kone but an aware Joe Hart sprinted off his line to cut out the danger.
Roberto Martinez was almost becoming the 12th man on the touch line, urging his players to charge at City but his plan backfired as Sterling passed an overlapping Kolarov whose ground hugging strike slid beneath Tim Howard and nestled into the far corner for 1-0.
City were ahead but Everton were trying to repair the damage and Coleman produced a crunching challenge on Toure leaving the City giant disgruntled but powerless as Anthony Taylor once again waved away the appeals.
However City couldn't say that the referee was against them when Everton's Jagielka was bundled over in the box by Toure. Once again the officials weren't interested.
Pellegrini's men then proceeded to sit back and allow the toffees possession they didn't seem to worry too much though as Everton didn't seem to be able to play an attacking game.
Sterling was then changed for the less forward minded Samir Nasri which may have showed Pellegrinis plan to try to sit on their lead.
Everton then threw the ball forward as Coleman exploited space on the left wing to try and pick out Naismith however neither he or Lukaku could bring it under control to stage a shot. The ball was still in play though and it took some scrambled defending from Kompany to clear a Gareth Barry header off the line 10 minutes from time.
Wilfred Bony then was brought on in place of Sergio Aguero who had been quieter than usual in Goodson park. Gerard Delofeu was also brought on for tom cleverly as Everton continued to press for a late equaliser.
Samir Nasri was the 3rd of city's players to go into the book for possibly a random exchange of words with the referee.
But the card may have spurred the Frenchman on as he then landed a big hit on the toffees with a second goal. After a good save from Howard following a Navas shot only for Nasri to pick the ball up and play a good one-two with Toure who allowed Nasri to calmly lift the ball over Howard and into the goal to put the game out of Everton's reach.
Silva who had played more good football throughout the game was then changed for Fabian Delph to allow the former Villa man his debut in city colours much to the delight of the fans.
There was no late drama despite a few late attempts from the toffees. David Silva rightfully took man of the match as Pellegrini's side picked up another 3 points to add to their great start to the season.
LINEUPS
EVERTON
Roberto Martinez
GOALKEEPER - T. Howard
DEFENDERS - S. Coleman, J. Stones, P. Jagielka
B. Galloway
MIDFIELDERS - J. McCarthy, R. Barkley, G. Barry
FORWARDS - A. Kone, R. Lukaku, T. Cleverly
MANCHESTER CITY
Manuel Pellegrini
GOALKEEPERS - J. Hart
DEFENDERS - A. Kolarov, E. Mangala, V. Kompany
B. Sagna
MIDFIELDERS - Fernandinho, D. Silva, Y. Toure,
J. Navas
FORWARDS - R. Sterling, S. Aguero
Comments
Post a Comment