Match Review 2011 - 2012

The visit to the Etihad Stadium is always one of the highlights of the season especially for me having connections to both clubs, obviously the Man City I played for have turned into one of the power houses of English football since Sheikh Mansour took control of the club. Vast investment has happened both on and off the pitch, Roberto Mancini has assembled probably the strongest squad in Premier League history with the likes of Silva,Nasri,Dzeko,Aguero,Toure and Balotelli adding to the quality Man City already had. Norwich, coming off of last weeks home win, have relied more on good team spirit than an abundance of stars,they would still be going up against the Premier Leagues top team. Norwich made 2 changes bringing in Bennett for Jackson and Naughton for De Laet,going back to the normal 4-5-1 formation, Man City played a flexible 4-4-2 with Dzeko and £35 million man Aguero upfront, Silva and Nasri were both given free rolls with Barry and Toure doing the defensive work.

With only 2 minutes gone Man City nearly took the lead, Dzekos left foot shot just went past the far post, Man City were playing a very patient game keeping the ball well and probing                   

to find an opening with all the Norwich players behind the ball and only Morison staying up the pitch. On 10 minutes Norwich had a very good chance against the run of play, Morison did very well to get the better of Kolo Toure and Kompany on the right and managed to get clean through on goal but when one on one with the keeper his second touch was very poor and gave Hart a chance to come out and bravely block the ball, a big opportunity wasted. Man City were straight back in control of the game with lovely movement and possession, with Norwich keeping 9 men behind the ball City were always going to have more possession, Silva had a chance on 16 minutes but Norwich stood firm defending their final third well, you could see that Norwich had a game plan to pack the midfield but when you're playing against such good players it was hard for Norwich to get near the Man City's creative players. Man City took a deserved lead on 32 minutes, the Powerful Richards pulled the ball back inside the 6 yard box to Aguero who showed great composure to turn Barnett inside out then toe poke the ball into the far corner. Man City continued to apply the pressure with Nasri and Dzeko both going close and Man City finished in total control of the first half.

Overall, Man City were in control from the first minute, created a number of chances and deserved to be at least one goal up, Norwich's only real chance fell to Morison but his touch let him down.

Norwich had the first chance of the second half, Morison flicked on well leaving Bennett clean through on goal, he had two options, shoot early or take the ball round the onrushing Hart, Bennett decided to go round the keeper but his touch was heavy and the chance was lost. Man City effectively finished off the game on 51 minutes, a Nasri free kick from the left wasn't attacked by the Norwich defence and although Ruddy saw it late he should have dealt with the cross better,only managing to push it in his own goal. It was basically all Man City now and Ruddy did well making a double save from Silva and Aguero. Paul Lambert made a double substitution on the hour bringing on Holt and Hoolahan for Pilkington and Bennett. A well worked move saw Man City score a third, the man mountain Toure received the ball inside the area from a corner and curled a lovely shot that gave Ruddy no chance. Nasri was replaced by Johnson then Balotelli came on for Aguero. It was still all Man City when Norwich pulled a goal back, Fox lofted a ball to the back stick, Morison had pulled onto the smaller Clichy and powered his header downwards giving Hart no chance. Balotelli scored a nonchalant tap in with his shoulder after good work from Johnson. As the game entered into injury time Johnson scored the slightly flattering 5th after Wes was robbed on the left hand side of his box, Kompany picked out Johnson who buried a low shot under Ruddy.

Overall, a brilliant performance by Man City giving Norwich no real chance in the game. Norwich worked hard but against a side with this much quality we were always going to struggle if Man City turned it on. It's going to be a very good team who stops Man City winning the League this season!

Result: Manchester City 5, Norwich City 1

Manchester City: Hart; Richards, Kompany, Kolo Toure, Clichy; Silva, Yaya Toure, Barry, Nasri (Adam Johnson, 69); Aguero (Balotelli, 72), Dzeko (De Jong, 82). 

Subs (not used): Pantilimon, Lescott, Savic, Milner.

Norwich City: Ruddy; Naughton, Barnett, Russell Martin, Tierney; Bennett (Holt, 60), Crofts, Bradley Johnson (Fox, 77), Surman, Pilkington (Hoolahan, 60); Morison. 

Subs (not used): Rudd, Whitbread, Jackson, Wilbraham.

Referee: Howard Webb

Attendance: 47,201

Goals: Manchester City: Aguero (32), Nasri (51), Yaya Toure (68), Balotelli (88), Adam Johnson (90). Norwich: Morison (81)

Bookings: Norwich: Surman (24)

Morison scored a great header against the joint best defence in the Prem.

There will be a lot of teams who go to the Etihad stadium and get a beating, hopefully most of our rivals.

Even though we lost I want Man City to win the League so it wasn't that bad a afternoon.

Got outclassed for most of the game but when you consider how much it cost to assemble each squad we didn't do that bad. (perspective)

5-1 slightly flattered Man City but they were in control of the game from start to finish.

Hopefully the size of the defeat won't affect us with big games coming up.

Ruddy should've done better for their second goal, but i don't think it would have made any difference.

Morison - Tough one because we didn't see much of the ball, but he scored a good goal.