West Ham 1 – 3 MAN CITY – MY THOUGHTS

It’s not often that Bob The Builder and Barack Obama are the inspiration for my opening line, but in this instance, it seems only right to copy the infamous slogan, ‘yes we can!’ The question is not, however, related to the possibility of becoming the President of the USA but instead, it concerns the ability of Man City to win without the services of Carlos Tévez (something we may have to become used to doing, but more on that in another article). And in the space of 90 minutes, led by the irrepressible Yaya Touré, the Blues showed that they are not just a one man team, but have strength and quality in depth.

The Ivorian will take the plaudits for his all-round impressive performance, capped off by one screaming left-footed finish and another shot which forced City’s second goal, but it was a truly professional team performance, with everyone working hard for each other.

Admittedly, the home side were very poor and struggled to create a chance of any note until a last minute consolation, but credit must be given to City for the manner in which they pressed high up the pitch and took their chances. Adam Johnson, on as a second half substitute, wrapped up the three points with a decent finish following an incisive David Silva through ball and the final scoreline certainly didn’t flatter the visitors.

Devoid of Tévez and Aleksandar Kolarov, my good friend Roberto Mancini opted to bring in Jérome Boateng and Jo, with the versatile Pablo Zabaleta shifting to left-back. That meant Mario Balotelli led the line on his own, but it wasn’t his happiest day in a City shirt, as he started by missing a gilt-edged chance and finished by being taken off early after receiving a booking following persistent complaining.

City started brightly with Yaya at the forefront of every attack: his pace and power too much for a static West Ham defence. And it was the former Barcelona man who opened the scoring, smashing in a vicious left-footed shot just moments after two barnstorming runs nearly broke the deadlock.

The Blues continued to press, with Balotelli going close to notching City’s first headed goal this season, only to be denied by a clearance off the line. Yaya was in the thick of the action, this time in our own penalty box as West Ham appealed in vain for a penalty as the ball seemed to strike Touré’s hand.

Cliché or not, 1-0 is a very dangerous scoreline; something which evidently didn’t escape Yaya’s attention as he collected a Nigel de Jong through-ball, rounded James Tomkins before guiding his shot against the post. Fortunately for us, the ball rebounded off the helpless Robert Green and trickled into the net to double our advantage. And just a few minutes later, Johnson made it three, rounding Green before sliding home after a sumptuous pass from Silva.

Apart from a brief spell early in the second half, West Ham barely threatened, but thanks to some slack marking from a corner, they managed to score a consolation goal, with Tomkins’s header deflecting off Kolo Touré and deceiving Joe Hart. It’s a sign of Mancini’s winning mentality that he was deeply disappointed by that lapse of concentration, but overall it was a truly professional performance that keeps us in the thick of the action at the top of the table.