MAN CITY 2 – 0 Birmingham – MY THOUGHTS

It’s tough to imagine what was going through the mind of Owen Hargreaves as he stepped out onto the pitch last night. Three years to the day since he last completed 90 minutes, it must have been a mixture of anxiety, relief and a worry of the unknown. Operation after operation, breakdown after breakdown, gruelling recovery after gruelling recovery, he’d battled to get to this stage. But how would he cope?

57 minutes later, as planned, he was substituted and we had the answer. He was back, make no mistake. Looking fit, lean and oozing class, he controlled the game. Crunching into tackles, keeping possession and adding a spectacular goal, he received a standing ovation. Signed on a free to much scepticism, even his biggest critic would have been hard pushed to refrain from smiling.

For Hargreaves and for the team, it was job done. Our stars were rested, fringe players were given an opportunity and we’re in the hat for the next round. Goals from Hargreaves and a clinically taken strike from Mario Balotelli saw to that, and athough Birmingham didn’t pose a threat, Roberto Mancini must have been happy with the way the ‘reserves’ grabbed their chance.

Media spotlight has rightly been focused on Hargreaves, but for me, Stefan Savic really stood out. Composed in possession, he won all his headers and showed a good turn of pace when needed. Next to him was the returning Kolo Toure, and he too looked fresh. One clearance off the line highlighted how he’s lost none of his positional awareness and the performances of our centre-back pairing will keep the pressure on Vincent Kompany and Joleon Lescott.

Another débutant, Abdul Razak, patrolled the midfield alongside Hargreaves and considering his age, he produced an impressive performance. We’ve seen cameos from Razak against Airtricity XI in pre-season and a couple of late substitute appearances but this was the first time he’s started a competitive match and he settled well. Bags of energy, eager in the tackle and kept possession well, even if he could bring the ball forward at times instead of laying it off to the centre-backs.

Such was Birmingham’s lack of attacking threat that Mancini felt he could hand Karim Rekik, the 16 year old Dutch centre-back, his début. Despite only seeing ten minutes of action, Rekik looked comfortable on the ball, seems to have a cultured left foot and is certainly one to watch. Luca ‘Jacuzzi’ Scapuzzi even made it on for the final few moments. He’s not one to watch.

So it was job done for all concerned and we can now move on to focus on the Everton and Bayern Munich games. A pair of tricky fixtures that will test our capability to challenge on four fronts and we’ll have to wait and see what the future holds. Last night, however, showed us that that future will include Owen Hargreaves.

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