The City fails, the United razes

Last update 16 November, 2012 by

El Manchester City, rival of Real Madrid in the Champions League next Tuesday, was shown this Saturday unable to add three points in the English league in the field of a modest rival, the stoke, that started a tie to one at “citizens” without some of its stars. [Statistics]
Spaniard Javi García scored City's first goal with a header, who equalized the score after an early goal from Englishman Peter Crouch.
The Bosnian Edin Dzeko had the victory of the “citizens” in the final moments of the crash, but Stoke's defense took his shot off the goal line.

Italian coach Roberto Mancini, perhaps thinking about the imminent European duel, decided to reserve the Argentine Sergio “When” Omen, key piece of their attack and architect of the goal that the Premier gave them last season, and also give a rest to the Spanish David Silva, engine of City's midfield and who only played the last fifteen minutes this afternoon.

Agüero suffered an injury to his right knee in the first English league match this season, against Southampton and, despite the fact that the first information pointed to a serious problem that could keep him away from football for several months, Finally the doctors determined that he would be out for about a month..

Without the Argentine, the 'citizen' technician’ He considered that he had enough resources on his bench to safely replace the former Atlético de Madrid attacker and put his lead in the hands of the Italian Mario Balotelli., one of the protagonists of last summer's Euro Cup, and the also Argentine Carlos Tévez, completely reinserted after the open war with his coach that took place last season.

Despite the offensive potential that “citizens” planted on the grass of the Britannia Stadium, It was the locals who dealt the first blow of the match.
When they had barely passed 15 minutes of play, the English veteran Peter Crouch, of 31 years, He took advantage of a moment of confusion in the rival area to escape from the entire visiting defense, that was stuck demanding the striker's hand, and forcing goalkeeper Joe Hart to go get the ball into the net.

The current Premier champions did not lose their composure when they found themselves behind on the scoreboard and persisted in their patient football, with the ball stuck to the grass, confident that their technical superiority would give them enough opportunities to turn the match around.
Header into the net

This is how it was at 35 minutes of the first part, when Tévez advanced to the three-quarter zone, on the left side, to trace a center that the Spaniard Javi García knew how to read to head the ball into the net. Stoke's defense seemed to forget García, New arrival to City this season, who was able to jump comfortably to beat the Bosnian goalkeeper Asmir Begovic.

The balance on the scoreboard reassured Mancini's men, who closed the first half of the match dominating the ball and deploying an attacking game that heralded a second half with the wind in their favor for the visitors.

The second part was presented, however, blocked and difficult for visitors, who saw how Stoke's pressure was working and how their midfield was not capable of generating dangerous balls for the attackers. Mancini tried to breathe life into his team by taking out Silva with a quarter of an hour remaining, but it was too late for the Spaniard to arrange the match.

Former Madrid player Michael Owen, already an old glory of English football, who signed this season for Stoke, He took the field almost in the last seconds of the match, although he was not able to change the course of the crash. The Bosnian Edin Dzeko had the three points in his boots when he put a lob ball on the goal line that ended up being cleared by the English defender Ryan Shawcross.

United sweeps

Another of the contenders for the title, Manchester United, was on display at Old Trafford. Roberto Martínez's team suffered from it, el Wagian Athletic, with Chicharrito's goals, Scholes, Büttner and Nick Powell in the second half. Thus, los ‘red devils’ They are in second position, one point from Chelsea, that tied at or at the home of Queens Park Rangers in a match where the morbidity was in Ferdinand's non-greeting to Terry

Finally, Laudrup's Swansea added their first defeat against Aston Villa by an incontestable 2-0. While, Fulham defeated West Bromwich by three goals to zero, and Norwich City and West Ham drew goalless.