Manchester City can now look to buy the biggest of stars with the promise of Champions League football.With rumors going round that a certain Kaka maybe at Eastlands next season,Sir Alex will have to do a lot more to keep the nosy neighbours silent.City’s win also brought joy for Stoke, who now qualify for next season’s Europa League as a result of securing a place at Wembley.
The main problem for Tottenham this season has been the lack of a quality striker who gets you 20 goals a season.Tevez has scored more goals than Crouch,Roman and Defoe put together.Crouch’s strike here late last season sent Spurs into the Champions League at City’s expense – and he was unwittingly on the scoresheet again as he deflected James Milner’s cross past keeper Carlo Cudicini in the first half.
Man City Formation
Mancini as usual went in a with a single striker Dzeko,he started with Johnson unlike aginst Everton so Silva moved in the Attacking Mid position and Yaya Toure stayed back to support De Jong.Silva wasnt that effective as usual when cutting in from the left,wasnt given that time and space with the ball.Richards had a good game with his runs forward and he won a number of crucial headers in both the boxes.He helped out his center backs agianst Crouch.Dzeko has a had a horrible start to his career at eastlands but has been working hard in his last few matches.He held up the ball well to bring his teammates into play and was physical agianst the Spus defenders,but as always his finishing let him down.Having said all this,City didnt dominate the game they were happy to sit back and have to thank Hart for making some vital saves.Zabaleta was replaced after a nose injury by Kolarov later in the game.The 10 minute cameo by Tevez was lively but only time will tell whether he will play against Stoke where Dzeko’s physical prowess and height may be more effective.
Spurs Formation after Palacios’s injury
Spurs initially started with Sandro and Palacios in the middle and Modric out wide.Modric is not a winger and he doesnt enjoy playing out on the left side of the midfield.As usual Crouch and VDV were playing the big man small man role,though both werent that effective.The liveliest tottenham player on the pitch was Lennon who put in many crosses which none of the spurs forwards managed to take advantage of.After Pienaar’s entry,Modric was back in the center and he controlled the game like normally he does.A fantastic player deserves better teammate and is my choice for the player of the season.Danny Rose managed to make many runs forward but was unable to get in quality balls into the box.
Talking Points
- Both the sides initially started with high tempo and pressing,which lead to some good end to end football but the quality in the final third was poor from both the sides.
- Modric and Silva were the playmakers for their team but Modric stamped his class and dictated play better than the Spaniard.All of Tottenham’s play went through the Croatian and he was excellent in his passing.
3.Carlo Cudicini replaced Gomes although Harry said that the Brazilian was injured reports suggested that,Gomes was dropped.The Italian showed that he was still top quality with some good saves especially a one on one with Tevez.
4.City still aren’t the perfect side and have some problems in defending,for Spurs dominated much of the game and the clearest sign of Spurs’ complete domination came when City got Tevez ready for action, only for Mancini to seemingly change his mind and send on Vieira for Johnson in an attempt to restore some semblance of order to proceedings.
Conclusion
The same old problem for Tottenham i.e lack of goals from their forwards,they played well and deserved to get something from the game.Roberto Mancini knows that he will have cash in his hand to get some big money signings this summer but Eastland would be expecting more attacking football from the blues.
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