Manchester City dealt hard by suspensions and the loss of brothers Yaya and Kolo Toure
In the wake of the departure of brothers Yaya and kolo Toure to African Cup of Nation and with suspension to headline maker Mario Balotelli and club captain Vincent Company Manchester City head in to their Carling Cup semifinal second leg short-handed but nonetheless expect nothing but a win as this is the new philosophy at the Etihad now-a-days. We all know the body cannot operate without the brain which is what Yaya Toure is to Manchester City, not surprisingly these signs are now evident in their game.
Looking at today’s Carling Cup Tie between them and Liverpool they show great character to try and maintain their style of play against a more robust Liverpool team comprise of Steven Gerrard and Charlie Adam in midfield but their effort was outclassed. They weren’t allow to play the ball in midfield and make transition to David Silva successfully as provided by Yaya Toure countless times this season, thus leaving them chasing the ball for most of the game which of late they’re not accustomed to.
Also on the defensive side their game was at the poorest we’ve seen this season, clearly Stefan Savic haven’t adapt to the English game yet, following-up with his poor performance from the weekend game against Tottenham Hotspur which he allow Dafoe to latch-on to a long pass from defense and calmly beat goalkeeper Hart before rolling the ball into the empty net.
Liverpool must have used the weekend game to prepare for this game as they wasted little or no time exploit these area of City’s weaknesses by making precise passes through midfield to their attackers which led to the comeback goal from former Manchester City outcast Craig Bellamy who take great pride in scoring the goal to tie the game [2-2] knocking-out his ex-employer’s from reaching their first final for the this season.
We all could see the disappointment in the player’s face who knows they should have produce a better performance away from the Etihad if they were to come out victorious after trailing [1-0] from the first leg at home.
