Manchester city vs Chelsea 15/2/2014 This game was an opportunity for city to rewrite their wrongs. City received a boost by the return of Samir Nasri and Garcia from injury. Pellegrini fielded a 4-4-2 with Garcia partnering Toure in the middle while James Milner played on the right. Jovetic and Dzeko started upfront. Chelsea continued with their 4-2-3-1 with David Luis continuing in defence in the absence of captain John Terry. Mikel Obi paired Nemaja Matic in the middle and the trio of hazard, Willian and Ramirez played behind Etoo Manchester city had an advantage going into this match. The team didnt play mid-week and so had more rest and time to prepare unlike Chelsea that played at hawthorns on Tuesday. Also city had two important players back in Garcia and Nasri whereas Chelsea were without the influential John Terry. City controlled the match from the beginning, getting into important positions while Chelsea did little to stop them. The inclusion of Milner and Garcia were purely tactical. Chelsea is very strong on the left with Hazard and Willian swapping positions at will, and with David Silva on the other end, there was a need for a more defensively minded winger to balance play for city. James Milner defended well and joined Zabayeta in shutting down Chelseas left for most part of the game. In the middle, city didnt make same mistake they made forthnight by fielding demechelis who couldnt handle the rampage of Chelsea attacking midfielders. In this game, Garcia supported by Toure narrowed Chelseas passing range, winning balls in dangerous positions. Mikel Obi and Nemaja Matic both had an average game. Unlike in the previous match, they could not stop silva and jovetics movement between the lines. This was very crucial in stopping citys flow. For the first goal, silva received the ball in an advanced position between the lines to initiate citys attack which jovetic finished in style. Nasri in the second half threatened with his intelligent movement and deft touches. His introduction meant Chelsea needed to defend deeper as the presence of Nasri and silva was going to cause headache for any defence. The two playmakers combined to set up the second goal which Nasri scored. Though David Luis had a bad game but that was not the reason for Chelseas loss. The entire team didnt play well. Mikel and Matic were not sharp with their passing when they had the ball. They allowed citys playmakers to receive balls in dangerous positions , and the defence in the absence of Terry has shown to be far from strong. Upfront, Chelseas attackers were slow in moving the ball and lacked any cutting edge. Could it be due to fatigue? At the end, Chelsea didnt manage a shot on target, Manchester city could have scored up to four goals and Mourinho now has the premier league and champions league to contend for this season as he seeks to prove hes not a specialist in failure @mayowa_olabanji
Posted on: Sun, 16 Feb 2014 07:06:11 +0000
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