Manchester City Rebound in League Play, Top Stoke

 1-0 

Manchester City certainly needed a win following the truly disappointing loss to Barcelona in the Champions League midweek.  Today Man. City hosted Stoke City for a Premier League game that was favorable for Machester to bounce back.

Edin Dzeko and Álvaro Negredo started in the attack with David Silva and Nasri occupying the wings for Manchester.  Peter Crouch was the lone striker for Stoke with Charlie Adam and Peter Odemwingie as his main support.

Neither side scored in the first-half, though both were able to test the opposite keeper.  Manchester City had far and away the majority of possession (over seventy percent) and created more shots on target.  Stoke were forced to defend for most of the match and they fended off the home side's attack well for a long time.

Eventually the persistent attack from Manchester City paid off and the dead-lock was broken.  Rightback Aleksander Kolarov fired a low cross into the box that Yaya Toure was able to redirect towards goal.  Stoke keeper Begovic got a hand to the shot, but could not turn it away from his goal and the ball found the net (70').

Stoke City could not create an equalizer in the time remaining as Manchester held on for the win.  Though the margin of victory was slim today, the win was the right kind of response from Manchester City.  Chelsea and Arsenal also won league matches today meaning there was no change at the top of the table.

Negredo Scores Hat-Trick, Manchester City Cruise

 6-0 

Manchester City and West Ham United met today for the first-leg of a Capital One Cup semifinal.  Manchester City have only conceded one goal in the tournament and finished ten in the first three matches.  West Ham had a big win against Tottenham to reach this stage of the Cup, but their last result was a dreadful 5-nil loss to Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup.

Playing at home, Manchester City got off to a hot start and scored three goals in the first-half.  Álvaro Negredo scored the first two, both coming from well played through-balls.  Yaya Touré first played a long though-ball from behind midfield that split the West Ham centerbacks.  Negredo timed his run perfectly and finished with a confident first-touch finish (12').

Negredo then linked up with fellow striker Edin Dzeko to get behind the West Ham back line.  Dzeko played the ball forward into space and Negredo was able to beat keeper Adrián coming off his line with a sliding shot (26').

Yaya Touré scored the last goal of the first-half with an impressive individual effort.  Touré jumped on a loose ball at midfield and found space to run at goal.  The West Ham centerbacks did not step to Touré and allowed him to dribble all the way into their own box.  Touré was more than obliged to take the space and scored rather easily (40').

West Ham had nothing to build on heading into the second-half, and only found themselves further down by the end of the match.  Negredo scored a third goal for City when a pass from David Silva was deflected inside the West Ham box.  Negredo did not appear to be the intended target, but off the deflection, Silva's pass fell right in front of him and he finished first-touch to complete his hat-trick (49').

The other striker Dzeko was able to add to the goal tally late in the match as West Ham had less and less to play for.  Two crosses from the left flank gave Dzeko a pair of scoring opportunities that the striker capitalized.  First Clichy rolled a cross to the near-post that Dzeko finished with a sliding effort (60').  Then substitute Kolarov played a cross to the middle of the box that Dzeko was able to step into and drive into the net (89').

West Ham have now conceded eleven goals in their last two match.  The Hammers will have a second chance to get back at City when the two clubs replay on the 21st, but it will take a miracle to overcome this deficit.  Manchester City in all likelihood will reach the final and could face rivals United if they rally back to beat Sunderland in their second-leg meeting.

Bayern Munich Bust, Manchester City Prevail

 2-3 

The final round of the group stage in the Champions League started today with Manchester City playing Bayern Munich in Germany.  Both clubs earned enough points to advance out of the group stage coming into today's match, with Bayern Munich winning the last five including the meeting with City back in October.  Manchester City won every other match played in the Group D and had a chance to take the top stop away from Bayern.

Two early goals for Bayern Munich gave the home side a huge advantage and set the game up for a total blow-out.  Thomas Müller scored the first goal when defender Dante played him behind City's back line with a long diagonal pass.  Müller brought the ball down with a great chest-trap before beating keeper Joe Hart (5').  Mario Götze then added a second goal minutes later when a deflected shot fell for him.  Replay showed he may have been just offsides, but the flag stayed down and he was able to finish from close-range (12').

Manchester City's fortunes got worse before they get better.  Starting right-back Micah Richards had an issue with his hamstring and had to be replaced by Zabalete after only fifteen minutes.  Zabaleta is usually preferred in the starting eleven, but manager Manuel Pellegrini had intended to save him for the big Premier League game with Arsenal.  In any case, Zabaleta was an improvement, and City took over the match.

The come-back started when David Silva was left unmarked on a late run into the box.  Jesus Navas initiated the play with a cross to James Milner at the back-post.  Milner could only head the ball back to middle, and Silva came running in late to score for City (28').

The visitors took the momentum into the second-half and out-played Bayern for the rest of the match.  Milner won a Penalty for Manchester City when Dante missed his tackle and took down the winger in the box.  Aleksandar Kolarov stepped up to take the Penalty and scored from the spot to tie the game (59').

Then moments later a terrible mistake by Bayern defender Jerome Boateng opened the door for City to take the lead.  A cross by Navas was rolled into the box and Boateng was in good position to clear the ball off the line.  However he completely whiffed on his attempt and the ball kept rolling right to Milner at the back-post.  Milner finished with a well struck curling shot to pull ahead and silence the home fans (62').

Bayern Munich could not muster a response equalizer and end a ten game Champions League winning streak.  The German club still win the group by goal-differential, but Manchester City get the payback.  Manchester United also qualified for the knockout stage today while Chelsea and Arsenal will play tomorrow to earn their spots.

Super Goal By Osvaldo Saves Southampton

 1-1

Manchester City had a three game winning streak going, while Southampton lost their last three Premier League matches.  Today Southampton hosted Man. City and did not look like a team that was on such a cold streak.  Their offense was dynamic and had a lot of touches in City's box all game.

Manchester City scored the early goal though, when Sergio Agüero found space in the penalty area.  Fullback Aleksander Kolarov got forward and rolled a cross into the box that the Southampton defense could not quite clear. Agüero was waiting and scored with a one-touch finish (10').

Southampton were aggressive and did not let the deficit  discourage their game plan.  Late in the first-half Pablo Daniel Osvaldo leveled the score with a superb individual effort.  All alone up front, Osvaldo beat Kompany then Zabaleta on the dribble before hitting a perfect curling shot to the upper-ninety (42').

In the second-half the match was wide open and by the end Southampton created more chances than Manchester City.  Neither side could score, however, and both teams take one point.  All-in-all both teams can be happy with the result as Southampton snap a losing streak and City get one point on the road.