Hart – Underworked for much of the match, before allowing O’Hara’s shot to come straight out and result in a penalty. It’s happened on a couple of occasions and no doubt the goalkeeping coaches will be working on this in training. 6
Richards – Put in a tremendous effort going forward in the first half. Also kept an eye on the hard working Hunt, eventually forcing him to be susbstituted. 8
Round 2 of City versus Wolves kicks off with the blues as strong favourites to secure the win. The atmosphere promises to be buoyant following last weekend’s triumph over United and the Carling Cup victory at Molineux.
What will be interesting to see is the line-up Roberto Mancini fields, bearing in mind City have a crucial away game in the Champions League on Wednesday. Will the manager revert to the side that beat United or will a few be held back for Villarreal?
City produced another thumping victory despite Roberto Mancini playing a completely different starting eleven to those who began at Old Trafford. Wolves made nine changes themselves from the weekend and it will be interesting to see who starts on Saturday.
With a Champions League game in Spain next week, Mancini may well turn to some of these players for the weekend. There are plenty to choose from with the side combining youth and experience, and all showing commendable commitment.
Pantilimon – Did better with crosses than against Birmingham in the last round. Here the concern was how shots tended to come back off him into open play. 6
Zabaleta – Against Hunt we needed someone who was going to remain committed and focussed throughout. Pablo was the man. 7
Amidst all the jubilation after Sunday and todays papers being full of Tevez once again, it’s easy to forget that City have a Carling Cup game tonight. Fortunately Roberto Mancini isn’t one to be distracted from the job in hand.
It’s a real shame that Owen Hargreaves has picked up a calf strain as it would have been great to see him feature both tonight and on Saturday. Maybe Mancini will now give de Jong a run out to improve his match sharpness.
“Why always me?” Why not when it’s this good. Mario Balotelli opened up an initially subdued derby with a controlled stroke of the ball, raised his shirt and set City on course for an even greater victory than the 5-1 of 1989.
Mario’s next significant act was to accelerate past Johnny Evans, who foolishly got himself sent off for trying to pull back the Italian. That moment opened up space in the United half and David Silva needed no further invitation to take the game to another level.
Hart – Superbly protected by those in front of him. Dealt well with a couple of long range efforts in the second half. 8
Richards – Showed his defensive mettle in a physical tussle with Young during the opening period. Went on to demonstrate the attacking side of his game, the high point being a powerful cross for Aguero’s goal. 9
City moving to the top of the league last weekend has given this derby an extra edge, and City a psychological boost. United will be desperate to get back on top but Roberto Mancini’s side have the opportunity to show they are worthy of top spot.
Mancini was used to leading from the front when winning Serie A titles with Inter, and it’s an amazing place to be for City fans unused to such an experience. For one thing, it would make a draw a more satisfactory result.
City clocked up their first win in the Champions League thanks to an injury time strike from Sergio Aguero. Roberto Mancini called it “lucky” and the overall performance left a lot to be desired, but our Champions League campaign is finally up and running.
As expected Mancini made several changes from the side that trounced Aston Villa. Dzeko and Nasri were both restored to the attack, while Zabaleta and Kolarov came in at full-back.
Hart – Made a poor start palming out Rossi’s shot into the path of Cani for the opener. Otherwise dealt well with Villarreal’s efforts. 6
Zabaleta – So nearly the hero with a header in injury time. Showed his spirit by going on to provide the cross for Aguero’s winner. 7
