Another disappointing defeat to Everton put a dent in City’s Champions League ambitions as we failed to break through a typically organised defence in a feisty, frustrating game.

Joleon Lescott may have been the most talked about of City’s absentees but it was Wayne Bridge and Emmanuel Adebayor who were more sorely missed as we struggled to create and take chances. The ridiculous four match ban for the Togolese finally caught up with City as we needed one of his moments of brilliance to convert territorial advantage into a goal.

Roberto Mancini surprisingly dropped Santa Cruz to the bench and reverted to a five man midfield with Stevie Ireland getting another opportunity. Possibly mindful of the trouble Everton had caused our full-backs at Goodison Park, Mancini moved the defensively strong Zabaleta to left-back, while the height of Richards was restored to the team. Vieira made way for the greater covering skills of de Jong.

This was a match where the result determined much of the media’s assessment, with City’s peformance widely derided, while that of David Moyes’ side has been lauded. The reality was a closer affair where both sides enjoyed periods of dominance, with the critical moment coming against the run of play.

Everton started brightly as City seemed unconvinced by their own 4-5-1 system leaving Tevez isolated against Distin and Jagielka, who were able to gobble up any high balls punted forward. Then City found their passing game and started to dominate midfield with Ireland coming into the game after a quiet start.

What proved to be City’s best chance came from a finely lobbed throughball from the Irishman and Tevez looked sure to reach it ahead of Howard. The wet turf saw the ball accelerate slightly to prevent Carlos getting a decent touch and the Everton keeper took him out while defensive cover saw the shepherded away.

Tevez was everywhere in the opening period, looking determined to lead City on a charge to fourth place. Likewise Bellamy wasn’t going to allow Everton to dominate as they had done at Goodison Park. Two moments changed all this.

The first was Heitinga’s cynical foul from behind on Ireland that effectively took him out of the game. This was a real blow for the player as he had been given a precious opportunity by Mancini and was looking dangerous.

Next came the opening goal. An increasingly rare Everton break saw Cahill hold off Barry until he reached a nice spot for a free-kick where he went down. The sharply taken set-piece that saw the Australian score was in contrast to all our corners and free-kicks where we failed to create a single decent chance. It’s in such fine differences that games such as this can be won or lost, and so it proved.

Both the crowd and the team were deflated by the goal, with the referee not helping things as Moyes’ side continued to show they’re not averse to using football’s dark arts. Another professional foul, this time on Tevez as he did brilliantly to break free, saw City’s frustration boil over.

For once the Argentine wasn’t able to do it on his own, and the he received little assistance when first Craig Bellamy, then Roque Santa Cruz were asked to play alongside him.

A goal ahead, Everton could sit deeper and focus on absorbing City’s attempts to break them down. Any opportunity for the skill of our attacking players on the break was gone, and Mancini was forced to bring on Santa Cruz early in the second period.

Once again we steadily regained the initiative after a quiet opening, though Roque wasn’t giving us any additional impact in the penalty area. Vieira was the final throw of the dice, with Richards surprisingly making way. Zabaleta switching to right-back and Barry to left-back was presumably meant to offer more creativity from the left-back spot – as it had against Sunderland.

It didn’t work as Everton were able to exploit Barry’s unfamiliarity with the position. De Jong may have been a better sacrifice for Vieira as by this time we required more creative passing from the middle.

Against a well organised defence we needed the additional attacking option of full-backs augmenting wingers and this was where Bridge was missed. The right-footed Zabaleta can’t play the role of overlapping left-back and the struggle to get a regular supply of crosses into the box was noticeable throughout.

On the sidelines, Mancini looked increasingly frustrated with the players failure to create openings and the timewasting tactics of Everton. The confrontation with Moyes was entertaining enough and should assuage any doubts about his committment to City’s fourth place mission.

He knows how he wants the players to play and his stress levels rise visibly when they fail to carry it out. Sadly a touchline ban looks inevitable, which is a shame as the in-game directions have proved a useful facet of his management style. A mobile link-up with Brian Kidd beckons.

At the final whistle, it felt like our Champions League aspirations lay in tatters, with the only silver lining coming in Aston Villa’s draw against Sunderland. Undoubtedly a good night for Liverpool and Tottenham, but on reflection not fatal to ourselves.

Micah Richards:

“We thought we could capitalise on our game in hand but it didn’t work out that way and we are devastated in the dressing room.

“There are no ifs and buts. We have eight cup finals and we have to win them all starting against Wigan on Monday night.”

Our fate is still in our own hands if we beat Tottenham. What this result means, like our draw at Sunderland, is there is less room for error. With games against United, Arsenal and Villa before Spurs, this is a tall order but not one that’s necessarily beyond us.

The return of an in-form Adebayor could give us a lift, while recent matches have shown a commendable fighting spirit within the team – no matter what Moyes might say. This squad looks increasingly determined to get into the Champions League and whilst it may need a couple of slip-ups by our rivals, it could still be done.

External reports:

• BBC
• Manchester Evening News
• MCFC
• The Times

Blog reports:

• The Theatre of Base Comedy

Video:

• Match highlights

Richards – Good to see him sharper in the tackle after being rested on Sunday. Did his best to take the game to Everton in the first half and was unlucky to be taken off. 7

Kompany – Put in some excellent challenges, often coming out with the ball. Allowing Rodwell to get the better of him for the second goal was a low point. 6

Toure – Changing his boots at half-time was 45 minutes to late! Fortunate not to have cost us a goal with several first-half slips. Kolo tried to effect change with some eye-catching runs into enemy territory which, sadly, lacked an end product. 6

Zabaleta – Solid enough defensively in both full-back positions, but wasn’t able to offer the attacking support we needed to break down Everton. 6

A Johnson – Whipped in a couple of dangerous crosses and looked to have the beating of Baines before switching wings. Disappointing to see him go off as he looked the player most likely to unlock Everton. 7

De Jong – Did well enough in wrestling the advantage back from the Everton midfield, but wasn’t able to push on when we needed to in the second-half. 6

Barry – With hindsight Gareth should have fouled Cahill at the first opportunity, rather than allowing him to buy a free-kick in a more dangerous position for the first goal. Was switched to left-back following Vieira’s introduction, but he no longer has the positional awareness for the defensive side of the game. 6

Bellamy – Strove as hard as anyone to make the breakthrough. His frustration was tangible early on, and Neville didn’t help matters. Spent the mid part of the game up front alongside Tevez, but wasn’t able to find space or service. 6

Tevez – Gave it everything, particularly in the first-half. Came closest to scoring when played in by Ireland but the ball just quickened off the wet turf to prevent a better connection. 7

Ireland – Started slowly before hitting his stride as we enjoyed our best spell. The cynical reducer from Heitinga ended his involvement and was worthy of greater condemnation than any managerial spat on the touchline. 7

Subs:

Wright-Phillips – Robinho had his “subbed sub” humiliation in our last game against Everton, and Wright-Phillips was fortunate not to suffer the same fate when Johnson was the winger to make way for Santa Cruz. Shaun failed to get the better of Baines. 5

Santa Cruz – Won a few balls in the air, but the lay-offs all went backwards when we needed to go forwards. Not able to bring anything of note to the attack. 5

Vieira – Did ok without turning the game sufficiently for clear openings to be created. At least Patrick played forward passes and didn’t give the ball away. 6

Man of the match: Carlos Tevez

Mancini may still be comparatively new to the Premier League but at least he knows the danger that Everton present after succumbing to his first defeat at Goodison Park. David Moyes’ team always compete hard and winning the physical battle is the first priority.

If Santa Cruz departs early this time around, at least Mancini won’t be replacing our target man with Robinho – by some distance the worst substitution of his managerial career here. We could do with the big Paraguayan continuing to lead the line as an outlet ahead of what is likely to be a competitive midfield.

We struggled desperately without a target man at Goodison Park, so Santa Cruz needs to play. Will a two man central midfield be enough? There has to be doubts over whether Vieira and Barry are mobile enough to cope with Everton.

Maybe Mancini will revert to having three defensively strong midfielders and just the one winger. This can leave us unbalanced and put to much pressure on the lone creative player.

This is a fixture where Lescott and Bridge would have been particularly useful. Whether Toure and Garrido can keep us solid at the back will be crucial. Kolo does at least give a bit more pace to our defence and this could be useful if Saha returns for the Toffees.

Having the height to defend set-pieces is always important against Everton, particularly now Arteta is back to whip the ball in. In this regard Richards and Vieira would be preferred over Zabaleta and de Jong, though if Everton are moving the ball around quickly, then the tackling of the latter two would be more useful. It’s a tough call for Mancini.

At least the way to secure fourth place is now clear, with going for victories the new mantra coming from the manager.

Roberto Mancini:

“If we want to get fourth spot we must win always. It will be important that we win at home and away.

“Everton are in good form and they work very well on the pitch and it is a crucial game for us.”

Expect concerns about Bellamy’s knees to be put to one side for this one, and hopefully Adam Johnson will get the chance to further show his skills as we go for victory. With the club doing their bit in making £10 tickets available for the third tiers, there should be a near full house to cheer the team on.

The last minute defeat to Everton was one of the grimmest moments of last season at Eastlands. It was a real sickener and three points for us tonight would be a fine recompense. Moving into fourth place may be only temporary with Spurs playing before us at the weekend but, more importantly, victory over a strong Everton side would be a real statement of intent in the race for a Champions League spot.

Blue Days line-up: Given, Richards, Garrido, Toure, Kompany, de Jong, Vieira, Bellamy, Johnson, Tevez, Santa Cruz.

Prediction: 3-0 to City.

Garrido – There were a couple of times when Donovan and others got through on our left flank, but Javier did ok on the ball. 6

Zabaleta – His needlessly conceded free-kick proved costly as Pienaar took advantage. The Argentine was up for the fight, but caught out a few times. 6

Kompany – Our best defender on the night, and never allowed a moment’s rest once Everton took control of the midfield. 7

Richards – Micah was doing well at the back, and more than holding his own in the air, until the to-obvious shirt-pull was spotted by the linesman. 6

de Jong – Not able to dominate the dominate the midfield as we needed him to against a fired up Everton side. 6

Barry – If the groin problem is limiting his play, then it needs sorting out. We need Barry at 100% for games like this, and here he looked a lot less. 5

Bellamy – Plenty of endeavour, little end product. The Welsh firebrand was raging but we needed better link-up play with the strikers. 6

Petrov – The right wing is blunting his effectiveness. On the few occasions he could have got away, there was need to check back onto the left foot and the momentum was lost. 5

Tevez – Pushed further forward once Santa Cruz departed, there was little service and the Argentine wasn’t able to influence the game. 6

Santa Cruz – This was a game when we needed the big Paraguayan, but the legs gave way almost as soon as it began. 3

Subs:

Robinho – Playing as a second striker, the Brazilian wasn’t able to get into a game of such intensity. Benjani should have been the Santa Cruz replacement with Robinho coming on in the second half. 5

Benjani – Showed some decent touches and gave us a little more presence when he eventually came on. 6

Wright-Phillips – Good to see him back. Carried the ball forward well and he should soon be back in the starting line-up. 6

Man of the match: Vincent Kompany.

A predictably fired-up Everton forced City on to the back foot as Roberto Mancini suffered his first defeat since taking over at Eastlands. The absence of so many players finally caught up with us and by the end the “honeymoon is over” cliche was out in force for the manager.

There was only one change to the previous starting line-up with Roque Santa Cruz coming in for Benjani. This may have been hard on the Zimbabwean, but the extra quality of Santa Cruz was required for tough opponents who were strong in the air.

City actually started the game brightly and were knocking the ball about well, despite the high tempo being set by Everton. Maybe it was this false promise that lead to Mancini’s first mistake as City manager.

Annoyingly, Santa Cruz was injured after just four minutes, and forced to hobble off. The obvious replacement was Benjani, but Mancini went for Robinho who played as a second striker. Tevez was moved forward to play as lead striker.

This proved doubly damaging. Firstly, we now had no target man to lead the line, so there was no effective option of playing high balls forward to relieve the defence. Everton were now able to push on against our midfield knowing we had to play it on the ground. In such a competitive fixture, there wasn’t the time on the ball to play our way through the Everton lines.

Secondly, we lost Tevez’s capacity to drop deep and help out the midfield by harrying opponents in our own half. This isn’t Robinho’s game, and the Everton midfield was able push right up against de Jong and Barry – two midfielders who naturally like to sit deep.

Roberto Mancini:

“Santa Cruz was injured after five minutes. He was our most important player.”

This interesting comment acknowledges how Santa Cruz was fundamental to our game plan, in having a target man who could lead the line.

Mancini seemed to realise his mistake as he had Benjani warming up in the first half. The second-half substitution of Robinho predictably lead to another bout of bad press for the Brazilian, but the fact is, he shouldn’t have been brought on in the first place.

If we were to have a small striker leading the line, then maybe Bellamy would have been more effective. His pace could have been utilised to try and stretch Everton. More space was needed in midfield where we were reduced to the frantic style of play that suited Moyes.

Mancini also acknowledged the debilitating effect of having so many injured players. Here, Stephen Ireland was missed as we needed a midfielder capable of taking the game to the opposition. Having him stationed in front of de Jong and Barry, and playing behind a lone striker might have enabled us to take a grip in midfield.

Whilst the score was 0-0, City’s best chance came when a flick-on by Tevez came to Robinho. There was little time and with the ball at an awkward height, the Brazilian wasn’t able to direct his volley on target. With our defence under increasing pressure, a free-kick needlessly conceded by Zabaleta proved our undoing. Pienaar struck it sweetly and it went through a slight gap in the wall, from where de Jong had broke. Given nearly got to it, but couldn’t really be faulted as the ball landed right in the corner.

Just prior to half time, City came closest to scoring when Bellamy cut in and flashed a shot round the far post. Almost immediately, Everton went upfield and won the penalty that effectively sealed the game.

Micah Richards, who had been defending heroically, had a hold of Saha’s shirt, and was spotted by the linesman. Whether Micah needed to have hold of the Frenchman’s shirt is doubtful, and if he is going to do such things in future, he needs to be a lot more subtle about them.

If we’d have gone in 1-1, it would have been interesting to see how Mancini reorganised his players for the remainder of the game. At 2-0, there never seemed any likelihood of us upsetting an Everton side putting in their best display of the season.

Robinho is being slaughtered in the media, but the fact is none of our attacking players were able to bring their ability to bear. Benjani and Wright-Phillips did ok individually when they came on. Shaun will be a likely starter on the right wing now as Petrov has run out of confidence playing on his wrong side.

Central midfield is more of a concern with talk of Barry having a groin problem. This could be a mitigating factor for his performance, but him and de Jong are not a pairing to take the game to the opposition. Mancini will have plenty to think about in this area of the field. Having Tevez drop deep to link play, or Ireland do the same job from midfield is the most likely solution. We were clearly undermanned at Goodison.

It was ironic to see Fellaini giving an impression of Vieira in his prime. We needed a similar performance from the original, but whether he still has the legs to do it remains to be seen. The present Vieira is likely to sit as deep as de Jong and Barry.

The game was similar to the defeat at Spurs where we took a hammering that proved the final failing for Hughes. It’s to early to condemn Mancini in the same way as he should be allowed a little time to better understand the players at his disposal, and to acclimatise to the rigours of the Premier League.

External reports:

• BBC
• The Guardian
• The Independent
• The Telegraph
• The Times

Blog reports:

• The Lonesome Death of Roy Carroll
• Norfstander

Forget their current position, Everton are back in the kind of form that saw them finish fifth in the Premier League last season. Yet City will still be going there looking to win, such is the confidence in the team at the moment.

City are likely to line up with the same defence and central midfield pairing that we saw against Blackburn, as Patrick Vieira is still feeling the effects of his calf injury. The 6′ 3″ Frenchman might have been useful against a physical Everton side who are dangerous in the air from set pieces.

To combat the Everton threat, Mancini may consider bringing back Onuoha if he’s fit, and moving Richards to right-back. There’s talk that Gareth Barry’s groin could do with a rest, but this is unlikely until Vieira’s ready to step in.

Once again it’s the flanks where Mancini has the biggest choices to make (and the biggest egos to massage). If Bellamy’s knees can only manage Everton or Manchester United, then it will be interesting to see which one he plays in. His tracking back might be needed in both, particularly as left-back is our weakest defensive position.

Petrov didn’t look happy on the right-wing against Blackburn so Shaun Wright-Phillips could return. Not for the first time, the most intriguing question is whether Robinho gets a start. The Brazilian performed well as a substitute in the last two games, and the manager has once again spoke positively of him.

Roberto Mancini:

“Robinho is technically a top player. I watched him a lot of times when he played for Real Madrid and then Manchester City. I have spoken to him but I don’t want to change his mentality.

“I think he can play in different ­positions, in attack or on the left or right [of midfield], but I don’t know yet what his best position is.”

Up front Benjani did ok against Middlesbrough and Blackburn, but Everton will be a tougher test where the extra quality of Santa Cruz might be needed. Yet again there are doubts about the fitness of the Paraguayan as the Manchester Evening News say he’s had a trip to Barcelona for treatment on tendonitis. With Adebayor absent, it’s matches like this where City need Santa Cruz and it’s mighty frustrating that his fitness is still in doubt.

Carlos Tevez may find himself the focus of Evertonian attention following his headline grabbing hat-trick, but City have enough of a goal-threat elsewhere to take advantage of any doubling up on the Argentinian.

For Everton, there’s a chance Sylvain Distin may return from injury, while Lucas Neill could play his last game before departing for Galatasaray. Let’s hope his mind’s already in Turkey.

No doubt memories of the Joleon Lescott transfer will still be in the minds of David Moyes and a lot of Everton fans, ensuring City receive a hot reception. Thankfully Mancini has instilled a discipline that is able to take the sting out of a game.

Let’s hope the Italian’s fury at conceding a goal on Monday results in a return to the shut-outs of his first three games. Against a feisty Everton, this may not be a high-scoring encounter.

However a positive result would be good for our league position as, thanks to the quirks of the fixture list, Spurs will play an additional three games before our next league match. It seems strange that games postponed last weekend are being played next week, while we’ve been waiting since August for our rearranged home fixture against Everton.

Regardless, with Everton having recently drawn away to Chelsea and Arsenal, a draw at Goodison would indicate City are still on course for a top four finish. A win and the talk will be of a bid for the title!

Blue Days line-up: Given, Richards, Onuoha, Kompany, Garrido, de Jong, Barry, Petrov, Robinho, Tevez, Santa Cruz.

Prediction: 2-0 to City.

Video:

Last season’s 2-1 victory, featuring what I thought was the “pass of the season” – Elano’s first time ball to Robinho for the first goal.