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MOTD- Newcastle United 0-2 Manchester City

By on August 17, 2014

When Manchester City faced Newcastle United late last season, they won 2-0 at the Sports Direct Arena, with one goal on either side of the half. Tonight, their squad was largely unchanged from that one. Just two City players who started that match in February did not play today, and the result didn’t change either. City won 2-0, and though Newcastle put up a struggle late on they scored once on either side of the half. It is more the fact that the Sky Blues are more or less the same team they were last year, when they won the league, that is most worrying for their title rivals.

Manuel Pellegrini used his simple 4-4-2 formation, still heavily relying on David Silva for creativity – the Spanish midfielder set up City’s first goal and scored their second – and Sergio Aguero to score their goals. The forward was on for just eight minutes at the end of the match yet scored a crucial late goal to put it beyond Newcastle. And it was clear that City are still experimenting and gaining momentum. Multiple of their starting eleven were forced to be benched because of exhaustive long World Cup runs, including Aguero. At full throttle City will be a brilliant team to watch but horrible team to face.

It was all the visiting side in the opening quarter hour, and just three minutes in Silva’s brilliance in a scooped pass over the defense nearly gave Edin Dzeko his first goal of the season. The Bosnia-Herzegovina forward didn’t manage to get enough on his poked effort, though, and Tim Krul had an easy enough time blocking it. Nasri, from the central position him and Silva would move into on attacks down the flanks, sent a twenty-five yard effort on target twelve minutes in, and Remy Cabella attempted to chip Joe Hart down at the other end on the break, but both efforts failed to find the back of the net as Krul parried and Cabella saw his effort loop just over.

Newcastle’s counter-attacks were often to frail and far between, however, and while they gained some control as the half wore on, City looked the far more dangerous of the two sides. It was inevitable when Silva gave the reigning Premier League champions the lead a half hour in. Dzeko was put to chase a diagonal ball down the left hand side of the box, and by taking both central defenders with him set Silva up on a golden platter with a brilliant back-heeled pass. Silva latched onto the ball and coolly finished it under Krul. It was a type of goal that we all to often see Silva or Aguero score – far more than half of their thirteen shots tonight came from inside the box, way more than for the average club.

It still was a tight match, however – Newcastle did well not to break down. In fact, they just pressed higher, and a brilliant last ditch tackle was the only thing putting Cabella off from equalizing early on in the second period. Fifty-five minutes in Paul Dummett came tantalizingly close as he beat Hart to a free-kick crossed in from the right, only to see his header fly inches over.

Their attack stalled come the hour mark, and City nearly sealed the win as Dzeko looped a header onto the roof of the net and Toure curled a dangerous free-kick just over. But towards the end Newcastle piled the pressure on as Alan Pardew brought on multiple attacking substitutes, and nearly found an equalizer despite City bringing on Fernandinho for Steven Jovetic, resorting to a 4-5-1 with three in the middle. Ayoze Perez saw a ten yard effort just deflected wide only two minutes after being brought on, before another sub Gabriel Obertan acrobatically sent a far post cross narrowly over. Moussa Sissoko seemed destined to score as he met a cut-back from the left completely unmarked at the top of the box, yet he to saw his effort fly over. Yet in the end City held on, and Aguero got in behind the Newcastle defense early on in stoppage time to put the game to bed. City had lobbed the ball forward and Aguero volleyed an effort on goal – Krul blocked the first effort only for the Argentine forward to tuck the rebound home.
Man of the Match: David Silva

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.