After a four-game winless run throughout late August and September, some may expect heads in the City camp to start drooping with The Blues in a difficult slump. However, City got themselves out of this particular rut with a resounding 7-0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday in the Capital One Cup. This is a competition City are hoping to defend after winning it at Wembley in March, and began their defence in style with seven second-half goals.
Manuel Pellegrini shuffled his considerably-strong pack ahead of the cup game, bringing Willy Caballero, Bacary Sagna, Martin Demichelis, Jesus Navas and Sunday’s equalising hero Frank Lampard into the starting lineup. Regardless, it was a very strong team for The Blues, showing their strength in depth once again.
Stuart Gray also changed his team around, taking out Atdhe Nuhiu and bringing in Gary Madine upfront. Chris Kirkland also came in for Kieran Westwood, among other changes made by The Owls. This was strange as many expected Gray to field a strong team against City in a bid to gain passage to the next round.
The first half was largely uneventful for both sides. The visitors controlled a lot of the early possession in City’s half, but weren’t really able to break down the defence. Gary Madine had a header from a tight angle that was easily blocked, and Stevie May almost controlled a pass which would have put him through on goal, but largely uneventful. Up the other end, James Milner had a soft shot saved easily by Chris Kirkland and Eliaquim Mangala hit the post with a volley from a corner.
No-one except the people in that room will know what Pellegrini said to his team at half-time, but whatever it was it definitely galvanised them into action – seven goals were scored in a second half rout of the visitors.
The first – and possibly most key goal – came just 2 minutes after the break, from Frank Lampard. The move started with Yaya Touré in the right channel, who spotted Milner’s run into the box. He took it wide, before turning and crossing low to Frank Lampard, who had run in at the front post. It was a simple matter of turning home for the ex-Chelsea man.
Six minutes later, the lead was doubled. Again out on the right, this time with Jesus Navas, the ball was crossed low into the box where it found Edin Džeko twelve yards out, who fired home first time past Chris Kirkland. A minute later, Navas turned scorer when his mazy run from out on the wing ended in the Spaniard smashing home into the roof of the Wednesday net for 3-0.
Any hopes of an Owls comeback were diminished significantly on 59 minutes, when Kamil Zayatte was sent off. The ball was played through to Lampard in the box, and the Englishman was pulled down by Zayatte. A penalty was given, and the ex-Hull defender Zayatte had to walk. Captain-for-the-day Yaya Touré stepped up to take the penalty and sent Kirkland the wrong way as he stroked the ball home making it 4-0 after 60 minutes.
Then came the substitution that all City fans with an inkling about City’s youth players had been waiting for – José Pozo came on for Yaya Touré, making his debut. Some expected him to start the game, but he gave a very good account of himself and his potential against Stuart Gray’s Owls, even scoring the sixth goal in the process.
Before the young debutant could score though, there was time for James Milner to hit the base of the post on 66 minutes after a good run that would have made it 5-0. 11 minutes later, Džeko really did make it 5-0 when Kolarov’s powerful run down the left and subsequent cross landed on the head of the Bosnian, who powered the header past Chris Kirkland.
Some may have been happy there but Pozo, keen to impress on his first senior appearance, put the effort in for the half hour he was on the pitch, and was rewarded on 88 minutes. Navas made a break into the box on the right, and when he could have easily shot himself (thereby bagging his second of the night) he chose to play it to his fellow countryman Pozo, who slid the ball home for six.
As fans started making their way out of the ground at the end, City finally rounded off the scoring with the man who started it all: Frank Lampard. In injury time, Aleksandar Kolarov found himself with the ball on the left wing, with options in the box. He chose to slide it low to Lampard, who took a chance and slid in on the ball, putting it into the far corner in the process – three goals in two games for the Englishman now.
People may say that this victory was expected due to the level Sheffield Wednesday play at, but that’s not fair. Wednesday gave a very good account of themselves in the first half, keeping City at bay. As tired legs kicked in, and the Zayatte red card, City found more space, resulting in the goals. Stuart Gray will be able to take positives from that performance, and look towards the visit to Cardiff on Saturday.
In the home camp. The Blues will be very pleased to get out of the four-game rut of the past month. Not only that, but there were some very pleasing individual performances on the night as well: Lampard being the obvious one, but it was satisfying to see Yaya putting the effort in as captain, and for Mangala to continue the impressive work we saw against Chelsea. José Pozo didn’t look daunted by the opportunity to play his first senior game for The Blues and may play a bigger part this season after that showing.
City are due to face Newcastle United at home in the next round of the competition in October, but before then The Citizens have the upcoming task of Hull to deal with on Saturday afternoon at the KC Stadium.
