Carling Cup Review

Who won the game for City?

Pretty much everyone else. Carlos Tevez was absolutely immense. This was a real return to form for the Argentine striker. He chased every ball, ran at defenders and his goal juz after the break was superb. Shaun wright-phillips scored the second, but his greatest contribution came from the flanks, where he repeatedly roasted Troare and fought for every inch of the right flank.

Craig Bellamy's tricks caused all kinds of problems on the left and Stephen Ireland showed some of the form that won him the club's Player of the Year award last season.

More of these and City might finally pick up a win in the Premeirship.


--Rashy Cruz

This is a bad week to be an arsenal fan

Manchester City 3
(Tevez 50,Wright-Phillips 69,Weiss 89)
Arsenal 0

WELL,it was a bad week to be an Arsenal fan.In the great scheme of things,defeat in the Carling Cup was no disaster for a team which wasn't at its strongest.
Had it not been for Arsene Wenger's poor sportmanship at the final whistle,we'd probably think nothing of it.this is very much a second string side made up of fringe players and rookies and they were soundly bbeaten by an expensively assembled team of internationals.Where's the surprise?
There were many similarities between Sunday's defeat to Chelsea and this emphatic reverse.Arsenal's reserves are no bigger than their first team and the lack of physical strength is still very apparent.

Aggressive

Manchester City were aggressive,adventurous and eager to push forward. Young Craig Eastmond, deployed in the defensive midfield role, had a torrid time trying to the stem the blue flow.

When the likes of Carlos Tevez, Adebayor, Bellamy and Wright-Phillips are charging in on your penalty area, you want better defenders than Armand Traore and Mikael Silvestre to save you.
City were excellent, especially in the second half, and they fully deserved to go through to the semi-finals.
Some of the home supporters have been critical of Mark Hughes, patience being a commodity in short supply to the former United hero. But you can see the direction in which he is trying to take City. You can see the passion and the spirit. You can see the shape and the ideas.
Most of all, you can see the pairing of pace and power in full effect, a combination that neither Arsenal's first team nor their reserve team seems to enjoy these days.

--Rashy Cruz