LOSS TO SUNDERLAND CAN’T BURST MANUEL’S BALLOON
(You won’t if you keep losing away from home, Manuel...)
MANCHESTER City manager Manuel Pellegrini has admitted that his side’s lousy record on the road is damaging their title credentials.
City suffered their fourth away defeat of the season — and their fourth 1-0 defeat at the Stadium of Light in a row — with another shock loss on Wearside yesterday.
Sunderland’s unlikely hero was defender Phil Bardsley, who appeared to be on his way out of the club six weeks ago but whose second goal in a week gave the home side a precious victory to reduce the gap to the safety zone.
Roberto Mancini suffered three successive 1-0 losses at Sunderland and Pellegrini, who doesn’t exactly have the cheeriest demeanour at the best of times, endured his own misery at t he hands of t he Mackems.
The City boss admitted: ‘I’m concerned because we are losing too many points away. Of course that makes winning the title very difficult because if you don’t win away, then it is hard to try to fight for the Premier League.
‘I don’t think we are playing badly, but we must improve. If we can do that then I’m absolutely sure that we’re going to win the league.
‘My reaction is very similar to the other games we have lost away from home — it’s incredible the way we lost this match.
‘Sunderland played really well, particularly defending, especially for a team that is in a really difficult position.
‘So I understand the way they played, but they had j ust one chance at our goal and they scored. We had all the possession, we had all those chances but didn’t score.’
Pellegrini makes a valid point there. City had 63 per cent possession compared to Sunderland, 14 corners to Sunderland’s zero and overwhelmed the home side by 23 shots on goal to five.
Yet Vito Mannone, who was preferred to Keiren Westwood in what Gus Poyet described as the most difficult decision he has ever made, had only one meaningful save to make to preserve Sunderland’s first clean sheet of the season. This against a side who had scored 12 in their previous two games.
The former Arsenal goalkeeper got his fingertips to an awkward shot on the turn from Sergio Aguero, who was unable to get two other good opportunities on target.
He headed an Aleksandar Kolarov cross wide in the first half and volleyed a rebound over when Mannone spilt an Edin Dzeko shot through a crowd of players in the final 10 minutes. Dzeko also headed his best chance off target three minutes later.
Although the defeat is another blow for Pellegrini, it offers a substantial lifeline to Sunderland, who started the afternoon six points away from safety.
‘I looked at that table beforehand and it was awful,’ Poyet admitted. ‘And we were playing City.’
But it is amazing what organisation, composure and a little luck can do. Former Manchester United defender and permanent United fan Bardsley got away with a little shove on Martin Demichelis as he chased Wes Brown’s measured pass over the top of the City defence.
Referee Mike Dean also failed to punish Seb Larsson’s dangerous tackle on Javi Garcia.
Bardsley’s finish was as good as any striker’s and gave the outstanding Brown his first assist in five years as he made his first league start for nearly two.
Six weeks ago, when Paolo Di Canio was Sunderland manager and Bardsley was still training with t he cl ub’s academy players,
Bardsley had appeared in the club’s press room.
The defender might have been lost; he certainly looked bored and eager to be seen. He still had a smile on his face, perhaps aware that the Di Canio reign was in its dying days as rebellion among his team-mates started to take hold.
‘Who’s that?’ one joker in the Press pack asked as he walked in. ‘I recognise that face.’
And Bardsley, who had only just been allowed back into the club by the Italian coach after his latest bust-up and ban, smiled. He had a typically quick and robust (and foul-mouthed) retort. ‘Ey,’ is the polite version of what he said next. ‘I’m the saviour.’ How right he might prove to be. Bardsley said last night: ‘ It is unbelievable. To get those three points was massive. Manchester City are a top team and we knew it would be tough.
‘The players were nervous earlier in the season, but the manager has shown great belief and got us playing the way he wants. I owe him a lot because he has brought me in from the cold and I want to repay him.’ Poyet added: ‘I know for the fans it’s always more important to beat your biggest rivals but in terms of opposition, quality, worldclass players, this is the biggest win of my career.’
And he joked: ‘It’s going to be a good evening tonight, without any doubt. I don’t know how my heart is right now. I don’t want to check it in case it is bad news. But it is going to be a great evening. And the international break comes at a good time for us.’