TIME TO BUY BONY!
City forwards miss a hatful of chances as Naismith earns sticky Toffees a draw
IF anyone doubted the need for Manuel Pellegrini to splash out £25million on Wilfried Bony, he’d be happy to show them the opening 45 minutes at Goodison Park as exhibit A.
Pellegrini was in tetchy mood despite watching Manchester City stretch their unbeaten run to 14 games, and it had nothing to do with Frank Lampard and his loan saga.
The Chilean watched his side dominate Everton, particularly in the first half, and yet register just two efforts on target. When the home side were vulnerable, Stevan Jovetic and Jesus Navas missed the target horribly after being set up by David Silva, and they weren’t the only culprits.
City fans were glad to see Sergio Aguero reappear as a sub after missing a month with a knee injury.
But if Bony had played instead of Jovetic, City would surely have gained an important win to stay level on points with Chelsea at the top, rather than fall two points behind. Swansea want a lot of money for their striker but Pellegrini would like his bosses to pay it.
‘We had big chances to score in the first half, but if you don’t score you don’t win,’ said the stony-faced City boss. ‘We created chances but we finished in the wrong way.
‘Every team will drop points from now until the end of the season. We never thought this was an easy game and it is always difficult at Everton.
‘Maybe it was a good draw but I cannot forget about the first half.’
City’s lack of accuracy didn’t seem to matter when Fernandinho headed in from close range after 74 minutes after Silva’s shot had been parried by Joel Robles.
But Everton, belying a side that had lost their last four league games, deservedly levelled when Steven Naismith got in ahead of City skipper Joe Hart to head in a Leighton Baines free-kick after 78 minutes. It was a 45th Premier League assist for Baines, a new record for a defender, and confirmed Naismith’s reputation as a scorer against the top teams. He has now netted against all of the so-called Big Four this season; Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and City.
‘It was an old-fashioned game,’ said Everton boss Roberto Martinez. ‘We allowed City too much space in the first half but showed a lot of character after we went behind.’
City had suffered a torrid week after having to admit they had misled people over the terms of Lampard’s spell at the club. It turns out the former England midfielder had signed a 12-month contract at City even though it was believed he was on loan from Sheikh Manour’s other club in the MLS, New York
But they started well, Silva supplied the ammunition — and his team-mates missed.
Everton were all at sea with Aiden McGeady getting catcalls from home fans but, whenever Romalu Lukaku got one-on-one with City defender Eliaquim Mangala, they had a chance.
The big Belgian was denied at the near post by Hart with Seamus Coleman hitting the crossbar with the rebound.
Aguero’s introduction after 67 minutes, replacing Jovetic, seemed to inspire Everton though.
They had a goal disallowed when Phil Jagielka tapped in from a corner after an offside when Naismith had challenged Hart. But City went ahead on the counter.
Nasri switched the ball inside to Silva and his shot looped up from Robles into the path of Fernandinho, who headed in.
Everton claimed offside, but replays showed Coleman and Mo Besic had played Fernandinho on.
Nevertheless, the home side showed tremendous character to level four minutes later.
Baines curled in a free-kick following a foul by Pablo Zabaleta and Naismith timed his run to perfection to get ahead of Hart to nod the ball into the net.