Buzz Lightyear
Alert Team
There was almost a feeling of disbelief early yesterday as I for once trudged along Joe Mercer Way..in brilliant sunshine. I did not have to wear my nice, warm bench coat, no gloves, no thermal hat. It felt amazing after a week in the Spanish rain.<br /><br />But would the same sun shine on City? The City who had liberally tossed away two point in an almost abject performance at Newcastle in midweek? Would the Blues go for it as they did ahead of the match against PSG or would it be an "I`m saving myself for the big one?" perhaps as the players eagerly await the visit of the mighty Madrilenos, come Tuesday?<br /><br />As Pellegrini handed in the team sheet to replacement referee Bobby Madley, it looked like another of his mystical gems, bearing in mind we were playing Stoke City, never particularly compromising when they play the Blues. City were easily dissected at the Britannia earlier this season on one of those afternoon awaydays when they simply weren`t up for it. But some of the line-up made sense.<br /><br />The absence of Kompany from the 18 suggested that his inclusion at Newcastle was a gamble too far and the restoration of the Otamendi-Mangala axis looked correct for this encounter. Zaba, possibly moving into the twilight of his career rarely lets City down and probably wouldn`t on his 300th appearance for the Blues, unlike Kolarov who for me remains the eternal mystery. My back straightened at the inclusion of the invisible man formerly known as Yaya and the absence of the season`s gem in Fernandinho. Navas and the once again recovering Silva, I suppose, were givens. The most interesting part of the selection was the recruitment of Iheanacho alongside Super Sergio. Would this leave City light in midfield, or would it leave them in much better shape further forward? We were about to find out.<br /><br />This type of match often sees the opposition play with a 5-man midfield which swamps City, especially when Yaya in in there in non-contributory mode and I have to say, this was my expectation today. But even the Pedmachine can get it wrong.<br /><br />So, St George`s Day it was, when the resplendent red and white knight, no, not the one with the big red nose, slayed the dragon. Stoke lined up in their "home" strip, no doubt in the hope of being slayers, rather than the slayed.<br /><br />The game got off to a predictable start as the sides checked out each other`s formations and Stoke trying to test the resolve of Otamendi and Mangala as Arnautovic drifted along City`s back line in search of space, but it was City and more importantly Iheanacho who found the early gap and the youngster`s precise shot was an inch wide. It was to prove to be his "sighter".<br /><br />City prompted and probed right and left but the Stoke six of Shawcross, Whelan, Cameron, Wollsheid, Bardsley and Muiesa seemed to be doing enough to protect ex-City net minder, Shay Given. The same old problems were starting to arise for City, with Yaya having clocked-on but checked-out early, Navas, quick and direct, finding space but not finding a blue shirt and Stoke defending their penalty area easily. But that tactic was to prove their undoing today as City at last found a way to attack when they were granted space in the wide and deep.<br /><br />With 10 minutes to go to the break, Navas typically found room, but found nobody home with his tight cross except a Stoke defender. From the corner, curled neatly into the near post area, Fernando and Otamendi beat Wollscheid to the ball and the Brazilian beat the Argentino to nod home the first goal. Was this really the first goal from a corner since Dave Watson, or is the Pedmachine getting confused?<br /><br />Stoke have allowed four goals in each of their last two match and in true St George`s fashion were heading to be put to the sword today. That said they did have chances as the awkward Arnautovic toiled up top and getting open a couple of times and Diouf not quite the same ticket as his rampaging run of last season in this fixture.<br /><br />But as City eased up through the gears it was very much enter the dragon, enter Kelechi Iheanacho. This young man has incredible movement, quick feet and very much an eye for goal. Setting off a neat one-two at the edge of the box, he drew Shawcross and as he skipped past him the Stoke defender took a chance and hauled him over. Yes he did try to "blindside" the Assistant Referee with his body position, but Mr Madley read it right and almost apologetically pointed to the spot.<br /><br />So, Sergio, what`s it gonna be boy, left or right? The Mighty Atom had offered chances to various goal tenders this season, but none was to be "given" to Shay as he dived the right way, but found Aguero a bit smarter lifting the ball just above body height to chalk up goal 101 in the Barclays Premier League. First half over, game over.<br /><br />The cynics among us used to believe that goal number three was critical for City especially if there were less than four minutes left to play, but today City, still short of fourth gear lit up the Etihad as the sun moved on leaving a growing cloud bank in its place.<br /><br />And the follow spots were to be provided by the young man the Blue Mooners want to see so much more of. The sheer class of his first goal of the afternoon needed to be viewed from Level Three. Just after the hour, quick feet down City`s right saw Zabaleta make one of his famous overlaps. Iheanacho started from deep, forcing the Stoke defenders back into the box and Zaba`s position spread out those in front. However Stoke let Zaba have the space he wanted towards the corner. As he looked up he saw Iheanacho cleverly shake of his markers by drifting towards the penalty spot. An inch perfect daisy cutter and a precise shot into the bottom corner saw Kelechi claim his tenth goal of the season. Brilliant.<br /><br />With Delph having already replaced Silva, Bony was sent on for Aguero allowing City`s star man a well-deserved rest ahead of Tuesday and ten minutes later the Ivorian, who still looks well out of shape for me, held off a defender to ease Iheanacho into play. His acceleration left Shawcross and Wollscheid for dead, he drew the keeper, skipped around his challenge and clipped the ball into an empty net for another classy goal. Again, brilliant.<br /><br />I would say that every non-City striker in the Barclays Premier League would have taken the replacement goalkeeper, Haugaard`s challenge, hit the grass and arranged for him to be red-carded ahead of the penalty. Not a City striker, not Kelechi Iheanacho. The Nigerian is in a hurry to prove his point ahead of the introduction of Guardiola. He has probably not been used enough my Pellegrini this season but with statistics of 8 starts, 15 shots and 11 goals, one has to wonder why not.<br /><br />The writers of the back pages of the irrevelant red tops all of whom are basic Stretford droolers would be dropping their pants if this was a Stretford Steeler, but because he is a Blue, it is all very under-stated, as it is today. But make no mistake you wasters of space in print, you are witnessing the genesis of the real "next big thing".<br /><br />If you watch the Barcelona that Pep built and handed on to Enrique, you ask yourself " When do I see Messi, Suarez or Neymar with their backs to goal with four guerrillas behind them?". The answer is practically never, as they attack facing the goal, forcing defenders to back off. Is that not why they have scored more than 100 goals between themselves this season and last season?<br /><br />Rewind this Ped Report a paragraph or two and think of the space Kelechi found for his first goal. If he was back to Shawcross and Wollscheid that would have been no dice, but driving straight at them in the same vein as de Bruyne, they have to make unpopular decisions and the balance of power changes to that of the forward. I`m absolutely certain we will see this change next season with Aguero, hopefully Iheancaho plus one other facing defenders up and getting what they deserve. Not a weekly kicking, a weekly gaggle of goals. We will see de Bruyne and one other acting like Xavi and Iniesta controlling the game from inside positions in midfield while true attacking full backs stretch defences. The collective Etihad lips are smacking at the thought.<br /><br />There were one or two scares for City as they introduced Demichelis to try to even things up a bit, but they easily saw the match out for an equally easy 4-0 win, Stoke having let in 12 in 3 matches. Looks like Mark Hughes might be having some awkward post-season conversations with the Potters Paymasters.<br /><br />Needless to say there was a unanimous contender for Man-of-the-Match. The performance started in the first minute and ended at the end. Sound daft, but when we do we say the same about other players, Yaya? Kelechi Iheanacho.<br /><br />So de Bruyne got a day off, Silva may or may not have proved his fitness, Yaya once again spent a lot of time on his backside, taking an age to get up and not really contributing much. The fact that he was kept on for 90 minutes suggests he will be absent from the starting eleven on Tuesday which will see Fernadinho restored at his expense and de Bruyne back instead of today`s man of the match.<br /><br />I suspect Clichy and Sagna will be given the dubious honour of keeping Bale and Ronaldo quiet and Sergio will plough the lone furrow getting chopped and clattered by the despicable combined harvester, Ramos Who will once again live the charmed life of a referee caught in the rabbit headlights.<br /><br />My understanding is that the mighty Real Madrid have been unable to sell their allocation at the Etihad and that there may be up to 1000 late tickets in level three of the south stand, so if you haven`t got a ticket, make enquiries now. This really proves that the Stretfords are clearly the biggest team in the world doesn`t it?<br /><br />There were big scores all around the Barclays Premier League yesterday including 4 at Anfield, where once again, much to the anger of dear Sue, her beloved Scousers snatched a draw out of the jaws of victory surrendering an easy 2-0 lead over relegation-haunted Newcastle, currently in the hands of their former manager Rafa Benitez. His warm welcome was soon curtailed as the Mags crept back in to earn a 2-2 draw in pretty much the same fashion as they did against City in midweek. She certainly wasn`t a happy monster, when the Pedmachine returned to Crosby and Blundellsands after the City match. She didn`t know whether to laugh or cry after the FA Cup semi-final, featuring her 2 anti-christs ended with the Stretfords earning a return to Wembley, beating Everton in "fergie-time".<br /><br />For our part, we move on now to continue writing Manchester City history, with our first ever Champions League Semi Final against Real Madrid and this is an intriguing tie which could have an unexpected outcome, ruining the aspirations of the hot-balling inclusives of Nyon, who only seem to want to include their favourites when it suits them and changing the rules if they have to. Whoever is given the task of arbitrating the match on Tuesday will, as usual, give City nothing and let Sergio Ramos get away with all his snidy tricks and referee the match himself, for that reason alone I really do hope that City get rid of Real Madrid. <br /><br />Writer: Pedmachine<br />
