Manchester City 3 Wigan Athletic 0:WHATEVER HIS other attributes as a manager Roberto Mancini is certainly in possession of a vivid imagination. "I want the players to treat every game like it's a Champions League final," was his motivational message before this game, some going when you've got Wigan Athletic at home on a wet Monday night.
Manchester United fans can insert their own punchlines at this point if they wish. At least City scored for the first time in three home games and moved back into fifth, though only after Wigan had seen Gary Caldwell harshly dismissed and thrown in a goalkeeping blunder to lead to the first of Carlos Tevez’s three goals for good measure. It was a long way from a Champions League final and so, at the moment, are City.
Mancini’s exhortations to treat every match as if it were a final were slightly undermined by his team selection, with Gareth Barry and Craig Bellamy on the bench.
Wigan began somewhat dozily, with Mohamed Diame and Hendry Thomas, their two holding midfielders, forgetting how to hold on to the ball. Diame gave it away to Patrick Vieira first, obliging Titus Bramble to block Emmanuel Adebayor’s shot from a Tevez cross. Then Thomas gave the ball straight to Tevez, who supplied Shaun Wright-Phillips on the right and met the return in front of goal to force a point-blank save from Vladimir Stojkovic.
Tevez was the liveliest attacker on show and almost had a reward for his efforts just before the half-hour when he cut inside Mario Melchiot and curled in a shot from a narrow angle that was only a foot or so wide of the post. Then he caught Bramble in possession and tried to play in Wright-Phillips, only to see Thomas arrive to shepherd the ball back to Stojkovic.
Wigan’s first-half attempts amounted to fairly tame shots from distance by Paul Scharner and Hugo Rodallega, though Shay Given had to look sharp to keep out a snapshot on the turn from Scharner after a free-kick had rebounded from the wall.
Tevez had a penalty appeal waved away just before the interval when he appeared to get tangled with Caldwell rather than be deliberately brought down by the defender, though rather disappointingly, especially with a nervous reserve goalkeeper on duty for Wigan, that was about the sum of City’s attacks.
Wigan grew bolder as half-time approached, so few problems were City causing. Scharner was miles over with the shot from a sweeping move involving Rodallega and Marcelo Moreno, though there was a small but significant cheer from the visiting fans at the sight of Diame showing Vieira the ball in the middle then nonchalantly carrying it past him.
Mancini sent on Bellamy for the second half, to cheers of approval, even though it meant Wright-Phillips having to make way. He may also have recommended peppering Stojkovic more, but when Tevez opened the second half with a shot the goalkeeper could only parry, Adebayor was offside when he tucked away the rebound.
Rodallega shot wide with more time than he probably realised at the other end, before Wigan were reduced to 10 men just before the hour when Caldwell was dismissed for bowling over Tevez with a studs-raised tackle. If Stuart Attwell objected to the studs his decision to produce a straight red could be defended, though Caldwell objected with some justification that he had played the ball and not the man.
While he may not have played as much of the ball as he hoped, Tevez was only skittled by his trailing leg, not by his studs.
Even with 10 men Wigan had a great chance to take the lead when Moreno shot narrowly wide, though by the time the emergency centre-half Scharner got away with two clumsy fouls on Tevez in the area they were beginning to live dangerously.
The City breakthrough arrived through a goalkeeping error, Stojkovic appearing to believe Vieira’s lofted ball forward into the area was a back pass, and allowing Tevez to steal in instead of claiming the ball for himself. There was no way back for Wigan, and further sloppy defending from a corner three minutes later allowed Tevez a close-range second. A rather more impressive third soon followed, the Argentinian cutting in on the right and placing the ball into the corner.
- Guardian Service
MAN CITY:Given, Zabaleta, Toure, Kompany, Garrido (Onuoha 88), Wright-Phillips (Bellamy 46), Vieira, De Jong, Adam Johnson, Tevez (Sylvinho 88), Adebayor. Subs Not Used: Taylor, Richards, Santa Cruz, Barry. Booked: Garrido, Zabaleta, Tevez.
WIGAN:Stojkovic, Melchiot, Caldwell, Bramble, Figueroa, McCarthy, Diame, Thomas (N'Zogbia 52), Scharner, Rodallega (Scotland 81), Moreno (Gohouri 81). Subs Not Used: Moses, Pollitt, Gomez, Sinclair. Sent Off: Caldwell (56). Booked: Scharner, Bramble.
Referee:Stuart Attwell (Warwickshire).
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