Manchester City still have to adapt to the idea that, after the flood of money pumped into the club, there is a higher price on their heads, writes Kevin McCarra.
The winners were bound to be a cosmopolitan group of capable footballers, no matter which team had the better of it. There should no longer be much surprise that it is Wigan who take the points in a game of this sort. The clues were in plain view. While Manchester City got bogged down and beaten at Brighton in midweek, Steve Bruce’s side glided past Ipswich with a 4-1 victory at Portman Road in their own Carling Cup tie.
The visitors, always better off than Wigan, are now incalculably richer after their takeover, but these are still early days for Mark Hughes. City lost to a more coherent team. There was a concerted aggression when Wigan were harassing the opposition and a unity as reserves of energy drained away.
It was intriguing that Bruce stuck by an exhausted line-up as much as he could. Lee Cattermole alone was replaced and that was unavoidable because of injury to the midfielder.
City still have to adapt to the idea that, after the flood of money pumped into the club, there is a higher price on their heads. Exotic factors were also a hindrance and no onlooker would have failed to guess which player had made a return flight to Brazil in midweek. Nobody else had Robinho’s excuse. The malaise was engendered by Wigan.
Micah Richards and Richard Dunne floundered, for example, because of the pressure applied by Emile Heskey and Amr Zaki. There was a comparable impact by Wilson Palacios, who had been given an advanced starting position in midfield from which he mostly stopped Vincent Kompany and Elano from establishing a rhythm for City. The visitors, though, will dwell on the consequences of one specific episode.
With the score tied at 1-1, Heskey laid the ball off to Palacios in the 34th minute. The left-back, Javier Garrido, attempted a challenge and the Wigan midfielder hurled himself through the air. All the same there had, as Bruce insisted, been contact. This was not a phantom offence, despite the exasperation of Hughes, the City manager, and the dissent which ensured a caution for Robinho. There was no twinge of shame as Zaki converted the penalty.
“We feel the referee has (had) a hand in the outcome of the game,” Hughes said of Steve Bennett. “Key decisions weren’t made correctly.” He believed that his side might have been due a penalty of their own for an incident involving Dunne, but Hughes is too rational a man to misconstrue a whole match. “Once they were in front,” he admitted, “it was difficult to break them down. In the second-half we didn’t have enough momentum.”
Impetus came more readily to Wigan, particularly in the form of Zaki. In stoppage-time he had the power to take on defenders and thrash an attempt slightly high. Bruce blesses the day that Wes Saunders, the former Newcastle player, told him he must consider Zaki, who was subsequently taken on loan from El Zamalek. The Egyptian has both an eye for opportunities and an unflagging commitment.
Bruce mused that players from countries that are “not so well off,” including Palacios, from Honduras, show an “unbelievable spirit.” He was right, particularly, to reflect on the youthful energy of the midfield. “They didn’t enjoy that,” he said of City. Hughes could have done without the irony of being told by his old Manchester United team-mate that Zaki is the same sort of striker that he once was. “I didn’t use to fall down quite as easily as that,” the City manager said with wryness more than venom.
It had begun to go wrong for Hughes in the 16th minute when a free-kick was cleared as far as Antonio Valencia, who lashed home a beautiful 30-yarder. City were level within six minutes as Olivier Kapo omitted to cut out an Elano free-kick and Kompany deflected the ball into the net from close range.
Wigan had moments of apprehension and Chris Kirkland made good saves, especially from Shaun Wright-Phillips. For all that, City were out of sorts and Hughes, recognising the deficiencies in attitude as much as technique, made his first substitution, replacing Jo with Ched Evans.
There had been underperformance in several areas — City could have cancelled out Valencia’s strike even more swiftly than they did but Robinho put the ball wide after being set up by Stephen Ireland, and in the second-half Ireland himself failed to connect with Elano’s pass. Then again, Heskey had misplaced a header that would have put Wigan 3-1 up. Deep down, City will know they deserved this defeat.
The ResultsSeptember 28Portsmouth 2 (Defoe pen-34, Crouch 68) bt Tottenham 0. Half-time: 1-0; Wigan 2 (Valencia 16, Zaki pen-34) bt Manchester City 1 (Kompany 22). Half-time: 2-1.
September 27Arsenal 1 (McShane o.g.-51) lost to Hull 2 (Geovanni 62, Cousin 66). Half-time: 0-0; Aston Villa 2 (Young 18, Carew 33) bt Sunderland 1 (Cisse 10). Half-time: 2-1; Everton 0 lost to Liverpool 2 (Torres 59 & 62). Half-time: 0-0; Fulham 1 (Murphy pen-59) lost to West Ham 2 (Cole 43, Etherington 45+1). Half-time: 0-2; Manchester United 2 (Ronaldo pen-60, Rooney 77) bt Bolton 0. Half-time: 0-0; Middlesbrough 0 lost to West Brom 1 (Olsson 53). Half-time: 0-0; Newcastle 1 (Owen pen-51) lost to Blackburn 2 (Samba 31, Santa Cruz 41). Half-time: 0-2; Stoke 0 lost to Chelsea 2 (Bosingwa 36, Anelka 76). Half-time: 0-1.
© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2008
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