Manchester City 0 Birmingham 0: Fans turn on Mancini as Blues stutter to hapless draw

By SPORTSMAIL REPORTER

Making the change: Mancini withdrew Tevez from the game to the anger of the City faithful


Roberto Mancini felt the full weight of frustration as his Manchester City side were booed off after their second goalless draw in four days at Eastlands.

Just as against Manchester United on Wednesday, the entertainment value was sadly lacking, except this time City were playing against a side who could be in the bottom three by tomorrow evening.

James Milner came closest to breaking the deadlock, 15 seconds after the interval, when his shot was cleared off the line by Stephen Carr.

It was not impressive stuff though for a side who, whilst remaining in a Champions League position, have now won just one match from their last five Premier League outings and have not scored a league goal on home soil since the beginning of October.

That Mancini compounded this by taking crowd favourite Carlos Tevez off before the end, and replacing him with Gareth Barry, just heightened a sense of unhappiness at the sight of an obdurate Birmingham outfit heading back down the M6 with a precious point.

As Birmingham turned out in a red away kit that could have passed for Manchester United, it was easy to believe this was simply a continuation of Wednesday night's awful fare.


Scrappy: Vincent Kompany and Nikola Zigic fight for the ball


There were obvious differences. For a start, Birmingham were intent on defending their penalty area, a tactic that became apparent within the first five minutes.

Aleksandar Kolarov was introduced for only his second start of the season, a notable figure if only because he came across from his left-back station to take City's right-wing corners.

And Adam Johnson was picked, offering the England star to match his words of discontent about forcing himself into Mancini's plans so infrequently, with meaningful action.


Throwing caution to the wind: Roberto Mancini's late substitution of Carlos Tevez for Gareth Barry told its own story


Unfortunately, the end product was depressingly similar to a midweek derby generally acknowledged to be one of the worst of recent times.

If anything, due to a chronic lack of atmosphere mainly, this was even worse.

Ben Foster did not have a first half save to make, or at least the one he did need to make but failed, turned out to be of no consequence anyway as Carlos Tevez was ruled to have handled David Silva's cross to get it past the England man.


Deadlock: James Milner came closest to opening the scoring for Manchester City


Referee Mike Jones got that call right, just as he was probably correct to rule it was not a penalty when Liam Ridgewell went down under Johnson's challenge.

It was more a case of accidentally tripping over someone's feet by the Birmingham full-back, who did not complain, even if manager Alex McLeish did.
Kolarov, Tevez and Johnson drove ambitious efforts wide, drawing groans from home supporters who clearly expect much better.

They came very close to getting it within 15 seconds of the restart.

Having organised his defence so well, McLeish must have been startled at how easily they were undone in route one fashion when James Milner breached their defences.

Foster repelled the midfielder's first effort but Milner seemed sure to tuck the rebound home, only for Carr to pop up and make a fine goalline clearance.
It emphasised the greater purpose City had found during the interval, even if Tevez, Milner and, most glaringly, Yaya Toure wasted decent chances.

Toure is yet to win over the Blues support since his summer arrival from Barcelona on a reputed salary in excess of £200,000 a week.

For that money, more is anticipated that a rushed finish to a move in which both Milner and David Silva created space for the imposing Ivorian to shoot.
Toure has been part of a spending spree over the past two transfer windows that has turned Roque Santa Cruz into City's forgotten man.

The Paraguayan, signed by Mark Hughes from Blackburn in an £18million deal 17 months ago, admitted earlier this week that he would be seeking pastures new in January.

However, with Emmanuel Adebayor missing due to a bruised heel and his side starting to run out of ideas, Mancini opted to introduce Santa Cruz into a Premier League encounter for the first time this season.



Committed defending: A rare outing for Manchester City's Roque Santa Cruz was thwarted by Ben Foster and Roger Johnson


The Paraguayan almost had an instant impact too, slipping an intelligent pass through for Tevez, who dragged his shot wide.

As thoughts of an upturn in fortunes increasingly looked like being an illusion, frustration in the stands turned to fury when Tevez was replaced by Gareth Barry seven minutes from time.

Tevez raised a rueful eyebrow as he took his place in the dug-out, leaving Mancini to face the ire of his own supporters.


source: dailymail

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