Sergio Agüero’s double helps Manchester City ease past Sunderland
Sunderland 1 Man City 4
Premier League| Sunderland |
|
|---|---|
| Man City |
|
It was the sort of night which mocked suggestions that this season’s
Premier League is a one-horse race and poured scorn on the notion that
Manuel Pellegrini might be under some sort of pressure at the Etihad
Stadium.
With Sergio Agüero at his ruthless best and Yaya Touré further deconstructing theories that he could be a fading force, Manchester City were irresistible.
At times their football, frequently fast and one-touch, was so mesmerising they threatened to pass Gus Poyet’s team off the pitch but the worrying thing for future opponents is that Sunderland scored first and were far from meek.
Chelsea may hold a six-point lead at the top of the table but, on this utterly compelling evidence, Jose Mourinho has absolutely no cause for complacency. “You can’t be champions in December,” said Pellegrini. “We’ve got six months more to try to be champions again but I don’t think it will be just two teams fighting for the title, there’ll be three or four. Manchester United have won their last four games and Arsenal are coming again.”
City, though, hold an ace card in Agüero, who has scored 19 goals in 20 appearances this term. “I don’t know if there’s a better striker in Europe,” the manager said. “In his last few games I think he’s shown he’s one of the best five players in the world. It’s not just that he’s scoring, he’s playing very well generally. And we’re returning to our best form, there’s trust in the team, it’s different now.”
Poyet – still to name the same starting XI in successive games this season – changed the formula which secured a fine point against Chelsea last Saturday. Sunderland’s manager aimed to confuse City by shaking things up. Where his team had been content to sit deep against Mourinho’s players, they attempted to impose themselves, holding a high defensive line as, initially at least, they endeavoured to press Pellegrini’s side.
If this strategy produced mixed results, the switching of Connor Wickham from the left to right flank and the replacement of the injured Adam Johnson with Will Buckley briefly, deceptively, seemed to ruffle the visiting defence.
And after Pablo Zabaleta blocked a shot from his former team-mate Jack Rodwell following Buckley’s deceiving early cross, Wickham opened the scoring. Sebastian Larsson’s reverse pass created the goal, which was tinged with fortune as Wickham benefited from the ball ricocheting back on to him after an attempted tackle. The ball flicked off the striker and arced impressively over Joe Hart like the cleverest chip.
Revenge was not long in coming. Pellegrini’s players, like Sunderland, were keen to press high up the pitch and they were beginning to prove considerably better at it. So much so that Agüero’s equaliser had a certain air of inevitability. Or at least it did if you ignored the statistics. With City having surrendered 1-0 on each of their previous four visits to Sunderland, Agüero’s was their first goal here since 2010.
Connecting with Jesús Navas’s wonderful cross, Agüero nutmegged Sebastián Coates before lashing an unstoppable right-foot shot beyond his one-time team-mate Costel Pantilimon from the edge of the area. Perhaps anxious to emphasise he can also create, he then set up Stevan Jovetic for his side’s second.
The moment when Jovetic took aim and whipped the ball through Pantilimon’s legs came at the end of a fabulous move featuring around 30 passes. Things reached a conclusion when Yaya Touré teased Sunderland by retaining possession before picking out Agüero with his back to goal and the Argentinian lifted a perfectly cushioned flick into Jovetic’s path.
With Touré taking increasing command of central midfield, where he made life awkward for Lee Cattermole, Pellegrini’s players thoroughly deserved their lead. As a December chill which threatened to leave car windscreens in need of de-icing began to bite, Agüero, Touré and Co continued enjoying themselves. Yet good as City were, sporadic cameos indicated why Dedryck Boyata and Martín Demichelis are not Pellegrini’s first-choice central defensive combination and Fernandinho was forced to clear Rodwell’s header off the line following Larsson’s excellent corner.
Not that such concerns mattered when Zabaleta struck. Reminding everyone that he is not all about defensive play, the right-back played a deft one-two with Samir Nasri before confounding Pantilimon with an audacious lob directed into the far corner.
By now Boyata’s habit of conceding unnecessarily clumsy fouls barely registered, and it became virtually irrelevant when Agüero scored his second. Meeting James Milner’s cross, he ghosted in front of Santiago Vergini before flicking a shot beyond poor Pantilimon via the inside of a post. “Finally,” said Pellegrini, “we’ve won at Sunderland.” Poyet, although the best part of two decades younger, looked considerably more tired afterwards. “City were better than us in every aspect,” he said. “And we paid the price.”
With Sergio Agüero at his ruthless best and Yaya Touré further deconstructing theories that he could be a fading force, Manchester City were irresistible.
At times their football, frequently fast and one-touch, was so mesmerising they threatened to pass Gus Poyet’s team off the pitch but the worrying thing for future opponents is that Sunderland scored first and were far from meek.
Chelsea may hold a six-point lead at the top of the table but, on this utterly compelling evidence, Jose Mourinho has absolutely no cause for complacency. “You can’t be champions in December,” said Pellegrini. “We’ve got six months more to try to be champions again but I don’t think it will be just two teams fighting for the title, there’ll be three or four. Manchester United have won their last four games and Arsenal are coming again.”
City, though, hold an ace card in Agüero, who has scored 19 goals in 20 appearances this term. “I don’t know if there’s a better striker in Europe,” the manager said. “In his last few games I think he’s shown he’s one of the best five players in the world. It’s not just that he’s scoring, he’s playing very well generally. And we’re returning to our best form, there’s trust in the team, it’s different now.”
Poyet – still to name the same starting XI in successive games this season – changed the formula which secured a fine point against Chelsea last Saturday. Sunderland’s manager aimed to confuse City by shaking things up. Where his team had been content to sit deep against Mourinho’s players, they attempted to impose themselves, holding a high defensive line as, initially at least, they endeavoured to press Pellegrini’s side.
If this strategy produced mixed results, the switching of Connor Wickham from the left to right flank and the replacement of the injured Adam Johnson with Will Buckley briefly, deceptively, seemed to ruffle the visiting defence.
And after Pablo Zabaleta blocked a shot from his former team-mate Jack Rodwell following Buckley’s deceiving early cross, Wickham opened the scoring. Sebastian Larsson’s reverse pass created the goal, which was tinged with fortune as Wickham benefited from the ball ricocheting back on to him after an attempted tackle. The ball flicked off the striker and arced impressively over Joe Hart like the cleverest chip.
Revenge was not long in coming. Pellegrini’s players, like Sunderland, were keen to press high up the pitch and they were beginning to prove considerably better at it. So much so that Agüero’s equaliser had a certain air of inevitability. Or at least it did if you ignored the statistics. With City having surrendered 1-0 on each of their previous four visits to Sunderland, Agüero’s was their first goal here since 2010.
Connecting with Jesús Navas’s wonderful cross, Agüero nutmegged Sebastián Coates before lashing an unstoppable right-foot shot beyond his one-time team-mate Costel Pantilimon from the edge of the area. Perhaps anxious to emphasise he can also create, he then set up Stevan Jovetic for his side’s second.
The moment when Jovetic took aim and whipped the ball through Pantilimon’s legs came at the end of a fabulous move featuring around 30 passes. Things reached a conclusion when Yaya Touré teased Sunderland by retaining possession before picking out Agüero with his back to goal and the Argentinian lifted a perfectly cushioned flick into Jovetic’s path.
With Touré taking increasing command of central midfield, where he made life awkward for Lee Cattermole, Pellegrini’s players thoroughly deserved their lead. As a December chill which threatened to leave car windscreens in need of de-icing began to bite, Agüero, Touré and Co continued enjoying themselves. Yet good as City were, sporadic cameos indicated why Dedryck Boyata and Martín Demichelis are not Pellegrini’s first-choice central defensive combination and Fernandinho was forced to clear Rodwell’s header off the line following Larsson’s excellent corner.
Not that such concerns mattered when Zabaleta struck. Reminding everyone that he is not all about defensive play, the right-back played a deft one-two with Samir Nasri before confounding Pantilimon with an audacious lob directed into the far corner.
By now Boyata’s habit of conceding unnecessarily clumsy fouls barely registered, and it became virtually irrelevant when Agüero scored his second. Meeting James Milner’s cross, he ghosted in front of Santiago Vergini before flicking a shot beyond poor Pantilimon via the inside of a post. “Finally,” said Pellegrini, “we’ve won at Sunderland.” Poyet, although the best part of two decades younger, looked considerably more tired afterwards. “City were better than us in every aspect,” he said. “And we paid the price.”
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