Premier League - Wasteful City do just enough

Eurosport - Mon, 23 Mar 08:10:00 2009

Micah Richards headed the only goal as Manchester City beat 10-man Sunderland 1-0 at Eastlands, although City should have won by many more.

2008-2009 Manchester City-Sunderland Vincent Kompany George McCartney - 0

Sunderland defender George McCartney was sent off for a professional foul early in the first half after pulling back Shaun Wright-Phillips, while referee Steve Tanner also showed eight yellow cards.

Robinho saw a poor penalty saved by Marton Fulop and City missed a host of other chances, but Sunderland failed to make their hosts pay and City leapfrog Tottenham to go 10th in the Premier League table.

City's fine home form this season has kept them in with an outside chance of qualifying for the inaugural UEFA Europa League - the new name for the UEFA Cup - and they were quickly into their stride.

Shaun Wright-Phillips sounded a couple of early warning shots before he was played clean through over the top on eight minutes, lobbed Fulop and watched, agonised, as the ball dropped inches wide of the right-hand post.

Sunderland's offside trap was in tatters, and the pacy Wright-Phillips exploited the defensive chaos five minutes later when he raced onto another through-ball.

George McCartney hauled the winger down and, perhaps harshly, Tanner sent the left-back off.

Sunderland manager Ricky Sbragia immediately brought on defender Calum Davenport for striker Daryl Murphy as the visitors attempted to keep City at bay.

They were highly unsuccessful in this venture - within five minutes Steed Malbranque brought Richards down clumsily for a clear penalty.

Valeri Bojinov, and Phil Bardsley were booked following a contretemps in the box but not Malbranque, despite the crude nature of his foul.

But Robinho let Sunderland off the hook with a truly awful penalty. He paused an age on the final step of his run-up before passing the ball weakly to the left of Fulop, who made an easy save.

Elano, Bojinov and Wright-Phillips squandered presentable first-half chances for City, while at the other end the visitors were limited to a Kenwyne Jones volley and Grant Leadbitter's free-kick into the wall.

The second half began in much the same vein, as City toiled to break down the visitors in front of an increasingly agitated crowd.

Wright-Phillips was guilty of a particularly bad miss, skying the ball over after a pull-back from the excellent Richards.

It was Richards himself who made the breakthrough three minutes before the hour mark, heading home an Elano free-kick. Robinho got a final touch at the far post but the ball had already crossed the line.

Disappointing Brazilian duo Robinho and Elano both failed to add to City's lead, adding further glaring misses to profligate displays.

Sunderland nearly scraped an equaliser with six minutes to go, as Nigel De Jong was forced to volley behind his own goal with the ball bobbling around the box.

Alex Chick / Eurosport

Comment 30 - 49 of 49

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  1. OK mate I agree to leave it here. In a hurry to get to­ Hendon or some more suitable site as discussed earlier­ I presume. So long my obese friend.

    From Bob R, on Thu 26 Mar 7:18PM

  2. Bob you're fantasising again aren't you,how do­ you know that sort of thing goes on in Hendon?Bob­ let's leave it here,you're obviously the­ unfortunate victim some horribly botched gender­ reassignement surgery,I apologise for my remarks and­ pity you,you're not only a dickless gay,but also an­ NUFC fan,short of being blind I guess it couldn't­ get much worse for you,my heart goes out mate.No need­ to respond.

    From jack torrance, on Thu 26 Mar 7:05PM

  3. The clues are there for anyone to see Jack. Get out of­ the closet. You state in post 40 that you sometimes­ bare your ar$e in public when drunk. The thought of you­ baring your bottom in some back lane in Hendon for some­ boy to bum is not something anyone wants to hear. Talk­ football or head off to a more suitable site where they­ welcome ginger bears like yourself.

    From Bob R, on Thu 26 Mar 6:17PM

  4. Bob with statements like "I picture you" and­ then requesting I go and soap myself down,you really­ are making me feel a bit uncomfortable,you're not­ rubbing an easy one out under the computer table are­ you Bob?Let's get some perspective here,your not my­ type and this whole treat them mean to make them keen­ thing you've got going on just isn't gonna­ wash.Think less about my appearance and more about your­ team,ginger beer drinking ginger haired bare ars+d bear­ you.

    From jack torrance, on Thu 26 Mar 6:06PM

  5. woteva sweety

    From jack torrance, on Thu 26 Mar 5:22PM

  6. Jacksy's recent posts have included 8.30am, 3.50­ pm, 1.25pm, 8.55pm. Kind of proves my point. Move away­ from the screen, wash that blubbery body (it may take a­ while but it will be worth it) and get out and see the­ world. Address the fact you are good with colours and­ stop accusing others of being so. All friendly advice.­ Oh well back to reading my dictionary or am I just a­ little bit brighter than you and you dont like it?

    From Bob R, on Thu 26 Mar 5:03PM

  7. Bob I think the speed of response kind of makes a­ mockery of your "have to leave the computer "­ statement ha ha,you're clearly never off­ it.You've been sat there all night just waiting for­ me to get out of bed you sad mook

    From jack torrance, on Thu 26 Mar 3:30PM

  8. It's who is in the bottom 3 come the back end of­ May that matters Jack, as you should know having had­ plenty of experience of such events. It has been a long­ while since NUFC have been relegated but I have­ suffered a few and won't be chucking myself off the­ Tyne bridge if it happens. If you bothered to read­ anyone elses posts properly you would have noticed that­ I have said that I dont want either of our clubs to go­ down as the derbys are great days. Having experienced­ your first win in one in many a long year I would have­ thought you may have felt the same. Still you have to­ leave your pc and go OUT OF THE HOUSE to experience the­ atmosphere so never mind.

    From Bob R, on Thu 26 Mar 3:21PM

  9. p.s Bob no need to get all defensive about fighting for­ the pink team,just cos you wear comfortable shoes when­ riding on the other bus it doesn't mean you­ can't still make a valuable contribution to­ society.

    From jack torrance, on Thu 26 Mar 3:13PM

  10. look Bob I don't beer grudges,I somtimes bear my­ ar+e when I'm pissed,but I never bare­ grudges.You've got me down to a tee.I sit here all­ day long with my beer belly,lank hair and body odour­ just waiting for some light bulb like yourself to come­ along and make my life worth living,thanks Bob­ you're a mate and a life saver.P.s have you noticed­ NUFC are in the relegation zone? hard to beer I bet ha­ ha

    From jack torrance, on Thu 26 Mar 3:11PM

  11. cameron you are right about bob, he's a bit of a­ warrior once the footy starts again and we all have­ something to argue about he could prove to be an asset,­ if he can stick at it and BEER to read some of the less­ thought out posts

    From Tony K, on Thu 26 Mar 4:24AM

  12. Rather sadly I did in fact know that fact about the­ arctic but thanks for reminding me, my google search­ also turned up bear grylls the survival bloke and huggy­ bear off starsky and hutch....nearest thing ive found­ to a ginger bear is bungle off rainbow but he's not­ really ginger

    From Tony K, on Thu 26 Mar 4:14AM

  13. Nobody likes a smug, overly-cocky and complacent so and­ so, never mind 36,000 of them.
    Bob R and jack -­ respect man!

    From cameron w, on Thu 26 Mar 2:48AM

  14. Fantastic stuff from Bob R and jack!
    I think we are all­ in for a surprise come May; don't ask me what as i­ do not know, only that i think the 3 who go will not be­ the obvious 3.

    From cameron w, on Thu 26 Mar 2:46AM

  15. Jack, jack ,jack. Let's get our facts right. For­ the last time it was you who was giving out the­ spelling lessons, I merely pointed out your teaching­ skills weren't up to much. You spend so much time­ on here and need to build some sort of life for­ yourself away from your machine. Time to address some­ of the facts I pointed out to you in post 26. I picture­ you a sad, lank haired, smelly, overweight man willing­ someone to reply to your prattle. I have attempted to­ help you but admit I have failed. I wish you luck and­ suggest you start by addressing the fact that you­ accuse anyone who disagrees with you of being a­ homosexual, dig deep Jack and question whether it is­ really you who is the GINGER BEAR.

    From Bob R, on Thu 26 Mar 1:58AM

  16. on the bear theme,did you know that the Arctic (which­ has polar bears) is named after the latin­ 'aktic' meaning bear Tony, however Antarctica­ (which doesn't have polar beers,sorry bears)means­ anti-bear.Interesting fact that eh Bob, almost as­ interesting as NUFC being in the relegation zone ha ha

    From jack torrance, on Thu 26 Mar 1:21AM

  17. careful with your spelling there Tony,Bob is a major­ bore and sifts through everyone's comments for­ mistakes . .s"iT just wish I had that much time on­ my hands

    From jack torrance, on Thu 26 Mar 1:14AM

  18. Bob its just banter from jack you just have to learn to­ grin and BEER it, dont get too friendly with him tho,­ thats how rumours start, apparently i'm a ginger­ bear - whatever that is, I tried googling it and just­ found a grizzly a polar and a panda, definately NO­ GINGER...

    From Tony K, on Thu 26 Mar 12:48AM

  19. tony liked post 25 that's the spirit,have a word­ woth boring bob will you?

    From jack torrance, on Thu 26 Mar 12:24AM

  20. posts on this site mentioning football or it's fan­ base from Jacksy are 2,3,8,20,23,24,27 those from Bobsy­ bore erm 0,nadda,zip,zilch,

    From jack torrance, on Wed 25 Mar 10:50PM
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