Airtricity XI 0-3 Manchester City: match report

30 July 2011 15:10
By Rory Smith, in Dublin[LNB]4:10PM BST 30 Jul 2011[LNB] Even the richest club in the world should not snub their nose at a moment of thriftiness when it presents itself. Roberto Mancini stated on the eve of this gentle training exercise that he still requires a right-winger; Shaun Wright-Phillips seemed a man determined to prove the Italian already has one. [LNB]The one-time England international, widely linked with a move to a variety of the Premier League's less glamorous outposts this summer, has now scored three times in four pre-season outings, neatly converting Gareth Barry's through ball to put City ahead against the Airtricity League select XI in the opening game of the Dublin Super Cup. [LNB]It was a goal he deserved, as one of City's two standout players in an otherwise unremarkable game, and a run of form that suggests he has not yet given up hope of continuing his career at the Etihad Stadium. [LNB]His inclusion in this fixture indicates that Mancini, though, has rather different ideas. This was a City side containing just four players who can have any hope of being involved on an even semi-regular basis this year. The rest were young hopefuls, promoted from the Academy for a moment of experience but likely to spend the rest of the season back among their own age group. [LNB]Only Barry, Wright-Phillips, the newly-signed Montenegrin defender Stefan Savic and Adam Johnson, scorer of an expertly taken second goal and another wide man widely linked with a move away from Manchester this summer, offered a semblance of class; against a spirited but uninspiring select XI, their class was more than enough to secure a comfortable, even plodding, victory. [LNB]Related Articles

Source: Telegraph