Baggies dump City out of Carling Cup

22 September 2010 22:30
Sheikh Mansour's £1billion investment in Manchester City was unable to save the Blues from an embarrassing 2-1 Carling Cup defeat at West Brom.[LNB] Even with an estimated £100million of talent on the pitch at the final whistle as Roberto Mancini threw on James Milner and David Silva, City were unable to force an equaliser.[LNB]Milner came closest in stoppage time when Boaz Myhill made a flying save to ensure a West Brom side showing 10 changes from the team which beat Birmingham on Saturday preserved a lead Gianni Zuiverloon and Simon Cox had given them in a two-minute second-half spell.[LNB]It was a dismal result for Mancini, who must now try to avoid defeat to Chelsea at Eastlands on Saturday to stop questions being asked about his admittedly short Blues reign.[LNB]In fact, as they contemplated their fate on the journey back up the M6, probably the only man who could look back on the contest with any satisfaction was goalkeeper Shay Given.[LNB]At the weekend Given admitted his plight at Eastlands was not an attractive one but the Irishman turned in an excellent display, with two saves in particular standing out.[LNB]The first, to deny Graham Dorrans needed agility after the midfielder had let fly from 20 yards with a shot heading for the bottom corner.[LNB]Then it was strength, speed and dexterity as Given turned away Giles Barnes' header, then got across his goal quickly enough to repel Somen Tchoyi.[LNB]Even as he reflected on those efforts at half-time, Given must have known his involvement against Chelsea on Saturday would come from the bench given Mancini's line-up, containing three new faces and three teenagers, had both eyes on the visit of Carlo Ancelotti's men.[LNB]In the final analysis, it may be pointed out to Mancini that his purposes might have been better served had this been the game when he selected all his stars.[LNB]After all, unless the Italian is harbouring serious ambitions of winning the title, even though City are already seven points adrift of the leaders, a home game against Chelsea is probably not going to make or break their top four aspirations in the same way this defeat ended their hopes of winning a trophy before May.[LNB]But at half-time Mancini must have been fairly pleased with himself after Jo had once again rewarded his manager's faith and patience.[LNB]The £17million Brazilian scored his first City goal in almost two years in Salzburg last week.[LNB]Rather like London buses, once one arrives, another follows shortly afterwards.[LNB]Given West Brom controlled so much of the contest, it should be no surprise City pounced on the counter-attack with one of the debutants, John Guidetti, playing a key role before Jo calmly stroked the ball home.[LNB]When Given stood tall to beat away a Barnes effort after the midfielder had been sent racing beyond the City defence, it appeared the script for the evening had been written.[LNB]Faced with such adversity, West Brom's mood was impressively defiant.[LNB]And although Ben Mee was fuming at being on the wrong end of an apparent push in the build-up, there was no doubting the touch of class from Zuiverloon as he belted his side level from 20 yards.[LNB]Within a couple of minutes, the Baggies were celebrating again as Cox found the same bottom corner after finding himself some space on the edge of the City box.[LNB]The swift reversal in fortune was no more than West Brom deserved and triggered the introduction of Milner in a clear effort to try to salvage the contest.[LNB]Silva soon followed but it was all to no avail as the Baggies celebrated a famous win.

Source: Team_Talk