Scott Murray's Blog, page 185
March 21, 2015
England v France: Six Nations 2015 – live!
Memory Lane – the championship down the yearsDean Ryan: England must revisit Cardiff script against FranceEmail: scott.murray@theguardian.com
5.18pm GMT
15 min: Plisson can’t stroke the conversion between the sticks, however, from out on the left flank. It’s 27 points now, then. A good couple of minutes for Ireland, there.
5.17pm GMT
Vunipola plays a loose pass, hitting Lawes on the shoulder. The ball’s plucked from the sky by a blue shirt, and suddenly Tillous-Borde, from the halfway line, is scampering down the left wing with nobody whatsoever near him! He runs half the length of the pitch, and there goes England’s fast start! Boum!
5.15pm GMT
13 min: France haven’t stopped panicking, though. Plisson’s kick upfield from deep is charged down brilliantly by Marler. Spedding does well to gather the loose ball in the France 22 and mop up.
5.13pm GMT
Plisson makes no mistake, arrowing his kick from 30-odd yards straight between the sticks.
5.12pm GMT
10 min: Ford refuses to release the ball, amid a melee in the middle of the English half. That’ll be a penalty for France. England can’t afford to offer up cheap point-scoring opportunities like this.
5.11pm GMT
8 min: Room for France down their left. Mermoz very nearly breaks into space down by the 22, then cuts inside to hand the ball to Tillous-Borde. But he’s held up. The ball’s soon turned over, and England look to break upfield at speed. Joseph has plenty of green grass to scoot into, but the move breaks down with a knock-on. Slightly clumsy from England, who had France on the back foot there.
5.08pm GMT
6 min: Ford takes the long penalty kick, in almost complete silence. He scuffs it pretty badly, the ball dying to the right of the posts, never going over. Not the perfect start for England, then, but my goodness they’d have taken this six minutes ago!
5.07pm GMT
5 min: France are all over the shop. A scrum in the middle of the park, and they spin it round like a Catherine Wheel. England with the penalty, and surely they’ll opt to kick this, with every point precious.
5.05pm GMT
3 min: Ford does what he has to do from a tight position on the right. Seven down, 19 to go!
5.04pm GMT
One minute and 29 seconds into the game, and what on earth were France doing? A misplaced forward pass in the middle of the park. Joseph scoots off down the right wing at pace. The ball’s shuttled on to Brown, who offloads to Ford, cutting inside. One last pass, and Youngs bursts over the line. What a start!
5.02pm GMT
As Swing Low, Sweet Chariot pings off the walls of Twickers, France get the match under way. So, 26 points, then. Can England manage it? Vunipola takes the first catch of the game. England look to break up the left, but passes don’t stick to hand. A knock on. Scrum to France. The players heave. The crowd heaves. What an atmosphere!
4.56pm GMT
The teams are out! A cracking atmosphere at Twickenham, on account of everyone in the stands being paggered on refreshing boose. Sobriety out the window! Marvellous. England are playing in their pristine but soon-to-be-muddied white shirts, red rose in full bloom. France will be competing in their famous blue, le coq perched proudly on the chest. Time for the national anthems. Let’s be honest with ourselves, France win that one hands down.
4.00pm GMT
England crave victory today. And they crave it for several reasons. In ascending order: it’s the Six Nations; it’s France; it’s France at Twickenham; it may well lead to the 2015 Six Nations title; it’ll propel them towards the 2015 World Cup, their World Cup, in good heart, whistling a jaunty tune, heels clicking, twirling a cane. Actually, you could put all of that in any order, couldn’t you.
As it’s the final game of the 2015 Six Nations, the maths are simple. Well, simple enough. Wales’s eight-try 61-20 victory in Italy had fired them to the top of the table, with a 16-point advantage over England. But they’ve since been supplanted by Ireland, who tonked the Scots 40-10 at Murrayfield; they hold a 10-point advantage over Wales, and 26 points over England. That means England need to beat France by 26 points to win the Six Nations. If they do that exactly, they’d win the title on tries scored, having already scored 11 to Ireland’s eight. Second place will be secured by a 16-point victory, but they’d need to cross the line twice if 16 is all they can manage, for Wales are up to 13 tries for the tournament.
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Manchester City v West Bromwich Albion – as it happened
An early red card, and a case of mistaken identity, condemned West Brom to defeat, as City close the gap on Chelsea at the top, for one day at least.
2.38pm GMT
Dzeko is six inches away from threading a shot into the bottom-left corner from 20 yards. And that’s that. West Brom were always up against it, in the wake of that early red card, and so it proved. City ran out easy winners, and on another day would have had a hatful. No doubt there’ll be some sort of controversy regarding the mistaken identity, McAuley walking instead of Dawson, but does it really make much difference? Ten men are ten men are ten men. West Brom remain comfortable in mid-table, above the relegation worries. City meanwhile move to within three points of Chelsea, who have two games in hand. But the title’s still a possibility, albeit a long shot. A torrid week comes to a more than satisfactory end.
2.34pm GMT
90 min: There will be two added minutes. “Is Danny Mills the world’s most disgruntled man?” wonders Charles Antaki. “After running out of outrage about the red card to vent on Radio 5 Live, he’s turned his attention to the way TV showed Messi’s nutmeg of Milner multiple times. And that was three days ago. You have to worry about the man’s blood-pressure.”
2.32pm GMT
89 min: Sessegnon is replaced by Mulumbu.
2.31pm GMT
88 min: Navas dribbles down the right and flicks a ball inside for Aguero, clear on the penalty spot. But the striker miscontrols, allowing Lescott to arrive on the scene and smack the ball clear. Aguero is a study in frustration.
2.29pm GMT
86 min: McAuley’s 89-second red card, by the way, was the quickest in the Premier League this season. Berahino is replaced by Anichebe.
2.28pm GMT
84 min: Jovetic exchanges passes with Aguero down the inside-right channel and breaks into the area. Dawson gently shoulder charges him off the ball. No penalty, though one’s claimed with vigour.
2.26pm GMT
83 min: Everyone appears to be winding down.
2.24pm GMT
81 min: Silva, who has as always been excellent today, is replaced by Milner.
2.23pm GMT
80 min: In the middle of the park, Fernando slides in on Morrison. Free kick. No yellow card, which is a pretty poor non-decision, as that was as late an intervention as you’ll see, if not particularly malicious.
2.22pm GMT
78 min: Bony goes off, Dzeko comes on.
2.22pm GMT
Aguero chases after a ball down the inside-left challenge. He crosses. Dawson takes one from karma in the face. Corner. From which Clichy reaches the byline and pulls one back for Jovetic, to the left of the D. Jovetic’s shot is flying wide left, but it’s flicked into the bottom left by Silva. A lovely touch. This is over. It’s long been over, but it really is now.
2.19pm GMT
76 min: Another free kick for West Brom, just inside the City half. It’s lumped towards Olsson, who is the danger man at these set pieces. But the big defender is overly clumsy and concedes the foul.
2.18pm GMT
74 min: Well, that would have changed things. Perhaps that’ll wake City up. The home team had been snoozing for a few minutes. And yes, they go up the other end, Bony going close from 20 yards, his show flying off to the left.
2.17pm GMT
73 min: But they trudge upfield and earn themselves a corner down the right. From which they nearly score! And they certainly should have. Olsson flicks it on to the far post, where Berahino must surely head home from a couple of yards. But he hammers his effort off the crossbar, and Lescott loops the follow-up over. What an astonishing miss from point-blank range!
2.15pm GMT
71 min: City have eased off a little. West Brom have been afforded a couple of opportunities to run the clock down with a few passing triangles in the middle of the park. They’re not really going anywhere, but avoiding a thumping is probably uppermost on their minds.
2.12pm GMT
68 min: Back up the other end, the new arrival Jovetic cuts in from the left and, on the edge of the D, looks to curl one into the bottom right. Myhill is beaten, but the ball doesn’t quite come back in and flies an inch or two wide of the right-hand post. A very decent effort, though, that.
2.11pm GMT
66 min: A high ball’s hoicked into the City area. Olsson goes up with Hart at the near post, and his presence wins a corner. His knee also crumps into Hart’s trouser arrangement as the two compete in the air. Ooyah oof. The resulting set piece comes to nothing, punched clear by Hart, his special machinery having finally stopped jangling.
2.08pm GMT
65 min: Sessegnon embarks on a 50-yard dribble down the right from deep. Fernando bundles him over, and the free kick is celebrated by the away support with a large comic cheer. Before the free kick is taken, Jovetic replaces Lampard.
2.06pm GMT
62 min: Navas slips Zabaleta in on the overlap down the right. The full back, pelting into the area at full speed, can’t quite control the pass. Had he done so, he’d have been in on goal. The ten men of West Brom are really on the ropes here.
2.04pm GMT
60 min: Myhill is in Staunch Mode. He saves a couple of close-range efforts from Silva. How on earth is this still 2-0?!
2.03pm GMT
58 min: Aguero comes in from the right, and hammers a shot off the left-hand post. Then Bony tries to follow the ball in, but he smacks his shot off the crossbar! It’s a surprise that the frame of the goal is still standing, such is the relentless hammering its just taken. Any certificates of structural adequacy are now invalid for insurance purposes.
2.01pm GMT
57 min: Silva bothers the Baggies down the inside left now. He turns through 360 degrees, carefully and at his own pace, like a dog preparing for a snooze. He then slides a pass down the middle for Lampard, who breaks into the area and sidefoots weakly straight at Myhill. On another day, Lampard could easily have had a hat-trick. He’s certainly had three very good shooting chances in the West Brom area. You’d normally expect a better return than this.
1.59pm GMT
55 min: Silva drops a shoulder down the right and fizzes a low cross to the near post. Aguero zips in and connects, but his close-range effort hits Myhill. A few inches either side, and that was the third. Aguero wears the wry look of a man beginning to think this might not be his day.
1.58pm GMT
54 min: Berahino battles well down the right wing, and West Brom have a chance to knock it around in City’s half for a while. All very strange, in the context of this game. But City are soon breaking upfield, Bony travelling at pace down the right. Silva has a whack from the edge of the box, but it’s straight at the keeper.
1.56pm GMT
50 min: City are knocking on the door here. Aguero scampers into the area down the right, but his low shot is kicked away at the near post by Myhill. Then from the corner, Bony sends a powerful effort goalwards from 12 yards, level with the left-hand post, but it’s an inch or two wide of the target. West Brom will be doing very well indeed to keep this to 2-0, because City are past masters in ramping it up during the second half.
1.54pm GMT
48 min: Aguero is buzzing around in high-octane mode. He obviously fancies a goal or two. He’s scooting down the inside-right channel and knocked over by Olsson, but doesn’t get the free kick. “Are we sure Morrissey didn’t take the water with him to LA?” wonders Linda Howard. Certainly the large cloud that permanently hovers over his head, yes. That’s got to have some sort of negative impact on the Mancunian ecosystem.
1.51pm GMT
46 min: It isn’t long before City are on the attack. Bony sends a whistler towards the top right from 20 yards, but Myhill is behind it. Lovely football all round. “Glad to see you give stramash, such a useful word, an airing,” writes Alec McAulay. “Its most famous patron was Arthur Montford, of course, though ‘What a stramash!’ was only his second most commonly used phrase. ‘Disaster for Scotland!’ was first.”
1.50pm GMT
And we’re off again! The referee Neil Swarbrick has admitted that he got the red-card decision wrong. Simple case of mistaken identity. Fair play. We’re only human, born to make mistakes, as Phil Oakey once sang. No doubt people will leave it at that, accept that people aren’t perfect, and not drone on about it for years and years, banging on about bloody video evidence. Eh?
1.44pm GMT
Half-time refreshments: Bad luck. There are none. According to the bloke on the PA system, there’s limited running water at the City of Manchester Stadium, due to “circumstances beyond our control”. Probably an idea to give the powder rooms a body swerve. And pity the poor West Brom coach driver, who’ll be sharing space with a team giving off two different kinds of funk.
1.34pm GMT
Aguero has a blooter from the edge of the box. It’s blocked. Then Silva slips him into the area down the left. He’s one on one with Myhill, albeit at a tight angle. The result is very Neymar versus Hart. And that’s that for the opening half. City have had 16 efforts on goal, to West Brom’s naught. Such a dynamic was guaranteed after 89 seconds, when a red card was brandished to the wrong man. Accordingly, Fletcher gets right up in the referee’s grille as the teams leave the field. Expect more of the same in the second half. No flipping!
1.30pm GMT
45 min: Bony skates in from the right and considers a shot. He eventually slips the ball inside to Fernando, whose shot is deflected wide left by his own man in Lampard.
1.29pm GMT
43 min: Aguero cuts in from the left and has a batter. Myhill parries. Baird’s clearance is dreadful, allowing Zabaleta to take up possession and try a curler towards the bottom left. The keeper gathers. West Brom are all over the shop now.
1.27pm GMT
A corner for City down the right. West Brom have Mangala’s effort, a weak high-kick level with the right-hand post from 12 yards, mopped up. But Olsson hangs a leg out, just as Myhill was preparing to gather. The ball dribbles to Fernando, who is six yards out and sidefoots into the bottom right. Hats off to Fernando for his sportsmanship, for he converted that chance without guffawing loud and long. What dismal defending. On the touchline, Tony Pulis is on a rolling boil.
1.24pm GMT
38 min: Navas turns the engine on and zooms down the right. He sends a bouncing cross straight through the area. A decent ball, but neither Bony nor Aguero can time their leaps. West Brom will do well to make it to half time without conceding again.
1.22pm GMT
36 min: Silva, on the final day of the 2015 Six Nations, converts for three rugby points. “Thank goodness most of the action is in the shade,” sighs Linda Howard. “My television is making any action in the sun into a hodge-podge of indiscernible players. White? Light blue? Dunno. Why did the sun show up? Did Morrissey leave town?” Isn’t he living in LA these days? In search of an In-N-Out Burger, perhaps.
1.20pm GMT
35 min: Morrison bundles Silva over, just to the right of the West Brom D, as the City playmaker was trying to sort his feet out with a view to taking a shot. This free kick is in a very dangerous position.
1.19pm GMT
33 min: Silva fizzes a pass down the inside left and into the area for Bony, who flicks inside to release Lampard into a little space. And there’s another poor shot from the usually goal-happy midfielder, dragged wide left. West Brom were prised apart there, so close to a picture-book goal.
1.17pm GMT
31 min: Navas, on the left-hand corner of the area but with his back to goal, spins on a sixpence and lashes a stunning shot towards the top right. Myhill, at full length, tips round for a corner, from which nothing comes. That was an up-out-of-your-seats effort. City are beginning to play now.
1.15pm GMT
29 min: Silva dances down the left, reaching the byline, then cutting back before playing Clichy in down the flank with a clever reverse pass. Every drop of blood in Clichy’s body rushes to his noggin, and the ball’s lashed wildly behind. City had players in the middle there, and they’re all waving their arms in frustration.
1.13pm GMT
... there’s a stramash in the middle of the box. West Brom clear to the right wing, but the ball’s recycled into the middle, where Kompany slides a pass forward towards the box. On the edge of the area, Fernando helps it on, the ball looping down the inside-left, clipping Baird, and falling to Bony, who can’t miss from six yards. His finish is delightful, nevertheless, a powerful sidefoot into the top left.
1.11pm GMT
26 min: Aguero teases Morrison down the inside-right flank, before cutting inside and lashing a low shot goalwards. Deflection. Corner. From which ...
1.09pm GMT
24 min: City are beginning to look dangerous. First Aguero is sprung clear into the area down the left, but he’s flagged offside, correctly, half a yard off. Then Silva cuts in from the left and blams an effort towards the top right. Myhill parries brilliantly, and the loose ball is mopped up.
1.06pm GMT
21 min: City are totally on top of West Brom, the visitors camped in the box. Fernando, in the middle, slips the ball to the left of the D, where Lampard has a clatter. It’s blocked pretty much at source.
1.05pm GMT
19 min: Lovely rat-a-tat passing triangles involving Aguero and Silva down the inside left. City reach the area, and the ball’s slipped into the centre for Lampard, who has space to shoot, pretty much on the penalty spot. That one’s shanked wildly to the right of goal, a most uncharacteristic effort. Lampard screams to the skies. City are already showing signs of frustration, but they probably need to calm down, because look at the possession stat from the last five minutes: City have enjoyed 92% to West Brom’s 8%! You don’t see that very often.
1.02pm GMT
16 min: Aguero pitching-wedges a delicious ball down the inside-right channel to release Navas into the area. He’s got time and space, but it’s a tight angle for a shot, so he cuts it back into a thicket of powder blue: Bony, Aguero and Silva. It’s the latter who gets a snap shot away from ten yards, but it’s not particularly snappy, and loops into the arms of Myhill.
1.00pm GMT
14 min: And Aguero tries his best, scuttling down the middle of the park, then drifting to the right, before lashing an effort goalwards. Not particularly powerful, nor accurate, but it lifts the crowd. A little. It’s a tense atmosphere.
12.58pm GMT
12 min: The atmosphere’s fairly muted. City’s support are understandably deflated. The team need to pick them up, they owe them a little something.
12.55pm GMT
9 min: Justice for Jeff. Both sets of fans join in the applause.
12.55pm GMT
8 min: Zabaleta slides a pass inside from the right. Silva takes a touch, drops a shoulder as he glides inside, and has a whack from the right-hand edge of the D. Deflected. Corner. And from that, Bony’s shot from the edge of the area is blocked by Fletcher, and Silva has another dig, but that one’s well wide of the goal.
12.53pm GMT
7 min: It’s attack versus defence already. West Brom are camped in their own area, obviously of a mind to shore things up first and foremost, while they clear their heads. City are pinging it around left, right and centre, but can’t find a chink in the West Brom armour. Not yet. Plenty of time to go, of course. Plenty of this to come.
12.51pm GMT
5 min: On the touchline, Tony Pulis stands with his hands in his pockets, performing a silent seethe. His side do deserve to be down to ten men, of course. But what a nonsense.
12.51pm GMT
3 min: Lampard blooters the resulting free kick into the wall. There goes that chance. So anyway, this sending off. McAuley clattered into Bony after Dawson had impeded the striker. But Bony had already fallen before regrouping and going again, and there was a whistle. McAuley’s challenge came after that, and in any case, if that was the foul West Brom were penalised for, it’d have been a penalty, for that coming together occurred in the area. That’s a rare old balls up, and no mistake.
12.49pm GMT
1 min 29 sec: They might have to change their tack now. Bony bursts down the inside-left channel. He’s ready to break into the box, but is bundled over just outside of it by Dawson. The referee has no choice but to brandish the red card. However he’s sent the wrong man off! McAuley is shown the red! What a complete farce!
12.46pm GMT
And we’re off! West Brom get the ball rolling. It’s not long before Berahino is breaking down the left flank. Nothing comes of the run, but it’s a sign that West Brom have turned up to play.
12.44pm GMT
The teams are out! City, in their famous powder blue, and West Brom, in their not-so-classic white with navy pinstripe number, take to a sun-flecked City of Manchester Stadium pitch. Right Here, Right Now by Brighton & Hove Albion’s Norman Cook booms from the PA. If only there was a popular musician who banged on about Manchester City all the time, huh. We’ll be off in a minute!
12.36pm GMT
Frank Lampard starts! The erstwhile Chelsea pensioner gets in City’s first XI for the first time in more than two months, as Manuel Pellegrini rings the changes. Six, he’s made. Wilfried Bony, Pablo Zabaleta, Eliaquim Mangala, Fernando and Gael Clichy also return, with Yaya Toure missing through injury and Samir Nasri dropped. Meanwhile for the visitors, Boaz Myhill replaces the injured (and hapless) Ben Foster in goal while Chris Baird and Jonas Olsson come in for the suspended Chris Brunt and Brown Ideye.
11.55am GMT
Manchester City: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Mangala, Clichy, Jesus Navas, Fernando, Lampard, Silva, Bony, Aguero.
Subs: Sagna, Milner, Dzeko, Caballero, Fernandinho, Demichelis, Jovetic.
West Bromwich Albion: Myhill, Dawson, McAuley, Lescott, Olsson, Sessegnon, Fletcher, Baird, Gardner, Morrison, Berahino.
Subs: Wisdom, Anichebe, Davidson, Pocognoli, Mulumbu, Nabi, Rose.
11.45am GMT
And so we reach the end of a torrid week for Manchester City. Defeat last weekend at Burnley, followed by evisceration in Barcelona. Joe Hart was their only player to leave Camp Nou in moral credit; it was a rout in all but scoreline. But City need to pick themselves up, and quick, so they’d best look at it this way: any team not as accomplished as the English champions would most likely have found themselves on the receiving end of an actual rout. And, hey, what if that Sergio Aguero penalty had gone in? Oh me, oh my. It’s a thin line between success and opprobrium, all right.
City are walking another thin line this lunchtime. They need to beat West Bromwich Albion if they’re to retain any hope whatsoever of bothering Chelsea in the championship race. If they fail to do so, it’s bye bye title, hello scrap with Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, Southampton and Spurs for a place in next season’s Champions League. This side should be better than that, and they should win today, against a side they’ve beaten six times in a row in the league. Then again, their recent form is appalling: they’ve only won three of the last 12, and there’s a real sense of fin de siècle at City which might not do them any favours in their quest. It’s a thin line they walk, all right.
Continue reading...Manchester City v West Bromwich Albion – live!
An early red card, and a case of mistaken identity, condemned West Brom to defeat, as City close the gap on Chelsea at the top, for one day at least.
2.38pm GMT
Dzeko is six inches away from threading a shot into the bottom-left corner from 20 yards. And that’s that. West Brom were always up against it, in the wake of that early red card, and so it proved. City ran out easy winners, and on another day would have had a hatful. No doubt there’ll be some sort of controversy regarding the mistaken identity, McAuley walking instead of Dawson, but does it really make much difference? Ten men are ten men are ten men. West Brom remain comfortable in mid-table, above the relegation worries. City meanwhile move to within three points of Chelsea, who have two games in hand. But the title’s still a possibility, albeit a long shot. A torrid week comes to a more than satisfactory end.
2.34pm GMT
90 min: There will be two added minutes. “Is Danny Mills the world’s most disgruntled man?” wonders Charles Antaki. “After running out of outrage about the red card to vent on Radio 5 Live, he’s turned his attention to the way TV showed Messi’s nutmeg of Milner multiple times. And that was three days ago. You have to worry about the man’s blood-pressure.”
2.32pm GMT
89 min: Sessegnon is replaced by Mulumbu.
2.31pm GMT
88 min: Navas dribbles down the right and flicks a ball inside for Aguero, clear on the penalty spot. But the striker miscontrols, allowing Lescott to arrive on the scene and smack the ball clear. Aguero is a study in frustration.
2.29pm GMT
86 min: McAuley’s 89-second red card, by the way, was the quickest in the Premier League this season. Berahino is replaced by Anichebe.
2.28pm GMT
84 min: Jovetic exchanges passes with Aguero down the inside-right channel and breaks into the area. Dawson gently shoulder charges him off the ball. No penalty, though one’s claimed with vigour.
2.26pm GMT
83 min: Everyone appears to be winding down.
2.24pm GMT
81 min: Silva, who has as always been excellent today, is replaced by Milner.
2.23pm GMT
80 min: In the middle of the park, Fernando slides in on Morrison. Free kick. No yellow card, which is a pretty poor non-decision, as that was as late an intervention as you’ll see, if not particularly malicious.
2.22pm GMT
78 min: Bony goes off, Dzeko comes on.
2.22pm GMT
Aguero chases after a ball down the inside-left challenge. He crosses. Dawson takes one from karma in the face. Corner. From which Clichy reaches the byline and pulls one back for Jovetic, to the left of the D. Jovetic’s shot is flying wide left, but it’s flicked into the bottom left by Silva. A lovely touch. This is over. It’s long been over, but it really is now.
2.19pm GMT
76 min: Another free kick for West Brom, just inside the City half. It’s lumped towards Olsson, who is the danger man at these set pieces. But the big defender is overly clumsy and concedes the foul.
2.18pm GMT
74 min: Well, that would have changed things. Perhaps that’ll wake City up. The home team had been snoozing for a few minutes. And yes, they go up the other end, Bony going close from 20 yards, his show flying off to the left.
2.17pm GMT
73 min: But they trudge upfield and earn themselves a corner down the right. From which they nearly score! And they certainly should have. Olsson flicks it on to the far post, where Berahino must surely head home from a couple of yards. But he hammers his effort off the crossbar, and Lescott loops the follow-up over. What an astonishing miss from point-blank range!
2.15pm GMT
71 min: City have eased off a little. West Brom have been afforded a couple of opportunities to run the clock down with a few passing triangles in the middle of the park. They’re not really going anywhere, but avoiding a thumping is probably uppermost on their minds.
2.12pm GMT
68 min: Back up the other end, the new arrival Jovetic cuts in from the left and, on the edge of the D, looks to curl one into the bottom right. Myhill is beaten, but the ball doesn’t quite come back in and flies an inch or two wide of the right-hand post. A very decent effort, though, that.
2.11pm GMT
66 min: A high ball’s hoicked into the City area. Olsson goes up with Hart at the near post, and his presence wins a corner. His knee also crumps into Hart’s trouser arrangement as the two compete in the air. Ooyah oof. The resulting set piece comes to nothing, punched clear by Hart, his special machinery having finally stopped jangling.
2.08pm GMT
65 min: Sessegnon embarks on a 50-yard dribble down the right from deep. Fernando bundles him over, and the free kick is celebrated by the away support with a large comic cheer. Before the free kick is taken, Jovetic replaces Lampard.
2.06pm GMT
62 min: Navas slips Zabaleta in on the overlap down the right. The full back, pelting into the area at full speed, can’t quite control the pass. Had he done so, he’d have been in on goal. The ten men of West Brom are really on the ropes here.
2.04pm GMT
60 min: Myhill is in Staunch Mode. He saves a couple of close-range efforts from Silva. How on earth is this still 2-0?!
2.03pm GMT
58 min: Aguero comes in from the right, and hammers a shot off the left-hand post. Then Bony tries to follow the ball in, but he smacks his shot off the crossbar! It’s a surprise that the frame of the goal is still standing, such is the relentless hammering its just taken. Any certificates of structural adequacy are now invalid for insurance purposes.
2.01pm GMT
57 min: Silva bothers the Baggies down the inside left now. He turns through 360 degrees, carefully and at his own pace, like a dog preparing for a snooze. He then slides a pass down the middle for Lampard, who breaks into the area and sidefoots weakly straight at Myhill. On another day, Lampard could easily have had a hat-trick. He’s certainly had three very good shooting chances in the West Brom area. You’d normally expect a better return than this.
1.59pm GMT
55 min: Silva drops a shoulder down the right and fizzes a low cross to the near post. Aguero zips in and connects, but his close-range effort hits Myhill. A few inches either side, and that was the third. Aguero wears the wry look of a man beginning to think this might not be his day.
1.58pm GMT
54 min: Berahino battles well down the right wing, and West Brom have a chance to knock it around in City’s half for a while. All very strange, in the context of this game. But City are soon breaking upfield, Bony travelling at pace down the right. Silva has a whack from the edge of the box, but it’s straight at the keeper.
1.56pm GMT
50 min: City are knocking on the door here. Aguero scampers into the area down the right, but his low shot is kicked away at the near post by Myhill. Then from the corner, Bony sends a powerful effort goalwards from 12 yards, level with the left-hand post, but it’s an inch or two wide of the target. West Brom will be doing very well indeed to keep this to 2-0, because City are past masters in ramping it up during the second half.
1.54pm GMT
48 min: Aguero is buzzing around in high-octane mode. He obviously fancies a goal or two. He’s scooting down the inside-right channel and knocked over by Olsson, but doesn’t get the free kick. “Are we sure Morrissey didn’t take the water with him to LA?” wonders Linda Howard. Certainly the large cloud that permanently hovers over his head, yes. That’s got to have some sort of negative impact on the Mancunian ecosystem.
1.51pm GMT
46 min: It isn’t long before City are on the attack. Bony sends a whistler towards the top right from 20 yards, but Myhill is behind it. Lovely football all round. “Glad to see you give stramash, such a useful word, an airing,” writes Alec McAulay. “Its most famous patron was Arthur Montford, of course, though ‘What a stramash!’ was only his second most commonly used phrase. ‘Disaster for Scotland!’ was first.”
1.50pm GMT
And we’re off again! The referee Neil Swarbrick has admitted that he got the red-card decision wrong. Simple case of mistaken identity. Fair play. We’re only human, born to make mistakes, as Phil Oakey once sang. No doubt people will leave it at that, accept that people aren’t perfect, and not drone on about it for years and years, banging on about bloody video evidence. Eh?
1.44pm GMT
Half-time refreshments: Bad luck. There are none. According to the bloke on the PA system, there’s limited running water at the City of Manchester Stadium, due to “circumstances beyond our control”. Probably an idea to give the powder rooms a body swerve. And pity the poor West Brom coach driver, who’ll be sharing space with a team giving off two different kinds of funk.
1.34pm GMT
Aguero has a blooter from the edge of the box. It’s blocked. Then Silva slips him into the area down the left. He’s one on one with Myhill, albeit at a tight angle. The result is very Neymar versus Hart. And that’s that for the opening half. City have had 16 efforts on goal, to West Brom’s naught. Such a dynamic was guaranteed after 89 seconds, when a red card was brandished to the wrong man. Accordingly, Fletcher gets right up in the referee’s grille as the teams leave the field. Expect more of the same in the second half. No flipping!
1.30pm GMT
45 min: Bony skates in from the right and considers a shot. He eventually slips the ball inside to Fernando, whose shot is deflected wide left by his own man in Lampard.
1.29pm GMT
43 min: Aguero cuts in from the left and has a batter. Myhill parries. Baird’s clearance is dreadful, allowing Zabaleta to take up possession and try a curler towards the bottom left. The keeper gathers. West Brom are all over the shop now.
1.27pm GMT
A corner for City down the right. West Brom have Mangala’s effort, a weak high-kick level with the right-hand post from 12 yards, mopped up. But Olsson hangs a leg out, just as Myhill was preparing to gather. The ball dribbles to Fernando, who is six yards out and sidefoots into the bottom right. Hats off to Fernando for his sportsmanship, for he converted that chance without guffawing loud and long. What dismal defending. On the touchline, Tony Pulis is on a rolling boil.
1.24pm GMT
38 min: Navas turns the engine on and zooms down the right. He sends a bouncing cross straight through the area. A decent ball, but neither Bony nor Aguero can time their leaps. West Brom will do well to make it to half time without conceding again.
1.22pm GMT
36 min: Silva, on the final day of the 2015 Six Nations, converts for three rugby points. “Thank goodness most of the action is in the shade,” sighs Linda Howard. “My television is making any action in the sun into a hodge-podge of indiscernible players. White? Light blue? Dunno. Why did the sun show up? Did Morrissey leave town?” Isn’t he living in LA these days? In search of an In-N-Out Burger, perhaps.
1.20pm GMT
35 min: Morrison bundles Silva over, just to the right of the West Brom D, as the City playmaker was trying to sort his feet out with a view to taking a shot. This free kick is in a very dangerous position.
1.19pm GMT
33 min: Silva fizzes a pass down the inside left and into the area for Bony, who flicks inside to release Lampard into a little space. And there’s another poor shot from the usually goal-happy midfielder, dragged wide left. West Brom were prised apart there, so close to a picture-book goal.
1.17pm GMT
31 min: Navas, on the left-hand corner of the area but with his back to goal, spins on a sixpence and lashes a stunning shot towards the top right. Myhill, at full length, tips round for a corner, from which nothing comes. That was an up-out-of-your-seats effort. City are beginning to play now.
1.15pm GMT
29 min: Silva dances down the left, reaching the byline, then cutting back before playing Clichy in down the flank with a clever reverse pass. Every drop of blood in Clichy’s body rushes to his noggin, and the ball’s lashed wildly behind. City had players in the middle there, and they’re all waving their arms in frustration.
1.13pm GMT
... there’s a stramash in the middle of the box. West Brom clear to the right wing, but the ball’s recycled into the middle, where Kompany slides a pass forward towards the box. On the edge of the area, Fernando helps it on, the ball looping down the inside-left, clipping Baird, and falling to Bony, who can’t miss from six yards. His finish is delightful, nevertheless, a powerful sidefoot into the top left.
1.11pm GMT
26 min: Aguero teases Morrison down the inside-right flank, before cutting inside and lashing a low shot goalwards. Deflection. Corner. From which ...
1.09pm GMT
24 min: City are beginning to look dangerous. First Aguero is sprung clear into the area down the left, but he’s flagged offside, correctly, half a yard off. Then Silva cuts in from the left and blams an effort towards the top right. Myhill parries brilliantly, and the loose ball is mopped up.
1.06pm GMT
21 min: City are totally on top of West Brom, the visitors camped in the box. Fernando, in the middle, slips the ball to the left of the D, where Lampard has a clatter. It’s blocked pretty much at source.
1.05pm GMT
19 min: Lovely rat-a-tat passing triangles involving Aguero and Silva down the inside left. City reach the area, and the ball’s slipped into the centre for Lampard, who has space to shoot, pretty much on the penalty spot. That one’s shanked wildly to the right of goal, a most uncharacteristic effort. Lampard screams to the skies. City are already showing signs of frustration, but they probably need to calm down, because look at the possession stat from the last five minutes: City have enjoyed 92% to West Brom’s 8%! You don’t see that very often.
1.02pm GMT
16 min: Aguero pitching-wedges a delicious ball down the inside-right channel to release Navas into the area. He’s got time and space, but it’s a tight angle for a shot, so he cuts it back into a thicket of powder blue: Bony, Aguero and Silva. It’s the latter who gets a snap shot away from ten yards, but it’s not particularly snappy, and loops into the arms of Myhill.
1.00pm GMT
14 min: And Aguero tries his best, scuttling down the middle of the park, then drifting to the right, before lashing an effort goalwards. Not particularly powerful, nor accurate, but it lifts the crowd. A little. It’s a tense atmosphere.
12.58pm GMT
12 min: The atmosphere’s fairly muted. City’s support are understandably deflated. The team need to pick them up, they owe them a little something.
12.55pm GMT
9 min: Justice for Jeff. Both sets of fans join in the applause.
12.55pm GMT
8 min: Zabaleta slides a pass inside from the right. Silva takes a touch, drops a shoulder as he glides inside, and has a whack from the right-hand edge of the D. Deflected. Corner. And from that, Bony’s shot from the edge of the area is blocked by Fletcher, and Silva has another dig, but that one’s well wide of the goal.
12.53pm GMT
7 min: It’s attack versus defence already. West Brom are camped in their own area, obviously of a mind to shore things up first and foremost, while they clear their heads. City are pinging it around left, right and centre, but can’t find a chink in the West Brom armour. Not yet. Plenty of time to go, of course. Plenty of this to come.
12.51pm GMT
5 min: On the touchline, Tony Pulis stands with his hands in his pockets, performing a silent seethe. His side do deserve to be down to ten men, of course. But what a nonsense.
12.51pm GMT
3 min: Lampard blooters the resulting free kick into the wall. There goes that chance. So anyway, this sending off. McAuley clattered into Bony after Dawson had impeded the striker. But Bony had already fallen before regrouping and going again, and there was a whistle. McAuley’s challenge came after that, and in any case, if that was the foul West Brom were penalised for, it’d have been a penalty, for that coming together occurred in the area. That’s a rare old balls up, and no mistake.
12.49pm GMT
1 min 29 sec: They might have to change their tack now. Bony bursts down the inside-left channel. He’s ready to break into the box, but is bundled over just outside of it by Dawson. The referee has no choice but to brandish the red card. However he’s sent the wrong man off! McAuley is shown the red! What a complete farce!
12.46pm GMT
And we’re off! West Brom get the ball rolling. It’s not long before Berahino is breaking down the left flank. Nothing comes of the run, but it’s a sign that West Brom have turned up to play.
12.44pm GMT
The teams are out! City, in their famous powder blue, and West Brom, in their not-so-classic white with navy pinstripe number, take to a sun-flecked City of Manchester Stadium pitch. Right Here, Right Now by Brighton & Hove Albion’s Norman Cook booms from the PA. If only there was a popular musician who banged on about Manchester City all the time, huh. We’ll be off in a minute!
12.36pm GMT
Frank Lampard starts! The erstwhile Chelsea pensioner gets in City’s first XI for the first time in more than two months, as Manuel Pellegrini rings the changes. Six, he’s made. Wilfried Bony, Pablo Zabaleta, Eliaquim Mangala, Fernando and Gael Clichy also return, with Yaya Toure missing through injury and Samir Nasri dropped. Meanwhile for the visitors, Boaz Myhill replaces the injured (and hapless) Ben Foster in goal while Chris Baird and Jonas Olsson come in for the suspended Chris Brunt and Brown Ideye.
11.55am GMT
Manchester City: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Mangala, Clichy, Jesus Navas, Fernando, Lampard, Silva, Bony, Aguero.
Subs: Sagna, Milner, Dzeko, Caballero, Fernandinho, Demichelis, Jovetic.
West Bromwich Albion: Myhill, Dawson, McAuley, Lescott, Olsson, Sessegnon, Fletcher, Baird, Gardner, Morrison, Berahino.
Subs: Wisdom, Anichebe, Davidson, Pocognoli, Mulumbu, Nabi, Rose.
11.45am GMT
And so we reach the end of a torrid week for Manchester City. Defeat last weekend at Burnley, followed by evisceration in Barcelona. Joe Hart was their only player to leave Camp Nou in moral credit; it was a rout in all but scoreline. But City need to pick themselves up, and quick, so they’d best look at it this way: any team not as accomplished as the English champions would most likely have found themselves on the receiving end of an actual rout. And, hey, what if that Sergio Aguero penalty had gone in? Oh me, oh my. It’s a thin line between success and opprobrium, all right.
City are walking another thin line this lunchtime. They need to beat West Bromwich Albion if they’re to retain any hope whatsoever of bothering Chelsea in the championship race. If they fail to do so, it’s bye bye title, hello scrap with Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, Southampton and Spurs for a place in next season’s Champions League. This side should be better than that, and they should win today, against a side they’ve beaten six times in a row in the league. Then again, their recent form is appalling: they’ve only won three of the last 12, and there’s a real sense of fin de siècle at City which might not do them any favours in their quest. It’s a thin line they walk, all right.
Continue reading...March 19, 2015
Dynamo Kyiv v Everton: Europa League – as it happened
Everton’s defence fell apart in Kyiv, as the home side advanced to the quarter-finals of the Europa League in some style.
7.55pm GMT
And that’s that. There goes Everton’s hope of adding the 2015 Europa League trophy to their 1985 Cup Winners Cup. And for the first time in 20 years, there are no English teams in any European quarter final. Still, Everton were the last British side left in Europe this season, by a good 22 hours. They can’t take that away from them.
7.53pm GMT
90 min +4: One last chance for Lukaku, who bobbles a weak shot goalwards from the left-hand corner of the Kyiv D. Shovkovskiy claims. Besic is booked for a petulant shove on Dragovic.
7.52pm GMT
90 min +3: The clock ticks on. Kyiv perform some expert faffing.
7.51pm GMT
90 min +2: Barkley slides a pass left for Lukaku, who strides into the area and lashes a shot goalwards. Shovkovskiy claims, despite a slight deflection. There goes Everton’s last, small, delicate sliver of hope.
7.50pm GMT
90 min +1: Antunes is booked for faffing around.
7.50pm GMT
90 min: Gusev goes off, Kalitvintsev comes on. There will be four added minutes. Time for a couple of goals? Probably not. But with this Everton side, anything could happen.
7.48pm GMT
89 min: Everton’s mini revival looks to have sputtered out. Kyiv knock it around in the opposition half without really bothering to press forward. Time is their best pal.
7.47pm GMT
88 min: A lot of scrappy nonsense in the middle of the park. Suddenly Everton break forward down the left. Osman, on the edge of the box, looks for the top right with a curler. But it’s severely undercooked, and Shovkovskiy claims with a yawn. “Do teams still exchange pennants before big European ties or have they been consigned to the dustbin of history, like rolled up waistbands on shorts and Third Lanark?” wonders Simon McMahon. “Maybe the big cheeses in Geneva should consider a Uefa Pennants League for teams that have dropped out of both the Champions League and Europa League. Arsene Wenger would be up for it I reckon.”
7.45pm GMT
86 min: Baines’s free kick blams into the wall. It comes back to him, and he wheechs a low shot through a thicket of white and blue shirts. It’s on target, but unfortunately for Everton, straight at Shovkovskiy. What a preposterous climax to a preposterous match. I repeat: who needs the Champions League?
7.44pm GMT
85 min: Barkley and Osman tiki-taka their way down the middle of the park. On the edge of the D, Dragovic slides in and upends him. A free kick, in a very dangerous position! If this goes in. If this goes in.
7.43pm GMT
83 min: Rybalka and Lukaku are both booked for playground nonsense. If Everton somehow turn this around, and hey, why not, there’s time, the striker’s missing the next match.
7.42pm GMT
This is getting silly now. A corner for Everton down the right. Baines takes, and his ball is flicked at the near post across a static Shovkovskiy and into the top left. Er ... they couldn’t, could they? They just need two!
7.39pm GMT
79 min: Besic lamely gives the ball away, on the edge of his own D. Veloso flicks a clever first-time backheel to the right for Yarmolenko, who batters a screamer off the bar from 12 yards or so. This is officially a shambles now. Everton’s defending, to a man, has been nothing short of disgraceful.
7.37pm GMT
77 min: Besic comes on for McCarthy.
7.37pm GMT
We’ve seen some pearlers already tonight, but this is an astonishing strike. Antunes takes a stride down the inside-left channel and, 30 yards out, creams a rising shot into the top right. That was going in the moment it left his boot, Howard given no chance whatsoever. No closing down, mind. Everton’s defence deserve a good talking-to.
7.34pm GMT
74 min: Teodorczyk, one of Kyiv’s goalscorers, is replaced by Kravets.
7.32pm GMT
73 min: Buyalskiy flicks a ball down the middle to release Yarmolenko. He’s clear on goal, but the flag goes up for offside. Incorrectly, for Coleman was hanging back, playing the Kyiv man on. Everton’s defence has been a risible shambles tonight. The David Moyes era seems quite a long time ago, doesn’t it.
7.31pm GMT
71 min: Teodorczyk is sent scampering down the inside-left, Alcaraz confused once again. He aims for the top left, and the ball’s flying in from the edge of the box, but Howard tips round for a corner. And then another corner, from which Buyalskiy is afforded the chance to shoot from the right-hand corner of the box. His effort is blocked. Another Kyiv goal and this really is all over.
7.29pm GMT
69 min: Osman goes on a ramble down the left, into the box. Antunes shoulder charges him to the ground with extreme prejudice. Osman claims a penalty, but that’s probably fair, if rather forceful. The referee isn’t having a bar of it, anyway.
7.27pm GMT
67 min: Lukaku romps down the inside-left channel, but is hounded off the ball by Khacheridi. Kone was in space in the middle there, waiting to be slipped free. No need for Everton to panic quite yet, and embark on rococo solo runs; one goal would certainly change things.
7.25pm GMT
66 min: The PA announcer took a good 90 seconds to call the substitutes. There goes that atmosphere!
7.24pm GMT
65 min: Kyiv swap Sydorchuk for Buyalskiy, while Everton make a double change: Naismith and Atsu off, Kone and Osman on.
7.23pm GMT
62 min: Kyiv come right back at Everton, Teodorczyk fizzing a low effort inches wide of the left-hand post from 20 yards. “Ah yes, this IS the same Everton team we’ve been watching in England,” quips Rob Coughlin.
7.21pm GMT
61 min: What an effort here from Ross Barkley, who cuts in from the left and steers a high-powered effort towards the top-right corner. The ball clatters off the top of the right-hand post, and away. So close to hauling Everton back into contention. That’s the second time he’s hit the woodwork with a brilliant effort!
7.20pm GMT
59 min: Another Everton corner, but all that happens is that Yarmolenko tears off down the left wing on the break. He’s eventually hounded out of it, but Everton were light at the back, and certainly can’t afford to concede again.
7.18pm GMT
58 min: Atsu cuts in from the right and lashes a rising shot towards the top left. Shovkovskiy gets a strong arm to the ball. Barkley returns it, a deflection wide left earning a corner. Which is a non-event. Everton are in all sorts of trouble now, and appear to have decided to throw caution to the wind. They’re piling forward.
7.16pm GMT
Sydorchuk is sprung into the Everton box down the right. He reaches the byline and pulls a low ball back for Gusev. His shot from six yards is blocked by Coleman, but the ball comes straight back at him. He clips it in off the right-hand post. Everton’s defenders were all standing around, rooted to the spot, with the exception of Coleman, who had fallen over. Farcical defending.
7.13pm GMT
54 min: It’s all a bit scrappy right now. Antunes has a dig from 30 yards out on the left. The ball loops into Howard’s arms.
7.12pm GMT
52 min: Kyiv aren’t quite the attacking force of the first half. They seem happy to sit back, which could be a dangerous gambit, and one that plays into Everton’s hands, given the Merseyside club’s Achilles heel is their defence. The attack’s in decent enough nick.
7.09pm GMT
49 min: Lukaku busies himself down the left wing, and his mere presence panics Shovkovskiy and Khacheridi into conceding a cheap corner. As the set piece is flung into the area, Naismith chases it and flops over Teodorczyk’s leg. Penalty? Nope. He’s not getting that decision, the saucy get. Still, worth the effort, modern football and all that.
7.07pm GMT
46 min: Jagielka, making a clearance, lands flat on his back after performing an overhead kick. An inauspicious start to the half. The only way is up.
7.04pm GMT
And we’re off again! Kyiv get the ball rolling for the second half. No changes for either side. No escape from Alcaraz.
6.57pm GMT
Half-time soothing balm: It doesn’t look promising for Everton right now. Time, perhaps, to recall better days in Europe. Hey, here’s the team showing off the 1985 Cup Winners Cup!
6.50pm GMT
Coleman breaks down the right, and earns a corner after a powerful and persistent run. Atsu swings it in, failing to beat the first man, Rybalka. And that’s that for the first half. This isn’t over. Everton are more than capable of scoring. But they need to tighten it up at the back. Will the very rickety Antolin Alcaraz survive the half-time break? We find out soon. No flipping!
6.47pm GMT
45 min: This is better. Barkley makes a little space down the left, and whips a cross down the corridor of uncertainty. Lukaku was lurking at the right-hand post. Antunes is forced to chest out for a corner, which is played short, i.e. wasted. But a reminded that this game is still in the balance. Everton only need one goal to progress. Which is not beyond them. The equation only works out for them if they don’t concede again, mind. Whether that’s achievable is another matter.
6.45pm GMT
44 min: Space for Gusev down the left. He fizzes a low cross into the box. Howard claims under some pressure. Ah, turns out the ball went out for a throw before Gusev crossed. But that’s not really the point. Everton are way too open at the back. Kiev look dangerous in every wave of attack.
6.42pm GMT
42 min: Credit to Kyiv, that was some response to Lukaku’s equaliser. They’ve been brilliant so far, even if Everton have been very polite guests.
6.41pm GMT
40 min: Now it’s Everton’s turn to look stunned. They’re all over the shop at the back. Veloso makes off down the left, and swings a cross into the centre. Yarmolenko isn’t far away from meeting that one with a crashing header, but Coleman rises to save the day. This game can’t go to extra time now, by the way, but you knew that already. Just saying.
6.39pm GMT
We’re not all level. Another Evertonian defensive howler. A long ball. Veloso goes up for it on the edge of the box, and heads to the right towards Teodorczyk. The striker doesn’t win the second header, but Jagielka does his work for him, heading weakly back across the face of the box. Veloso takes the ball down, and batters it into the top left! All of a sudden, Everton are going out. Then again, one more goal will do it for them. The beauty of away goals in European football, right there.
6.36pm GMT
This is a defensive shambles from an Evertonian viewpoint. Atsu tries to break up the Kyiv advance, but the ball only goes as far as Gusev on the left flank. Gusev lifts a ball into the area, to Yarmolenko, six yards out, level with the right-hand post. He heads down, just as Jagielka and Alcaraz are recreating some classic 1920s movies by sliding around on their arses. The ball falls to the feet of Teodorczyk, who can’t miss. We’re all level.
6.34pm GMT
34 min: A corner on the right, leads to a corner on the left. Kyiv break from the second one, and...
6.33pm GMT
33 min: And now it’s Kyiv looking a bit ragged at the back. Lukaku slides a clever ball down the inside-right channel to release Naismith into the box. Naismith gets a snapshot away, but it’s blocked for a corner on the right.
6.32pm GMT
31 min: Kyiv seem collectively shocked. They aren’t quite pinging the ball around with the same fervour, having been pegged back by this resilient Everton side for a second game running.
6.30pm GMT
They’re not rocking any more! Or they are, albeit in a very different way. Atsu doesn’t quite win a header on the edge of the Kyiv box. Naismith can’t get onto the loose ball as it drops. But it breaks to Lukaku, 25 yards out. Everton’s leading European goalscorer takes a touch, and launches a screaming curler into the top left! What a strike! What a reaction to going behind! Everton are suddenly in the box seat again.
6.28pm GMT
27 min: It’s a one-man show for Kyiv right now, too. Alcaraz misreads a simple ball down the middle. And Yarmolenko is free, just inside the box! He looks to curl one into the bottom left, and it’s on target, but Howard is down quickly to tip it away for a corner. What a save! The set piece comes to nothing. Everton are rocking here.
6.26pm GMT
25 min: And right on cue, here’s another Barkley shot! A fairly aimless ball down the inside-left channel, but he really makes something of it, striding past Danilo Silva and making it into the area, before lashing a shot across Shovkovskiy and off the base of the right-hand post! Everton so unfortunate. Barkley is their sole threat right now.
6.25pm GMT
24 min: Kyiv have been causing all sorts of trouble down that right flank. Rybalka makes off down it now, but the move fizzles out. Everton haven’t really got into this game at all yet, those Barkley shots apart.
6.22pm GMT
What a goal this is! Yarmolenko is afforded a little space down the inside-right wing. He drops a shoulder to drift inside, past a static Barry, and from 25 yards curls an unstoppable shot into the top-left corner! Howard was rooted to the spot there. What a goal from the Kyiv star turn! Everton need to score now, because as things stand, the Ukrainians are going through on away goals.
6.20pm GMT
20 min: A rare period of Everton possession in the Kyiv half. There’s space for Baines down the left, but Barry’s attempt to find the full back with a raking crossfield ball is overhit, and the move breaks down.
6.18pm GMT
17 min: Yarmolenko very nearly skins Baines down the right, but the full back recovers well to run the Kyiv danger man out of play for a goal kick. For a second there, Yarmolenko had the run of that flank. Everton need to shore it up a bit, they’re giving up a lot of opportunities down there.
6.16pm GMT
15 min: Silva is a real danger down the right. Yet another cross into the box. Gusev was winding his neck back to crash a header goalwards from the penalty spot, but Teodorczyk steps in ahead of him and eyebrows it away from danger. Cue frantic that’s-your-fault / not-my-fault gesticulations.
6.14pm GMT
13 min: Kyiv earn the first corner of the match down the right, and take it quickly, and short. Yarmolenko whips a low ball into the Everton box, but it’s hacked clear by Jagielka. All a bit rushed.
6.13pm GMT
12 min: It’s been a brisk, open start. Both teams opt to catch their breath in the midfield awhile. “So Kyiv are a crack East European team, that comprises officers in the Soviet Army (who are, of course, all full-time pros),” begins Everton’s Gary Naylor, getting his 80s on. “Yes, these Russians are a tough proposition on their own turf, but Sheedy and Steven will fancy their chances of supplying Sharp and Gray.”
6.11pm GMT
9 min: Kyiv is Facsimile City right now. Barkley cuts in from the right and has a shot. Both sides showcasing their favourite moves at every possible opportunity here.
6.10pm GMT
8 min: Silva down the right again, and another deep cross, this time met by the head of Teodorczyk. Howard claims a ball threatening to squirt into the bottom left. Everton want to watch this.
6.09pm GMT
7 min: Naismith and Silva, both grown adults remember, kick out at each other in the Toddler Style while sat on the floor. Take that, and that, nyah. The referee stops short of clipping them both around the lug, but only just.
6.08pm GMT
6 min: Everton finally string a few passes together, making good down the right flank, Atsu putting himself about. Barkley takes up possession, cuts in from the flank, drops a shoulder, and sends a dribbler towards the bottom right. It’s trundling along at 1mph, that one, but the 40-year-old Shovkovskiy still manages to mishandle. He gathers at the second attempt. Lucky Barkley didn’t send that one in at 2mph, eh.
6.05pm GMT
4 min: Coleman allows himself to be robbed by Gusev down the Kyiv left, near the corner flag. Throw to the home side, taken quickly. Antunes bursts into the box from the left, and lashes a wild shot across goal and out on the right. That was a rare old slice. Everton need to watch themselves, though, because they were collectively snoozing there, and gave up a more-than-decent half-chance.
6.03pm GMT
2 min: A bit of space for Danilo Silva, sent scampering down the right wing after a lovely reverse pass from Sydorchuk. Silva hoicks a looping cross towards the back stick, where Kyiv’s first-leg goalscorer, Gusev, rises high. He gets his head to the ball, but sends it well over the bar. Early danger signs for Everton.
6.01pm GMT
And we’re off! Everton, defending their 2-1 first-leg lead, get the ball rolling, bouncing and bobbling on an uneven pitch. An awful lot of whistling as they do so. And a wonderful atmosphere. European football at its best! Who needs the Champions League?
5.57pm GMT
The teams are out! Dynamo Kyiv are playing in their beautiful all-white ensemble. Everton take to the field decked out that famous blue. This is an aesthetic delight! We’ll be off in a minute. “I’m more than a bit confused by all the pundits claiming that this year’s Champions League is a condemnation of the Premier League,” begins MBM regular Marie Mayer. “So I really, really don’t know what I am supposed to read into the fact that the sole survivor in Europe is 14th in the table and before last weekend looked like a relegation candidate. My natural inclination would be to say that the data is too noisy to support conclusions because the sample size is so small and because cup competitions are by definition random. But if that was true, it would mean that pages and pages of copy to the contrary are being written just to take up space. That couldn’t be, could it?” Ha, fair points, well made. But data? Noisy data? Sample sizes? [MBM hack double-checks that we’re still talking about sport.] Et tu, Marie?! Et tu?!! Don’t tell me they’ve got to you as well!
5.48pm GMT
Roberto Martinez shuffles his pack. He’d look good as a dapper riverboat gambler on a Mississippi steamer, wouldn’t he? Friendly yet inscrutable. A dapper man. Poor, unsuspecting rubes. He makes four changes to the team that beat Newcastle 3-0 at the weekend. Steven Naismith, Ross Barkley, Gareth Barry - whose domestic suspension does not apply in the Europa League - and Christian Atsu come in for Arouna Kone, Leon Osman, Darron Gibson and the cup-tied Aaron Lennon. Kyiv make three changes to the team that started so well at Goodison: out go defender Domagoj Vida, midfielder Denys Garmash and striker Dieumerci Mbokani, replaced respectively by Yevhen Khacheridi, Serhiy Rybalka, and Lukasz Teodorczyk. It’s on!
5.31pm GMT
Dynamo Kiev: Shovkovskiy, Danilo Silva, Khacheridi, Dragovic, Antunes, Rybalka, Veloso, Yarmolenko, Sydorchuk, Gusev,
Teodorczyk.
Subs: Rybka, Garmash, Kravets, Burda, Buyalsky, Kalitvintsev, Mbokani.
Everton: Howard, Coleman, Alcaraz, Jagielka, Baines, McCarthy, Barry, Naismith, Barkley, Atsu, Lukaku.
Subs: Robles, Gibson, Kone, Besic, Osman, Stones, Garbutt.
5.00pm GMT
Early-evening kick-offs in continental competition, beamed all the way from Eastern Europe? Oh yes! Yes please. Is there a more romantic and hopelessly windswept type of fixture? If we can just get Ukrainian television to fire up a Commodore Vic-20 for some yellow block-capital on-screen captioning, and get ITV’s commentator to deliver his work down a crackly phone line, this will be like the mid-1980s all over again. That’s all any of us want, right?
You wouldn’t hear many Evertonians complaining. This grand old team won their only European trophy to date in 1985, the Cup Winners Cup. Now, nearly 30 years later, it’s time to start dreaming about a second one. The more of a mid 1980s vibe there is, the better.
Continue reading...March 18, 2015
Barcelona v Manchester City: Champions League – as it happened
Ivan Rakitic scored the only goal and Sergio Aguero missed a penalty on a frantic night at Camp Nou, Barcelona deservedly making it to the quarter-finals.
9.36pm GMT
Oh Sergio. Oh City. Oh England.
9.36pm GMT
90 min +2: Neymar versus Joe Hart, one on one, part XXXVIII. A shot towards the top left. Another outstanding save. City’s man of the match, no question.
9.34pm GMT
90 min +1: Dani Alves is replaced by Adriano.
9.33pm GMT
90 min: There will be two added minutes of this. “I keep waiting for a QPR 2012 moment so that the Premier League will have some representation in the Champions League,” sighs Lilian Cooper, “but I’m starting to accept its not gonna happen.”
9.33pm GMT
89 min: Hart has been outstanding tonight. Neymar reaches the byline down the left and pulls the ball back for Messi, who drags the ball past Sagna in the Puskas-Wright style. Messi lamps the ball goalwards from six yards - but Hart somehow parries it clear! That’s a stunning save! City haven’t been particularly good tonight, but their keeper has been magnificent, world class.
9.30pm GMT
87 min: Lampard comes on for Milner.
9.30pm GMT
86 min: Messi slips a ball down the right to release Suarez into the area. His shot is parried by a strong Hart hand. Messi then works the ball down the channel again, Suarez spinning to crash an effort off the crossbar. But he’s offside. Suarez looks pained, but then when doesn’t he look pained. It’s his default setting, and part of his strange charm.
9.27pm GMT
84 min: Rakitic, who is still the only goalscorer this evening, somehow, is replaced by Rafinha.
9.26pm GMT
83 min: Messi curls an effort around the left-hand side of the City wall, and nearly threads the ball into the top left. Not quite.
9.25pm GMT
82 min: Suarez turns Kompany with embarrassing ease down the inside-left channel. He’s romping towards the area. Demichelis is forced to bowl him over, and take the yellow card. A free kick, just outside the City box, to the left of goal.
9.24pm GMT
80 min: Dani Alves is booked for a cynical tackle on Silva as the pair battle down the City left. He’ll miss Barca’s next match should the Spanish club make it to the quarters.
9.23pm GMT
79 min: Neymar nearly adds insult to injury, tearing down the left to earn another one-on-one with Hart. Yet again the keeper, who has been magnificent, comes out on top. City are still in this, though a damn sight more deflated than they were five minutes ago, the way things have panned out.
9.22pm GMT
78 min: Ah no, now this is a costly miss. Aguero gets up and takes the spot kick himself. Poorly. It’s to the left, but not by much, and hit weakly. Ter Stegen’s parries clear. Oh dear. Still, so much for Barca’s weak link, huh.
9.21pm GMT
77 min: PENALTY TO CITY! Aguero jinks in from the right, and makes it into the area. And he’s taken out by Mascherano from one side, and Pique on the other! A chance for City to put the cat among the pigeons right here!
9.20pm GMT
76 min: Though there’s easing off, and easing off. Iniesta curls a pass down the left and sends Neymar clear. He’s one on one with Hart, who saves. A costly miss? Because ...
9.19pm GMT
74 min: Mascherano gifts the ball to Aguero, 40 yards from goal. Aguero strides down the left channel, glides inside, and shoots from the edge of the box. The ball’s blocked the second it leaves his boot. Milner picks up possession down the right, and wangs the ball into the stand behind the goal. Pressure relieved. City still aren’t totally out of this, though. Barcelona have eased off since the restart.
9.16pm GMT
73 min: Aguero, twisting down the inside-right channel, whips a pass inside for Bony, who attempts a first-time lash towards the top right. It’s a decent enough effort from distance, but always high and wide. That would have been an interesting introduction.
9.16pm GMT
72 min: Toure is replaced by Bony, City rolling the dice now.
9.15pm GMT
71 min: Barcelona score! Ah hold on, no they don’t. Suarez swings a ball into the box from the right. Neymar sticks a leg out, rushing in, and guides the ball towards the bottom left. Hart parries at close range, rather well, but the ball springs left to Alba, who slips the ball home from a tight angle. But he’s offside. City breathe again. Again.
9.13pm GMT
69 min: Toure nudges the ball past a snoozing Mathieu down the right, and goes off on a romp. He should get a cross away, but takes one touch too many and allows Alba to nudge him off the ball. The ball flies out for a goal kick, as Toure goes down looking for a cheap free kick. He doesn’t get it.
9.11pm GMT
67 min: This match is totally shapeless now, and highly entertaining for it. Messi latches onto a scoop down the right, standing in the City area, but can’t shift his feet, and Hart is able to smother before a shot’s flicked goalwards. Then up the other end, Toure, 25 yards out down the right, wheechs a rising shot into the side netting! This is breathless stuff.
9.09pm GMT
64 min: It’s hard to predict how this half will pan out. In a manic minute, Jesus Navas dribbles into the Barca area down the right, reaching the corner of the six-yard box. Instead of shooting from close range, albeit at a tight angle, he pulls the ball back to nobody. Kolarov has a whack eventually, and Milner tries to cause a bit of bother in Navas Country, to the right of the six-yard box. But the ball clanks between his legs. Then Barca skate up the other end, City having overcommitted. The ball’s fed to Messi in the area, on the right, but he somehow confuses himself, a rarity, and can’t batter a shot goalwards. An escape at both ends.
9.07pm GMT
63 min: Neymar, then Messi, then Suarez down the inside-left channel. Ping, ping, ping. Suarez takes a step into the area, and should score, but slices his effort into the side netting on the left. Barca have been utterly dominant, but they’ve still scored just the one goal. City still have hope.
9.05pm GMT
61 min: Dani Alves swans in from the right, exchanges passes with Messi on the edge of the box, thinks about shooting, then very nearly releases Neymar into the area down the left. His pass is cut out at the last by Kompany. A gorgeous move.
9.03pm GMT
60 min: Silva and Aguero exchange passes down the left wing, but can’t quite unpick a backtracking Barcelona. This is better from City, who are giving it a go right now.
9.02pm GMT
57 min: This is preposterous! A bit more possession for City. Eventually a loose ball breaks down their left. Ter Stegen trots out to gather, but the ball rolls out of the area, so he’s forced to dribble down the wing. Instead of blootering the ball clear, he decides to try to skin Aguero on the outside! With grim predictability, he’s shoulder-charged off the ball. Aguero turns and whips a shot towards a goal with no keeper in it. Fortunately for Barca, Pique is on hand to head clear. It’ll only take a moment like that. Another phase of attack, and Kolarov shoots, but ter Stegen is back in position. After gathering the ball, he apologises sheepishly to his team-mates. He’s the weak link in this side, the goalie.
8.58pm GMT
54 min: Fernandinho meets a floated free kick with his head, 12 yards out, but can’t connect properly. The ball pings off his eyebrows and away to the left flank, the danger over.
8.57pm GMT
53 min: A bit of possession for City in the Barca half, which hasn’t happened too often. Fernandinho, Sagna and Toure triangulate down the left. Eventually Sagna is upended by Alba. A free kick 30 yards out down the right, and a chance for City to load the box.
8.55pm GMT
50 min: And yet one goal for City would change everything. A ball looped into the Barca area down the inside-left channel. Aguero chests down and attempts to burn Alves. Pique comes across to mop up before the striker can get a shot away. “Good to see Brookside’s Gizzmo on the extreme right of the back row of that Manchester City 1970 squad,” writes Gary Naylor, in no way slipping into Professional Liverpudlian Mode.
8.52pm GMT
48 min: Barcelona are looking to wrap this up in double-quick time, with Real Madrid waiting on Sunday. Rakitic glides in from the right, and whips a wild shot miles left of the target. Then another phase of attack. Jordi Alba enters the area down the left and blams a shot straight at Hart. Then another phase, Messi advancing on the box and lashing a shot towards the bottom right from the left-hand edge of the City D. Hart parries well. This is attack versus defence. City are struggling.
8.50pm GMT
46 min: Suarez goes on an immediate tear down the right. He outstrips a hapless Demichelis, and enters the box. His dinked cross is fairly aimless, and half cleared by Kompany. Iniesta takes up possession, and batters a low, hard shot straight at Hart.
8.48pm GMT
And we’re off again! Barca get the ball rolling once more. Nasri, who should have been sent off, has been replaced by Jesus Navas. Now, City were comprehensively outplayed in that first half, but they’ve at least kept within touching distance. They still need two goals, so in that sense nothing’s changed. Those two strikes would merely take the game to extra time, rather than seal a spectacular win for the ages, is all. No biggie. “Fear not, City fans,” chirps Dundee United fan Simon McMahon, of kick-off fame. “We were 1-0 down at HT in 1987 too.”
8.38pm GMT
Half-time soothing balm: It doesn’t look promising for City right now. Time, perhaps, to recall better days in Europe. Hey, here’s the team showing off the 1970 Cup Winners Cup!
8.34pm GMT
City hear the half-time whistle. They’ve done very well to keep Barca to a single goal, though the hosts have hit the woodwork twice. To be fair to City, it’s hard to see what they can do. It’s not really a case of them playing badly; Barca have been simply magnificent so far. A big test awaits them in the second half.
8.33pm GMT
45 min: City go up the other end, Toure battering a shot over from 30 yards. He yells in frustration. “I thought they had banned bullfighting in Catalonia,” quips Rudy Hulsman. Aye, this is a bit of a cruel tease right now. City really need to hear that half-time whistle.
8.32pm GMT
44 min: A gorgeous sidefooted curler down the left from Neymar, and City’s back line is in pieces. Suarez is free on goal, racing down the inside-left channel. Suarez flicks the ball over Hart, and off the right-hand post. So close to a second.
8.31pm GMT
43 min: Aguero latches onto a long pass down the middle, and gets a shot away on the edge of the D, but it’s charged down pretty much at source. At the moment, it’s very difficult to see how City are going to get back into this tie. They’ll need to keep it tight until half-time, at the very least.
8.29pm GMT
41 min: Messi bustles down the middle, then flicks the ball forward for Neymar, who breaks clear into the area down the left. He should score, but his flick doesn’t have enough juice on it, and Hart can deflect out, wide right, for a corner. From which Suarez is afforded a free header, six yards out. Fortunately for City, he doesn’t connect.
8.27pm GMT
38 min: Rakitic zips down the middle and slides the ball wide left for Suarez, who feeds a pass down the channel for Neymar. He should get a shot away, but hesitates, and a corner will have to do. Nothing comes from the set piece. Spanish television is showing, on repeat, a clip of Messi slipping the ball between Milner’s legs, the England international sliding over in a futile attempt to block the ball. This is a lesson right now.
8.25pm GMT
36 min: City will do well to end this game with eleven men. Nasri is booked for a frustrated and flagrantly deliberate swipe on Neymar’s ankles, as the Brazilian swished past him. He could easily have seen red, which was the colour of the mist that came down there. To be fair to Nasri, he has the good grace to go up to Neymar and apologies for his actions, but still. He’ll need to calm down, and quickly. The head’s gone.
8.23pm GMT
34 min: City need to clear their heads. Toure clips Suarez’s ankles, 25 yards from goal, in the middle of the park. Fernandinho was on hand to break up the move, there was no need for the tackle. Rakitic takes the free kick, and scores three rugby points. Not quite the feathery touch of before.
8.20pm GMT
This has been coming, and it was so simple. Jordi Alba storms up the middle of the park. He flies the ball wide right for Messi, who eats up 20 yards or so before drawing three defenders, and then scooping a diagonal pass wide left to release Rakitic into the City area. He chests down, then dinks the ball over the advancing Hart and into the right-hand side of the net. A soft stroke of the boot. Magnificent play. City are really up against it now. As if they weren’t already.
8.17pm GMT
29 min: Suarez scampers down the left. He’s in acres, with time, space and options in the middle. From a restrictive angle, he batters the ball straight at Hart. A poor decision. City go up the other end, a long ball down the right causing ter Stegen a little angst. The keeper comes out of the area to hack clear, though nearly found himself closed down by Aguero.
8.16pm GMT
28 min: For the second time in the match, Messi plonks the ball on the top netting, his attempt to pitching-wedge the free kick into the top right a little overcooked. Hart probably had that one covered.
8.15pm GMT
8.15pm GMT
27 min: Messi sashays down the inside-right channel, with extreme prejudice. He’s advancing on the area, and he’s one on one with Dimichelis. But before he can get there, he’s upended by Silva, sliding in from the back. A third City booking. Silva took one for the team there. A free kick, just to the right of the D, Messi standing over it. Gulp.
8.12pm GMT
24 min: City can’t get anything going right now. Milner attempts to inject a bit of life into their play with a determined run down the middle of the park, but his flick out to the left, meant for Silva, is easily snaffled by Mascherano.
8.11pm GMT
22 min: Suarez is very nearly set free down the middle of the park by a simple 60-yard hoof forward by Pique. Barca are not above the basic stuff if the chance presents itself. And why not? Demichelis steps in to put a stop to the Reepian scheme, but only just. Suarez applauds his team-mate’s quick thinking, City having nearly been caught out very light at the back.
8.08pm GMT
20 min: Kolarov is in the book now for a fairly basic obstruction on Messi, as the wee man looks to zip off down the right wing. He can have no complaints, having dispatched Messi halfway to the stands.
8.06pm GMT
18 min: Kolarov dances down the left, his twinkle toes foxing Dani Alves enough to earn a corner. Silva’s delivery is once again dismal. But there’s another phase of attack, and Kolarov takes a lash from 25 yards up the inside-left channel. His low, diagonal shot is arrowing towards the bottom right, but ter Stegen is behind it and smothers.
8.04pm GMT
16 min: ... looks for the top-right corner with an up-and-down curler. He nearly hits the target, too. Not sure Hart was getting there, so the keeper’s doubly happy to see the ball settle on the top of the netting, a few inches too high. Messi has scored 10 goals in his last 11 matches against English opposition, and he looks in the mood to add to that tally tonight.
8.03pm GMT
15 min: Fernandinho is booked for hanging a leg out to stop Neymar squirting off down the middle of the park. This will be a free kick in a central position, 30 yards from goal. Messi steps up, and ...
8.01pm GMT
14 min: Toure powers into the Barca area down the right. His low ball into the middle clips off the legs of Mathieu, and Dani Alves can slide in ahead of Milner, who was on the penalty spot waiting to connect. Promising from City.
8.00pm GMT
12 min: Messi clips a high-speed one-two with Iniesta down the inside-left channel, and he’s got Hart in his sights. A shot towards the bottom left, which the keeper does well to parry. The resulting corner comes to naught. But City are looking very shaky at the back. Barca have cut through them a couple of times already. I’m not sure how sensible a policy of all-out attack by City would be, but simply attempting to keep it tight at the back might be a pipe dream. Ah, the dilemmas of playing a side with an attack like Barca’s.
7.58pm GMT
10 min: Both teams look strangely nervous. Daniel Alves very nearly gifted the ball to Silva there, as he fannied around in his right-back position. He remembers what to do just in time, and blooters clear.
7.56pm GMT
9 min: The Alba-Nasri kid-a-thon continues, the latter at fault this time, clattering into the tackle. Gentlemen, for goodness sake. City go up the other end, Aguero having a dig from 25 yards. It’s not a particularly good effort, but his shot takes a deflection and flies out left of the target for a corner. Silva’s delivery is a waste of time.
7.55pm GMT
6 min: Jordi Alba and Nasri interact like children on the playground, the former clipping the latter’s lug. The referee points to the age boxes on their birth certificates. Barca finally put a couple of passes together up the field. And so nearly score! First Neymar skips past Sagna down the left as though the full back wasn’t there. His ball into the centre is cleared by Kompany. But not particularly far. Another phase of Barca attack, and Alves, on the edge of the City D, latches onto a poor Kompany pass and flicks a ball into the area down the left. Neymar is one on one with Hart! He’s surely going to score, but his sidefooted effort clatters off the bottom of the left-hand post, and spins across the face of goal before curling out just to the right. How on earth did that not go in?! Lucky Kompany. Lucky City.
7.51pm GMT
4 min: Kolarov steps up from a deep position on the left and nearly releases Milner into space down the wing. Again Barca are sloppy at the throw, and gift possession back to the visitors. City haven’t managed to launch an attack yet, but they’ve started better than Barca, who haven’t managed more than a couple of passes yet.
7.49pm GMT
2 min: Fernandinho attempts a long pass down the right, in the hope of setting Silva away on a scamper. But the ball flies out of play. No matter, City soon win it back, and their defenders take the opportunity to get an early feel of the ball.
7.47pm GMT
And we’re off! A couple of minutes late, too. What will the TV companies say? City get the ball rolling. Classic, please! “If any City fans are looking for omens, it’s 28 years to the day since Dundee United beat Barcelona 2-1 in the Nou Camp to progress to the semi-finals of the Uefa Cup,” reports Simon McMahon. “Mind you, unlike City, we had won the first leg at Tannadice, in fact all three previous meetings between the clubs, too.” Let’s be honest, you didn’t bring that up for the benefit of City fans, did you Simon McMahon.
7.46pm GMT
The teams are out! A capacity Camp Nou crowd bounces around wildly, pretty much as you’d expect. Handel’s work is being desecrated, as usual, with the official Uefa Champions League anthem pounding from the PA speakers. Barcelona are playing in their famous blaugrana FC Basel homage. Manchester City have their tracksuit tops on. But they’re wearing white shorts. They’re not going to unveil a provocative, bespoke, Real Madridesque all-white kit, are they? Hey, the gambit didn’t do Gerard Houllier’s Liverpool any harm in the Uefa Cup semi-finals of 2001. Nope, they’re in their first-choice powder blue. It doesn’t clash, so it should have been obvious, but you know how insistent the marketing bods are on away trips these days. Pennants have been swapped, hands have been shaken, and we’ll be off in a minute!
7.15pm GMT
So what is there to say about that Barcelona team? Just look at that forward line! A lovely old-fashioned feel to it. All angles covered. City by contrast start with just the one up front, David Silva tucked in behind Sergio Aguero, midfield solidity very much the watchword. No point throwing caution to the wind too early, I suppose. Any weak links in the Barca side? Well, the defence never gets much of a test, does it, and Marc-Andre ter Stegen looked a bit shaky in the cup semi against Villarreal recently. It’s not much, but it’s something. “I once berated a pair of drunken revellers for urinating in that fountain in Plaça Reial,” writes Kevin Smith. Ah, sweet reminiscence of salad days. “It never occurred to me that a half-naked, shaven-headed, tattood City fan might dive in.”
7.00pm GMT
Barcelona: ter Stegen, Dani Alves, Pique, Mathieu, Jordi Alba, Rakitic, Mascherano, Iniesta, Messi, Suarez, Neymar.
Subs: Bravo, Xavi, Pedro, Rafinha, Bartra, Sergi Roberto, Adriano.
Manchester City: Hart, Sagna, Kompany, Demichelis, Kolarov, Nasri, Toure, Fernandinho, Milner, Silva, Aguero.
Subs: Caballero, Zabaleta, Fernando, Dzeko, Bony, Jesus Navas, Lampard.
6.00pm GMT
The English Champions League charge. It’s not quite gone to plan, has it.
Manchester City, then, are the Premier League’s final hope. First the good news. Even if City lose tonight, this year’s campaign will equal the famous old club’s best showing in Europe’s grandest competition. No quarter final as of yet, see. Though this isn’t quite as dreadful a record as it sounds. True, crashing out at the first round of the 1968/69 European Cup against Fenerbahçe was a bit of a shocker. But since then, the draw’s hardly been their friend. Bayern Munich, Villareal and Napoli in the groups in 2011/12. Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Ajax in 2012/13. Barcelona in the Round of 16 last year. Barcelona at the same stage again this time. City’s bank balance means sympathy comes at a premium these days, that’s just the way of it. But have a heart: even the biggest clubs need a break every now and then.
Continue reading...March 14, 2015
Burnley v Manchester City: Premier League – as it happened
George Boyd scored a stunning goal against listless City to give Burnley’s bid to avoid relegation - and Chelsea’s hopes of winning the title - a huge boost.
7.22pm GMT
And that’s that! Burnley’s first win against City since 1974! And a repeat of the scoreline in the 1973 Charity Shield! That’s a thoroughly deserved victory for the Lancastrians, on the balance of play, though that penalty non-decision right at the end will understandably rankle with City. Burnley are still in the relegation places, but in touch with the rest of the stragglers now. Hope is alive! But City’s title challenge has been plunged into serious trouble. They’ll be eight points plus a game behind Chelsea if Jose Mourinho’s side beat Southampton tomorrow. Ah well, at least it’ll concentrate the minds for the Barcelona game ...
7.20pm GMT
90 min +3: Bony attempts to chest down a high hoof into the Burnley area. But he handles. More Burnley relief.
7.19pm GMT
90 min +2: City are beside themselves with frustration. Ings tries to loop home from 40 yards, but the ball flies miles wide right. It’s the striker’s last act; he’s replaced by Reid.
7.18pm GMT
90 min +1: Late drama! Zabaleta cuts inside from the right, dancing into the area. Mee slides in from the side, but doesn’t get the ball. Zabaleta gets a little touch, moving the ball to the left, and then goes over. But it’s not a penalty. Who’d be a referee? I’d say that was a penalty kick, and Burnley are extremely lucky to get away with that rash challenge.
7.16pm GMT
90 min: Ings purchases a cheap free kick off a clumsy Bony in the centre circle. The clock ticks on, and he’s not a penny out of pocket. There will be an extra four minutes of this match. Can City save their title challenge? Can Burnley give themselves a huge boost in their fight against relegation?
7.15pm GMT
89 min: Lampard threads a pass down the inside-right channel, but it’s hit way too hard, and Navas is never getting there. Goal kick.
7.14pm GMT
88 min: This is attack versus defence now, as you’d expect. A ball swung in from the right towards Bony. Shackell steps in, and just about hooks away. The tension at Turf Moor is palpable. This result means so much to both sides.
7.13pm GMT
87 min: The industrious and impressive Vokes, exhausted after returning from injury, makes way for Ward.
7.13pm GMT
86 min: A free kick for City, 35 yards out, in the centre of the park. Not sure why. Lampard asked for it, amid a 50-50 scrape with Arfield, and got it. Anyway, he takes it himself, and blooters it straight into the wall. Another phase of attack, and there’s Lampard taking a fresh-air swipe at a Navas cross from the right. The ball finds its way to Jovetic, 25 yards out. Jovetic’s effort is 25 yards high.
7.10pm GMT
84 min: Navas drifts inside from the right and floats a dangerous ball towards Lampard in the area. Boyd, of all people, gets a defensive head to the ball, though it looks like that’ll lead to a corner, the ball floating out on the right. But Heaton makes a spectacular diving catch to retain possession and deny City the set piece.
7.08pm GMT
82 min: And that’s Toure’s last act of the evening, as he’s replaced by Lampard.
7.08pm GMT
81 min: Toure, on the right, curls the most inviting cross onto the head of Aguero, six yards out, level with the left-hand post. What a cross! And the equaliser surely? Nope. Aguero meets the cross with a powerful header, but it’s miles over the crossbar. City should be level.
7.06pm GMT
79 min: Vokes romps down the right in a little space. If he’d got his dink inside correct, Boyd was bearing down on goal. But Clichy steps in to sort things out before the scoreline turns ugly for City.
7.05pm GMT
77 min: It’s a bit backs-to-the-wall for Burnley right now. They’re sitting too deep. They look much better when they throw a few people forward. And here’s an example, Dimichelis blootering the ball into touch down the Burnley left under a little pressure, and Barnes attempting a curler into the top right from the resulting throw. Hart gathers, but for a second City’s hearts were in their mouths.
7.02pm GMT
76 min: Bony busies himself on the edge of the Burnley box, cutting in from the right having picked up a Jovetic pass. He works enough space to batter a low shot goalwards, but Heaton is behind it.
7.01pm GMT
75 min: Nope, Fernandinho’s no George Boyd. Shackell’s header out from deep isn’t great, but the attempt to volley it back goalwards from 30 yards is worse. Three rugby points, except it might have been wide of the sticks as well.
7.00pm GMT
74 min: Silva is replaced by Jovetic. How costly his miscontrol when romping clear through the middle at 0-0 looks right now.
6.59pm GMT
73 min: Toure, 25 yards out down the right, latches onto a weak Mee headed clearance and batters a low shot towards the bottom left. Shackell blocks it out for a corner on the right, and Burnley yet again deal with the set piece.
6.58pm GMT
72 min: Duff is booked for a clip on Aguero’s ankle. It’s another fairly soft one, that. A free kick here for City, down the inside-left channel, 40 yards out. Silva floats it into the area. Bony, 12 yards out and level with the right-hand post, rises and meets it, but only with a weak header that floats into Heaton’s arms.
6.56pm GMT
70 min: Toure, just outside the Burnley box down the right, flicks a high cross towards Aguero, who flashes a header wide right. Frustration all over his coupon.
6.54pm GMT
68 min: City look a little flustered here. Their season might potentially fall apart this week, with the Barcelona game to come, unless they can turn this round. Maybe that’s a little melodramatic. But they do look flustered, you’ll have to give me that.
6.52pm GMT
65 min: City shift the ball around left and right, but can’t spot a gap in the Burnley back line. Navas eventually drops a shoulder and zips down the right, winning a corner. From the set piece, the ball drops to Fernandinho in George Boyd Country. He attempts a volley himself. Fernandinho is no George Boyd.
6.50pm GMT
63 min: Demichelis slides in aggressively on Trippier, as the right back goes on a romp down his flank. No free kick, which is just as well for Demichelis, because if the referee saw that as a foul, he might have picked up a second yellow card and be walking. Before the game can restart, Dzeko is indeed hooked, with Bony coming on. Time to start paying back a little of that transfer fee, then, because City’s title hopes are hanging by a gossamer thread.
6.48pm GMT
The set piece is floated into the box. Kompany heads it out. But only to Boyd, on the left-hand edge of the D. Boyd meets the dropping ball on the half-volley, and pearls it into the bottom right! Hart had no chance! That was a screamer! Though not the greatest clearance by Kompany, you’d have to say.
6.47pm GMT
60 min: Barnes cuts in from the right and speeds past Demichelis. Or would have done, had the big man not hung out a leg to stop the Burnley forward in his tracks. Free kick, 35 yards from goal down the right, and a yellow for the City defender.
6.45pm GMT
58 min: Mee is booked for a little clip on the back of Navas. That’s a pretty harsh decision. Turf Moor is not a happy place. City flood upfield. Silva, on the edge of the Burnley box down the left, slides a pass inside for Dzeko, who tops his shot like a drunk 28-handicapper. That’s a really poor effort, about as bad as it gets. He’ll be hooked soon, you’d have thought.
6.43pm GMT
56 min: Zabaleta with a throw, deep down the City right. The champions on the attack, but Zabaleta flings the ball straight at Vokes, who rakes a pass up the flank for Ings. It’s a bit too long for Ings. If that was weighted correctly, City were light at the back there. And then another phase of Burnley attack, Ings heading down on the edge of the City area for Boyd, who volleys spectacularly, his effort meant for the top left and flying inches wide. That’s got the crowd going, the home support having started to worry a bit after those City chances.
6.40pm GMT
54 min: Trippier garryowens the ball into the City area from the right. Barnes goes up for the header, but Hart comes to the edge of his area to punch confidently clear.
6.39pm GMT
52 min: Zabaleta powers down the right, leaving Barnes behind, and cuts the ball back for Aguero, who pokes a first-time shot inches wide of the right-hand post from six yards. City have upped the tempo.
6.38pm GMT
51 min: Toure bowls Jones over in the centre circle. Burnley load the City box. Trippier loops the ball forwards, but City clear easily. And then the champions are on the break upfield. Aguero spins away on the centre circle and romps down the inside-right channel. He’s got Silva clear in the middle, and slips the ball his way, but overcooks the pass, pushing his team-mate wide left. There’s a miscontrol in there too. Silva still gets a shot away upon reaching the area, but it’s a tight angle now and Heaton can claim, though he makes a nine-course tasting menu of doing so. City should be leading.
6.35pm GMT
48 min: A long ball down the middle has City in all sorts of trouble, as for a second it looks like Vokes is going to overpower Dimichelis and zip into the area. But Kompany comes over to sweep up, just in time.
6.34pm GMT
47 min: Aguero is fortunate to escape a booking, as he sticks his studs into Duff’s shin. It wasn’t particularly nasty, but it was clumsy enough and out of control. The referee does nothing.
6.32pm GMT
And we’re off again! Burnley get things moving, and lump the ball down the right wing. A couple of throw ins, and City are pinned back in their own area. Burnley should fling it in, there’s no point being fancy, but fancy they are, and City are able to clear while the home team fiddle.
6.24pm GMT
Half-time entertainment: Billy Smart’s Circus, here, from 1973, the main influence on contemporaneous Manchester City, if the work of erstwhile Guardian reporter Eric Todd (see preamble) is to be believed.
6.16pm GMT
No added time. Probably just as well. That could have been better. Jose Mourinho will be enjoying his supper.
6.14pm GMT
43 min: City are passing it around beautifully in midfield, but it’s breaking down again and again the minute they shuttle it forward for Aguero or Dzeko. Navas wins a corner down the right, but the Burnley defence is dealing well with the set pieces.
6.11pm GMT
40 min: Clichy romps down the left and whips a dangerous cross into the middle. Dzeko rises with a view to battering a header home, but crashes into the back of Shackell instead. City have enjoyed the lion’s share of possession, but they’ve only frightened Burnley once or twice. The home side will be happy enough.
6.09pm GMT
38 min: Vokes overpowers Fernandinho in the middle of the park. It’s superlative play, and Burnley are suddenly on the break as Vokes cuts inside and sprays a pass wide right for Trippier. The fullback hoicks a cross into the area, and Ings has sprung a sleepy City back line, but the angles are all wrong, and he can’t contort his body to bring the ball down. Goal kick. That was all a bit lazy from the champions.
6.07pm GMT
36 min: Mee grabs Navas as the City winger looks to make off down the right. It’s a free kick, and should be a booking, but the referee is lenient. And it’s a shaky minute for Mee, who in the next phase of play nearly gifts the ball to Aguero down the inside-right channel as he plays a backpass to Heaton. Inches from disaster, but the ball evades the striker and Burnley breathe again.
6.05pm GMT
34 min: City are testing Burnley now. Navas rolls a lovely ball inside from the right. Silva’s first-time touch down the inside-right channel releases Dzeko into the area. His shot is blocked, but the ball breaks to Aguero, who blazes wildly over from a tight angle on the right. On target, though, and that was the opening goal, for Heaton was out of the picture, having dealt with Dzeko earlier.
6.03pm GMT
32 min: It’s opening up a little now, as City push Burnley back, Fernandinho bursting into the area down the right and whistling a dangerous ball into the centre. Shackell is forced to hack out with Heaton in no man’s land. The corner is a non-event.
6.01pm GMT
30 min: And now one for Burnley, as City fail to clear a Barnes cross from the left. Ings lays off to Arfield, who has a whack from 25 yards. Hart saves.
6.01pm GMT
29 min: Shots on target! Fernandinho rolls a pass down the inside-left channel to release Dzeko into the Burnley box. The striker takes a whack from a tight angle. Heaton parries. Then Aguero, cutting in from the left, attempts to find the bottom-left corner. It’s on target, but easy for Heaton, who snaffles.
5.58pm GMT
27 min: A lot of pretty City triangles in the midfield. But they’re going nowhere right now. The pace of this game has dropped off alarmingly in the last few minutes. Burnley will be more than happy about that.
5.56pm GMT
25 min: Neither team can be bothered to control a bouncing ball, 30 yards from the Burnley goal. Dzeko eventually meets it, and drags a hopeless effort well wide right. Not a shot on target yet, though Burnley have had four efforts in the vague direction of their opponents’ net to City’s three.
5.54pm GMT
22 min: Trippier takes a stride down the right and curls an inviting cross towards Vokes, whose header is firm but always sailing wide right. A decent half-chance, that. “The kit City have turned up in seems a greater clash with Burnley’s than the proper version,” opines Lou Roper. “Should the FA not devise a law that deducts points for teams that fail to wear their proper colours without providing a proper reason (e.g. to prevent a clash, or that the washing machines ate the shirts)?” Preach on, brother.
5.51pm GMT
19 min: Toure slips a ball down the middle for Aguero, who embarks on a twinkle-toed run towards the Burnley box, sliding a little to the right as he does so. He thinks about shooting four or five times, but confuses himself and is eventually crowded out. Burnley did well to hold their shape and not collectively panic there, for it did appear that Aguero was on one.
5.49pm GMT
18 min: Navas scampers down the right at considerable speed. His looping cross is aimed at Silva in the middle, but headed out by Duff. Toure picks up possession 25 yards out, but can’t get a shot away.
5.47pm GMT
17 min: Barnes, 35 yards out down the inside-left channel, attempts a screamer. Probably a bit optimistic, that, but it does balloon off Kompany for another corner down the right. And let’s just say this: Burnley’s approach play has been better than their set pieces so far.
5.46pm GMT
15 min: Navas, on the right, flicks a clever pass inside to release Silva into the box. He takes a touch and shapes to shoot, but Shackell steps in to bang the ball out for a corner. And Burnley deal with the resulting set piece pretty well. Neither keeper has had too much to do yet, but this game has a nice open feel. There could be goals in this.
5.44pm GMT
14 min: Vokes, tight on the right touchline in the midfield, snaps a low pass inside to release Arfield into acres of space. He’s got Ings racing into position down the inside-left flank, and very nearly sliderules a pass down the channel to set him free. But Zabaleta steps up to intercept.
5.43pm GMT
12 min: But Burnley are enjoying themselves down this right flank. Boyd makes a little space and whips one towards the near post. Kompany is taking no chances, and blooters out for a corner. From which the ball’s hit long and deep, Mee heading over meekly from six yards, level with the far post. No clear-cut chances yet, but Burnley are giving as good as they’re getting.
5.41pm GMT
10 min: Vokes whips a ball into the City box from the right. The ball is intercepted by Clichy, who chests it down with his arms spread wide. A hand ball? Vokes and the Burnley faithful think so. But it’s a good decision. That one was right on the nipples.
5.40pm GMT
9 min: Fernandinho advances on the Burnley area down the middle of the park. From 25 yards, he has a lash instead of feeding Dzeko down the inside-right channel. His shot isn’t much cop, and hits Dzeko anyway, flying out for a goal kick to the right of goal.
5.39pm GMT
8 min: Boyd sprays a long ball down the Burnley right. Ings gets to it ahead of Demichelis, and checks back, clipping the ball over the defender’s head. He’s obstructed by a flapping arm, and claims the free kick on the edge of the area, but there’s hardly any contact and the referee waves play on. It’d have been cheap, but you’ve seen them given.
5.37pm GMT
6 min: City, after a slow start, are beginning to impose themselves. Silva, on the left, shuttles the ball inside to Aguero, who furthers it to Dzeko. Finally the ball’s with Navas down the right. He drops a shoulder, moves towards the byline, and fizzes a low cross into the six-yard box. Heaton comes off his line to smother well, though if Dzeko was on the front foot, he might have beaten the keeper to the ball. A magnificent ball in by Navas.
5.35pm GMT
4 min: Navas in a bit of space down the right, sent scampering down the flank by a lovely stroke from Navas. But with Burnley on the back foot, he hesitates on the edge of the area, neither getting a shot away, nor slipping in Zabaleta on the overlap. A promising move, though.
5.33pm GMT
2 min: Ings, with his back to goal, 40 yards out, spins to his right and makes off down the inside-left channel, before attempting a power curl into the top left from 30 yards. Not a bad effort from that distance, though a little high and wide. The crowd coo appreciatively. A bright start by the home side.
5.32pm GMT
And we’re off! Burnley are quickly on the front foot, Ings busying himself down the left. But the ball’s in Hart’s hands soon enough. A rare old atmosphere at Turf Moor.
5.31pm GMT
The teams are out! Burnley are dressed in the Victorian splendour of their claret-and-blue kit. Manchester City ... why are City not in their first-choice sky blue? Burnley’s sleeves aren’t going to confuse the issue, surely. But they’re in their half-bleached dark blue number, a nod to that appalling Ipswich kit of the late 90s.
5.05pm GMT
The team news: Burnley make two changes, Michael Duff and Sam Vokes replacing Michael Keane and Michael Kightly. Manchester City meanwhile recall their captain Vincent Kompany and best pal Fernandinho, the pair having missed the Leicester City match in the wake of a high-speed toy swap at Anfield. Pablo Zabaleta and Edin Dzeko also return to the starting XI.
4.41pm GMT
Burnley: Heaton, Trippier, Duff, Shackell, Mee, Arfield, Jones, Boyd, Vokes, Barnes, Ings.
Subs: Wallace, Kightly, Reid, Jutkiewicz, Gilks, Ward, Keane.
Manchester City: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Demichelis, Clichy, Jesus Navas, Toure, Fernandinho, Silva, Dzeko, Aguero.
Subs: Sagna, Nasri, Caballero, Bony, Lampard, Mangala, Jovetic.
4.30pm GMT
Welcome to our coverage of the rematch of the 1973 Charity Shield. That is how this game’s being sold, right?
So in 1973, neither Sunderland, the FA Challenge Cup holders, nor Liverpool, the Football League champions, could be bothered to contest the Charity Shield at the start of the 1973/74 season. In stepped Manchester City, the previous year’s winners, and the Second Division champions Burnley. And in front of a 24,000 crowd at Maine Road, the understudies put on quite a show. Burnley won 1-0, thanks to Colin Waldron’s powerful header in the 66th minute. Not a bad result for a newly promoted side against a team featuring Mike Summerbee, Colin Bell, Denis Law, Francis Lee and Rodney Marsh. Here’s the stand-out passage in erstwhile Guardian reporter Eric Todd’s match report:
City have not yet abandoned their old, exasperating party tricks. These consist of taking the long way round to their opponents’ goal and of baffling each other with fancy passes and other conjuring tricks which may bring down the house at Billy Smart’s Circus, but are not really the most effective way of making and scoring goals.
Continue reading...Burnley v Manchester City: Premier League – live!
7.08pm GMT
82 min: And that’s Toure’s last act of the evening, as he’s replaced by Lampard.
7.08pm GMT
81 min: Toure, on the right, curls the most inviting cross onto the head of Aguero, six yards out, level with the left-hand post. What a cross! And the equaliser surely? Nope. Aguero meets the cross with a powerful header, but it’s miles over the crossbar. City should be level.
7.06pm GMT
79 min: Vokes romps down the right in a little space. If he’d got his dink inside correct, Boyd was bearing down on goal. But Clichy steps in to sort things out before the scoreline turns ugly for City.
7.05pm GMT
77 min: It’s a bit backs-to-the-wall for Burnley right now. They’re sitting too deep. They look much better when they throw a few people forward. And here’s an example, Dimichelis blootering the ball into touch down the Burnley left under a little pressure, and Barnes attempting a curler into the top right from the resulting throw. Hart gathers, but for a second City’s hearts were in their mouths.
7.02pm GMT
76 min: Bony busies himself on the edge of the Burnley box, cutting in from the right having picked up a Jovetic pass. He works enough space to batter a low shot goalwards, but Heaton is behind it.
7.01pm GMT
75 min: Nope, Fernandinho’s no George Boyd. Shackell’s header out from deep isn’t great, but the attempt to volley it back goalwards from 30 yards is worse. Three rugby points, except it might have been wide of the sticks as well.
7.00pm GMT
74 min: Silva is replaced by Jovetic. How costly his miscontrol when romping clear through the middle at 0-0 looks right now.
6.59pm GMT
73 min: Toure, 25 yards out down the right, latches onto a weak Mee headed clearance and batters a low shot towards the bottom left. Shackell blocks it out for a corner on the right, and Burnley yet again deal with the set piece.
6.58pm GMT
72 min: Duff is booked for a clip on Aguero’s ankle. It’s another fairly soft one, that. A free kick here for City, down the inside-left channel, 40 yards out. Silva floats it into the area. Bony, 12 yards out and level with the right-hand post, rises and meets it, but only with a weak header that floats into Heaton’s arms.
6.56pm GMT
70 min: Toure, just outside the Burnley box down the right, flicks a high cross towards Aguero, who flashes a header wide right. Frustration all over his coupon.
6.54pm GMT
68 min: City look a little flustered here. Their season might potentially fall apart this week, with the Barcelona game to come, unless they can turn this round. Maybe that’s a little melodramatic. But they do look flustered, you’ll have to give me that.
6.52pm GMT
65 min: City shift the ball around left and right, but can’t spot a gap in the Burnley back line. Navas eventually drops a shoulder and zips down the right, winning a corner. From the set piece, the ball drops to Fernandinho in George Boyd Country. He attempts a volley himself. Fernandinho is no George Boyd.
6.50pm GMT
63 min: Demichelis slides in aggressively on Trippier, as the right back goes on a romp down his flank. No free kick, which is just as well for Demichelis, because if the referee saw that as a foul, he might have picked up a second yellow card and be walking. Before the game can restart, Dzeko is indeed hooked, with Bony coming on. Time to start paying back a little of that transfer fee, then, because City’s title hopes are hanging by a gossamer thread.
6.48pm GMT
The set piece is floated into the box. Kompany heads it out. But only to Boyd, on the left-hand edge of the D. Boyd meets the dropping ball on the half-volley, and pearls it into the bottom right! Hart had no chance! That was a screamer! Though not the greatest clearance by Kompany, you’d have to say.
6.47pm GMT
60 min: Barnes cuts in from the right and speeds past Demichelis. Or would have done, had the big man not hung out a leg to stop the Burnley forward in his tracks. Free kick, 35 yards from goal down the right, and a yellow for the City defender.
6.45pm GMT
58 min: Mee is booked for a little clip on the back of Navas. That’s a pretty harsh decision. Turf Moor is not a happy place. City flood upfield. Silva, on the edge of the Burnley box down the left, slides a pass inside for Dzeko, who tops his shot like a drunk 28-handicapper. That’s a really poor effort, about as bad as it gets. He’ll be hooked soon, you’d have thought.
6.43pm GMT
56 min: Zabaleta with a throw, deep down the City right. The champions on the attack, but Zabaleta flings the ball straight at Vokes, who rakes a pass up the flank for Ings. It’s a bit too long for Ings. If that was weighted correctly, City were light at the back there. And then another phase of Burnley attack, Ings heading down on the edge of the City area for Boyd, who volleys spectacularly, his effort meant for the top left and flying inches wide. That’s got the crowd going, the home support having started to worry a bit after those City chances.
6.40pm GMT
54 min: Trippier garryowens the ball into the City area from the right. Barnes goes up for the header, but Hart comes to the edge of his area to punch confidently clear.
6.39pm GMT
52 min: Zabaleta powers down the right, leaving Barnes behind, and cuts the ball back for Aguero, who pokes a first-time shot inches wide of the right-hand post from six yards. City have upped the tempo.
6.38pm GMT
51 min: Toure bowls Jones over in the centre circle. Burnley load the City box. Trippier loops the ball forwards, but City clear easily. And then the champions are on the break upfield. Aguero spins away on the centre circle and romps down the inside-right channel. He’s got Silva clear in the middle, and slips the ball his way, but overcooks the pass, pushing his team-mate wide left. There’s a miscontrol in there too. Silva still gets a shot away upon reaching the area, but it’s a tight angle now and Heaton can claim, though he makes a nine-course tasting menu of doing so. City should be leading.
6.35pm GMT
48 min: A long ball down the middle has City in all sorts of trouble, as for a second it looks like Vokes is going to overpower Dimichelis and zip into the area. But Kompany comes over to sweep up, just in time.
6.34pm GMT
47 min: Aguero is fortunate to escape a booking, as he sticks his studs into Duff’s shin. It wasn’t particularly nasty, but it was clumsy enough and out of control. The referee does nothing.
6.32pm GMT
And we’re off again! Burnley get things moving, and lump the ball down the right wing. A couple of throw ins, and City are pinned back in their own area. Burnley should fling it in, there’s no point being fancy, but fancy they are, and City are able to clear while the home team fiddle.
6.24pm GMT
Half-time entertainment: Billy Smart’s Circus, here, from 1973, the main influence on contemporaneous Manchester City, if the work of erstwhile Guardian reporter Eric Todd (see preamble) is to be believed.
6.16pm GMT
No added time. Probably just as well. That could have been better. Jose Mourinho will be enjoying his supper.
6.14pm GMT
43 min: City are passing it around beautifully in midfield, but it’s breaking down again and again the minute they shuttle it forward for Aguero or Dzeko. Navas wins a corner down the right, but the Burnley defence is dealing well with the set pieces.
6.11pm GMT
40 min: Clichy romps down the left and whips a dangerous cross into the middle. Dzeko rises with a view to battering a header home, but crashes into the back of Shackell instead. City have enjoyed the lion’s share of possession, but they’ve only frightened Burnley once or twice. The home side will be happy enough.
6.09pm GMT
38 min: Vokes overpowers Fernandinho in the middle of the park. It’s superlative play, and Burnley are suddenly on the break as Vokes cuts inside and sprays a pass wide right for Trippier. The fullback hoicks a cross into the area, and Ings has sprung a sleepy City back line, but the angles are all wrong, and he can’t contort his body to bring the ball down. Goal kick. That was all a bit lazy from the champions.
6.07pm GMT
36 min: Mee grabs Navas as the City winger looks to make off down the right. It’s a free kick, and should be a booking, but the referee is lenient. And it’s a shaky minute for Mee, who in the next phase of play nearly gifts the ball to Aguero down the inside-right channel as he plays a backpass to Heaton. Inches from disaster, but the ball evades the striker and Burnley breathe again.
6.05pm GMT
34 min: City are testing Burnley now. Navas rolls a lovely ball inside from the right. Silva’s first-time touch down the inside-right channel releases Dzeko into the area. His shot is blocked, but the ball breaks to Aguero, who blazes wildly over from a tight angle on the right. On target, though, and that was the opening goal, for Heaton was out of the picture, having dealt with Dzeko earlier.
6.03pm GMT
32 min: It’s opening up a little now, as City push Burnley back, Fernandinho bursting into the area down the right and whistling a dangerous ball into the centre. Shackell is forced to hack out with Heaton in no man’s land. The corner is a non-event.
6.01pm GMT
30 min: And now one for Burnley, as City fail to clear a Barnes cross from the left. Ings lays off to Arfield, who has a whack from 25 yards. Hart saves.
6.01pm GMT
29 min: Shots on target! Fernandinho rolls a pass down the inside-left channel to release Dzeko into the Burnley box. The striker takes a whack from a tight angle. Heaton parries. Then Aguero, cutting in from the left, attempts to find the bottom-left corner. It’s on target, but easy for Heaton, who snaffles.
5.58pm GMT
27 min: A lot of pretty City triangles in the midfield. But they’re going nowhere right now. The pace of this game has dropped off alarmingly in the last few minutes. Burnley will be more than happy about that.
5.56pm GMT
25 min: Neither team can be bothered to control a bouncing ball, 30 yards from the Burnley goal. Dzeko eventually meets it, and drags a hopeless effort well wide right. Not a shot on target yet, though Burnley have had four efforts in the vague direction of their opponents’ net to City’s three.
5.54pm GMT
22 min: Trippier takes a stride down the right and curls an inviting cross towards Vokes, whose header is firm but always sailing wide right. A decent half-chance, that. “The kit City have turned up in seems a greater clash with Burnley’s than the proper version,” opines Lou Roper. “Should the FA not devise a law that deducts points for teams that fail to wear their proper colours without providing a proper reason (e.g. to prevent a clash, or that the washing machines ate the shirts)?” Preach on, brother.
5.51pm GMT
19 min: Toure slips a ball down the middle for Aguero, who embarks on a twinkle-toed run towards the Burnley box, sliding a little to the right as he does so. He thinks about shooting four or five times, but confuses himself and is eventually crowded out. Burnley did well to hold their shape and not collectively panic there, for it did appear that Aguero was on one.
5.49pm GMT
18 min: Navas scampers down the right at considerable speed. His looping cross is aimed at Silva in the middle, but headed out by Duff. Toure picks up possession 25 yards out, but can’t get a shot away.
5.47pm GMT
17 min: Barnes, 35 yards out down the inside-left channel, attempts a screamer. Probably a bit optimistic, that, but it does balloon off Kompany for another corner down the right. And let’s just say this: Burnley’s approach play has been better than their set pieces so far.
5.46pm GMT
15 min: Navas, on the right, flicks a clever pass inside to release Silva into the box. He takes a touch and shapes to shoot, but Shackell steps in to bang the ball out for a corner. And Burnley deal with the resulting set piece pretty well. Neither keeper has had too much to do yet, but this game has a nice open feel. There could be goals in this.
5.44pm GMT
14 min: Vokes, tight on the right touchline in the midfield, snaps a low pass inside to release Arfield into acres of space. He’s got Ings racing into position down the inside-left flank, and very nearly sliderules a pass down the channel to set him free. But Zabaleta steps up to intercept.
5.43pm GMT
12 min: But Burnley are enjoying themselves down this right flank. Boyd makes a little space and whips one towards the near post. Kompany is taking no chances, and blooters out for a corner. From which the ball’s hit long and deep, Mee heading over meekly from six yards, level with the far post. No clear-cut chances yet, but Burnley are giving as good as they’re getting.
5.41pm GMT
10 min: Vokes whips a ball into the City box from the right. The ball is intercepted by Clichy, who chests it down with his arms spread wide. A hand ball? Vokes and the Burnley faithful think so. But it’s a good decision. That one was right on the nipples.
5.40pm GMT
9 min: Fernandinho advances on the Burnley area down the middle of the park. From 25 yards, he has a lash instead of feeding Dzeko down the inside-right channel. His shot isn’t much cop, and hits Dzeko anyway, flying out for a goal kick to the right of goal.
5.39pm GMT
8 min: Boyd sprays a long ball down the Burnley right. Ings gets to it ahead of Demichelis, and checks back, clipping the ball over the defender’s head. He’s obstructed by a flapping arm, and claims the free kick on the edge of the area, but there’s hardly any contact and the referee waves play on. It’d have been cheap, but you’ve seen them given.
5.37pm GMT
6 min: City, after a slow start, are beginning to impose themselves. Silva, on the left, shuttles the ball inside to Aguero, who furthers it to Dzeko. Finally the ball’s with Navas down the right. He drops a shoulder, moves towards the byline, and fizzes a low cross into the six-yard box. Heaton comes off his line to smother well, though if Dzeko was on the front foot, he might have beaten the keeper to the ball. A magnificent ball in by Navas.
5.35pm GMT
4 min: Navas in a bit of space down the right, sent scampering down the flank by a lovely stroke from Navas. But with Burnley on the back foot, he hesitates on the edge of the area, neither getting a shot away, nor slipping in Zabaleta on the overlap. A promising move, though.
5.33pm GMT
2 min: Ings, with his back to goal, 40 yards out, spins to his right and makes off down the inside-left channel, before attempting a power curl into the top left from 30 yards. Not a bad effort from that distance, though a little high and wide. The crowd coo appreciatively. A bright start by the home side.
5.32pm GMT
And we’re off! Burnley are quickly on the front foot, Ings busying himself down the left. But the ball’s in Hart’s hands soon enough. A rare old atmosphere at Turf Moor.
5.31pm GMT
The teams are out! Burnley are dressed in the Victorian splendour of their claret-and-blue kit. Manchester City ... why are City not in their first-choice sky blue? Burnley’s sleeves aren’t going to confuse the issue, surely. But they’re in their half-bleached dark blue number, a nod to that appalling Ipswich kit of the late 90s.
5.05pm GMT
The team news: Burnley make two changes, Michael Duff and Sam Vokes replacing Michael Keane and Michael Kightly. Manchester City meanwhile recall their captain Vincent Kompany and best pal Fernandinho, the pair having missed the Leicester City match in the wake of a high-speed toy swap at Anfield. Pablo Zabaleta and Edin Dzeko also return to the starting XI.
4.41pm GMT
Burnley: Heaton, Trippier, Duff, Shackell, Mee, Arfield, Jones, Boyd, Vokes, Barnes, Ings.
Subs: Wallace, Kightly, Reid, Jutkiewicz, Gilks, Ward, Keane.
Manchester City: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Demichelis, Clichy, Jesus Navas, Toure, Fernandinho, Silva, Dzeko, Aguero.
Subs: Sagna, Nasri, Caballero, Bony, Lampard, Mangala, Jovetic.
4.30pm GMT
Welcome to our coverage of the rematch of the 1973 Charity Shield. That is how this game’s being sold, right?
So in 1973, neither Sunderland, the FA Challenge Cup holders, nor Liverpool, the Football League champions, could be bothered to contest the Charity Shield at the start of the 1973/74 season. In stepped Manchester City, the previous year’s winners, and the Second Division champions Burnley. And in front of a 24,000 crowd at Maine Road, the understudies put on quite a show. Burnley won 1-0, thanks to Colin Waldron’s powerful header in the 66th minute. Not a bad result for a newly promoted side against a team featuring Mike Summerbee, Colin Bell, Denis Law, Francis Lee and Rodney Marsh. Here’s the stand-out passage in erstwhile Guardian reporter Eric Todd’s match report:
City have not yet abandoned their old, exasperating party tricks. These consist of taking the long way round to their opponents’ goal and of baffling each other with fancy passes and other conjuring tricks which may bring down the house at Billy Smart’s Circus, but are not really the most effective way of making and scoring goals.
Continue reading...Crystal Palace v QPR: Premier League – as it happened
Palace were much the better team and deserved their win, though Matt Phillips’ astonishing consolation goal from 40-plus yards will be the memory moment.
2.39pm GMT
And that’s that. Glad All Over pumps from the PA system. Palace can touch Premier League safety now. Rangers are still in a lot of relegation bother. Palace were worthy winners, much the better team. Though it’s that Matt Phillips wonder strike that everyone will remember. That’s the beauty of football for you, right there.
2.37pm GMT
90 min +5: But nothing comes from it, other than a game of head tennis. One last chance to load the box, though, as Ward handles an Austin pass down the wing. But Speroni catches the set piece safely enough.
2.36pm GMT
90 min +4: A long hoof forward by QPR, and Ward clumsily heads behind to the left of goal for a Rangers corner.
2.35pm GMT
90 min +3: Grego-Cox tries to skin Kelly on the outside along the right, but the big full back isn’t having it.
2.34pm GMT
90 min +2: More faffing. Palace are back on an even keel after rocking awhile back there.
2.34pm GMT
90 min +1: Palace happy to run the clock down with some aimless forward hoofing. You can’t blame them after the shock of that Phillips super-strike.
2.33pm GMT
90 min: Henry, to the left of the Palace box, loops a pass back for Kranjcar, who chests down and scores three rugby points. No Phillips he. The board goes up, and there will be five added minutes.
2.31pm GMT
88 min: Another free kick for QPR. It’s 40 yards out. Phillips Range! The ball’s tapped to the right for Phillips, who is clearly in the mood. He lashes one towards the top right, forcing Speroni to tip round the post! This really is an astonishing shooting performance. The corner, sadly for Phillips and his team-mates, comes to naught.
2.30pm GMT
86 min: The QPR fans have been fantastic this afternoon. Their latest number is worth reporting. “How shit must you be? We’ve scored away.” You can even forgive the appropriation of the tedious Sloop John B for that one.
2.28pm GMT
85 min: And now a free kick for QPR on the right. Before it’s taken, a double change by QPR, who might as well go for it. Wright-Phillips and Sandro off, Kranjcar and Grego-Cox on. Taarabt wastes the set piece.
2.26pm GMT
This is astonishing. Astonishing. Phillips, on the halfway line, to the left of the centre circle, takes a touch inside. Another nudge of the ball. He’s just out of the centre circle, and cocks his leg to shoot. He’s not going for it, is he? He is, you know! And he sends a heatseeker into the top left! Speroni had no chance! That was a good 45 yards out! The goal of the season? It won’t be far away!
2.23pm GMT
80 min: Murray makes way for Sanogo.
2.22pm GMT
79 min: QPR fans, to their eternal credit, are making the most noise. Gallows humour is their friend. They celebrate every successful pass - scrub that; every simple touch - with gusto. Olé! Olé! Olé!
2.21pm GMT
77 min: Gayle prepares to break into the box down the left. Onuoha steps across and bundles him over, just outside the area. Free kick. Onuoha is livid, as he’s of a mind that Gayle stepped in front of him to buy that. Running up to the referee, incensed, he nearly slips on the greasy pitch and takes the official out. Firm feet save the day, inches from disaster. An accidental two-footed tackle there would have been highly amusing. He’s booked anyway. Gayle takes the free kick himself, and sends it bouncing apologetically into the arms of Green.
2.18pm GMT
74 min: Bolasie strides with purpose down the right. It’s a stunning run. When he reaches the edge of the box, he chips across for Murray, 12 yards out and level with the left-hand post. Murray chests down, having been afforded time by Caulker’s slip. Murray pearls a shot towards the top right, but Caulker manages to chest clear while on the floor. Brilliant work all round.
2.15pm GMT
72 min: Sandro, twisting and turning to hold possession in the middle of the Palace half, slides a clever ball down the inside-right channel to release Wright-Phillips. All that inactivity shows, as he can’t quite latch onto the pass, but Speroni comes out, sliding at his feet, and concedes a corner anyway. From the set piece, the ball ends up at Taarabt’s feet, 30 yards up the right wing. He curls a delicious cross into the box. Austin meets it, 12 yards out, but his header is straight at Speroni. That’s a little bit better from Rangers, who have been nothing short of dismal today.
2.12pm GMT
69 min: Mariappa comes straight through the back of Taarabt. It should be a booking, but the referee settles for a stern yak. Lee Mason has missed a few things this afternoon, but the imperfections are the things that make football so beautiful. Change them at your peril.
2.10pm GMT
68 min: A corner for Palace down the right, won by Bolasie off Yun. Ledley takes, with Puncheon gone. After a bout of head tennis, Bolasie attempts to guide one into the top left from a position level with the right-hand post, ten yards out. Nope!
2.08pm GMT
66 min: A fairly muted atmosphere at Selhurst Park. You get the sense that everyone would be perfectly happy if the referee blew up for full time now.
2.07pm GMT
63 min: Word is that Puncheon has a hamstring problem. Ward, meanwhile, advances on the QPR area down the right channel. He’s unceremoniously upended by Phillips. It should be a free kick, but the referee waves play on. Joe Ledley’s Victorian Dad beard bounces up and down like billy-o as he delivers his trenchant analysis of the non-decision. Or perhaps he’s reporting the loss of his stovepipe hat.
2.03pm GMT
60 min: Those changes have disrupted Palace’s rhythm. QPR have no rhythm to disrupt.
2.01pm GMT
58 min: Murray, freshly back from suspension, is booked for an agricultural mow on Sandro.
2.01pm GMT
57 min: Alan Pardew, perhaps spooked by the injury to Puncheon, takes off Zaha, who took that whack in scoring the first goal. Mariappa comes on in his stead.
2.00pm GMT
55 min: The ever-excellent Jason Puncheon has taken a severe whack to his side. He’s grimacing and limping quite a lot. He’s replaced by Gayle, whose first act is to waste the free kick Bolasie earned. Puncheon looks in a lot of pain, he’s being helped around the touchline, and can’t put any weight on his left leg. Though it’s not clear whether it’s the leg or his left side that’s troubling him. He winced as the physio put his arm around his torso. A strange one, picked up in a common-or-garden collision with the totally innocent Phillips.
1.57pm GMT
53 min: Bolasie goes on a Power Meander down the left. He’s nearly tap-tackled in the playground rugby style by Henry, who has already been booked. He should be off. But the referee waves play on, as Bolasie isn’t to be stopped by a mere foul. He continues on his bustle. And is then upended by Sandro, just to the left of the QPR area! Sandro gets a yellow card. Lucky Henry, whose intervention there held Bolasie up for a couple of seconds. QPR should be down to ten men.
1.53pm GMT
50 min: Zaha bustles down the flank again, and wins a corner this time. Puncheon whips it in. Austin heads clear, and QPR stream upfield. Wright-Phillips very nearly threads one through the middle to release Taarabt, but Speroni races out of his area to blooter clear. And then up the other end, Bolasie very nearly manages to take down the long hoof and break clear down the inside-left channel! A gallant effort, but he can’t quite do it. That period of play was end to end, it’s fair to say.
1.51pm GMT
48 min: Puncheon slides the ball wide right to Zaha, who has space, but not for the first time in the match, clatters his cross into Yun. Otherwise, a slow start to the second half.
1.50pm GMT
And we’re off again! A change for QPR. Poor young Darnell Furlong, 19, got worked over by Bolasie down the Palace left during that first half, so he’s been hooked. Nightmares, we all have ‘em. He’ll come back stronger for it. Hill comes on at centre back, with Onuoha moving out to the right of the defence. “This match has 3-3 written all over it,” predicts mystic Ian Copestake. “Or 5-0. You’re welcome.”
1.33pm GMT
Half-time entertainment from the Philips label:
1.32pm GMT
And that’s that for the first half. What a display by Palace! Three shots on target, three goals. You can’t ask for much more. It’s hard to see how Rangers can get back into this. But it’ll be worth watching anyway. No flipping!
1.31pm GMT
44 min: QPR, to a man, look shell-shocked. And no bloody wonder. A really strong start to this match, but since then, they’ve fallen apart. To be fair, though, Palace are swaggering about like Barcelona right now.
1.29pm GMT
This is over. QPR are all over the shop. Zaha draws Sandro, Phillips and Yun towards him down the right as he reaches the byline, just outside the box. Three white shirts, and none of them can stop Zaha cutting back for Ward, who takes a touch, steps into the area, and curls one into the bottom left! A decent shot, though it wasn’t travelling at any real pace. Green might have done better there, though there might have been a slight deflection and he was momentarily unsighted. Even so.
1.26pm GMT
So simple, and very similar to the first goal. Ledley, on the right, sprays a pass wide left for Bolasie, who makes off down the flank and into the box. He fires a low ball into the centre, where McArthur slides it home from six yards. No woodwork clattering this time, though.
1.25pm GMT
39 min: BT Sport have developed an annoying habit of cluttering up the bottom-left corner of the screen with bullshit. If it’s not box-outs of managers dancing around on the touchline, it’s as-things-stand tables that blot out half the action. Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!
1.23pm GMT
37 min: This is better from Rangers, and out of the blue. Sandro, down the inside-right channel, feeds Wright-Phillips on the inside. SWP flicks it forward to Tarrabt, who creams a looping shot just over the bar from the best part of 35 yards. Speroni might have had that covered, had it been dipping in, but he might not.
1.21pm GMT
34 min: Another free kick for Palace, 40 yards out, in a central position. Nothing really comes of it, but it’s worth noting for the sheer panic Green displays as he desperately attempts to organise his defence. His hollering, long, loud and hoarse, pings around the Selhurst stands, the horror in his eyes evident. It’s something to witness. Edvard Munch couldn’t have captured the concept of fear and terror any better.
1.17pm GMT
31 min: Palace are all over QPR. Zaha makes good down the right again, and very nearly returns the favour for Bolasie with a low cross. Yun hacks clear. Then Palace earn another corner down the right. Puncheon whips it to the near post, where Murray rises, six yards out. He can’t keep it down. Rangers really need to watch themselves here. Another goal before half time, and they’ll be in all sorts of bother.
1.16pm GMT
30 min: Yun, with nobody around him, slips over. Zaha nicks off with the ball, zipping up the right wing. Henry is forced to step in and cynically bodycheck the goalscorer, who really has been in the wars. Henry goes in the book, and doesn’t bother complaining about it. The resulting free kick is looped to the far post, where Murray lurks, but Onuoha cushions one back to Green.
1.13pm GMT
28 min: Bolasie is a constant menace. On the left-hand corner of the Rangers box, with his back to goal, he flicks a ball round the corner for Delaney, who wheechs a snapshot into the side netting on the left. Green had that covered, but Palace are on top right now. Rangers need to rediscover their early mojo.
1.12pm GMT
26 min: Rangers are a bit annoyed, mind, Austin having been clattered in the centre circle in the build-up to the goal, before Puncheon could shuttle the ball wide left to Bolasie. You’ll have seen them given all right. Though that doesn’t excuse the Rs switching off at the back for the rest of the move.
1.10pm GMT
24 min: A couple of minutes’ worth of treatment for Zaha, who hasn’t been able to celebrate his goal, such is his pain. He hobbles back onto the pitch, but isn’t moving around particularly well right now. He really did smack the upright as he bundled the ball over the line and into the bottom-right corner. He’s earned the huge round of applause he receives upon taking to the pitch again, anyway.
1.08pm GMT
Bolasie chases after a Puncheon pass down the left wing. He gets a stride ahead of Furlong. He’s romping into the box. Zaha’s coming in from the other side. Bolasie slips the ball across the area, taking Green out. Zaha can’t miss. And he doesn’t, tapping in at speed from a couple of yards! But he can’t miss the right-hand post, either, and clatters into it at high speed. Ooyah, oof. That’s a brave finish, he’s literally taken one for the team there.
1.06pm GMT
21 min: And now a Palace corner down the right. Puncheon takes, and whips a stunner to the far post, where Dann meets the ball on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box. He should score but his effort is wide left and high. No matter, though, because in the next phase, Palace are coming straight back at QPR. And ...
1.05pm GMT
19 min: Bolasie goes on a baroque ramble down the inside-left, and wins the first corner of the match. The set piece finds Dann, pretty much on the penalty spot. He can only flick a header miles wide right of goal. But Palace are coming back into this after a slow start.
1.04pm GMT
17 min: Zaha bothers Yun down the Palace right, winning a ball he should never have won. He slips a pass inside for Puncheon, who returns it down the flank. Zaha has space and time, and a chance to cross. But he batters the cross into Yun’s midriff. Reminiscent of another silent-movie classic: man catching cannonball.
1.01pm GMT
15 min: Green slips while battering a long ball upfield. A few players have been sliding around in the Early Hollywood fashion. Fortunately none of them are transporting pianos, sheets of glass, etc. The pitch has been heavily watered. Palace tried this against Liverpool in the cup. That match resembled a Buster Keaton short for a while. And much good it did the home side. This is pretty messy at the moment.
12.58pm GMT
12 min: Rangers have been the brighter team in the opening exchanges. Palace are struggling to get hold of the ball right now. Austin and Taarabt, close together down the right wing, very nearly combine to rip Palace open. Taarabt takes down a high ball and strides smoothly down the wing, before slipping the ball inside. But Austin is robbed by Dann just before he can enter the area.
12.54pm GMT
9 min: Taarabt looks to bomb down the left. He’s got Austin clear in the middle, if he gets his head up, but there’s no chance of that, because Dann puts him on his face. A chance for QPR to load the Palace box. The ball’s hoicked into the mixer, but Rangers can’t apply any pressure, let alone get a shot or header away, because Austin is faffing around with his arm in the air, and he handles. What a needless way to relieve the pressure on Palace.
12.52pm GMT
6 min: Phillips makes good down the left wing. A little space, but his cross for Austin, tearing into the box, is too close to Speroni. It’s scrappy so far.
12.51pm GMT
4 min: Taarabt twists and turns down the right, before forcing Kelly to nudge the ball out for a throw, deep in Palace territory. Furlong’s throw is intercepted. You might be getting a sense that there’s not much to report yet. Wright-Phillips has touched a football for the first time since 1967, by the way, a game attempt to control a ludicrously over-hit Henry pass. McArthur made sure he wasn’t scooting off with it.
12.47pm GMT
2 min: Zaha embarks on a sprint down the right. He’s got empty grass in front of him, but looks for Puncheon in the middle with a precision pass. His eye’s not in quite yet.
12.46pm GMT
And we’re off! The ball moves around for the first 60 seconds, in directions various, but nobody’s really in control of it. Plenty of time for everyone to find their groove.
12.44pm GMT
The teams are out! Crystal Palace are in their delicious wine-and-grape strip, mmm hmm, while QPR are de-hooped, in their change strip of all-white. Very Real Madrid. They’ll be hoping to do a lot better than that shower earlier in the week. We’ll be off before you know it!
12.13pm GMT
The team news. And who’s that in the QPR starting XI? It’s 2005’s Shaun Wright Phillips, that’s who! The 33-year-old makes his first Premier League start for more than two years. My oh my. Rangers also recall the fit-again Darnell Furlong and Adel Taarabt. So that’s two players in the Rangers team called Phillips. Not a problem as such, except your MBM hack is quite slow and dim, and can never remember the correct number of Ls in the name Phillips without double-checking. The classic old record label confuses me. Anyway, I’ve gone off piste here. Palace make one change to their team, the suddenly free-scoring Glenn Murray restored to the side after his suspension for that red card against West Ham.
11.49am GMT
Crystal Palace: Speroni, Ward, Dann, Delaney, Kelly, McArthur, Ledley, Zaha, Puncheon, Bolasie, Murray.
Subs: Mariappa, Hangeland, Sanogo, Hennessey, Gayle, Ameobi, Souare.
Queens Park Rangers: Green, Furlong, Caulker, Onuoha, Yun, Wright-Phillips, Henry, Sandro, Phillips, Taarabt, Austin.
Subs: Hill, McCarthy, Kranjcar, Hoilett, Vargas, Zamora, Grego-Cox.
11.45am GMT
So much for the new-boss bounce at Queens Park Rangers. Upon Harry Redknapp’s resignation at the start of February, Chris Ramsey took up the managerial reins and ... woo hoo! Within two matches, Rangers had registered the club’s first away win of the season! But ah. Since then, though performances have been decent enough, the relegation-haunted Rs have suffered three defeats on the bounce. A last minute sickener against Hull, then two equally sickening London derby defeats at home, against Arsenal and Tottenham. Some honeymoon this was. Bah.
Crystal Palace, however, are quickly becoming past masters at successful managerial honeymoons. Back in December 2003, Iain Dowie took over at Selhurst Park with the Eagles 19th in the second tier. Seventeen wins in 23 matches later, and they were in the play-offs, heading for promotion. Tony Pulis, of course, arrived to haul them out of Premier League bother last year. And now Alan Pardew’s at it. Four wins on the bounce, he started with, and another couple of league wins in the pocket since. The Pardew honeymoon’s probably over too - Palace have lost four of the last seven in league and cup - but a lot of the work’s been done while the going was good. They’ve put a little distance between themselves and the relegation places. And in any case, Palace have looked the part in their last three games, despite results, a comprehensive win at West Ham sandwiched by unfortunate losses against Arsenal and Southampton. They’ll be confident of registering their first win over QPR since December 2007. Rangers, on the other hand, will take succour from a seven-game unbeaten run against their London rivals since then.
Continue reading...March 12, 2015
Everton v Dynamo Kyiv: Europa League – as it happened
A late Romelu Lukaku penalty gave Everton a richly deserved victory in the first leg of their Round of 16 tie.
9.55pm GMT
And that’s your lot. Kyiv were the best side for the first 30 minutes, after which Everton were almost always on top. Roberto Martinez’s side were excellent in the second half, and thoroughly deserved their late winner. They’ll take a lead to Ukraine, and are one draw away from the quarter final of the Europa League! A 1984-style cup success, in the face of league struggles, is still very much on the cards!
9.53pm GMT
90 min +2: Kone zips down the left. He holds the ball up on the left-hand corner of the area, then so nearly finds Osman with a clever little dink. But Kyiv, who have sat back for the entire second half, mop up yet another attack.
9.52pm GMT
90 min +1: There will be three added minutes. The first passes without incident.
9.51pm GMT
90 min: Mbokani is booked, correctly, for clumsily, perhaps deliberately, crumping his shoulder into McCarthy’s boat as the pair challenge for a high ball in the centre circle.
9.50pm GMT
89 min: Coleman makes good down the right, and nearly finds the head of Kone with his cross. A Kyiv eyebrow does enough. Everton are going hell for leather for this third goal.
9.49pm GMT
87 min: Lukaku makes ground down the right, all power and purpose. He whips a curler into the area. Osman flicks it on, and nearly guides the ball into the bottom left. But it’s inches wide. “I saw what you did there,” writes Marie Meyer. “Speaking as an American Woman, I want to say It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over.” To think this report started with references to Erik Satie and Pascal Rogé. And now this, via Ronnie Hazlehurst. I’ve let this spiral out of control somewhat.
9.45pm GMT
84 min: Veloso is replaced by Chumak. Lukaku, incidentally, is now Everton’s all-time leading scorer in European competition. Seven goals. Fred Pickering held the previous record with six.
9.44pm GMT
Lukaku scuffs it down the middle. Shovkovskiy’s dived to the left, but gets a boot to it. The ball still makes it in. Wow, that was close. But who will care? It might not have been much of a penalty, but it’s in. A goal’s a goal’s a goal, and in any case, Everton deserve their lead!
9.42pm GMT
81 min: PENALTY TO EVERTON! Barry in a little space down the left. A superlative fizzer straight through the area. Kone isn’t far away from connecting. But not quite. But never mind! Because after a period of faffing down the right flank, Osman chases a ball down the channel. In the area, he lifts a cross inside, and it’s met by the arm of Silva, sliding next to him. That’s a penalty kick!
9.41pm GMT
80 min: All a bit scrappy. “Or will Kyiv’s hopes Fly Away?” trills Matt Dony. Don’t blame him, it’s entirely my fault, I started this.
9.39pm GMT
78 min: Sydorchuk wins a 50-50 in the centre circle with Naismith, and goes romping forward. He eventually slips the ball to the left for Kravets, who looks for the curler into the bottom right. He doesn’t quite wrap his foot around the ball, and it rolls harmlessly enough into Howard’s arms.
9.36pm GMT
76 min: And now Gusev, the Kyiv goalscorer, is replaced by Kravets. Is this match gonna go Kyiv’s way?
9.34pm GMT
74 min: Barkley is replaced by Osman.
9.34pm GMT
72 min: Lukaku wheechs a shot towards the bottom left from the edge of the box. Shovkovskiy is behind it. Then another phase, with Lukaku and Naismith exchanging rat-a-tat passes down the inside-left channel and into the area. They can’t get a shot away. Kyiv rocking a little again, though.
9.32pm GMT
71 min: It’s still pelting down. Mbokani is receiving a little bit of treatment. Nothing serious. He’s up again pretty quickly. Kyiv looking to run down the clock a little, perhaps. They’ll be happy enough with this scoreline.
9.31pm GMT
69 min: Gusev is sent scampering into acres down the left. He checks near the area and feeds Garmash, just inside. Garmash skedaddles across the face of the box, before laying off to Yarmolenko, who crosses back the other way, before, standing to the left of the D, launching a rising shot goalwards. It’s not far away, but not good enough either. It flies over the bar, and Everton breathe again. But Kyiv are coming back into this a little bit.
9.29pm GMT
68 min: A change for Kyiv: Garmash comes on for Buyalskly.
9.28pm GMT
67 min: Silva, in his own box, slices the ball 100 miles into the air. From the resulting confusion, McCarthy scoops the ball from the right to Kone, who heads weakly at the keeper. Everton are soon coming back at Kyiv, Lukaku sliding down the inside-right channel and slipping a pass inside to Naismith, on the left corner of the D. Naismith cushions the ball to Barry, who is free on the penalty spot! But his attempt to sidefoot into the bottom left is all wrong. What a chance!
9.25pm GMT
64 min: Free kick for Everton deep down the left. Garbutt, whose dead-ball delivery has on the whole been superlative tonight, loops at pace into the box, and Kone nearly makes the perfect start. But he can’t quite get his head to the ball, rising on the penalty spot. Kyiv clear.
9.24pm GMT
63 min: Everton make a change. Kone comes on for Mirallas, who has been excellent. Big shoes to fill.
9.23pm GMT
61 min: But they’ll do well to get not too carried away, for while their opponents have been quiet since the restart, they still carry a threat. Kyiv win a free kick near the corner flag down the right. Yarmolenko whips it in. It’s half cleared, then battered goalwards by Buyalskiy, 25 yards out down the left. The ball slaps Jagielka straight in the mush, and flies upwards. When it drops, Mbokani attempts to guide a header into the top left from ten yards, but it flies over the bar.
9.21pm GMT
59 min: Mirallas, out on the right, rolls a sliderule pass inside, cutting five white shirts out of the game at a stroke. Barkley has room to advance on the area, and take a shot, but he hesitates a little and his effort is blocked. He regroups, and scoops a cross in from the left. Coleman meets with a header, to the right of the D. It’s going into the top-left corner, but it’s deflected away at the last. Lukaku attempts to keep the move going, retrieving a ball on the left wing, but that’s that. Goodison is beginning to rock now, as Everton pile on the pressure.
9.18pm GMT
58 min: A little bit of Evertonian Total Football, as Jagielka goes on a romp down the left wing. The move comes to nothing, but it does illustrate Everton’s ambition.
9.17pm GMT
56 min: On the touchline, Roberto Martinez is effin’ and jeffin’. He doesn’t look happy at all. But his team are well on top just now. I suppose he knows that Everton really need to trouble the scoreboard while they’re on top.
9.16pm GMT
54 min: ... Everton should score, but don’t. Mirallas whips it in from the left. The ball flies towards Naismith, level with the right-hand post, six yards out. But he can’t get anything on it, and neither can Lukaku, right next to him. Shovkovskiy snaffles gratefully.
9.15pm GMT
53 min: Mirallas purchases, for £0.00, the cheapest of free kicks down the right. He was going nowhere, but Antunes stuck out a leg, and Mirallas wasn’t going to say no. A free kick, just to the right of the box. Everton load the area. Garbutt shows more dead-ball smarts by whipping a curler towards the top left. A head on that, and it’s a goal. And it’s a goal if Shovkovskiy doesn’t parry clear, as it’s heading in. The keeper does his job, but that’ll be a corner. From which ...
9.13pm GMT
52 min: Kyiv are a shadow of the team strutting around Goodison during the first half hour. They can’t keep the ball for any length of time at all.
9.11pm GMT
50 min: More hesitation from Shovkovskiy, as he fails to deal with a simple ball coming into his area from the Everton right. A white shirt is forced to step in and concede a corner. Garbutt takes the set piece, whipping it straight through the six-yard area and out to the left of goal. Naismith was very close to nudging that goalwards. Everton have started this half strongly.
9.09pm GMT
48 min: Everton finally string a few passes together. McCarthy attempts to slide the ball through the centre to release Naismith, but Antunes once again sticks a telescopic leg out, saving the day at the last. Then Alcaraz, the best part of 30 yards out down the inside-right channel, fizzes one towards the bottom left. Shovkovskiy just about gathers. The old man’s having a few senior moments this evening.
9.07pm GMT
46 min: A right load of scrappy nonsense at the start of the half. Kyiv on the attack down the right, but never in control of the ball. Everton have a couple of chances to clear but can’t manage that either. It’s like PlayStation football, only the controllers are on the blink. Reset.
9.05pm GMT
And we’re off again! Kyiv get the ball rolling. Now it’s Everton’s turn to be haring towards the Gwladys Street end. It’s still teeming down. “Both Alcaraz and Lovren are worthy nominees for the Titus Bramble Award for Services to Central Defending, but when the envelope was opened, it was Chris Smalling’s name in there. Failure to build on such fantastic early promise clinched it for him. Robert Huth looked gracious in defeat. The crowd applauded politely.” A whimsical flight of fancy courtesy of Matt Dony there, albeit not one a million miles away from terra firma.
9.02pm GMT
HALF-TIME ENTERTAINMENT: “Pascal Roge? Isn’t he the French Ronnie Hazelhurst?” asks Simon McMahon, who knows which buttons to press. Yes, Simon, in the sense that he’s a musical genius, but you know this already. Funnily enough, I was watching an episode of Three Up, Two Down the other day. They’re re-running the series on BBC2 in the afternoon, during the channel’s retro segment. (Don’t judge me, this is what freelance journalists do.) Daphne was worried that wannabe taxidermist Sam was going to take delivery of a dead elephant, supplied to him by world-weary zookeeper Wilf. They share a small flat, you see. But that didn’t happen, it was all a misunderstanding. Anyway, the theme tune is late-era Hazelhurst, perhaps past the great man’s Are You Being Served? / Yes Minister prime, but a cracker nonetheless. They don’t write ‘em like this any more. The BBC needs to sort itself out.
8.51pm GMT
And that’s that for the first half. A miserable performance in miserable weather by Everton, for the first 30-odd minutes, anyway. But they ended the half very much in the ascendency, a fact that should give them succour for the second half. It should be a cracker! No flipping.
8.50pm GMT
44 min: Another shocker for Shovkovskiy, as he comes out to meet a ball only to be stripped of possession by Mirallas, who rounds him on the right. Mirallas is left with too tight an angle for a shot, so attempts a pull-back instead. Lukaku is there, his leg cocked, waiting to shoot, ten yards out, the keeper nowhere. But Antunes sticks out a leg, brilliantly so, to intercept and clear.
8.48pm GMT
41 min: Kyiv push Everton back a bit. A decent enough response to conceding the equaliser. Yarmolenko busies himself down the right, yet again, though his cross isn’t up to much this time. “I didn’t think it was possible but Alcaraz is giving Dejan Lovren a run for his money in the category of Worst Defensive Performance In One Half In The Month Of March,” opines J.R. in Illinois.
8.45pm GMT
Oh they’ve turned up all right! Lukaku battles down the left, holding off three white shirts. Kyiv are backing off in panic. Naismith pelts down the wing on the overlap, and is fed the ball by Lukaku’s flick. He’s clear in the area, and draws Shovkovskiy, chipping the ball into the right-hand side of the goal. Everton are right back in it!
8.44pm GMT
37 min: But this is much better! McCarthy is upended by Silva, to the right of the Kyiv D. Lukaku takes the free kick. Shovkovskiy fingertips it away from the top right, off the bar and out for a corner. Garbutt’s delivery from the right, deep to the far post, is met by Jagielka, on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box. His header’s going into the top right, but Silva heads away! Alcaraz belts goalwards, but his shot is deflected out for a second corner. That one comes to nothing, but Everton have finally turned up!
8.42pm GMT
35 min: More barking, as Alcaraz plays a blind backpass down the Kyiv inside-left channel. Buyalskiy is this close to latching onto it. He’d have been one on one with Howard, who hacks clear with relief. Actually there’s not just barking, there are howls of derision too. Canine irritation. Goodison is not a happy place.
8.40pm GMT
33 min: High farce! Kyiv are on the attack. Sydorchuk belts a pearler from 30 yards towards the bottom left. Howard turns it round the post for a corner. Everton hoof upfield from the set piece. The keeper Shovkovskiy comes to meet the ball, 40 yards from his goal, one for every year. And miskicks! Lukaku takes up possession, turns, and skelps the ball towards the unguarded net! On target, and it’s 1-1. But he slices his effort well wide left of the target. That’s not very good at all. Goodison barks in disapproval.
8.37pm GMT
30 min: Yarmolenko makes more bother down the right. His cross into the Everton area is met by Mbokani on the penalty spot. But fortunately for the home side, the striker can’t connect properly, and the ball screws away from danger. Lou Roper again: “Actually as a Liverpool supporter I am glad to see Alcaraz run out to Z Cars (of whatever variation).”
8.35pm GMT
29 min: ... nothing. It’s hit straight out of play. Everton really do need to raise their game.
8.35pm GMT
28 min: A lovely scouse rasp of “fucking shite” is caught in crisp, clear, surround sound by the ITV microphone. Everton, perhaps shocked into action, launch their most effective move of the evening so far. And it’s fairly basic, not a Martinezesque effort at all. Barry batters a long ball down the left. Lukaku overpowers Antunes down the left, and he’s striding into space. He reaches the byline. His pullback is fairly aimless, but panics Veloso enough for him to concede a corner. From which ...
8.31pm GMT
26 min: A rare period of Everton possession in the Kyiv half. Mirallas, McCarthy, Barkley and Garbutt are all involved as the ball’s shuttled this way and that. But they’re going nowhere, 35 yards out, and patience eventually snaps. McCarthy lumps a ball in from the left, and it’s easily battered clear by Veloso.
8.30pm GMT
25 min: Alcaraz fires a sloppy pass to Coleman on the right. The ball ends up in the stand. You could blame the conditions. Lou Roper (18 min) wouldn’t blame the conditions.
8.28pm GMT
22 min: It’s pelting down at Goodison. Veloso has a whack from the edge of the D, McCarthy blocking. The ball squirts to the right for Sydorchuk, whose effort from 30 yards is wild and high. Everton can’t get into this game at all.
8.24pm GMT
18 min: Yarmolenko is causing all sorts of bother down the Kyiv right. He cuts inside this time, from a deep position, and hoicks a long diagonal ball towards Mbokani in the middle. It’s overcooked and Howard can come out to claim. “Roberto Martinez is a nice guy and, maybe, a decent manager but why does he insist on finding employment for the wretched Alcaraz?” wonders Lou Roper. “Is there a worse centre-back in Britain? In Europe?”
8.22pm GMT
16 min: Mirallas, often short of fuse, drags Antunes to the ground, needlessly, in the middle of the park. He goes in the book. Everton need to clear their heads. Conceding an away goal is never ideal, but there’s an awful lot of this tie to go.
8.21pm GMT
Yarmolenko creams a cross through the six-yard box from the right. Howard can’t touch it, because he could prod it home under the bar. Gusev gathers on the left, and scoops a ball back into the box. Alcaraz’s clearing header is uncertain, and the ball flies out of play to the right of goal. Corner, and a goal, as the ball’s fired towards Gusev on the right-hand corner of the six-yard box. Gusev flicks his boot and whips the ball past Howard at the near post. If Goodison wasn’t quiet before, it is now.
8.17pm GMT
12 min: Goodison’s a fairly quiet place. The heavy rain, coming down in diagonal rods, dampening the spirits. Nothing much going on right now.
8.15pm GMT
9 min: Gusev lifts a cross into the Everton box from the left. Alcaraz is asleep, and Mbokani, rushing in, is very close to running the ball home from six yards. He can’t quite connect, though. Then Kyiv attack down the right, and Yarmolenko would have been free in acres had Sydorchuk’s pass down the channel been played in time. The flag goes up for offside, and Howard gives his defenders a royal bollocking.
8.13pm GMT
7 min: But Everton don’t have to wait long for their first corner. Coleman wins it down the right, but it’s an exercise in futility, for the resulting set piece fails to clear the first man.
8.11pm GMT
6 min: Barkley is busy down the left now, and his incessant probing wins a corner. Or is it? Nope, just a throw. There goes that chance to load the box! But Everton’s young star appears to be in a determined mood this evening.
8.10pm GMT
5 min: Everton knock it around the back a bit to settle themselves down. A probe down the right, McCarthy and Naismith combining. That comes to nothing. Then another phase of light attack, Barkley cutting across the front of the Kyiv area from the left to the right, but he’s never really in control of the ball, and that peters out too.
8.09pm GMT
3 min: Buyalskiy tries to turn on the burners down the left, but the move sputters out. But Kyiv are soon coming back at Everton, and Antunes whips a violent low cross into the area from the same wing. It needs dealing with, a couple of white shirts lurking, and Howard punches clear. Naismith hoicks the ball up the Everton left, and the danger’s gone. That had the denizens of Goodison sucking air through their teeth.
8.06pm GMT
And we’re off! The rain is tipping down. Everton get the ball rolling. Kyiv are kicking towards the Gwladys Road end in this first half. The big screen, there, in the corner, where the advert for FERGUSON televisions used to be.
8.02pm GMT
Strange scenes on ITV. Mark Pougatch is attempting to whip up some pre-match atmosphere in the studio, with help from panelists Peter Reid and Leighton Baines. Problem is, in the background, in another room, echoing along a corridor deep inside Goodison Park, someone’s playing a minimalist version of the Theme From Z Cars in the style of Erik Satie’s Gymnopédie No1. It’s very eerie. Pascal Rogé’s not an Evertonian, is he?
7.35pm GMT
Team news: Everton have made three changes to the team that lost 2-0 at Stoke City last week. Ross Barkley, Kevin Mirallas and Antolin Alcaraz replace Darron Gibson, cup-tied Aaron Lennon and an ill John Stones. Star man for Kyiv, coached by former Spurs striker Serhiy Rebrov, might well be defender Aleksandar Dragovic, who has been attracting loving glances from Arsenal and Manchester United, if the good people of the press are to be trusted, which fair’s fair, they might not be. Everton will be playing in their storied blue, Kyiv in their famous white.
7.21pm GMT
Everton: Howard, Coleman, Alcaraz, Jagielka, Garbutt, McCarthy, Barkley, Barry, Naismith, Lukaku, Mirallas.
Subs: Robles, Gibson, Kone, Besic, Atsu, Osman, Browning.
Dynamo Kyiv: Shovkovskiy, Vida, Dragovic, Danilo Silva, Antunes, Veloso, Sydorchuk, Gusev, Buyalsky, Yarmolenko, Mbokani.
Subs: Rybka, Garmash, Kravets, Yevhen Chumak, Khacheridi, Kalitvintsev, Teodorczyk.
7.10pm GMT
Style guide: As you can see, it says Kiev in big letters up top. But that’s an automated feed and so we’re furiously washing our hands of that one. We’re using Kyiv, which is the Ukrainian spelling, rather than the former Russian one. Of course in Cyrillic it’s Київ, but give a po’ MBM hack a break, huh.
7.00pm GMT
Howard Kendall was nearly bundled out of the Goodison Park doors on a couple of occasions during the 1983/84 season. His Everton side started their league campaign sluggishly, and in early November were struggling in 17th place. They’d just lost three of their last four, a run which culminated in a 3-0 defeat at Anfield. And then in the Milk Cup, they found themselves a goal down at home to Coventry City. Kendall was in all sorts of bother. But on came substitute Peter Reid, whose drive turned the game around. Everton won 2-1, Kendall kept his job, Colin Harvey arrived as coach, and Andy Gray was signed from Wolves. Cue the Everton success story of the mid 198...
... ah, hold on, not quite yet. Everton were still scrabbling around near the foot of the table in mid January, down to 18th place in fact. This wasn’t quite as disastrous as it sounds. They were still two places off relegation, the old First Division consisting of 22 teams, and the Toffees had nine points on 20th-placed Notts County. But it was bad enough, especially with Liverpool top of the table and en route to the first championship hat-trick since Arsenal in the 1930s. And then Everton found themselves on the verge of being knocked out of the Milk Cup at Oxford United, trailing with nine minutes left. Then Kevin Brock played that back-pass, Adrian Heath scrambled an equaliser, Everton won the replay 4-1, reached the final of the competition, and, spirits buoyed, went one further in the FA Cup. A first trophy in 14 years. Cue the Everton success story of the mid 1980s!
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ZLATAN BATTLES THE BLUE ROBOTS
In 1997, psychedelic rockers The Flaming Lips released an experimental album called Zaireeka. It was spread over four compact discs, and the idea was that you played all the discs at the same time in four separate CD players. A dissonant yet sensual sonic landscape, it was hailed as an avant-garde masterpiece, albeit very much one for the connoisseur. At which point the band changed tack, whacked out a few catchy pop singles, and became one of the most popular beat combos of the early 2000s.
‘SOMETIMES IT IS BETTER TO LIGHT A FLAMETHROWER THAN CURSE THE DARKNESS’
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