Daniel Taylor at Etihad Stadium
Sunday 21 September 2014 18.14 BST
For a few seconds Frank Lampard looked almost overcome
with awkwardness. He had been on the pitch seven minutes,
making his first home appearance for Manchester City, when
the ball came to him in the position that used to be his
trademark for Chelsea, back in the days when he was
establishing himself as the most prolific scorer there has ever
been at Stamford Bridge.
Lampard struck his shot with the power and precision that
has formed the stamp of his career, picking his spot to the
right of Thibaut Courtois, and what a dramatic way to
introduce himself to his new crowd, just as the match had
been threatening to turn into an ordeal for the champions
and Chelsea were close to extending their immaculate start to
the season.
Until that moment it had been the away end serenading the
former England international. Now it was the City supporters
loudly proclaiming his name and, remarkably, Lampard
might actually have gone on to win the match. With the clock
ticking down, the next chance that came his way enticed more
memories of all those times when he had scored vital goals
from the edge of the penalty area. This time his shot came
back off his old mate, John Terry, prostrate on the turf, and
Lampard was spared any more of the post-match apologies
that began with his slightly contrite wave to the away fans
after the final whistle.
It was a dramatic finale out of keeping with the rest of the
match and City, a man down after Pablo Zabaleta’s red card,
ought to feel immense relief bearing in mind the eight-point
gap that was threatening to open up between the sides. They
did show great resilience but from José Mourinho’s
perspective he will regard it as unusual carelessness not to
have held on against 10 men.
At 1-0 it had looked for all the world as if City were going to
suffer again at the hands of Mourinho’s tactical nous, with
more than a sprinkling of deja vu from when the two sides
met here last season. Again, it was a match of few chances,
with Chelsea defending in numbers, displaying all their
qualities of structure and organisation. Courtois had been just
as redundant as Petr Cech in the corresponding fixture in
February and it was only five minutes after Zabaleta’s
sending-off that Eden Hazard put the ball across the six-yard
area for the substitute André Schürrle to slide in and open the
scoring at the far post.
That would usually have been the position for Zabaleta to
guard and he, more than anyone, owes Lampard a debt of
gratitude. Zabaleta is a hero in these parts, afforded a
standing ovation as he left the pitch, but the cries of “one-nil
to the referee” felt like a crowd looking for an excuse that was
not really there.
Mike Dean had an erratic afternoon but a player of Zabaleta’s
experience, already booked for bringing down Hazard, really
ought to have known better than to go in from behind on
Diego Costa twice in succession. His first was risky enough
but the second connected with Costa’s calf and Chelsea’s new
signing is not the kind of man who accepts those indignations
easily. His reaction inflamed the situation and quite possibly
that was deliberate on his part. The bottom line, however, is
Zabaleta put his team at risk.
As tends to happen when Mourinho comes up against Manuel
Pellegrini, the game was followed by a lack of pleasantries,
with Chelsea’s manager resorting to his old trick of getting an
opponent’s name wrong, in this case “Mr Pellegrino”.
Mourinho’s real beef, however, was almost certainly about
the way his team surrendered a winning position. Costa
struck the post when he had a chance to make it 2-0 after 81
minutes and by that point City had been restricted to only a
couple of opportunities.
The game had been largely devoid of penalty-box drama yet it
was still a captivating spectacle seeing these two heavyweights
of the modern game slugging it out. It was an epic tussle,
epitomised by that little cameo in the first half when Vincent
Kompany and Costa went for the same ball, holding their
ground like two warring old stags.
They did not give an inch before Kompany finally emerged
with the ball and it was that kind of brute strength and raw
determination that marked out the contest rather than the
occasional moments of skill.
By half-time there had been six bookings and two of the
players on yellow cards, Fernandinho and David Silva, could
conceivably have been sent off. It was a contest for midfield
supremacy and that might not have made it gripping in an
orthodox sense but the various duels – Yaya Touré versus
Nemanja Matic, Fernandinho against Willian, James Milner
versus César Azpilicueta – still held the crowd’s attention. At
one end John Terry and Gary Cahill created a formidable
barrier for Edin Dzeko and the strangely subdued Sergio
Agüero to pass. At the other end Kompany was immense and
Eliaquim Mangala can be encouraged by his debut.
City had been on the verge of their first back-to-back home
matches without a league goal since November 2010 when
Milner turned the ball into Lampard’s path and nobody really
should have been too surprised by his absence of celebration.
Man of the match Fernandinho (Manchester City)
Sunday 21 September 2014 18.14 BST
For a few seconds Frank Lampard looked almost overcome
with awkwardness. He had been on the pitch seven minutes,
making his first home appearance for Manchester City, when
the ball came to him in the position that used to be his
trademark for Chelsea, back in the days when he was
establishing himself as the most prolific scorer there has ever
been at Stamford Bridge.
Lampard struck his shot with the power and precision that
has formed the stamp of his career, picking his spot to the
right of Thibaut Courtois, and what a dramatic way to
introduce himself to his new crowd, just as the match had
been threatening to turn into an ordeal for the champions
and Chelsea were close to extending their immaculate start to
the season.
Until that moment it had been the away end serenading the
former England international. Now it was the City supporters
loudly proclaiming his name and, remarkably, Lampard
might actually have gone on to win the match. With the clock
ticking down, the next chance that came his way enticed more
memories of all those times when he had scored vital goals
from the edge of the penalty area. This time his shot came
back off his old mate, John Terry, prostrate on the turf, and
Lampard was spared any more of the post-match apologies
that began with his slightly contrite wave to the away fans
after the final whistle.
It was a dramatic finale out of keeping with the rest of the
match and City, a man down after Pablo Zabaleta’s red card,
ought to feel immense relief bearing in mind the eight-point
gap that was threatening to open up between the sides. They
did show great resilience but from José Mourinho’s
perspective he will regard it as unusual carelessness not to
have held on against 10 men.
At 1-0 it had looked for all the world as if City were going to
suffer again at the hands of Mourinho’s tactical nous, with
more than a sprinkling of deja vu from when the two sides
met here last season. Again, it was a match of few chances,
with Chelsea defending in numbers, displaying all their
qualities of structure and organisation. Courtois had been just
as redundant as Petr Cech in the corresponding fixture in
February and it was only five minutes after Zabaleta’s
sending-off that Eden Hazard put the ball across the six-yard
area for the substitute André Schürrle to slide in and open the
scoring at the far post.
That would usually have been the position for Zabaleta to
guard and he, more than anyone, owes Lampard a debt of
gratitude. Zabaleta is a hero in these parts, afforded a
standing ovation as he left the pitch, but the cries of “one-nil
to the referee” felt like a crowd looking for an excuse that was
not really there.
Mike Dean had an erratic afternoon but a player of Zabaleta’s
experience, already booked for bringing down Hazard, really
ought to have known better than to go in from behind on
Diego Costa twice in succession. His first was risky enough
but the second connected with Costa’s calf and Chelsea’s new
signing is not the kind of man who accepts those indignations
easily. His reaction inflamed the situation and quite possibly
that was deliberate on his part. The bottom line, however, is
Zabaleta put his team at risk.
As tends to happen when Mourinho comes up against Manuel
Pellegrini, the game was followed by a lack of pleasantries,
with Chelsea’s manager resorting to his old trick of getting an
opponent’s name wrong, in this case “Mr Pellegrino”.
Mourinho’s real beef, however, was almost certainly about
the way his team surrendered a winning position. Costa
struck the post when he had a chance to make it 2-0 after 81
minutes and by that point City had been restricted to only a
couple of opportunities.
The game had been largely devoid of penalty-box drama yet it
was still a captivating spectacle seeing these two heavyweights
of the modern game slugging it out. It was an epic tussle,
epitomised by that little cameo in the first half when Vincent
Kompany and Costa went for the same ball, holding their
ground like two warring old stags.
They did not give an inch before Kompany finally emerged
with the ball and it was that kind of brute strength and raw
determination that marked out the contest rather than the
occasional moments of skill.
By half-time there had been six bookings and two of the
players on yellow cards, Fernandinho and David Silva, could
conceivably have been sent off. It was a contest for midfield
supremacy and that might not have made it gripping in an
orthodox sense but the various duels – Yaya Touré versus
Nemanja Matic, Fernandinho against Willian, James Milner
versus César Azpilicueta – still held the crowd’s attention. At
one end John Terry and Gary Cahill created a formidable
barrier for Edin Dzeko and the strangely subdued Sergio
Agüero to pass. At the other end Kompany was immense and
Eliaquim Mangala can be encouraged by his debut.
City had been on the verge of their first back-to-back home
matches without a league goal since November 2010 when
Milner turned the ball into Lampard’s path and nobody really
should have been too surprised by his absence of celebration.
Man of the match Fernandinho (Manchester City)
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