Norwich 0 - 3 Man CityManchester City ease past Norwich City as Sergio Agüero shows his classAway team scorers
Sergio Aguero 16
Kelechi Iheanacho 31
Kevin De Bruyne 78
It may be that Pep Guardiola will replace Manuel Pellegrini as Manchester City manager no matter many trophies they win this season, but what is certain is that number – and it could still be four – depends hugely on the fitness of Sergio Agüero.
Making only his 13th start of an injury-hit season, the Argentinian striker was a class apart, certainly as far as the Norwich City defenders were concerned, scoring a quite brilliant first-half goal (remarkably, his 11th of the season) and setting up another for the promising Kelechi Iheanacho.
So comfortable and dominant were the visitors that it was hard to believe they came into this match having won only once in their past eight games away from home.
For all that Pellegrini made seven changes to the side beaten by Everton in the first leg of the Capital One Cup semi-final on Wednesday, the Chilean’s starting 11 looked a strong one.
True, there was no Joe Hart, David Silva or Kevin De Bruyne, and Yaya Touré was left at home to nurse an ego apparently cruelly bruised by his failure to win a fifth consecutive Africa Player of the Year award, but Pablo Zabaleta returned at right-back to boost City’s creaky back-line, and Raheem Sterling and Agüero both started, the latter alongside the 19-year-old Iheanacho, whom many City supporters would like to see given an extended opportunity ahead of Wilfried Bony.
Norwich too made seven changes, but again put out a side that reflected the depth of every Premier League club these days. Having seen the formation frustrate Manchester City for long periods during the Canaries’ 2-1 defeat at the Etihad Stadium in October, manager Alex Neil went with three centre-backs.
One of those to come in for Norwich, Graham Dorrans, curled a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area – foolishly given away by Fabian Delph – wastefully over the bar as early as the second minute.
Jonny Howson also drove well wide from distance, but it was the visitors who had their first shot on target, when Sébastien Bassong’s poor touch gave Agüero the chance to find Iheanacho. The teenager’s attempt from a narrow angle required Norwich goalkeeper John Ruddy to palm the ball over the bar.
Ruddy also had to dive to push away Aleksandar Kolarov’s low shot a minute later and, having gained the momentum, the visitors made it count. At least, Agüero did, with a run as strong as it was skilful, beating four attempted tacklers in a drive into the penalty area that ended with him poking the ball past Ruddy as the goalkeeper came out to narrow the angle, and into the corner of the net.
Agüero almost made it two 10 minutes later, a clever volley testing Ruddy shortly after Dorrans, having found his range, had drawn a decent save from Willy Caballero. Such was the visitors’ dominance, however, that Carrow Road was quiet, and with good reason: on the half hour, Agüero’s touch and awareness saw him give Iheanacho enough room to withstand a feeble challenge and side-foot the ball past Ruddy.
The teenager’s finish was almost as unflustered as the set-up, and given it was his fifth goal in just over 300 minutes of first-team football this season, it was not hard to see why Pellegrini has said he is not in the market for another striker this January.
Neil made no changes at half-time, somewhat surprisingly, and had Cameron Jerome’s dink over Caballero shortly before the hour not been from an offside position, Norwich might have at least induced a few nerves among the travelling supporters. As it was, however, Manchester City cruised through what remained of the game against a Norwich side that looked more concerned about conceding more goals than scoring themselves.
Neil did eventually send on Kyle Lafferty to give Jerome some support, but Jesús Navas thumped a drive against the angle of post and bar before De Bruyne, on as a substitute, thumped the ball under Ruddy from an angle.
The final whistle chant of “It should have been 10” from those waving sky-blue scarves was an exaggeration, but not much of one.
Guardian
