Everton's Tim Cahill and Mikel Arteta cut Manchester City down to size - 7M sport

Everton's Tim Cahill and Mikel Arteta cut Manchester City down to size



Posted Thursday, March 25, 2010 by theguardian.com

Everton's Tim Cahill and Mikel Arteta cut Manchester City down to size
Everton's Tim Cahill, left, celebrates his goal with the provider Leighton Baines as the Merseysiders' kept up their excellent run and challenge for a Europa League place.

Manchester City did not miss the chance to go fourth against Everton last night, they were shown that the Champions League may be far beyond their horizons. City's first home defeat of the season was a result to unite both halves of Merseyside, although Liverpool will not savour what is coming up on the rails on current form.

Roberto Mancini and David Moyes were sent to the stands after the Italian barged into Everton's technical area to retrieve the ball in stoppage time. If it was perceived time-wasting tactics that infuriated the City manager, they will be secondary in the cold light of day to his side's vulnerability at the back and bluntness in attack. Everton were found wanting on neither score, placing into doubt their own manager's assertion that the seven sides above them cannot be caught. And City still have Manchester United, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur to come.

There was needle to accompany the occasion. The presence of three former Manchester United players plus the former City contract rebel Sylvain Distin in the Everton ranks, and Moyes' lingering resentment over the Joleon Lescott affair, which had led him to claim City lack the collective spirit that prevails at Goodison Park, helped produce a volatile atmosphere and a contest to match.

A comprehensive defeat at Goodison in January may also have fuelled City's determination, which bordered on over-zealous in the opening exchanges as Micah Richards escaped unpunished for scything down Steven Pienaar and Carlos Tevez collected a booking for diving, head-first, into Phil Jagielka's leg as the Everton defender cleared his lines.There is evidently a fine line between bravery and stupidity.

Leniency from a match official can often be interpreted as a licence to endanger by some players and John Heitinga, Everton's holding midfielder, was booked after several warnings for going through the back of Stephen Ireland. The Irishman's influence had been growing before the Dutchman's intervention, the decision to move him further forward in support of Tevez helping City wrestle the early initiative back from Everton, but his eventual departure as a result of the foul signalled the end of the home side's dominant first-half spell.

Richards forced the first save of note from Tim Howard with a looping header after Craig Bellamy had stood up an inviting cross. Gareth Barry and Ireland combined to send Tevez through on goal, but the former United goalkeeper spread himself to block the ball plus the man, to faint penalty appeals from the City crowd.

Another excellent cross, this time from Adam Johnson on the right, forced Howard to punch clear as Tevez waited for the header and as the pressure increased, with Bellamy going close and the Argentinian spinning away from Distin inside the area but failing to convert, the breakthrough appeared inevitable. Predictably, the team under siege got it.

The referee infuriated the home ranks yet again when he awarded Everton a free-kick on the left of the area after a nudge by Barry on Tim Cahill. Everton prowess in such situations is well established and despite the seven sky-blue shirts packing the six-yard box, they produced once more. Mikel Arteta rolled a short pass square to Leighton Baines, whose driven cross was glanced home by Cahill. Cue his boxing celebration before a disbelieving home side.

City were distracted by their own frustrations. Mancini brandished an imaginary card as Pienaar escaped a booking for exacting revenge on Richards, a classless act that drew a furious response from Moyes, while Shay Given sprinted into Everton's half to demand similar punishment for Arteta when the Spaniard also failed to merit a mention in the book. Given was rewarded for his 80-yard dash with a booking of his own.

Of greater concern for Mancini was his side's inability to turn several sustained bouts of pressure into clear openings. Jagielka was fortunate the officials missed his handball when he slipped under pressure from Tevez, but for all their possession City lacked the ingenuity to open a solid Everton defence. Indeed it was the visitors, though encamped inside their own half almost throughout the second period, who came closer to adding a season, with Leon Osman almost capitalising on a poor clearance by Vincent Kompany and Cahill chipping Given from 20 yards only to see the effort sail narrowly wide.

Victory was made safe in exquisite fashion five minutes from time. Jack Rodwell, on as a substitute for Louis Saha, spun away from Kompany and had the presence of mind once inside the area to pick out Cahill lurking behind. The Australian dummied the pass and Arteta arrived from behind to place a low right-foot shot through Given's grasp.



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