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Man City win big, Sun Jihai mediocre
Manchester City romped to their biggest win of Kevin Keegan's three-year
reign - thrashing Barnsley 7-1 - to set themselves up perfectly for Saturday's
visit of all-conquering Arsenal. Bullish Keegan says 'bring on Arsenal'. It means City, a club under siege last week, can look ahead to the Arsenal encounter with a degree of confidence unimaginable such a short time ago. The sorry Tykes were trampled by a breathtaking first-half goal blitz which saw them score five times in 23 minutes, with Shaun Wright-Phillips the chief architect. Joey Barton, Jon Macken and young midfielder Willo Flood all benefited from the England international's trickery, before Wright-Phillips put his own name on the scoresheet. Macken added another before Antoine Sibierski responded to Barry Conlon's consolation effort with a second-half double to at least provide Gunners boss Arsene Wenger with pause for thought as the unbeaten league leaders prepare for their trip north. Sun Jihai presented a mediocre full-game performance, but got City's only yellow card in second half. The win should get the majority of City's disgruntled supporters back onside, although the 19,578 who turned up were not enough to even half fill the Blues' impressive new home. The outcome was also a vindication of Keegan's decision to give some of the younger members of his squad a run, including Flood, who impressed on only his second senior appearance, and whose presence on the right flank gave Wright-Phillips free rein to express the full range of his talents. Wright-Phillips was so effective that Keegan may yet consider deploying him alongside top scorer Nicolas Anelka, who was rested. The absence of Robbie Fowler was rather less predictable and with the former Liverpool man not even making the bench, rumours of discord between the pair are bound to be raised again. Barnsley boss Paul Hart must have been stunned by his side's ineptitude, although if Nicky Rowe had applied the close-range finish to the square pass of former City man Chris Shuker, it might have been Keegan who endured the uncomfortable evening. As it was, debutant goalkeeper Ronald Waterreus slid out to block and give the Blues just the break they needed. Tykes centre-half Robbie Williams had already been called on to make a couple of timely interventions by the time Barton began the goal blitz with a rasping 20-yard drive. Sylvain Distin had done most of the ground work, charging deep into Barnsley territory before Wright-Phillips provided Barton with a perfect lay-off which invited the England Under-21 man's finish. From then on, hapless Barnsley goalkeeper Nick Colgan faced a barrage of Blues attacks - and came out the loser on virtually every occasion. The one time he did emerge the victor was due entirely to referee John Robinson, who inexplicably ruled Macken had interfered with the Irish goalkeeper as Barton swung over a corner. Replays showed there had been no contact before Colgan dropped the ball into his own net. It scarcely mattered as the home side were four goals to the good anyway, with Wright-Phillips' involvement a recurring theme. The England international latched onto Flood's through ball and stood up a cross to the far post from which Macken nodded home number two. He then supplied the pass which saw Flood step past Tom Williams before flashing home his first senior goal. After providing goal number three, Wright-Phillips then got on the scoresheet himself, taking Macken's pass in his stride and beating Antony Kay with his first touch before chipping delightfully over Colgan. City were hardly requiring help, but they got it anyway a minute before the break as Jacob Burns delivered the ill-advised back pass which Macken seized on, the striker nipping past Colgan before tapping home. Keegan felt confident enough at the break to make all his substitutions, which a debut for exciting young striker Bradley Wright-Phillips. Being City though, the hosts quickly shot themselves in the foot, conceding within 45 seconds as Barton's stray pass gifted former City frontman Conlon a goal. Not even a team as unpredictable as Keegan's could throw this one away though and Sibierski quickly restored the five-goal margin, then added another five minutes from time after Wright-Phillips again delivered the final ball. Bullish Keegan says 'bring on Arsenal'. Kevin Keegan celebrated his biggest win as Manchester City boss at Eastlands tonight and warned all-conquering Arsenal to expect a severe examination of their title credentials on Saturday. 'I don't think Arsene Wenger will bring his team here thinking the result will be a foregone conclusion,' said Keegan. 'We will go into the game thinking we have a chance because we have players who can hurt them. 'In fairness, they have 11 who can hurt us but we have them a hell of a game last year and were unfortunate not to get something out of it. 'If we can defend well and reach the standards of the last couple of matches, who knows what could happen.' Keegan is aware Arsenal will pose a significantly greater threat than Barnsley, who crumbled dramatically after an encouraging opening 20 minutes. 'They gave everything but we had too much for them,' observed Keegan, who raised eyebrows by omitting striker Robbie Fowler from his squad even though Nicolas Anelka was rested. 'I wanted to see how Shaun Wright-Phillips did up front,' added the City chief 'I had a chat with Robbie. He trained today and will be training again tomorrow.' The outcome was particularly frustrating for Barnsley boss Paul Hart, who nurtured Wright-Phillips as a trainee during his time at Nottingham Forest, only for the little winger to leave the City Ground against his wishes. 'He used to come up from London every week and I think the journey got too much for him,' said Hart. 'It definitely wasn't my decision that's for sure. I have known Shaun for a
long time and it is only natural you watch players like him progress. That is
the pleasure of working with youngsters.' |
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