A sign of the change

The news that Adam Johnson has completed a reported £15 Million move to Sunderland is an indication of how things have changed at the Etihad.  Before Shiekh Mansour took over losing an England International who is 25 would have seemed a disaster to City fans like the departure of Shaun Wright Phillips (the first time) 

Reading on facebook and twitter this certainly isn't the case everyone wishes Adam well at his new club the very team he supported as a boy.  On arrival at City Johnson earned rave reviews turning in match winning performances on the wing both scoring and setting up goals on a regular basis with his tricks.

Those performances lead to him being a fairly regular pick for the England squad  gaining 11 caps for the 3 lions.  His form seemed to drop off at that point for City and increasingly Johnson found himself on the bench with Roberto Mancini preferring to throw him on if a game needed changing and he did on a few notable occasions but when he started he could vanish for long periods of the game and more often than not would be subbed. It seemed his best form was saved for international duty as if he was caught up in his own hype.

His spell at City can hardly be called a disaster though he earned his England spot and can call him self both a Premier League Champion and FA Cup winner.  If he had upped his work rate there is little doubt he would still be a regular in the starting 11 at City he definitely has the talent.  It could be the loss of form was down to home sickness as rumours of more clubs than just Sunderland being interested but returning home to the North East might just give him the motivation to reignite his club career.  Good Luck AJ!

Blackburn Rovers 0 Manchester City 4

After making headlines for all the wrong reasons midweek Manchester City needed a good performance to get rid of the storm clouds the media had hanging over the Etihad Stadium.  Roberto Mancini certainly picked an attacking side with Mario Balotelli up front with Kun Aguero.

After a quiet start things appeared to be going wrong in the 25th minute when Aguero sat down on the pitch having pulled up with what looked like a groin injury.  He was replaced by Samir Nasri and the first half petered out a few alarms but no major scares in either box.

The second half started and it was obvious City has upped the tempo Balotelli was unlucky with a delicious shot that clipped the post and even tried an overhead kick that was just wide.  Then in the 56th minute as a corner came out of the box Adam Johnson controlled the ball before bending a shot into the top corner of Paul Robinson's net.  Just two minutes later great work from Samir Nasri on the left and a good cross was met by Mario Balotelli who did well to beat Robinson with a great flick making it 3 goals in 10 days for the Italian.

Mancini had previously called for City to be more like local rivals United and keep scoring and that's exactly what City did when after setting up so many goals previously Samir Nasri swapped passes with David Silva before hitting a goal bound shot that deflected passed a helpless Robinson.  Stiill that wasn't enough for goal hungry City as near the end from a corner Stefan Savic rose well to bury a header in the net meaning a 4-0 scoreline that in truth after 19 attempts on goal to Rovers 7 did not flatter the men in Red and Black and sent 7,000 fans home very happy.

Rovers owners Venky will have been aware of the protests against Steve Kean with 3 wins in 21 games it does seem a case of him being on borrowed time.  But that should take nothing away from a very good performance from Manchester City whom sit a proud second in the League only on goal difference.