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.
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