Diouf causes shockwaves in the EPL by putting Stoke 1-0 up at Man City
Visiting teams don’t win at the Etihad. Especially not visiting teams like Stoke City. But Manchester City’s first loss of the season does indeed come at home, and it does indeed come at the hands of former boss Mark Hughes and his rather industrious side.
It’s a shock result for the defending champions, who only lost one Premier League match on home turf last season, and it means a very early shakeup in the title race.
Stoke, as expected, put up fairly stiff resistance in the first half, flying into tackles and looking to pick off their hosts on the counterattack. And the Potters might have considered themselves unlucky not to go into halftime with the lead — they were denied what looked like a clear-cut penalty after Aleksandar Kolarov felled Mame Biram Diouf.
But that was perhaps the only real moment of promise from the visitors’ perspective, and Manchester City were suffering from their share of bad luck as well. Star striker Sergio Agüero went down with a knock within the first two minutes, and although he bounced back Fernando wasn’t so fortunate, pulling his groin around the half-hour mark and being substituted for Fernandinho shortly thereafter.
City had their chances, too. Samir Nasri forced Asmir Begovic into a decent stop at the near post after Bacary Sagna found the midfielder with a smart cutback early on, and Yaya Touré clipped the crossbar just before the break following superb work from Agüero and Kolarov to tee him up.
The hosts continued to pour on the pressure, and they came very close to making the breakthrough after a Victor Moses clearance was deflected back into Touré’s path. The Ivorian’s snapshot was just about parried onto the roof of the net by a flying save from Begovic — and from the corner it was Stoke who took the lead.
It was a classic counterattack. The ball popped out to Diouf on the run, who shrugged off Kolarov, he powered up the pitch, did Fernandinho with a clever move and, finding himself free on goal, slotted past the unfortunate Joe Hart to give the Potters a shock 1-0 lead. And Diouf might have doubled their advantage just seconds later — halftime substitute Peter Odemwingie’s cross barely escaped the striker in the six-yard box after Martín Demichelis lost his run.
Manuel Pellegrini responded by throwing Edin Dzeko and Jesus Navas and switching into a more traditional-looking 4-4-2. That opened the game up, and the two sides began exchanging chances. Agüero shot into Marc Wilson’s arm at one end; Peter Crouch nodded wide at the other. But the momentum was mostly with City, and Stoke were forced into ever-more-desperate defending.
Miraculously, it held, although it needed some help from referee Lee Mason, who booked Touré for getting kicked by Marc Muniesa in the 87th minute when a penalty looked more likely. A pair of speculative efforts across the face of goal later, and the Potters had a memorable — and immensely surprising — three points.
Manchester City starting lineup (4-2-2-2): Joe Hart; Aleksandar Kolarov, Martín Demichelis, Vincent Kompany, Bacary Sagna; Yaya Touré, Fernando (Fernandinho 38′); Samir Nasri (Jesus Navas 63′), David Silva; Stevan Jovetic (Edin Dzeko 63′), Sergio Agüero.
Stoke City starting lineup (4-4-2): Asmir Begovic; Erik Pieters, Marc Wilson, Ryan Shawcross, Phil Bardsley; Victor Moses (Marc Muniesa 80′), Steven Nzonzi, Glenn Whelan, Jonathan Walters (Peter Odemwingie 45′ (Charlie Adam 65′)); Peter Crouch, Mame Biram Diouf.
Goals: Diouf 58′.
source: sbnation,com
STUDIO 3 NEWCASTLE AUSTRALIA 