KEVIN Keegan had double reason for celebration as a Nicolas Anelka-inspired Manchester City raced to victory against Crystal Palace.
Two second half goals from the former Real Madrid star eased the pressure on the embattled Keegan, who admitted yesterday for the first time that his job at City was on the line after a miserable start to the season.
Any worries Keegan may have harboured were pushed to one side after this convincing display and his day was completed when news filtered through from Scotland that Funfair Wane had won a second Ayr Gold Cup.
The gelding is owned and was bred by Keegan's wife Jean and caused something of an upset when winning the valuable sprint at 33-1. But once Funfair Wane took the lead he was never headed and it proved to be a similar story at Selhurst Park.
A late penalty by Andy Johnson caused both Keegan and his supporters to endure a few anxious moments late on. Mercifully, however, City's players showed cool heads when it mattered to win on their travels for the first time since February 21.
The Blues had made an inauspicious start to proceedings at a ground they had not won at since Boxing Day 1991 and were fortunate not to fall behind on 19 minutes when Sandor Torghelle fluffed a golden opportunity.
Wayne Routledge scampered down the right-wing and left Ben Thatcher chasing shadows before whipping in a cross that dissected Richard Dunne and Sylvain Distin. Torghelle was unmarked but somehow scuffed his shot wide from six yards.
Jolted into life, City moved through the gears to gradually put their hosts on the back foot and spent the rest of the first half camped in the Palace half. A lack of composure in front of goal, though, would prove their undoing.
At the hub of everything positive Keegan's men created was the elusive Nicolas Anelka, whose clever runs caused plenty of trouble for Fitz Hall and Mark Hudson but, sadly for Keegan, they went without reward.
Antoine Sibierski - recalled following Trevor Sinclair's injury - was denied a goal when Jon Macken, who replaced Robbie Fowler, blocked his shot from inside the area on 26 minutes; moments later he cracked an effort just over the bar.
The best chance of all, however, fell to Claudio Reyna just before the break but he lacked composure when Anelka's perfect ball sent him racing clear and he could only skew a shot badly wide.
Composure, though, is something Anelka oozes when he sees the whites of a goalkeeper's eyes and fittingly it was he was he who put City into a lead they deserved shortly after the second period restarted.
Sibierski had a header cleared off the line by Aki Riihilahti but Palace failed to clear the ball properly. Reyna seized on the panic and ushered Anelka forward and, after skipping past Hudson, he cracked in a wonderful left-shot.
Macken should have wrapped things up just before the hour when a tremendous ball from the impressive Joey Barton sent him clear but he fired wastefully into the side netting.
The Blues finally got some much needed breathing space on 63 minutes when Anelka grabbed his second of the afternoon from the penalty spot after former City defender Danny Granville bundled Shaun Wright-Phillips over.
Johnson halved the deficit on 80 minutes when Sylvain Distin was harshly adjudged to have tripped Nicola Ventola but Palace could not muster much else and the Blues were able to hang on.
What did you think of City's performance? Have your say.
Tweet
Comments
Login or Register to comment
Good result and good to get first away win. Better to go into the arsenal game on the back of a win, and great to know that we're above the scum in the league! Hopefully can get momentum from this result and build on it. C'MON CITY!
The roller coaster continues - l listened to the match on world service - c. palace seemed poor - BUT we got 3 point.s , the CITY fan,s sounded GREAT ,WELL DONE to ALL .I go for a lager , i feel good tonight .
Anelka just proves AGAIN that he is a class forward. I don't know how some of these "fans" are able to doubt his talent. Without him we would have been out off the premiership last year and I think this year he proves again he is our main threat (together with SWP) but you can keep pointing fingers at him because he will show you time and time again you don't know crap about football!!! Anelka rules!
Never doubted you for a second, lads!!! Nice one
In case all you moaners havn't noticed......were above united in the table !!!......."Fergie out"......i think not !
I know this may be a bit early in the season, but all you City and KK knockers should realise that after todays result, had we beat Everton 1-0 last week instead of getting beat 1-0. City would now be sat in Champions league place. I don't think you would be trying to hound KK out for some reason. Remember, it was one bad result!
looked much more balanced without the lazy scouser in the team, maken held the ball upalot better and seemed to be in tune with the elk instead of trying to go for the same ball.
i think we should have got swp involved abit more though as everytime he ran at there defence he had them all over the palace, good to see dany granville helping us out.
saw kk on sky looked a lot more up for it than usual and not just slumped in the corner going through the motions. he even answered them back when they tried ribbing him.
lets not get carried away. remember this was only palace. we have got the gooners next, 5 is usually a good number for them. its time we won more than one on the trot but i dont know where its going to come from. why on earth couldnt we have sold the pointer & the new leaner robbie to fund the van buyton affair ill never understand! with van the man we stood a better chance of keeping a clean sheet & maybe win 2. 3. 4, on the trot. kk looks tired. paul, manchester is only down the rd from wigan.
It should have been 3-0 or even 4 - 0 to CITY.
Two penalties (one to each side ) that should have never have been given.
K K will sleep a little better tonight, just make sure that the Gooners don,t bite next week.
Come on you BLUES!
Quit ya moaning, city have class players and put in some class performances. We're above several other good teams and no one is shouting for their managers to leave.
King Kev is one of the best things to happen to city for a long long time. 7 managers in 10 years, lets not push another one out.
Who the hell would you replace Kev with anyway? He's one of the most talented mangers and players around, lets not forget the history this guy has got and the respect he commands aruound the footballing profession, he's the main reason several of our players have signed and stayed with us.
Get yersleves on a tour of the sity ground, believe me it will fill you with so much euphoria for one of the best clubs around.
Comeon yooooo BLUES!!!
King Kevs brilliant.
Stop ya moaning and get behind him. 7 managers in 10 years, lets not lose another one.
He's one of the main reasons some of the brilliant players that we all shout about are at the club.
Believe me, he has an unbelievable reputation within the profession. Lets not forget his history/achievements as a player and manager.
The team is starting to prove its worth. We're in a strong position. No one is asking for Fergerson to go, and they're below us.
Now quit yer moaning and lets get behind the manager, he's one of the team and cares as much as we do about succeeding.
Great result, but i expect the anelka bashers will be back out in full force should we lose next week.
I'm completely baffled by the fact that a section of City supporters continue to slate the likes of Anelka when he is pure class. On several occasions I've heard fans call for Anelka to make way for Macken, I can only hope to god that none of them ever end up in charge of the blues.
As hard as Macken tries, I've seen enough of him now to know that he is simply not good enough for City. He messed up a couple of great chances today, as he has in previous weeks.
Better
good result maybe, but lets be honest it was only crystal palace.. we should win these anyway.. but one thing for sure Anelka should not be sold for less than 20 million pounds.
I think that this game must be a good lesson for us.I haven't seen(I watched the game from the TV live) City so good and creating so many chances last 2 years.For me what we did not have last season was a centre half (center back is also a problem but not so intense). With Benarbia or Bercovic we created so many chances and we played so well, and make the supporters so happy to watch City and me become a CITY fan,something very unussual in Greece. Today i saw Barton playing very well in the center half and gave so many passes,(good and bad).He was outstanding.SWP and Anelka were also excellent but they are our stars and they play well or better in every game. Today the apocalypse was Joey and i hope we can sign him for many years. City could score 4-5 goals today...
The programme now is very tough.I hope the best! COME ON CITY!!!
Didn't see you there Blue Dave! Do you watch City really or can't you be bothered if it's a little distance from Manchester? Maybe you listen to it on the radio and get the crayons out to draw the goals and hope it's like it really was on the TV? And who do you think will replace KK seeing as you have slagged off everyone else who has come up with a name. That is,and I am assuming here, that KK goes. (I am aware that assuming can make an ass out of u and me, maybe mainly you!)
Despite what I said earlier, quite how we managed to win 2-1 is unbelievable! Maybe 6 or 7 would have been a fair reflection of the score and the chances we created. And FANTASTIC SUPPORT! Wish it was like that at COMS. Lost my voice after the game! More of the same next weekend against the Arse. They have to lose sooner later so why not against us!! CMON CITY!!! CTID etc etc
This result doesn't mean everythings great, just like the last result didn't mean we were desperate and relegated. Whatever the case, I'll always back KK for what he has done for us. He's the best thing to happen to this club in recent times, and I find it strange that some "supporters" forget so quickly.
A better display this time but still look a bit shaky at the back especially BT. Could have scored a few more however players who are in a scoring position are alway in a hurry and did not take their chances well. The players should learn to be more composed in front of goal. Anelka could have got his hat-trick if Macken have not decided to go for glory by shooting at a very tight angle instead of laying the ball to Anelka. Overall, well done CITY and KK
Oh well, everythings alright then. Those 200+ comments over last week were all well wide of the mark.
They played some good football but should offcourse have scored more goals. Macken is not afraid of hard work, but he doesnt seem to be able to score.
Lets not get carried away with a 2-1 victory against a team that WILL be going straight back down,all Palace were doing was pumping long balls up front bypassing their midfield furthermore they are a team full of 2nd and 3rd class players.However 3 points is 3 points and I'll take that but are we good enough to build on it? The script is that in a couple of weeks from now all the JUSTIFIED moaning will emerge not that its actually disappeared.My opinion hasn't changed at all we have a very dodgy defence (apart from James) we have no creativity in midfield and until yesterday Anelka was on his own up front,players such as Reyna and Sibiereski are average and rarely score from midfield there are a few other issues we could all point out but in essence our 2nd win in 6 games is hardly enough to satisfy most realistic City fans especially those who's heads are not buried in the sand!
Just what the doctor ordered, especially for Kev. Should have had it wrapped up by half time but hey, we never do things the easy way! Macken held it up well, just forgot his shooting boots. Still have 1 or 2 concerns over Thatcher but will give him time to settle. Anelka was excellent again. Showed everyone how to finish and those fools who suggest we would be better off without him should stick to basket weaving! Get a fiver on us to break Arsenal's unbeaten run!
Made plenty of chances even though it was palace, Macken did well, watch out Arsenal!!!!!
Just got back from Greece this afternoon(sunday) watched the City match live on Greek telly same old story, a team that should have been out for the count at half time was thrown a lifeline by terrible finishing from city forwards (not the Elk who was brilliant) and one stupid challenge bye the skipper again!!! but all in all we were different class. come on you blues