Manchester City kept up the pressure at the top of the Premier League with a clinical second-half performance against Blackburn at Ewood Park.
Impressive goals from Adam Johnson, Mario Balotelli, Samir Nasri and Stefan Savic after the break secured three points and ensured a difficult week for the Blues ended on a high.
All the talk before the game was of Carlos Tevez and his apparent refusal to play against Bayern Munich in midweek.
When Sergio Aguero went off injured in the first half with what looked like a groin strain, City's striking options suddenly began to look thin on the ground with Tevez supsended.
But Aguero's replacement Nasri made a good impact, and eventually City broke the deadlock through Johnson's cracking curling effort.
Three minutes later Balotelli converted Nasri's cross to double the lead before Nasri finished off a fine counter attack.
Substitute Stefan Savic headed in the fourth for his first City goal.
Selection
Despite accepting Edin Dzeko's apology for his outburst at being substituted in midweek, Mancini had dropped the Bosnian to the bench and opted to give Balotelli his chance.
It was an inspired decision with Balotelli looking by far the liveliest of City's attacking options, particularly when Aguero limped off injured on the half-hour.
Rovers had started solidly enough but it quickly became apparent they would have to guard against City's speed and sharpness, with Chris Samba cutting out a dangerous Vincent Kompany cross.
The visitors had their first real chance in the 10th minute when David Silva cut into the box from the left and his cross was parried by Paul Robinson into the path of Balotelli, who blazed over.
Rovers responded two minutes later with a swinging cross from Morten Gamst Pedersen on the left, which was aimed for the head of Samba before being cut out by Joleon Lescott.
Junior Hoilett's pace troubled the City rearguard in the 16th minute as he scampered over the half-way line and sent Yakubu on the left, but he was denied by a fine challenge by Milner.
For all their neat possession, Mancini's men were struggling to unduly threaten the Rovers defence, with Silva guilty of spooning a 25th minute half-chance high over the bar.
Nasri came on to replace Aguero, and his first act was to screw a low shot towards the Rovers goal which was deflected out for a corner by David Goodwillie.
Balotelli stepped up his game towards the end of the first half, flashing a curling 37th minute effort wide then zipping in front of Samba to shoot into the side-netting.
City looked sharper at the start of the second half, with Silva shooting across the face of goal moments after the restart, then Balotelli driving a right-foot shot against the post.
City finally broke the deadlock in the 56th minute when Johnson picked up a half-cleared Kolarov corner on the edge of the box and swung a superb left-foot shot into the top corner.
And City extended their lead three minutes later when Balotelli got the goal his performance deserved, stealing in front of Steven Nzonzi to prod home a cross from the left by Nasri.
Nasri swept home City's third in the 74th minute after good work from Silva in the box, sparking a furious reaction from sections of the home fans who chanted for Kean's dismissal.
Substitute Mauro Formica forced the first real save out of Joe Hart with 15 minutes left on the clock then Yakubu blazed high over the bar but it was all in vain.
City scored their fourth three minutes from time when Nasri sent in a corner from the left and substitute Savic bundled the ball home through a crowded box.
What is your verdict on the action? Have your say.
Blackburn 0 Manchester City 4
October 01, 2011
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excellent way to keep the rags on their toes...just goes to show, a beating in munich and the tevez saga maybe behind us for now...we were good for value for today as blackburn were a poor poor outfit,i am sure relegation looms for them this year.
on a whole, a positive performance from all..
CTID
Just a joy to watch at the minute. The 3rd goal saw Silva & Nasri playing on their own in their box. Once Bobby got them using the width in the 2nd half Blackburn had no hope. Just hope Kun isnt too badly injured.
Back on course, after the midweek events in Munich. Terrific performance from Mario, he could easily have had three or four goals, with a shade more luck!
Good to see the character in the team ad the team respond very well after the Bayern loss. Hope Kun won't be out for too long but sounds like 3-4 weeks perhaps. We only have Mario and Edin now and I think it is time Mario got an extended run after his impressive recent form.
We've been quite lucky avoiding injuries so far so hope all the guys come back fit after the international break.
Proud of you boys after all the negative stuff in the press. Great result today.
This a massive result after the circus surrounding us since tuesday and it was a beautiful performance as well. The passing and movement was great and so was the organisation - lets just hope Kun isn't out for too long, get well soon pal............
Balotelli, Kolarov and Nasri really caught the eye and of course Silva was his usual brilliant self, Yaya and Milner solid in the middle - a great team performance. Special mention to the fans, as always from watching all the way over here on my Mac after a night on the sauce i wish i was there amongst it as once again you were awesome. As a now overseas blue your continued top class support is really appreciated by those of us not there week in week out backing the lads - keep it going boys and girls, you make us as proud as this brilliant team and manager does...........COME ON CITY!!!
Can we talk about football now? Great win City. Thanks RM.
Super Mario your time is now. Well done lad on a really good performance. My man of the match.
Fantastic win from City today. Maybe the fans need to focus on the game and forget about what could become distracting banners. Two more goals to add to the difference = 1 in it. Onwards.
Robinson was time wasting in the fourth minute! Says it all about Blackburn's negativity really. Glad to see the boys stuck together today and got the required result. Once AJ's goal flew in it really was like shelling peas. I would have taken Zabba off once he got booked because Hoylett is a tricky winger. What does Mario have to do to earn a free kick? On the whole, I'm very happy with the performance and we scored some very nice goals today. Well done boys!
The MANCHESTER CITY machine keeps on rolling along, well i never!
Can see the headlines in the red tops tomorrow boring boring Manchester City and in total disarray, what will become of them?
CTID
Some Headlines that now thank God will NOT be printed tomorrow - although i bet they were ready to go.............
MANCINI LOSES DRESSING ROOM
COULD CITY HAVE USED A CARLOS TEVEZ TODAY
CITY PROVE THEY HAVE NO TEAM SPIRIT
CITY GOING DOWN
CITY IN MELTDOWN
MANCINI SCREAMS - "I'M MELTING" (JUST LIKE THAT GUY FROM ROBOCOP) AS IT GOES ALL HORROR SHOW FOR CITY MERCENARIES
On a side note if we are looking for a 4th striker in January i like the look of Blackburns Junior Hoillet - great skill and lots of pace, you can tell he has "got it" so to speak - been impressed every time ive seen him play...........
Ah-h-h-h, so that's what Mario's about. Well played sir.
And in this week of weeks, a word of thanks to The Boss. Best ever start to a season.
Stress and worry has a knock on effect to yourself and can be passed around to cause other manifestations on others. You just have to take things in your stride.
Excellent win lads!
Brilliant second half some excellent team work.
Sky couldn't resist a dig when Nasri came on as sub !!
Expect more negativity on Match of the Day
Keep it up blues can't wait for the game against the Rags !!
Excellent way to finish the week!
Premier League has to be our main focus!
Let the football do all the talking, the 'pundits' can fire as many bullets as they want. Goals from all over the team & another clean sheet!!
CTID
Crisis ? What Crisis ?
Superb goals, looks as though we've finally got a defender who can head the ball into the net !
Hope Aguero's injury is not too serious, lucky it's the international break, good time to detox !
A measured & professional performance - RM's authority clearly evident - If we can start getting it right in Europe I don't think I will be able to cope with the euphoria - we are definitely turning the corner, getting better all the time YES! CTID
Just got back - a great performance WELL DONE BLUES...AND BOBBI MANC -
Just what the doctor ordered after a difficult week...!!!
TEVEZ WHO ?
CITY FOR LIFE !!
We have to score from all areas of the pitch. Not rely on one man like Tevez last year. This was a good example, Striker, wide man midfield and defence all chipped in.
Great response from the midweek mutiny on the bench debacle.
On course.
Fantastic result. Just what the doctor ordered after the Munich... shenanigans. Very happy for Mancini. He needed that. Happy for all the players, but extra happy for Johnson, Balotelli and Savic in particular. All three have bided their time at the start of this season and not shown any public dissent at not starting games. I expect them to be unhappy at not playing, in fact I want them to be. But it's about how you show it and how you react. It's about discipline and channelling that frustration and conducting yourself in the right way.
Anyway. Despite all that, we mustn't lose sight of just what a superb start to the season it's been. Level on points with united after their best start to a season in...ooh yonkies years(ha see what I did there)(I've forgotten exactly how many). Hope Aguero's injury isn't too bad. Bit of a break from playing now so with a bit of luck he might not miss many/any important games.
I believe Tevez's shirt number has already been given to someone else. If that's true it speaks volumes about Tevez's future.
Just what the doctor ordered after Tuesday's shambles, and what an excellent message for Tevez sent out by Adam and Mario - when you get to go on the pitch for City you seize the opportunity with both hands. Adam just coming back from injury to justify his selection fully, but I think a few journalists should find it in themselves now to show a bit of fairmindedness and praise SuperMario's professionalism. Well done lads and well done Roberto.
An attack without Tevez, Aguero and Dzecko and we score four.
"Crisis rocked Manchester City threw away the chance to go top of the league
with a wasteful display against Rovers."
By the way, when all the rags are going on about empty seats, the end today was magnificent. And we had the same number when Stuart Pearce's galacticos were giving one of the all time woeful displays against Rovers in the cup a few years ago.
Morten Gamst Pedersen didn't score...ergo we won!! Yippee!
Great result from an unhappy squad who have no time for Mancini.......My life, it's going to be exciting when we all sing from the same hymn sheet!
TTFN
Ted, Edski, et al
Don't you just love it when our idiot (sorry Clown!) of a manager pulls off Johnson for Savic, who then stuffs the fourth nail in the coffin!
You just don't know what you're doing do you, Roberto?........
......But I like you!! (In the tones of the great Dick Emery, for you who are old enough to know what I'm waffling about...thanks Adders!)
TTFN