Blackburn Rovers versus Manchester City – First half review: English Premier League (Part 1)
Manchester City travelled to Ewood Park to take on Blackburn Rovers in their English Premier League tie on 25th April. Roberto Mancini fielded an offensive starting eleven with Mario Balotelli spearheading the Manchester City attack. The enigmatic
Italian striker was supported by City’s midfield five of David Silva, Yaya Toure, Adam Johnson, Nigel de Jong and Gareth Barry. At the back, the men in blue benefitted from the presence of Joleon Lescott and Vincent Kompany in central defense while Pablo Zabaleta
and Aleksandar Kolarov took up their positions as Manchester City’s full backs.
On the other hand, Blackburn Rovers went with a 4-4-2 line up. Steve Keane entrusted Benjamin Mwaruwari and Jason Roberts as his team’s two front men. These two robust strikers were complimented by Brett Emerton and David Dunne in Blackburn’s midfield whilst
Jermaine Jones and Martin Olsson played as the home team’s two wingers. Christopher Samba retained his central defensive responsibilities alongside the likes of Gael Givet, Phil Jones and Michel Salgado.
The first half of the match was dominated by Manchester City due to their numerical presence in the midfield region. Dunne and Emerton were matched up against Toure, Barry and De Jong in the middle of the park which created an arithmetic imbalance for the
home side.
This imbalance meant that City not only controlled the tempo of the match in the first half but they also maintained a monopoly over ball possession.
Manchester City’s early dominance almost materialized into a goal in the 4th minute as Pablo Zabaleta carried the ball forward down the right wing for the away side. The Argentinean full back squared the ball towards Barry who then slipped a through
ball towards David Silva.
The Spanish midfielder fired off a first time volley towards Blackburn’s goalkeeper, Paul Robinson, but unluckily for the Citizens, his shot went out of play via the goal post as the score line remained at 0-0 at Ewood Park.
In the 6th minute, City was on the front foot once again as Adam Johnson was given time and space on the ball thanks to the timing of David Silva’s cross field pass towards the Englishman. Johnson tricked his way past Salgado but his cross towards
Toure inside the Blackburn penalty area was wayward as Samba cleared the ball away for the home side.