Manchester City Ease Past West Ham by 4 Goals

Manchester City put 4 goals past West Ham United in Dominant display

Somewhere there is a parallel universe where West Ham United ran out winners today, although on the strength of this display that universe is a long way away. Manuel Pelligrini and his West Ham team though should not be too downhearted. This was not a game which will act as a barometer for the season.

Manchester City are capable of great things and this is a side full of huge potential. In the first 25 minutes they moved and toyed with West Ham. The passing and running was sublime and in the heart of everything, at the centre of it all, was David Silva.

Guardiola had flexed his squad today and surprised the fans by starting with Nicolas Otamendi in defence. Preferring the combative Argentine to John  Stones against the combative Arnautovic was probably a good call. Arnautovic bullied his way across the front line, and I was surprised he escaped cards for his challenges on David Silva and Delph.

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If the intention was to rough us up and stop us from playing, it did not work. West Ham to their credit tried to take the game to City and pressed high. Performing this tactic against City requires precision which was lacking and the signs were clear in the first minutes as City both broke the press with ease and turned over West Ham possession.

David Silva seems to have a super power of invisibility. He has the guile to ghost past players, at full speed. It’s as though he operates at a different speed of thought to every one else, like some kind of cerebral version of The Matrix.

Sterling checked and dinked the ball into space which wasn’t there. Silva saw the pass and made the move. Defenders considered their menu for Sunday dinner and whether Harry Redknapp would win I’m a Celebrity. City were 1 nil up.

The second saw Sterling undertake a similar feint and appear in space in the six yard box. This time he was found by Leroy Sane and City fans world over just relaxed. Two nil up.

Sane had one of those games, where he relished the chance to run at speed into space. Gaps appeared behind the West Ham press but they wilfully played on, in the belief that the outcome would be different if they just did the same thing.

Sane scored a sublime third goal. Where he checked in the area leaving the West Ham goalkeeper and defender completely stranded. There were so adrift I thought Bear Grylls may come for them.

City turned the gears down and instead tried to see the game out. Big teams rest in games and the result here was assured within 30 minutes. City though got a little careless and a better side would have punished them. This wasn’t so much good game management as haphazard and empty passes. Guardiola will have them in for extra training for this.

The 4th goal however demonstrated this is a City side capable of going back up the gears even after slowing the game down. We played to the end and Sane scored a real whipped peach of a goal from a tight angle.

City were not at their best but still beat a West Ham side who gave us a better game than Manchester United had. Pellegrini stuck to a game plan which showed remarkable faith in his players, a faith which probably outstripped their ability.

Manchester City now sit on 35 points, 1 point from being assured we are safe from relegation and it’s still not December. There remains a long season ahead but you can only beat the teams in front of you and on the strength of recent performances, City will be challenging for the title right until the end.