There is a one boss in city of Manchester that Manchester United, Livepool first time satisfied to supporters, same scenario like last year for Andres Villas-Boas.
Manchester City 2 Manchester United 3: Robin Van Persie shoot the city in last minute
In the end it was settled by another A-lister – a Premier League superstar – with Robin van Persie’s match-winning free-kick in the final seconds of a game that had as much incident as the type of action-packed dramas Cruise is used to appearing in, not watching.
As Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said afterwards, you could not take your eyes off it.
It had everything – sweat, tears and, unfortunately, blood from above Rio Ferdinand’s eye after he had been struck by a missile as United celebrated another last-gasp win.
Cruise, here with fellow Hollywood star Robert Duvall, had never been to a live match in England before but now it is City whose mission – as yet not impossible – is to keep hold of their Premier League crown.
Van Persie ensured himself a place in the club’s folklore with the winner after City had fought back from a couple of milestone goals from Wayne Rooney.
He may not have had the busiest of games but his winner is what you pay £22 million for. No price could be put on that goal in one side of Manchester.
Throw in Mario Balotelli’s strop plus a verbal spat between Ferguson and Carlos Tevez and a full-house crowd at the Etihad Stadium – including Cruise and Duvall – got their money’s worth.
Rooney has now overtaken Sir Bobby Charlton as United’s leading scorer in derbies. He now has 10, the same number as City legends Joe Hayes and Franny Lee.
His double also brought up 150 Premier League goals. He is fifth on the list, behind Alan Shearer, Thierry Henry, Robbie Fowler, Andy Cole and Frank Lampard but, at 27, he is the youngest player to reach the landmark.
City made the better start but were hit by a double blow midway through the first half: United took the lead with a classic counter-attack and then City lost skipper Vincent Kompany through injury.
United caught City napping with a pitch-length, 10-touch move involving five players. David de Gea rolled the ball to Patrice Evra, who played it up to Ashley Young. He flicked a back-header to Van Persie, who chested the ball back into his path.
Young then passed to Rooney, who evaded Gael Clichy’s challenge before rolling the ball through Gareth Barry’s legs and into the far corner of the net.
Kompany limped off with a groin injury a few minutes later. Bizarrely, Mancini sent on Kolo Toure rather than Joleon Lescott, simply because he did not want two left-footed centre- halves in his back four. Surely, you pick the fitter and better player, though, and that, undeniably, is Lescott.
The decision and the ensuing defensive reshuffle unsettled City and it was no surprise when United went further ahead. Whereas their first came down the left flank, the second came down the right, and underlined the wisdom of Ferguson’s decision to play with two wide men.
The overlapping Rafael turned the ball back for Rooney to sweep home a shot from 10 yards. City had their moments in the first half but their finishing was poor and Mancini’s gamble in starting Balotelli ahead of Tevez backfired.
He contributed little and after an attempted backheel did not come off early in the second half, the crowd erupted in fury.
Moments later Mancini gave Balotelli the hook and he stormed straight down the tunnel. He ran a gauntlet of abuse as he drove away from the stadium soon after the final whistle and it probably was not just from United fans.
Tevez transformed City with his energy and enthusiasm but United should have been home and dry when Young had a goal disallowed for offside, the replays showing he was at the very least level with Pablo Zabaleta. United’s frustration was compounded when City broke quickly and pulled a goal back through Yaya Toure. It was all City by that point and De Gea could not keep out Zabaleta’s shot after a Tevez corner was partially cleared.
Inevitably, there was a late twist. Tevez tripped Rafael, then went walkabout and left City with only three men in their defensive wall. Nasri waved a leg out instead of getting his body in the way and Van Persie’s curling shot deflected off it and found the corner for his 14th and most important goal for United so far. It was the cue for pandemonium. But when the dust had settled and the arrests had been made, United had struck a significant psychological blow as well as moving six points in front.
With Rooney and Van Persie in this form it is difficult to see anyone stopping them.
Manchester City (4-2-3-1): Hart 6; Zabaleta 7, Kompany 5 (K Toure 20, 5), Nastasic 6, Clichy 5; Y Toure 7 (Dzeko 84), Barry 6; Balotelli 4 (Tevez 51, 8), Silva 6, Nasri 5; Aguero 7. Booked: Tevez. Goal: Y Toure 60, Zabaleta 86.
Manchester United (4-2-3-1): De Gea 7; Rafael 6, Ferdinand 6, Evans 6 (Smalling 48, 6), Evra 6; Cleverley 7 (Welbeck 87, 5), Carrick 7; Valencia 6 (Jones 84), Rooney 8, Young 7; Van Persie 7. Booked: Rooney. Goals: Rooney 16, 29, Van Persie 90.
Referee: M Atkinson (West Yorkshire).
Watch Manchester City vs Manchester United Match
[media id=746 width=610 height=340]West Ham United 2 Liverpool 3:Liverpool’s stunning victory in London
Neither Glen Johnson nor Joe Cole celebrated their goals against their former club – but there was no such reticence shown by Jonjo Shelvey.
The former West Ham trainee midfielder, thrust up front by Liverpool to cover for the absence of Suarez through suspension, went to the away fans behind the goal with his fingers round his eyes like spectacles.
It was ironic when closer scrutiny revealed he never actually touched the ball. TV replays showed West Ham defender James Collins was the only one to make contact with Jordan Henderson’s low cross.
No matter for Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers – a win is a win. Specifically, for a side who have relied too heavily on their top scorer this season, it was a victory earned in the absence of Suarez.
Rodgers said: “I thought Jonjo was outstanding. Dropping into midfield, combining with them to make the fourth man.
“There was a lot of pressure on him because people were comparing him with Luis Suarez. But I had great belief in the players that we could score goals and create goals.
“You have seen the quality and fight in the whole team, even without Luis.”
It was not so much a game of two halves as a match dictated by two legs. One belonged to Jose Enrique, the other Mohamed Diame.
Liverpool dominated the early exchanges and took the lead in the 11th minute when Johnson cut in from the touchline to fire a dipping 25-yard shot beyond the reach of Jussi Jaaskelainen and into the top corner.
But when Enrique had to be replaced due to a tightening of his hamstring, the introduction of Cole in his place initially caused some confusion.
West Ham were given an opportunity for a cheap equaliser after 36 minutes when Guy Demel’s shot hit Joe Allen’s elevated arm at close range and Mark Noble tucked the penalty right in the corner.
Then, in even more generous circumstances, the home side found themselves in front.
Matt Jarvis’s inswinging cross was diverted into the back of the net by the perfect downward header. Perfect, that is, except the head in question belonged to Steven Gerrard and the goalkeeper he beat was his own.
In the second half, a second hamstring injury – this time what looked like a proper tear – caused Diame to be taken off.
As a result, Raheem Sterling now found he had time in midfield to pick out a clever pass to Cole and the latter used all his experience to wait for the right moment to clip the ball over Jaaskelainen.
“I’ve scored a few against West Ham but never celebrated,” said Cole. “The most important thing was the win.” That final scrappy own-goal winner robbed West Ham of one point but manager Sam Allardyce is more concerned about how many more Diame’s absence might cost them over the coming months.
Such has been his influence in midfield that Newcastle, Everton and Arsenal were already reported to be circling him ahead of January, attracted by news of a £3.5 million release clause.
That may now be academic as passing a medical is almost certainly beyond Diame for the foreseeable future. Allardyce is taking little comfort from that.
“It is disappointing to lose, but it is more disappointing when your most creative player leaves the field with a serious injury on top of all the other injuries we have got,” he said.
“It does not take a medical expert to know it is a serious medical tear. I’d expect it to be a grade three in medical terms and I would expect that to be eight to 12 weeks.
“And no, he won’t be passing any medicals if you want to look at that as a silver lining. But I would sooner have the aggravation of dealing with agents all the time and have him playing for us, than do without him.
“He is the start of most of our creative game. He gets through the barrier of midfield defence and runs at the back four with pace and ability.
“We are going to have to be a bit more dogged and resilient with the players we have got missing.”
WEST HAM (4-2-3-1): Jaaskelainen 6; Demel 5 (McCartney 46, 6), Collins 7, Reid 5, O’Brien 6; Noble 7, Diame 7 (Tomkins 73, 5); Taylor 6 (Maiga 86), Nolan 6, Jarvis 6; C Cole 7. Booked: Taylor. Goals: Noble 36 pen, Gerrard 43 og.
LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Reina 6; Johnson 8, Skrtel 6, Agger 6, Enrique 5 (J Cole 27, 7); Allen 5 (Coates 86), Lucas 6 (Henderson 71, 5), Gerrard 5; Sterling 6, Shelvey 7, Downing 6. Booked: Shelvey, Gerrard. Goals: Johnson 11, J Cole 76, Collins 79 og.
Referee: Lee Probert (Wiltshire).
Watch West Ham United vs Liverpool match Video
[media id=745 width=610 height=340]Everton 2 Tottenham Hotspur 1:Moyes strategy beat Villas-Boas
David Moyes will dream there can be more significant victories for Everton to savour this season – but, from a personal point of view, few are likely to be sweeter.
As he cavorted near the middle of the pitch, flinging his arms in the air with all the co-ordination of a Christmas reveller, his mood was only partly explained by the timing of last-gasp goals from Steven Pienaar and Nikica Jelavic which left Goodison Park rocking to a raucous beat.
The Everton boss would probably deny as much publicly, but seeing his merits casually overlooked by Tottenham in favour of Andre Villas-Boas in the summer will have irked him, given the job he has done and the challenges he has overcome for more than a decade.
Making his point by taking all three will have been as welcome as it had looked unlikely when normal time elapsed with Clint Dempsey’s deflected goal for Spurs separating the sides.
Everton replaced Tottenham in fourth place in the table in the process and it is days such as this that will imbue confidence for the remainder of the campaign.
“The position does not shame us given the way we have been playing,” said Moyes. “It feels good, but we have to maintain it.”
In stark contrast, Villas-Boas wore the look of a man who had seen it all before. He had departed in defeat on his last visit, although back in February he left a condemned man as Chelsea slumped to an anaemic 2-0 defeat and he endured disgruntled chants of ‘You don’t know what you’re doing’.
It is far from that stage in his Premier League reincarnation, but the sight of his side collapsing at the death bore a familiar look.
Tottenham have now conceded 10 goals in the last 15 minutes of matches. If the final whistle sounded in their games after 80 minutes, they would be sitting at the summit of the table with 34 points, ahead of both Manchester clubs. An inability to see out games hints at a weakness in their make-up that needs rectifying sooner rather than later if Villas-Boas is not to come under scrutiny again.
What will concern him is that he also has other problems to unravel.
Too many players melted into the background when, in the absence of the injured Gareth Bale, the visitors needed people to assume extra responsibility.
Emmanuel Adebayor sometimes held the ball up, but on other occasions made life too easy for his markers. Aaron Lennon left his manager wanting more long before he was eventually withdrawn.
His replacement, Tom Huddlestone. was at least involved in a scarcely deserved breakthrough after 76 minutes when feeding Dempsey. The American, who had spent the summer dreaming of making an impact on Merseyside – albeit at Liverpool – let fly from 25 yards and saw his effort loop off the toe of Sylvain Distin and float over keeper Tim Howard.
Had Gylfi Sigurdsson’s effort from distance gone under the crossbar rather than hitting it, it is doubtful that Everton could have clambered off the canvas to land the telling punches.
It would be interesting to hear exactly why Spurs chairman Daniel Levy did not bother placing Moyes on his wanted list, especially given the stardust he has sprinkled in the transfer market was evident here.
Kevin Mirallas was a constant threat before suffering a recurrence of the hamstring injury that had kept him out for six weeks and departed at the interval. Then there was Darron Gibson, a £250,000 buy last January, whose clever distribution kept Spurs pinned back in the first half.
It is up to the midfielder how he wants his career to be remembered – ex of Manchester United or the player who added impetus to an Everton renaissance.
Yesterday he belonged in the latter category, but the challenge is for him to maintain such standards.
But for all their superiority, Everton were initially left frustrated as chances went begging and there was the customary refereeing controversy as Pienaar’s cross struck William Gallas’s arm but no penalty was given.
But then came late salvation. Tottenham lost possession and when Steven Naismith transferred the ball to Seamus Coleman, he crossed and Pienaar headed home on the run to register Everton’s 1,000th goal in the Premier League.
Number 1,001 was to follow within seconds. Substitute Apostolos Vellios failed to properly connect with an overhead kick to Gibson’s centre, but there was Jelavic to instinctively touch the ball home.
“It is not easy to explain why we concede late on, but it is something we need to improve on,” said Villas-Boas. “It is small details.”
He had remarked in the build-up that management can leave you looking a thoroughbred one week and a donkey the next. This was a kick in the ass.
Everton (4-4-1-1): Howard 6; Coleman 7, Jagielka 7, Distin 7, Baines 7; Mirallas 6 (Naismith 46, 6), Gibson 8, Osman 6 (Vellios 81), Pienaar 7; Fellaini 7; Jelavic 7 (Heitinga 90). Booked: Baines, Osman, Jelavic. Goals: Pienaar 90, Jelavic 90.
Tottenham (4-4-2): Lloris 7; Walker 6, Gallas 6, Caulker 6, Vertonghen 6; Lennon 6 (Huddlestone 71, 5), Sandro 6, Dembele 7 (Sigurdsson 77, 6), Dempsey 7; Defoe 7 (Falque 85), Adebayor 6. Booked: Defoe, Vertonghen. Goal: Dempsey 76.
Referee: K Friend (Leicestershire).
Watch Everton vs Tottenham Hotspur match video
[media id=748 width=610 height=340]Barclays Premier League game week 16 other Results
Southampton 1 – 0 Reading
Sunderland 1 – 3 Chelsea
Aston Villa 0 – 0 Stoke City
Swansea City 3 – 4 Norwich City
Wigan Athletic 2 – 2 Queens Park Rangers
Arsenal 2 – 0 West Bromwich Albion
[adrotate banner=”46″]
