Change marked the start of Roberto Mancini's reign at Manchester City and it paid off handsomely. The Italian embraced some of the players, forlorn and frustrated under the previous manager Mark Hughes, and his gamble paid off with a deserved win of Stoke. One of players he relied on was Martin Petrov, who justified the new manager's faith with the decisive opener - his fourth goal in four starts this season - before Carlos Tevez poked in his sixth in as many games.
The City chairman, Khaldoon al Mubarak, and his chief executive, Garry Cook, showed a united front in the stands after the controversial dismissal of Hughes. They had faith in their new man, and he was clearly determined not to let them down. Mancini patrolled the touchline constantly, dictating and demanding from his players. He had made five changes from the side that beat Sunderland last week in the final game of the Hughes era.
The most notable was the return of Robinho, whose challenge was to silence the critics who have questioned his future at the club. Robinho's part in City's 28th-minute opening goal might not have been one to live long in the memory, but it was significant nonetheless. Tevez charged into the box and slipped a pass through to the onrushing Robinho, who chose not to shoot, but diverted the ball to Petrov, who calmly finished past Thomas Sorensen.
It eased the tension around Eastlands - and also on the touchline, where Mancini pumped his fist and hugged his assistant Brian Kidd. Wearing a blue and white scarf, the Italian had pinned his colours to the City mast and the fans responded with a warm welcome. His players were suitably full of effort and energy to impress the new manager. Gareth Barry, particularly, was prominent early and felt he should have had a 10th-minute penalty when his cross seemed to roll onto Abdoulaye Faye's arm.
Robinho then tumbled after being blocked by Andy Wilkinson on the edge of the box. Tevez was another to cause problems and curled wide from the edge of the box. But Stoke have troubled many teams with their direct style and they caused City alarm in the 20th minute. A long ball by Danny Collins was dummied cleverly by Matthew Etherington and Tuncay sneaked in behind the defence for a clear shooting chance.
Shay Given was alert, though, racing off his line to block. City, with Vincent Kompany at the heart of the defence alongside the captain Kolo Toure, were not quite as cavalier as they were under Hughes and waited patiently for their moment at the other end. Petrov blasted wide of Sorensen's right post when unmarked inside the box before Robinho acrobatically volleyed in the same direction after being picked out by Tevez.
More acrobatics, this time by Tevez, brought the second goal in first-half injury time. Pablo Zabaleta crossed into the box, Barry headed on and Tevez, at full stretch and with both feet off the ground, connected with the ball to lift it over Sorensen. Mancini has stressed that he wants his side to attack, and they embraced that philosophy at the start of the second half as Sorensen was immediately forced to push out a low drive from Petrov.
Mancini had gambled on his little men, like Tevez and Robinho, to beat the big men of Stoke, but the visitors started to make better use of their physical advantage after the hour mark. With James Beattie and Ricardo Fuller called into action, they had more presence and power, and it was the former who almost pulled a goal back. Beattie showed good technique in the box, but Given showed equally good reactions to push the shot into the side-netting with his right hand.
From the corner, Robert Huth, on as a substitute for Wilkinson, rose unchallenged but headed poorly wide. Stoke's bombardment continued, but City held out, galvanised by the appearance of Craig Bellamy from the bench. The crowd roared in appreciation and the Welshman almost got a third, racing into the box and, despite being hampered by Huth, forcing Sorensen into a good block. @Email:akhan@thenational.ae
