Leicester City 2 Manchester City 2
Strikes from debutant Sol Bamba and captain Andy King were enough for Sven-Goran Eriksson’s side to ensure another encounter with the Citizens will take place in ten days time. In between Leicester’s goals Roberto Mancini’s men came from a goal down to lead 2-1 before being pegged back. James Milner netted from the edge of the area and some fancy footwork from talisman Carlos Tevez put them in front before the break.
Manchester City had started poorly, not alert to a first minute short corner with Paul Gallagher’s ball in glancing off King before Bamba stuck out a leg to put it into the back of the net. Critics of zonal marking will pick up on the static nature of the Citizens’ defence and Kolo Toure’s poor positioning, yet all day long the visitors struggled to deal with their opponents’ aerial threat. Bamba would get a further five free headers from dead ball situations after his opener but could neither find the target nor beat Joe Hart again.
A change of formation by Roberto Mancini raised a few eyebrows before the game, but his side were level after twenty two minutes. Milner latched onto Tevez’s reverse pass, he dummied and wrong-footed the debutant Bamba in the Leicester defence before coming inside and sweeping the ball past Chris Weale from twenty yards. The first half was not a one-sided affair though as the Foxes continued to pose problems from set pieces thanks to Jerome Boateng’s inability to mark. Just after the half hour Japanese midfielder Yuki Abe had a twenty five yard thunderbolt pushed out for a corner by the sprawling Hart.
Adam Johnson spurned a guilt edge chance with five minutes to go before the break, pulling wide after Tevez’s vision had found Boateng in an advanced position on the right flank. Moments later Man City did what their hosts had done to them in the opening seconds. A short corner saw Johnson and Milner interchange passes and the latter’s low cross was flicked in by the Citizens captain.
From the restart the visitors looked shaky with Leicester coming out the traps strongly as they did in the first half. Corners were no better dealt with after the break than before, but a mistake from Joe Hart gifted the Foxes their equaliser. A Paul Gallagher cross from the left past the hour bounced off the England goalkeeper’s chest giving home skipper King a tap in. He redeemed himself slightly later on, coming sharply off his line to stop Richie Wellens’ ball over the top from reaching its target. Leicester deserved a replay after their positive display of attacking intent.
The Foxes midfield three should get great praise. Abe, King and Wellens at one time or another joined in their attacks and the captain led by example. He was always popping up on the flanks or in an advanced position to supplement the forwards. Gallagher is a real handful and looked far better than the level he currently plays at. Perhaps former club Blackburn could use his dynamism now.
Tevez showed great guile today for the visitors and it was one of Milner’s better performances in a Manchester City shirt. Jo and Shaun Wright-Phillips did very little to impress. The latter has certainly failed to recapture the form he showed during his first speall at Eastlands. There is certainly a good deal of work to be done on the training ground defensively for Mancini’s side as subsequent opponents will view the Citizens as a soft touch from dead balls.
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