Putting his head on it: Moore gets his goal to earn
Swansea the win
Manchester City
have toppled from the peak of
the Premier
League. They now lie a point
behind Manchester United after Wayne Routledge's cross from the
right was headed home by the substitute Luke Moore in the 83rd
minute. An apparent equaliser by Micah Richards in the closing
moments was denied correctly at the end because he was offside by a
fraction.
This match had always been a trial
for the visitors. Their manager, Roberto Mancini, was sufficiently
concerned to reconfigure his side at an early stage, with a visibly
irritated Gareth Barry withdrawn so that Sergio Agüero could come
on in the 38th minute and offer verve to a rejigged lineup. The
sight of Yaya Touré shooting high just before the interval was an
improvement.
City's difficulties were not so
great a shock since Swansea
City began the day sharing the best defensive record at home
in the Premier League with Liverpool, even if that stringency has
been fading a little. The real surprise came with City conceding a
penalty in only the second minute.
Getting across: Joe Hart makes a save from Sinclair's
spot kick
Making his mark: Hart celebrates the penalty save
There was contact between Routledge and Joe Hart, but
the poor penalty from Scott Sinclair was dealt with comfortably.
The midfielder may have been put off by gesturing and apparent
comments from Hart. Apart from that incident, the endeavour led to
little excitement, despite the fact that City have scored more away
goals than any other team in England's top flight.
That record held by a side that had come to the Liberty Stadium
as leaders of the Premier League does not necessarily imply that
all of City's verve is intact. On Thursday they went down 1-0 in
Lisbon to Sporting, making the return leg problematic in that
Europa League tie. It was unsettling, too, that the centre-backs
Joleon Lescott and Vincent Kompany were absent through injury
here.
Swansea are far more capable of posing problems than they were
when going down 4-0 to City at Eastlands on the opening weekend of
the Premier League campaign. Any concerns of late have been of a
lesser order for Brendan Rodgers's lineup, but he may have been
unsettled by the fact that they had not kept a clean sheet on their
own pitch since a defeat of Fulham on 10 December.
That was put to rights. Swansea also achieved a first win at
home since overcoming Arsenal here in mid-January. Correcting that
trend was no simple matter for Rodgers when Mancini seemingly had
so much firepower, yet Swansea did thwart them by attacking when
feasible and showing discipline when City were in possession.
Mancini's side looked frustrated and were indignant when no
penalty was given after an hour, although Joe Allen's contact on
Touré had occurred outside the 18-yard line. Later, Richards would
demand a save from Michel Vorm, but City were to be stifled by
their own predictability.
Swansea: Swansea:
Vorm, Rangel, Williams, Caulker, Taylor, Allen, Britton, Sinclair,
Sigurdsson, Routledge (Monk 87), Graham (Moore 79).
Subs Not Used:
Tremmel, Tate, McEachran, Lita,Gower.
Goal: Moore
83.
Man City: Hart,
Richards, Savic, Toure, Clichy, Barry (Aguero 37), De Jong (Johnson
84), Nasri, Toure Yaya, Silva (Dzeko 87), Balotelli.
Subs Not Used:
Pantilimon, Milner, Pizarro, Kolarov.
Booked: De Jong,
Balotelli.
Attendance:
20,510
Referee: Lee
Mason
