 |  | | |
| |||
The
Blues were 4-0 up inside 36 minutes, courtesy of two goals each from
Felipe Caicedo and the fit-again Robinho, and man of the match Stephen
Ireland provided the perfect response to the Tigers’ slight comeback by
bagging the fifth with eight minutes of the game left.
The win sees City move out of the bottom three in the Barclays Premier League table, and speaking afterwards the Manager said:
“We’re
obviously delighted. There was a lot of focus on the game because of
the performance last week, but today was the perfect response. We
looked strong and determined straight from the off, and once we scored
I felt there was only going to be one winner.
“When we get our
tails up I feel we are a handful for anyone, to be 4-0 up at half-time
does not happen very often in the Premier League, so you have to enjoy
it when it happens!”
Ireland’s goal was his seventh in the league
and ninth of the season overall, and he earned a standing ovation when
coming off after making the score 5-1, and of his performance Mark
added:
“I thought we saw the complete midfield performance from
Stephen. His understanding of the game, his ability to pick the right
pass and pick out his team mates in good areas and score goals is
outstanding. I was glad to give him the chance to get an ovation by
taking him off before the end.”
Felipe Caicedo started a Premier
League game for the first time and marked the occasion with a fine
performance after two eye-catching cameos in Spain and at the Hawthorns
last weekend. The big Ecuadorian, signed at the end of last January’s
transfer window, looks to be finally finding his feet in English
football and Mark said of him:
“I was really pleased for Felipe
because he has had to be so patient. It has been a little bit of a
struggle for him, but in the last few weeks he has been really strong
and powerful. I’ve used him as an impact player in the last couple of
games, and he has deserved his success today. He looked a handful for
Hull, they could not handle him, but we took him off at half time
because he was just feeling a slight tightness in his calves.”
Overall,
the Manager was delighted with the contrast between the feeling last
Sunday at the Hawthorns and today, in front of 45,000 fans who played a
big part in the win.
“A lot of it is to do with confidence,
scoring first got our tails up and we had great support from the fans
today. That was a big thing for us, we need everybody pulling in the
right direction, and we certainly got that, with the players responding
in kind. It was a great performance by everybody,” he concluded.
ไม่มีความคิดเห็น:
แสดงความคิดเห็น