In a drab, characteristically rainy night in Manchester, fans of Aston Villa returned to the Midlands warmed by the thrill of ensuring that Manchester City’s name will not feature when the fixtures for the League Cup fourth round are announced.
Many will call it a ‘shock defeat’ but the Premier League champions fielded ten changes to the side that drew with Arsenal, with Lescott being the sole survivor.
Villa on the other hand put out a thoughtfully strong side, noticeably giving a debut to Bennett, picking Benteke ahead of Bent and welcoming a starting return for Agbonlahor.
Lambert’s young lions started confidently, seeing plenty of the ball, and were arguably on top when Balotelli scored his first goal of the season on 27 minutes.
Perhaps feeling sentimental, ex Villa captain Gareth Barry scored an own goal just before the hour mark, just as City were emerging dominant. The scores remained level for all of five minutes when Kolarov scored from a trademark free kick.
Agbonlahor silenced an already muted Etihad stadium by sending the tie into extra time, finishing off a free flowing break. Long before extra time had commenced the enigmatic Balotelli appeared as though he didn’t want to be on the pitch.
Lambert and Mancini had also been involved in an animated verbal exchange that seemed to last for ten minutes. Villa began the brighter and was rewarded with a rare goal from Charles N’Zogbia, only his third goal since his £9m move at the start of last season.
The game was effectively over in the 113th minute when a deflected shot gave Agbonlahor his second of the night. Villa fans started to cheer their teams every pass and began chants of ‘we want five.’
As the final whistle blew Lambert could afford a smug glance, and inner obscenity, in the direction of a flustered Mancini. Ever since taking the helm at Villa Park the young Scot has tried to instil a culture of ‘keeping the ball.’
The statistic also boasting a possession victory for the claret and blue, 53% to 47%, will no doubt mean that Mr Lambert will be looking forward to tuning into the ‘League Cup show’ on ITV tonight.
After knocking out the Premier League champions, in their own back yard, the Villa faithful will now be dreaming of getting their hands on a sixth League Cup trophy.
Without dreams you have nothing.
image: © nicksarebi
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