City will head to the north-east full of confidence after their third consecutive victory and will be looking to add a fourth. Steve Bruce’s Sunderland are an unpredictable side with the capacity to cause problems as we found out last season when a last minute equaliser was required from Adam Johnson.
If we show the same resolute defending as we did against Liverpool then victory should be within our capabilities with Carlos Tevez in attack. The obvious danger man is Darren Bent now that Kenwyne Jones has departed.
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City qualified for the Europa League group stages with goals from Shaun Wright-Phillips and Dedryck Boyata in a game so comfortable it often resembled a pre-season friendly. The Romanians’ packed defence and lack of ambition made it a game of patience for City before the seemingly inevitable breakthrough arrived.
City’s best performers were a central quartet of Kompany, Boyata, de Jong and Vieira who exerted total control over procedings. In our previous European campaign under Mark Hughes, we made heavy weather of the early rounds by failing to dominate teams. There was none of that here.
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Hart – With only a couple of routine saves to make, there’s only his distribution to rate: short range good, long kicks need to find their targets better. 6
Richards – Once again solid in defence, this was another chance to focus on attacking. Took up decent positions but the delivery was mixed. Looked in need of a trick to go past an opponent. 6
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And a big Eastlands welcome to… Jo! Yes the signs are that are Brazilian hitman will take another step in his Lazarus like comeback. Yesterday saw Roberto Mancini singing his praises, recalling the goals Jo scored to against the Italian’s Inter side in the Champions League for CSKA Moscow.
City produced a solid display in Romania before cutting loose in the closing part of the game to clinch a win thanks to Mario Balotelli’s debut goal.
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