Reading v Manchester City: Match Review

READING 0 - 2 MANCHESTER CITY
                                               Aguero 40, Dzeko 88


Manchester City waltzed to second place on Tuesday night to the sound of their fans favourite soundtrack. 

Brian Kidd's 'holistic' army offered the perfect response to their woeful week with a convincing 2-0 win over relegated Reading. 

City began the game like a house on fire and could have been three nil up in the first ten minutes. Efforts from Aguero and Milner were excellently stopped by £20m rated keeper Alex McCarthy; the lack of ruthlessness summing up City's season. 

The travelling fans voiced their opinions on Mancini's sacking through song and bellowed out their trademark chant 'Mancini woah'. The team responded and on 40 minutes Sergio Aguero finished off a mesmering move reminiscent of the blues title winning 2011/2012 season. 

With the pressure off, Reading went into the second half all guns blazing. Robson-Kanu warmed up the hands of Joe Hart early in the second half and Pavel Pogrebnyak was denied a point blank header by the England stopper seconds later. The Royals continued to up the anti, doing everything to could to treat their fans to an almighty upset. And they didn't stop there. The surprisingly quiet Carlos Tevez was on hand to clear off the line from a Mariappa header that would have surely given Reading an equaliser and City were in need of another.

With 27 minutes remaining, City's leading Premier League scorer Edin Dzeko was introduced into the fray and as he often does from the bench, he scored. With two minutes remaining man of the match David Silva took out four players with a dazzling ball for Dzeko who slotted home.

Onwards and upwards.

Player Ratings
 Joe Hart 7
Looked his usual, trustworthy self and made a number of saves that will boost his confidence.

 Micah Richards 7
Attacks the flanks better than Zabaleta and frightened Reading with his pace.

 Kolo Toure 6
Picked up an injury early on.

 Joleon Lescott 7
Controlled the defence in Kompany's absence and continues to look solid.

 Gael Clichy 7
Much better than his Wembley showing. Defended well.

 Yaya Toure 8
If he'd have played like this in the final, City would have probably won. Marshalled the midfield with his skill and power which intimated Reading.

 Gareth Barry 7
The ultimate broom. Sweeped up calmly and confidently.

 James Milner 8
Whenever he plays, we have width. Whenever we have width, we look better. Our new manager, whoever it may be, needs to pick up on this. 

 David Silva 9
His skill and vision was too much for Reading and his ball for Dzeko's goal was sublime.

 Carlos Tevez 7
He can't score at the moment but you can't knock him for a lack of contribution.

 Sergio Aguero 7
The tricky South American finished his goal well but worryingly went off injured midway through the second half.