1-0 Dzeko

A counterattacking goal from Manchester City.  Silva (21) receives the ball after a clearance from his defence, and Britton (7) closes him down.

Britton holds Silva up, but gets too close to him in his efforts to immediately win the ball back, and Silva is strong enough to hold him off before turning him in the tackle and breaking free.

Swansea collapse back towards their penalty area as Silva brings the ball forward.  Tate (5) has to stay narrow to avoid leaving Williams (2) 2-on-1 with Silva and Lescott (6), who had also charged forward, leaving Johnson (11) with plenty of space on the right.

When the ball is finally played out to Johnson, Tate should be quicker to close him down.  He should move along a path something like the yellow arrow, but instead moves along the while arrow, giving Johnson time on the ball.

As Johnson picks up the ball, you would always want to keep him moving wide (as indicated by the white arrow), rather than letting him cut in onto his stronger foot.  The distance between Tate and his man means Johnson is free to cut inside.

Still Tate backs off, and allows Johnson to take a shot without even offering much of a block.

Vorm makes the save, but can consider himself a little unlucky that the ball landed directly at Dzeko’s feet.  Dzeko had to adjust very quickly and made the tap in look at lot easier than it actually was.

2-0 Aguero

As Toure (42) picks the ball up in midfield, Swansea are set up quite well with two midfielders shielding the back four.  Unfortunately a little bit of ball watching draws players towards the ball, particularly allowing Johnson (11) space on the right.

Toure pops the ball off to Johnson, and Richards comes alive, making a run in behind the back four.  Johnson immediately plays the ball through for him, and Tate and Sinclair are slow to react to the run, which is timed to perfection.

All that is left to do is for Richards to put it on a plate for Aguero to get his first City goal, which he does with aplomb.

3-0 Silva

Some fantastic hold up play from a goal kick by Dzeko, who competes with two Swansea defenders to emerge with the ball.

Dzeko then plays a deft one-two with Johnson, who returns the ball with a cute flick into space for Dzeko to run at the centrebacks.

Dzeko then tries a chip in behind the centrebacks for Aguero to run on to.

Williams almost cuts it out, but Aguero is alive and quickly lobs the ball over the keeper.

…before just hooking it back before the ball goes out of play for Silva to tuck away.

4-0 Aguero

Aguero picks the ball up 36 yards from goal, with 15 yards to the nearest Swansea defender.

It’s never a good idea to give any player with the ability of Aguero this much space to line up a shot, but at 3-0 down in injury time away from home against a top 4 club in their first Premier League match, it’s perhaps a little harsh to criticise too much.

Cause for celebration for City fans… well, most of them.

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