New signing sparks high-flying Tevez as Manchester City go top

Boring, boring, City. The signing of Edin Dzeko, combined with the
retention of Carlos Tevez and the growing influence of Yaya Toure and
David Silva, has Manchester City fans hoping they can build an exciting
second half of the season on the first's solid foundations.
Manager Roberto Mancini's pragmatism has frustrated at
times but has put City in the position where they wake up this morning
and see themselves top of the English Premier League.
After a flat start, of which Wolves took full advantage,
City grew into the game at the City of Manchester Stadium and, in the
second half, played some thrilling, fluid attacking football.

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Dzeko tired in the last 20 minutes but, playing as the
side's attacking fulcrum, he linked play elegantly, and there is much to
come from the Bosnian striker.
What will be encouraging to Mancini is the way that, with Dzeko as the focal point, Tevez was free to roam.
After 20 minutes of Tevez on the left, he started taking
up more central positions and, by the second half, was back to his most
dangerous, scoring twice as City turned on the style.
Mancini substituted Tevez with nine minutes to go, and he
was so influential it seemed almost reckless. "It was Dzeko's first
game in 30 days, and I think he played well," Mancini said. "He needs to
improve and work hard. He has played just one week with these players,
and it will take three or four weeks to know the team well. He worked
well with Tevez. They are both good players, and so it should be easy
for them to play together."
The news of Dzeko starting had sent a wave of
anticipation around the ground but when the first goal came, it was the
wrong Balkan - Nenad Milijas, the Serbian playmaker, who gave
Wolverhampton Wanderers the lead after 12 minutes. Wolves had started
combatively, with City stunned to find their opponents aggressive and in
their faces.
Matt Jarvis sent in a cross from the right which
deflected off Aleksandar Kolarov. City's Kolo Toure cleared, somewhat
timidly, and the ball came back into the danger area off Vincent
Kompany. Milijas's first shot was saved by Joe Hart, but the England
goalkeeper could do nothing about the rebound.
Mick McCarthy's team had come to play. The Wolves manager
played two strikers and two wingers, and they had plenty of options
going forward.
They came very close to extending their lead in the first half.
Milijas headed straight at Hart from another Jarvis
cross, while only a brilliant Kolarov block denied Jarvis himself. Like
so often with Wolves this season, a promising spell was followed by a
soft concession.
Adam Johnson's corner for City from the left was met at
the near post by Kompany, and his header dropped to Toure at the far
post. His shot hit David Jones and dribbled over the line.
"I'm really ill with the goal they scored before
half-time," McCarthy said. "We didn't mark, and until then they hadn't
had a scratch at our goal."
Having started on the left, Tevez had initially struggled to get into this game, but by the second half he was flying.
Four minutes after the break, he picked up the ball in the right channel before haring off directly for goal.
He swayed between Christophe Berra and Stephen Hunt,
accelerated into the box and tucked his finish past Wolves goalkeeper
Wayne Hennessey.
If that goal had been about Tevez's individual
brilliance, City's third, coming five minutes later was all superb team
play. Dzeko picked up a clearance in his own half and played a crisp
one-two with Tevez that took him deep into Wolves territory.
Toure, meanwhile, had sprinted almost the length of the
pitch to provide support, Dzeko slotted the ball into his path, and he
coolly steered the ball around Hennessey.
Tevez, roaming dangerously, added the fourth with 66
minutes played, planting a header in off the underside of the bar from
Pablo Zabaleta's cute cross.
Game over, right? Wolves, still moving the ball quickly,
did not give up and, to Mancini's frustration, his team let them back
into the game.
Joleon Lescott had come on for Toure after 51 minutes,
and clumsily pushed over Kevin Doyle in the box, when the Wolves striker
was not even facing goal. Doyle converted the penalty, and murmurs went
around the home supporters.
"It was stupid," Mancini said. "We need to learn that
when we're 4-1 ahead, that the job isn't finished. You need to control
the game."
Ronald Zubar, who had headed against the bar earlier in
the half, made Maninci's point eloquently. He met substitute Geoffrey
Mujangi's corner with a header that Nigel De Jong could not prevent from
crossing the line.
There were five minutes of stoppage time, and Mujangi
turned home stomachs with a shot that deflected off Kompany and behind.
Mancini was raging in the technical area, but tragedy was averted