Manchester City slip to third as West Ham hold on for goalless draw

Monday 5 November 2012 16:34, UK

Manchester City missed the chance to join neighbours United at the summit after a frustrating stalemate at West Ham.

Mancini had sprung a surprise before kick-off by again tinkering with his starting line-up and the decision to start with Balotelli, Tevez and Dzeko in the same XI for the first time failed to deliver the goods. After a three at the back experiment cost City against Ajax 10 days ago, Mancini's radical tactics are becoming reminiscent of another Italian, famously dubbed 'The Tinkerman', and we all know what happened to Claudio Ranieri. He had also handed Kolo Toure his first league start since August and recalled James Milner, although he was forced into a last-minute change when the latter hurt his hamstring in the warm-up and was replaced by Barry. And, on this evidence, City really will need the "miracle" Mancini predicted to rescue their Champions League campaign, starting in Tuesday's revenge mission against Ajax.

West Ham United	Team Statistics	Manchester City
0	Goals	0
0	1st Half Goals	0
0	Shots on Target	5
5	Shots off Target	12
1	Blocked Shots	5
3	Corners	7
11	Fouls	12
2	Offsides	3
3	Yellow Cards	0
0	Red Cards	0
68.2	Passing Success	87
23	Tackles	9
78.3	Tackles Success	88.9
35	Possession	65
45.7	Territorial Advantage	54.3
283	Total Passes	570
26	Total Crosses	25
164	Lost Balls	160
49	Recoveries	58
37	1st Half Poss.	63
29.7	2nd Half Poss.	70.3