Abby Brammell

By SPORTSMAIL REPORTER

Thundebolt: Juventus' Vincenzo Iaquinta fired his side ahead in stunning fashion


A week ago, a place in a rather weak Carling Cup side at West Brom concentrated the mind of Manchester City winger Adam Johnson. Last night, a crucial goal against one of the most respected club sides in Europe did the job.

Now young Johnson must decide which way he wishes his season to go. A player with enormous talent and a gift for scoring crucial goals that some players never acquire, Johnson has much to learn in terms of application and concentration in the eyes of City manager Roberto Mancini.

Johnson’s place in the Carling Cup team that lost at West Brom was no accident. It was Mancini’s way of reminding the 23-year-old England international just how quickly players can be removed from their pedestal. Pleasingly, it would appear that the winger took the hint.


Having been told - along with City’s other creative players - that goals are his responsibility this season, he scored what could yet prove to be a decisive one in the context of City’s Europa League season.

Johnson was not City’s most impressive player. The Belgian central defender Vincent Kompany filled that category. However, his goal was not only important but also had quality written right through it.

To the untrained eye, it looked simple enough as he ran on to a neat pass from Yaya Toure to control the ball and prod it beneath poorly positioned Juventus goalkeeper Alex Manninger.

However, the beauty was in the anticipation of Toure’s pass and the timing and direction of the diagonal run from the right side that left two Juventus defenders on their heels. It is this kind of intuitive quality that tends to stand out in English football.

Certainly Mancini will be pleased, particularly as he clearly felt Johnson was partly to blame for the Juventus goal that rocked City in only the 10th minute.

City goalkeeper Joe Hart will not look back on Vincenzo Iaquinta’s goal with any pride. The shot from distance was sweetly struck but England’s goalkeeper really should have saved it.


A-dam good timing: Adam Johnson levelled matters before the break


Mancini, though, had spotted something else that irked him in the build-up, exchanging words and gestures with Johnson from the touchline as the Italians celebrated.

Afterwards, Mancini said: ‘Adam is a good player and he is trying to improve always. It was a good goal today and he has done something good. But he can still improve.’
Struggling a little to juggle the demands of their European and domestic commitments, City fielded a strong team and it was just as well, given the manner in which they were required to scrap for what they achieved.

It was a rather close call as Juventus captain Alessandro del Piero came within inches of winning the game in the last five minutes. City conceded rather too many free-kicks all night and Del Piero almost took advantage when he thumped a dead ball against the underside of the crossbar and down on to the goal-line.


No way through: Emmanuel Adebayor wasted several good chances for City


The Italian’s shot was well struck and swerved a little. Nevertheless, Hart will wonder how he didn’t manage to turn it over the bar, given that the ball passed directly above his head. Overall, this was not a great evening for the City goalkeeper and his disgruntled understudy Shay Given will certainly have looked on with interest from the substitutes’ bench.

Mancini added: ‘We hoped to control the game but after they scored the goal the game changed. It was a blow. We had to recover from that and in the second half particularly we did that.’

As their season progresses, City continue to seek some consistency. Last night’s performance, for example, did not match the defeat of Chelsea in the Premier League at the weekend.


Legend: Alessandro Del Piero twice went close with trademark free-kicks


Mancini will have been heartened by Johnson’s contribution, delighted at the manner in which Kompany’s central defensive partnership with Kolo Toure is developing and impressed with the contribution of German full back Jerome Boateng, who played on both sides after injury to Pablo Zabaleta.

There were disappointments, though, and none worse than the failure of Emmanuel Adebayor to make an impact on the game. Mancini declared himself happy with Adebayor’s contribution but it was interesting to see Carlos Tevez still covering the yards late on.

It was surely not what Mancini would have wanted ahead of Sunday’s game but at the moment Tevez is his only reliable forward. The sooner Adebayor discovers his form or Mario Balotelli his fitness the better.

Juventus were dangerous when shooting from distance. City, for their part, struck the post through Gareth Barry shortly before Johnson’s goal and Barry also volleyed a Patrick Vieira cross over the bar.



source: dailymail