Sunderland crashed out of the Capital One Cup tonight with a whimper as Manchester City ran out 4-1 winners at the Stadium of Light. The Black Cats were their own worst enemies again, with City winning 4-0 after 41 minutes first-half minutes. Sergio Aguero converted from the spot following a ridiculously clumsy challenge by the poor Patrick Van Aanholt, a few minutes later it was 2-0 when the lively Kevin De Bruyne beat Vito Mannone at his near post, when the Italian really shouldn;t have been. DeAndre Yedlin, Patrick Van Aanholt, Sebastian Coates and Adam Johson also played a part in the goal, after they all played Sterling on-side and left De Bruyne to slot home from close range, poor defending again from the Wearsiders.
Prior to the City second goal, Sunderland should have been level, but for the second time in as many matches, the goal was wrongly disallowed, Fabio Borini got the wrong side of Otamendi, who lost his footing before the Italian slotted past the City keeper. Ola Toivonen also had a first-half header saved by Caballero following some very good attacking full-back play by debutant DeAndre Yedlin.
A mistake from Vito Mannone, who was making a rare first-team appearance, led to City’s third goal, after he failed to clear a Jesus Navas cross, the dangerous Raheem Sterling struck a shot off the post, which hit Mannone and trickled into the back of the net. Sterling added a fourth soon after which he can claim as his following a slick City move and some lackluster Sunderland defending, sound familiar?
City were not finished there, Aguero should have made it 5 or 6 either side of half-time but was too casual with his chances. The Black Cats were okay second-half, with Ola Toivonen getting a consolation goal for the hosts, but the Black Cats will not be having cheesy chips on Wembley way this year, they weren’t even close.
Attendance: 21,644
Match Rating: 7/10 (for the neutral, 1/10 for SAFC fans)
