Tevez on target, City sink Reds
Manchester, Aug. 24: Carlos Tevez scored twice as Manchester City overpowered Liverpool 3-0 at Eastlands here on Monday.
James Milner, on his City debut, set up his former Aston Villa teammate Gareth Barry to side-foot in the first goal in the 13th minute.
And the Argentina striker got on the end of Micah Richards’s header seven minutes into the second half.
Liverpool — without Javier Mascherano amid reports the Argentina international was on his way to Barcelona — saw captain Steven Gerrard hit the post with a powerful shot.
And in the ensuing scramble City goalkeeper Joe Hart made a fine double save to deny both David Ngog and Fernando Torres.
Tevez made the game safe from the penalty spot after Adam Johnson was brought down by Martin Skrtel.
City manager Roberto Mancini said it was too soon to call his expensively-assembled side title contenders.
“I don’t know this,” the Italian said. “I think it’s important to improve game after game, we need to gel. We need the time to become a strong squad.”
Defeat left Liverpool with just one point from two games after their intitial draw with Arsenal but manager Roy Hodgson pleaded for a sense of perspective about the results.
“We are only two matches into the season,” he said. “We had Arsenal in the first game which we had to play with 10 men (after Joe Cole’s sending-off) and then a strong Manchester City side.
“It’s a bit premature to start discussing how big the match is,” former Fulham manager Hodgson added.
“Hopefully in the next 36 games we can take some points.”
City fans hoping for a glimpse of 25-million-pound striker Mario Balotelli were left disappointed as he looked on from the sidelines as he recovered from a knee-cartilage injury that forced him to miss training on Sunday.
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