Manchester City 1, Stoke City 1: Potters Force Replay with Citizens

Manchester City was unable to capitalize on their earlier dominance at Eastlands, permitting Stoke City to equalize through a Rory Delap corner, forcing a replay after their 1-1 draw in the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Ricardo Fuller was the player on the end of Delap’s second half throw, the Irish midfielder only playing as a result of two first half injuries suffered in the Stoke midfield. As assist, however, helped equalize a Shaun Wright-Phillips opener in the 11th minute that hinted at a lopsided tie.

Stoke City manager Tony Pulis followed through on his pre-match intimations and deployed a 4-3-3 formation to start, with a forward line of Mamady Sidibe, Ricardo Fuller and Tuncay Sanli. While, early on, this hinted towards new avenues into attack for a Stoke side that could take the physical Sidibe and Fuller wide to win balls against Pablo Zabaleta (City’s right back) and Wayne Bridge (left back), City found little opposition through the midfield, and when attacking up the left were able to use Bridge and Martin Petrov to attack Robert Huth, the right back with little protection in front of him.

But the first goal of the match was not a result of formation or the tactic used to attack it; rather, it was a nice run by Shaun Wright-Phillips, getting behind a Stoke line sitting forty meters up the pitch, allowing Stephen Ireland and easy ball over the defense, sending Wright-Phillips in. Thomas Sorensen came for it, but Wright-Phillips was able to chip over the goalkeeper, cut back to avoid Ryan Shawcross, and eventually finish to make it 1-0.

Manchester City’s advantage in midfield saw the Citizens string together long passing sequences as they worked into attack, eventually attacking down the right with the same fervor that they initially charged down the left. Only the play of Andy Wilkinson at left back for Stoke – play which forced him to walk a line that earned him a yellow card in the 39th minute – prevented Wright-Phillips and Ireland from creating more opportunities, the Stoke midfield having shifted slightly to their right to try and defend Petrov and Bridge’s wing.

The need to go down the wings underscored the absence of Carlos Tévez – Manchester City’s leading scorer, who was back in his home country of Argentina to attend to family matters. For City’s ability to beat Stoke wide, they lacked a presence within the area – Tévez’s ability to read the play and pick out the spots remaining while the back line accounts for Emmanual Adebayor.

Meanwhile, Stoke continued to make adjustments, dropping Tuncay into midfield to help link the back with Sidibe and Fuller.

But Tony Pulis’s problems in midfield were exacerbated by an early injury to Matthew Etherington and Liam Lawrence, his replacement, needing to be removed before half with a knee problem.

While Stoke City was expected to make chances out of half, having posed little problem for Manchester City in the first, it was the Citizens who made a slight tweak, flipping Petrov and Wright-Phillips to provide a more attacking approach. Whether Roberto Mancini’s tweak worked is hard to say, given the degree to which Manchester City had their way in the first. Perhaps putting on a resourceful Roque Santa Cruz, who was on the bench for the first time in a month-and-a-half, could have helped the Citizens establish a more dangerous presence in the box.

Santa Cruz would make an appearance later in the match.

In the 54th minute, Pulis’s injury concerns grew as Wilkinson had to be replaced by Danny Collins, the starting left back picking up a leg injury.

Perhaps it was justice that one of the moved Pulis was forced to make in accounting for the injury led to their equalizer.

Rory Delap, the man how replaced Liam Lawrence, launched one of this trademark long throws from 22-meters up the sideline, finding Ricardo Fuller near the spot. The Jamaican put it into Shay Given’s lower right hand corner, the flat-footed goalkeeper unable to react to the equalizing goal (58′).

The tying goal gave we to a more evenly played match, with a number of Delap throws, along with Glen Whelan shots from distance, giving Stoke their opportunities.

I was not until the 76th minute that Manchester City regain a semblance of control, with a near-post header from Gareth Barry, denied by an acrobatic reaction from Sorensen, serving as the Citizens’ best chance.

Roque Santa Cruz would also have a good opportunity in stoppage time, cutting a ball wide of goal as he went for the far post after being put in alone on Sorensen.

Now headed for a replay at the Brittania, these clubs will see each other one more time before the second match. The Citizens and Potters meet in league play on Tuesday.

Also of note was the return of Joleon Lescott, who partnered Kolo Touré in the middle of defense, going the full ninety.