Dunne the ringmaster in City circus
A typically chaotic afternoon in east Manchester saw monsoon conditions, three red cards, an unlikely comeback from ever-improving Tottenham and, when the dust had settled, yet another defeat for City, whose inexplicable inconsistency is threatening to turn their season into a relegation struggle.
At the heart of the madness, not for the first time, was Richard Dunne. The Ireland defender endured a disastrous afternoon, committing an horrendous error in the first half to gift Spurs a way back into the game and then becoming the first of Mike Dean’s red card victims after the interval.
The timing could hardly have been worse. Mark Hughes must have been praying for a morale-boosting victory ahead of his trip to see his Abu Dhabi paymasters on Tuesday, but instead Spurs arrived to inflict a fifth defeat in seven league games on his Jekyll and Hyde side.
“It’s difficult enough to win Premier League games with a full compliment of players, never mind when you are reduced to nine men,” he said. “But I can take enough positives from the game because my players continued to show the necessary qualities when it would have been quite easy to let circumstances dictate the outcome.
“It’s just unfortunate that the referee didn’t take the conditions into account during the game.’’
For all the euphoria of the Abu Dhabi takeover two months ago, Hughes will fly out to the Middle East knowing that his revolution at Eastlands is not happening quickly enough.
While the party line trotted out by Hughes and the club is that the manager had less than 24 hours to spend the millions at his disposal on transfer deadline day — €40 million of which he spent on Robinho — the facts of the matter are that, throughout Europe, only Internazionale spent more money on new players than City during the summer.
So, having invested €92m in his squad since arriving from Blackburn, Hughes will hardly be able to complain of a lack of funds when he sits down with his new bosses.
The patience of previous owner Thaksin Shinawatra was notoriously thin, as Sven-Goran Eriksson would testify. Sheikh Mansour’s has yet to be tested, but if the aim really is to bring Champions League football to this part of Manchester as quickly as possible, then he might have to satisfy himself with at least another 18 months of waiting. No matter what happens between now and the end of the season, City’s inconsistencies are too widespread for them to gatecrash the top four this campaign.
Even so, tabloid speculation of Darren Ferguson being lined up create an intriguing Ferguson v Ferguson managerial clash in Manchester would not have worried the Welshman when he glanced at the Sunday newspapers.
Facing Harry Redknapp again, less than two months after his team inflicted a 6-0 hammering on Redknapp’s Portsmouth, was always likely to have been of more concern for Hughes, however.
Since his arrival at White Hart Lane two weeks ago, Redknapp has transformed a club seemingly drifting towards a cataclysmic relegation under Juande Ramos.
Seven points from three games, including an incredible 4-4 draw at Arsenal, have injected a reservoir of confidence into the Spurs squad and City were faced with a hugely different opponent to the one they might have faced three weeks ago.
Luka Modric, David Bentley and Darren Bent have all grown in stature since Redknapp replaced Ramos at the helm and, although Heurelho Gomes continues to resemble an accident waiting to happen in goal, Spurs now look like a team capable of living up to their billing as the club most likely to threaten the top four.
So Hughes would have been delighted and relieved in equal measure when Robinho opened the scoring on 16 minutes with his seventh goal in nine league games for the club.
The Brazilian scored a hat-trick in his last league outing at Eastlands and he maintained his goal streak when he pounced from 10 yards after Gomes had saved Darius Vassell’s shot.
City appeared to be in control, but their game-plan fell apart when holding midfielder Gelson Fernandes was sent off on 26 minutes following two bookings for fouls on Modric and Bentley.
With a one-man advantage, Spurs sensed a route back into the game and City goalkeeper Joe Hart had to produce a fine save to deny Modric an equaliser from close range on 28 minutes.
Seconds later, though, Bent hauled Spurs level when he made the most of a terrible mistake by Dunne. The City captain missed the ball completely when he attempted to clear Modric’s long pass and Bent latched onto the ball before nervelessly slotting under the exposed Hart.
City were now faced with having to contain Spurs for another hour with the disadvantage of being a man short and, defensively fragile as they are, that was never going to be easy.
It was therefore no surprise when Bent claimed his second to put Spurs in front on 64 minutes. Tom Huddlestone’s raking pass found Jermaine Jenas on the edge of the penalty area and the midfielder held off Dunne before laying off for Bent to guide the ball into the net off the far post.
City’s hopes of fighting back then vanished on 83 minutes when Dunne was rightly dismissed for nudging Bent to the ground on the edge of the penalty area.
Benoit Assou-Ekotto’s sending off on 89 minutes for a second booking was also justified, but no game that ends with three red cards is ever likely to be remembered for anything else.
“I’m happy to get off the bottom,” Redknapp said. “When I came in, we only had two points and it could have been a scary situation for us had we not picked up these three wins in the last four games. It’s all about confidence, though. I have just come in and talked to everybody to get to know them. But they are good players and they are just showing the confidence they now have.”
REFEREE: Mike Dean (Wirral) 6: City complained about his decision to dismiss Fernandes in the first half, but Dean had no choice and he was also left with no option but to send off Dunne.
MATCH RATING: *** The incessant rain made for a decent spectacle and Spurs showed their new found resilience to overcome a poor start and claim the points.
RICHARD DUNNE’S low points in the last six months at Manchester City.
11 May: As if slumping to an embarrassing 8-1 defeat at Middlesbrough is not bad enough, the Ireland defender is also sent off for a professional foul.
14 August: A poor error at home to UEFA Cup minnows Midtylland gifts the Danish side a first leg lead.
20 Oct: City are well placed for victory at Newcastle when Dunne diverts a harmless cross into his own net to put the hosts back in the game. Only Stephen Ireland saves a point for City.
2 November: City are already careering towards defeat at local rivals Bolton when Dunne puts through his own goal to seal the points for Wanderers.
9 November: Sent off again as City lose 2-1 at home to Tottenham.
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