Lampard proves the gift that keeps on giving for City

Manchester City 3 Sunderland 2

Frank Lampard started the new year the unwitting pawn in a transatlantic public relations debacle, but, on the field of play at least, the 36-year-old undermined why he is a player worth fighting for.

Lampard decided a thrilling second half with the winning goal, four minutes after being thrown on as a substitute by Manuel Pellegrini, the City manager who cast further doubt and discord over Lampard’s position with his post-match comments.

City announced late on New Year’s Eve Lampard, who had been playing at the Etihad since August on a short-term contract, would remain with the Premier League title hopefuls until the end of the English season in May.

That would see him arrive with MLS expansion club New York City, owned by Manchester owner Mansour bin Zayed Al Nayhan, two months into their inaugural season, a state of affairs that angered American football fans.

Pellegrini poured further oil on those troubled waters last night when he refused to confirm whether Lampard will ever play for the New York team amid uncertainty over the exact nature of his contract with the US club — if, indeed, there even is one.

“Frank Lampard will stay now with us until the end of the season. In the month of May, you can start thinking about what will happen in the future,” said Pellegrini.

Manchester officials moved last night to insist Lampard will definitely fly to New York on the completion of the Premier League season but the club’s handling of the whole affair has left the issue shrouded in uncertainty.

City had energetic attacking left-back Gael Clichy to thank for his persistence and deft crossing touch as he clipped over a centre which allowed Lampard to capitalise on a slip by Wes Brown, who moved away from his opponent, and steer a superb 73rd minute header into the corner of the Sunderland goal.

“I repeat, I don’t think anybody can be surprised by Frank Lampard,” said Pellegrini. “The whole career, the player has an important amount of goals. I always say he is an important player for us. That’s why we brought him here. It’s very important now that he will stay with us until the end of the season.”

There had been no indication of the drama yet to unfold during a turgid first half in which Sunderland expertly followed Gus Poyet’s game plan, but the first sign of an error was ruthlessly exploited by the City on 57 minutes as Clichy worked the ball in from the left to Stevan Jovetic who, in turn, found Toure who beat former City goalkeeper Costel Pantillimon with a magnificent 22-yard strike.

Nine minutes later, the visitors were again punished after Clichy was allowed space down the left and Jovetic allowed even more room inside the six-yard area, the latter converting with a superb back heel.

But that Burnley experience clearly had not hit home for the City players. After 68 minutes, former City player Jack Rodwell was left unmarked to steer Seb Larsson’s corner past Willy Caballero with a deft header and, two minutes after that, it was yet another ex-City man, the winger Adam Johnson, who equalised from the penalty spot when Pablo Zabaleta was punished for bringing down Billy Jones.

But the response was swift. Lampard’s winner followed three minutes later. The veteran might have claimed a hat-trick before the final whistle.

Jesus Navas also found himself clean through, and denied by the Sunderland keeper, Toure attempted to walk the ball past Pantillimon while Fernandinho came up with a disappointing attempt from a dangerous position.

Lampard’s role in the outcome was not lost on Sunderland manager Gus Poyet, although he thought City deserved praise, rather than criticism. “For me it’s clever, it’s smart. It’s legal, so I’ve got no problem with that,” said Poyet. “But his goal? Yes, I do have a problem with that!”

MAN CITY (4-2-3-1): Caballero 7; Zabaleta 5, Demichelis 6, Mangala 5, Clichy 8; Toure 7, Fernandinho 6; Navas 6, Silva 7 (Milner 89), Nasri 7 (Kolarov 85); Jovetic 7 (Lampard 69, 7).

SUNDERLAND (4-1-4-1): Pantillimon 8; Vergini 5 (Coates 78, 6), Brown 7, O’Shea 6, Jones 5; Rodwell 7; Buckley 7 (Alvarez 65, 7), Larsson 6, Gomez 5 (Giaccherini 57, 6), Johnson 6; Wickham 5.

Referee: R East 6.