Man City to rotate strikeforce ahead of hectic schedule

MANCHESTER: Manchester City’s first team coach David Platt revealed the club will rotate their expensively-assembled strikeforce for the rest of the campaign after an emphatic 3-0 win over West Bromwich Albion.

A first-half hat-trick by Carlos Tevez, who was celebrating his 27th birthday, delivered all three points for City, who could even afford to leave new signing Edin Dzeko on the bench at Eastlands.

While Dzeko’s omission raised eyebrows before kick-off, Platt revealed City had no qualms about resting their strikers when tactics dictated.

“It’s a hell of a problem isn’t it?” joked Platt.

“We can play in different ways and we felt that if we played this way today, we could open them up.

“You will get games when Carlos and Edin play together and there are so many games that I think our longest break between now and the end of the season is five days.

“If we want to achieve what we want to achieve, and keep progressing in two cup competitions, then we need our whole squad to be there.

“We will look at each game as it comes and decide whether we play with one front man, with two front men, whether Carlos plays off Edin.”

City’s hopes of challenging for the championship were aided by the spectacular events at Newcastle where one of Platt’s former clubs Arsenal threw away a 4-0 lead to draw with the home side - a result which, claimed Platt, helped make up for the disappointment of a relatively flat second half display from City.

“We came off a little bit disappointed not to have got more goals and played in the way we did in the first half,” he said.

“You come out with all the old cliches – ‘It’s still 0-0, go out and win the second half as well, goal difference is important.’

“But human nature means you take the foot off the pedal. And in the Premier League, if you lose that five per cent – coupled with the reaction from the opposition – then you see what happened.

“Then you see what’s happened at St James’ and I’d rather be in our dressing room than Arsenal’s.”

Next up for City is the small matter of a trip to Old Trafford on Saturday where they face league leaders United in a derby fixture that could have a major say in deciding the eventual title winners.

“Our manager believes we can win every match,” added Platt. “Next week is a very, very difficult game for us, there is no doubt. But the manager will already have started preparing for that game.”