Newcastle reax

Ian Herbert, The Independent

The tackling of De Jong – who was known as Rassenmaher ("lawnmower") in his Ajax days – is something of a running joke at City's Carrington training ground. David Silva first arrived this summer to find someone had posted up an image of De Jong's notorious challenge on his compatriot Xabi Alonso in the World Cup final. Perhaps it is because the timing of his tackles is relatively good that they do not look as horrific as, say, Wolves' Karl Henry's on Wigan's Jordi Gomez on Saturday or Stoke's Andy Wilkinson's on Fulham's Moussa Dembélé, which have intensified the debate on players' safety this season.

Ian Whittell, The Guardian

Indeed, for all the hundreds of millions invested by City in recent seasons, only Tevez can match Johnson for the excitement he generates among home supporters, who were calling for his introduction long before Mancini finally succumbed to their wishes and replaced one of his three holding midfield players in order to add width and flair to a team that was running out of ideas.

Mark Ogden, Daily Telegraph

Newcastle were unfortunate, but City have underlined their emergence as a growing threat to the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United for the title this season.

It was anything but an impressive performance, but Mancini’s team still emerged victorious and Kidd, who assisted Sir Alex Ferguson at the outset of United’s domestic dominance, insisted that the points, rather than the performance, are the key.

Bitter and Blue

That said, we got the win; three points that takes us second in the table. Although aided to some degree by Martin Atkinson, there have been frustrating afternoons over the past couple of seasons (in particular at home) and left bemoaning the ability to finish sides off and take all three points. Credit should therefore be given to the side for being able to craft out a victory when it was not entirely deserved.