City: Schmeichel, Richards, Onuoha (Jihai 62), Dunne, Garrido, Elano (Geovanni h-t), Johnson (Corradi 71), Fernandes (Hamann 71), Petrov, Ireland, Bianchi. – Subs: Mentel, Ball, M MIlls, D Mills, Logan, Dabo, Miller, Vassell, Dickov, Samaras.

Valencia: Canizares, Caneira, Moretti, Albiol, Marchena, Albelda, Joaquin, Baraja, Angula, Silva, Gavilan. – Subs:  Miguel, Mora, Vicente, Alexis, Del Horno, Sunny, Mata, Arizmendi, Villa, Morientes, Hildebrand.

 WHAT THE PAPERS SAID

 BIG SVENDER

….Valencia ruined Eriksson’s first outing at Eastlands yesterday despite the Swede spending £40m on eight new faces in the past few weeks.

But Palermo’s £3m Aussie midfielder Bresciano will check in at City tomorrow, with £5m rated Livorno stopper Amelia arriving hot on his heels.

Eriksson said…. “I would be a liar if I said I did not want more time to get the team ready for the Premier League but, hopefully, we will be a lot closer in six days time.”

The former England boss received a rapturous reception from the City faithful…and despite the loss, the Swede insisted he came away feeling much happier about his new club’s prospects [he] said “it was a very positive performance. Valencia are one of the best teams in Europe and we created more chances than they did.

Two of my players had had just one training session, five were new signings and two had never played for us, so I have to be happy with the performance”.

With five new signings making their home debuts, City were all over the place in the early stages. Eriksson’s new boys looked exactly like the strangers they are and it was no surprise when the Spaniards scored on 10 minutes. Gelson Fernandes gave the ball away to David Silva, who cut City open by releasing Miguel Angulo. He raced past full back Javier Garrido and although his right foot strike was blocked by keeper Kasper Schmeichel, Silva slotted home the loose ball.

City improved and Bulgarian midfielder Martin Petrov and Brazilian winger Elano looked the best of Eriksson’s buys.

Eriksson was impressed with England defender Micah Richards, 19. He said “Any club in Europe would want Micah he’s as strong as a horse, an extremely good defender and very quick

By Brian Power