Hull City vs. Manchester City: Winners and Losers from Premier League Game

Manchester City needed to set an early tone against Hull City. No need to let the KC Stadium partisans think their side would be in this match at the end.

And Manuel Pellegrini's men did just that, scoring twice in the first 11 minutes to take a commanding lead and serve notice that Hull City might be in for a caning.

This being Manchester City, though, things thereafter did not quite go exactly to plan, though, it did end well enough for the Sky Blues.

Here are some winners and losers from Hull City 2, Manchester City 4.

Winner: Willy Caballero

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Meet the new boss.

The only reason this slide is not titled "Loser: Joe Hart" is because that just seems cruel. But ultimately, that is the takeaway from Manchester City's team sheet against Hull City.

For the second time in as many seasons, Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has benched incumbent No. 1 goalkeeper Joe Hart. Last season, when Hart was replaced by Costel Pantilimon, it never really felt permanent. Pantilimon was not an elite player, and Pellegrini had no allegiance to the towering Romanian.

This time it feels different.

"Caballero was picked out personally by Pellegrini not only because of his experience and his performances under him at Malaga, but because he trusts his character," noted Stuart Brennan in the Manchester Evening News.

Hart got no help from Caballero against Hull City, as the only two balls to get past Caballero came from an Eliaquim Mangala own goal and a penalty that Mangala conceded. It would be tough to blame Caballero for either of those goals.

Maybe Pellegrini was telling the truth when he said that Manchester City do not have a No. 1 goalkeeper, per Robin Cottle for the Daily Mail.

Hart would prefer to start, but if he is not starting, his only hope is that Pellegrini really does see this position as a time share.

Loser: Eliaquim Mangala

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Mangala's forgettable day was salvaged by the other 10 Citizens.

Manchester City defender Eliaquim Mangala's transfer from Porto set a Premier League record from a cost perspective. No Premier League team had paid that much money for a defender before.

Mangala was worth every bit of his transfer fee against Chelsea last week. Against Hull City, though, Mangala looked to be playing the match a second behind the other 21 players on the pitch.

The Frenchman's timing on both the header he directed into his own net and in the high challenge he put to Hull City striker Abel Hernandez was fatally inaccurate.

On another day, the two goals Mangala accounted for might have sunk Manchester City. But Mangala's teammates bailed him out this time.

Winner: Edin Dzeko

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Dzeko said the goals would come now, and here they come.

Edin Dzeko probably knew that the goals were coming, even if we didn't.

Unlike so many footballers (especially strikers), Dzeko does not go out of his way to draw notice to himself or the things he is doing. He was especially quiet early this season while going goalless for a month despite all-around solid play in the field.

Then Dzeko opened his season's account with a brace against Sheffield Wednesday in the Capital One Cup. By potting two more against Hull City, Dzeko let us all know that there was more where that came from.

With Sergio Aguero continuing to score seemingly every time he plays, Manchester City's striking tandem is heating up at an opportune time.

Winner: Frank Lampard

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Does this man look washed up to you?

You just know Manuel Pellegrini loves taking Jose Mourinho's cast-off legend and freecycling him into the Premier League's oldest "new" star.

Frank Lampard has now scored in three straight matches for Manchester City. And these are big goals Lampard is scoring.

The former Chelsea man saved Manchester City from a devastating defeat to the Blues last week, then punctured Sheffield Wednesday's theretofore resolute defense in the Capital One Cup for Manchester City's first of seven goals in that match.

Against Hull City, Lampard's redirection of a Pablo Zabaleta cross was Manchester City's fourth and final goal, which restored the Sky Blues' two-goal advantage and sealed all three points.

Lampard's doubters, chief among them Mourinho, look more foolish with each Lampard goal. 

Loser: Steve Bruce

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Bruce's seat might be heating up.

Hull City came into this encounter with Manchester City on a bad run.

Their collapse to West Brom in the Capital One Cup this week "was the fourth time Hull have blown a lead this season after tossing away six points in the Barclays Premier League to Stoke, West Ham and Newcastle," noted a recent Sky Sports report.

Against Manchester City, Hull City manager Steve Bruce's side never had a lead to relinquish—and this result still managed to sting.

After going down, 0-2, in the first 11 minutes, Bruce's charges clawed back to level the match and were even at the interval.

But two more Manchester City goals in the second half condemned Hull City to more misery. Hull City "remain without a Premier League win since their opening day victory over QPR," noted BBC Sport's Mike Keegan.

In a Premier League climate where no manager's job ever feels all that safe, Bruce has to be concerned that he will be out if things do not turn for Hull City in the very near future.