Oop the East Lancs Road
for a jaunt to the Eastlands Stadium.
Cra ppy weather in Manchester (no change
there then really), and some pretty cra ppy football from Manchester City. Everton played very well and ran out fairly
comfortable two goal winners. Howard
gets tested late, Hibbo stifles Petrov, Elano is cr ap, Benjani is AWOL in the
second half and we have a red for the petulant Bulgarian. Stiles, well some quite good and some pretty
awful.
Short trip North East ensures a
good away turnout in Manchester. The weather didn’t douse the fans’ enthusiasm
or voices. Spark is added to the match
with Everton old boys Dunne and Ball playing for City and the stadium is a
regular haven for managers and ex managers.
Taking a pew are Big Sam, Peter Reid, Roy Keane, Steve Bruce and Fabio
Capello. On the pitch it’s a European
six pointer.
Moyes changes the side that
thrashed SK Brann and opts for a familiar 4 4 1 1. Howard keeps goal, Hibbert slots in at right
back, Yobo, Jagielka and Lescott operate to his left. Carsley and Neville sit deep with Pienaar
Osman and Cahill getting licenses to attack with Yakubu as the main forward. Some might call this 4 2 3 1 or 4 5 1 or 4 2
2 1, really just ignore them.
A SCOT AND A SWEDE WATCH THE BLUE ACTION AT EASTLANDS!
Hard to change a winning team so
Sven doesn’t. The Swede selects the same
eleven that beat Manchester United. Hart
keeps goal with a back four of Onuoha, Richards, Dunne and Ball, the five man
midfield is Petrov, Ireland, Fernandes, Hamman, Vassel
with Benjani up front on his own. A
pretty standard 4 5 1, although perhaps best suited to the away side.
City starts off on the front foot
and gets nowhere. All half they had
plenty of possession and did nothing with it, Howard had to come and punch or
claim a few balls but didn’t have to save.
Everton defended thirty yards out and a narrow City just kept mindlessly
bashing up against a blue wall.
City’s best cross came just
before the interval when Fernandes whipped a ball between Howard and the
defenders, Benjani spent too much time wondering what it was and the chance
went.
The visitors threatened Hart all
the first half, crisply bringing the ball out of defence or from a ball won in
midfield and going straight at City with pace and bags of ideas.
Richards probably didn’t give
Everton it’s first penalty of the Premier League season as Stiles was blind or
just unsighted.
Hart saves well from Yakubu at
the near post.
Pienaar hits the bar.
Finally the traveling fans get
their goal. Feed the Yak and he Will
Score!
A deep throw in down the right
comes infield to Yakubu, Cahill’s running off Hamman finds the diminutive Ozzie
in space, he beats the first man and whips a cross through the legs of the
second, Yakubu had continued his run and finishes with clarity and clamness
over Hart. Great move, super finish and
a well earned 0-1.
FEED THE YAK AND HE WILL SCORE - THAT'S SIXTEEN FOR THE SEASON SO FAR!
City’s response, Petrov; stifled
all night by Hibbert; blast one wide from twenty five yards.
Carsley is feeling up for the
game and starts an attack from his own half, he is fouled by Hamman on the edge
of the area and Stiles is just poor.
Everton keep cutting through the
City midfield and back line and win a corner, it goes way too long and the
Irishman is a willing runner. Carsley
looks up and lobs a ball to wards the back post, Dunne and Hart are ball
watching as Lescott adds to his excellent tally for the season with a neatly
finished looping header back over Hart and into the far corner. Sloppy defending seals the game.
GOAL SCORER AND GOAL PROVIDER CELEBRATE THE FORMER WOLVES DEFENDER'S EIGHGTH OF THE SEASON!
Eriksson removes Hamman; well
played by Cahill; and opts for the more fluid attacking verve of the Brazilian,
Elano. Moyes keeps his side the same,
just asks them to sit a little and take the pace out of the game.
Ball’s challenge prevents Cahill
from giving Everton and early 0-3 lead after good work with Yakubu off a throw
in.
City mount some pressure but
continue to be easy to defend, they lack width, Elano and Petrov aren’t
delivering good balls into the area, Benjani is barely a threat and the
substitutions don’t really change much.
It’s only in the final ten minutes when City start to try playground
football that Howard actually has some saves to make.
Mexican Castillo gets onto a
loose ball and fires through a crowd, Howard gets down well and Jagielka
clears.
Petrov fires one straight at
Howard, meat and drink.
A cross sees Howard punch the
ball against Benjani, Jagielka clears the loose ball.
Other than one Dunne chance; off
a dodgy free kick decision that Petrov delivered well; City were pretty dire
really.
Everton continued to threaten and
defend extremely well, Jagielka being outstanding alongside Yobo.
Pienaar is replaced by Fernandes
who is in turn replaced by JJohn son, perhaps worrying Moyes in terms of
upcoming games with Carsley suspended after a fifth Yellow.
JJohn son and the Yak had half
chances but Everton’s best second half chance fell to Carsley, the midfielder
took advantage of Stiles’ play on call and walloped the ball goalwards before
City had even organized a wall, Hart was equal to the shot and parried it
over.
Petrov’s petulance lands him in
hot water at the end of the match, an odd whistle from Stiles; although play
still goes on; see Yakubu run away from the Bulgarian who aims a kick at the
Nigerian. Nothing is given for that one. Almost at the end of the game Petrov looses
out to Osman and tries to play some footsie with the back of Osman’s calf.
Stiles thinks, “EH! I CAN GET IN THE HEADLINES TOMORROW LETS GIVE HIM A
STRAIGHT RED!” and dishes out an automatic three match ban. Even I thought it a bit harsh and I support
Everton.
PETROV TAKES AN EARLY BATH!
Everton outplayed and out thought
City in every department tonight. Bloody
brilliant performance from a team full of beans (‘swagger’ as Tim Sherwood
describes it). Threatening goals all
game and solid at the back, it could have been three or four nil instead of just
two nil. Many this season have talked
about how the team is pretty ‘workmanlike’ without Arteta. No Arteta tonight and hardly workmanlike!
Beating Manchester United was a
bit flukey and it showed. City tried
exactly the same stuff that didn’t work at Goodison and got beat. Substitutions didn’t work and moving from a 4
5 1 through to something resembling a 1 1 8 in the final minutes they still
barely troubled the visitors. Pretty
poor in all areas of the pitch. What can
be done to stop this malaise at home?
Stiles, headline grabbing
arse! He can play a good advantage
sometimes! How can the man who has given
more penalties than any other Premier League referee not point to the spot at
least once tonight? Burley slaughtered
him and I pretty much agree with most of what the Scot said. Still at the end of the day even cra ppy
refereeing couldn’t deny a thoroughly enjoyable win.
Plenty of possession can’t hide Manchester
United’s striking woes; Manchester City put up a stubborn defence and grab a winner, 1-0
at the City of Manchester Stadium.
This Manchester
derby was different, two wins and a chance to top the fledgling Premier League
table saw a packed house with vociferous support from both the red and blue
halves of Manchester,
an overcast August day made conditions ideal for football.
Eriksson made some changes as he
tries to integrate all the new signings he’s made over the summer, Bianchi was
replaced up front by Bojinov, Elano was alongside; a midfield of Geovanni,
Johnson, Hamann and Petrov provided a touch of steel and a touch of guile, a
back four saw, Corluka and Garrido on the flanks with Richards and Dunne as centre
backs, son of Schmeichel remained the stand in for the injured Isaksson.
An injury hit United saw van den
Sar in goal, Brown, Ferdinand,, Vidic and Evra provided the back four, Nani
started on the left with Giggs occupying the right, Hargreaves and Carrick
occupied the midfield, one to sit the other to go forward, Scholes and Tevez
made up the front two with the expectation that the Englishman would be playing
behind the Argentinean.
The opening few moments were a
cagey affair, United started well, easily keeping the ball with fluid passing
and crisp delivery, they seemed concerned with possession more than attack. Brown fouls Petrov on the left as City gained
some rare possession.
Nani makes space on the left but
looses possession. When the opening
appears United pounce; Tevez finds Scholes on the edge of the area, the ball is
played into the path of Nani, he goes near post allowing Schmeichel to parry
the ball away, poor choice of shots for the Portuguese winger.
Tevez wins a corner kick off a
Scholes through ball but City clear their lines; Brown goes forward on the
right, City clear; Scholes finds only the ‘keeper with his through ball.
Bojinov is brought off for Mpenza,
his knee injured after an awkward landing.
Corluka and Geovanni combine on
the left, United clear easily and retain possession; Tevez works the ball with
Nani on the United left and finds Carrick with a deep ball, he looses
possession and City clear; Nani fires in a promising cross which goes behind
for a goal kick.
On the left Petrov makes a
touchline run, he dives as Brown challenges for the ball and earns the England man a
talking to; Richards delivers a ball forward into no one.
Giggs cuts inside and plays in
Scholes, Nani receives the ball but takes one touch before he shoots and is
closed down, he should have hit the ball first time; a beautifully crafted,
flowing, passing move covering both flanks and several United players comes to
nothing.
Scholes is sitting deeper in a
five man midfield and City are just sitting back, they can’t get more than a
sniff of the ball in the early going.
Scholes plays in Giggs who drops
a ball to Tevez and runs into space on the left, the Argentinean doesn’t see
the Welshman’s runs and gives the ball away, Giggs is furious; he does better
when running onto a through ball, his pace takes him past Dunne but Richards
times his tackle to perfection and takes the ball away for City to clear. Nani, creating lots of trouble on the left;
gets the ball from Scholes and wins a corner off Corluka, the first delivery is
cleared behind at the far post and the second is played short to Giggs to
Hargreaves who delivers an angled ball in, Scholes' header is too soft to take
advantage of the flailing Dane but City clear their lines and get the ball out
to Petrov who promptly wastes possession.
Nani and Evra work the left flank
and a delightful back heel from Nani puts Evra through on goal, a last minute
tackle as Evra is pulling the trigger forces the shot to be shanked
behind.
Hamann gets a foot on the ball
and passes to Mpenza, the Belgian is robbed by Carrick and United surge
forward, Tevez gets the ball but is pushed wide by Richards; retaining
possession United switch flanks, Evra and Nani combining to win a corner, City
clear the area and hand United back the ball, Scholes finds space on the edge
of the area after drifting around Hamann but he takes one too many touches and
is closed down.
City have their first shot when
Johnson fires high from 35 yards out.
Geovanni drifts past his marker
but has his run baulked, Richards flings himself at the ball to keep it in play
and City retain possession, they work the ball back in the centre; through
Hamann; back to Geovanni and he takes a shot as Ferdinand back off him, a
wicked deflection of the defender takes the ball past a diving van den Sar
inside his left hand post for a shock City opener.
Brown gets space and time on the
right but decides to foul his marker for a yellow card.
Evra works the ball inside to
Nani and it finds Scholes who gets a pass off to Tevez, the striker drops a
ball back out to Hargreaves who delivers a poor cross behind for a goal
kick.
City enjoy a brief spell of
possession; Hamann, Petrov, Garrido, Elano and finally Mpenza combine in a
fluid and resilient passing move which sees the Belgian’s shot blocked and
Tevez break up field only for Dunne to clear.
Corluka works the ball to Elano
but the flat cross is gathered up by van den Sar.
Giggs get on the end of a Nani
cross and stabs the ball goal bound, Schmeichel parries it, Richards clears it
as Scholes looks on in befuddlement.
Hamann is starting to get into
the game, he tracks Scholes and limits the influence of the United midfielder
and disrupts the United rhythm as well as steadying City.
Petrov gets the ball again on the
left and this time is fouled by Nani.
Brown combine with Nani on the
right flank but the play is snuffed out by Schmeichel’s smart pick up; Tevez
delivers a ball for Carrick which is too narrow; Scholes, Carrick and Evra
combine to fee the ball to Giggs, Corluka wins the ball and clears for City;
Dunne clears the next Giggs ball in for a corner, Evra uses his skills to find
space in the area and fires a pass to Nani but the shot is wide from 25 yards
out; Ferdinand gets forward and works the ball with Brown and Nani, Carrick
looses the ball and ends the promising move.
Both managers keep the sides the
same.
Hamann and Scholes continue their
tussle and the German gets the better of the Englishman with a free kick.
Garrido concedes a corner after
tracking back a long Nani run. The pacy
ball in is met well by Vidic but crashes against the bar; Schmeichel didn’t
clear his lines at all and merely flailed his arms at the shot, grateful for
the woodwork saving his bacon; Scholes fires the rebound wide from close in;
inexplicably.
Petrov gets to show his skills
with a great ball delivered into the heart of the United area from the right,
United manage to clear.
Dunne clears up an attack
involving Giggs, Tevez and Nani down the right; Tevez wins a corner off Dunne
and City clear; Tevez plays in a central Scholes who can’t find Giggs with his
pass to the flank; Hargreaves and Scholes combine to play in Nani City hold
firm and United retain possession, they come at their neighbors again with
Vidic, he delivers a great ball in for Giggs, the winger delivers the ball into
the box for two of his team mates, but Dunne’s reading of the situation was
lightning quick and he clears the ball between two red shirts.
Hamann gets a yellow for a cynical
trip on Giggs; Corluka gets a yellow soon after.
Carrick cuts through the middle
and flashes the ball wide to Nani, with space to work the winger can only send
a ball high and behind the three United players at the far post; Carrick works
the ball to Scholes, he play in Hargreaves, Brown gets the next ball and feeds
Nani and again Richards clears.
Giggs feeds Tevez on the edge of
the area, a neat back heel finds Scholes but his #### is poor, high and
wide.
Nani must be tired, he is taken
off for Eagles and was by far the most threatening of the United front
players.
Tevez finds Scholes who play in
Giggs out wide on the left, a signature Giggs ball is played in but Scholes and
Eagles can’t get the touch that would give them a goal and the ball goes
behind.
City continue to defend and
struggle to get any meaningful possession going forward.
Schmeichel claims a cross in from
Nani; just like his dad.
City bring out Elano; largely
superfluous and bring in Bianchi to act as the lone front man.
Giggs; having freedom to roam;
runs at City through the middle, he flashes a pass out to Eagles on the right
flank he continues to run in but the cross is put behind for a corner, Hamann
clears up field to Petrov and the Bulgarian holds the ball up then plays in the
German, Hamann finds Geovanni a poor touch allows Evra to clear.
Scholes puts in Hargreaves who
sees a shot blocked, the ball comes out for Tevez and he then has a shot
blocked.
Hargreaves needlessly fouls
Geovanni and City get a free kick 28 yards out.
The Brazilian gets the ball over the wall but it’s too soft to trouble van
den Sar.
Carrick works the ball to Giggs
then sends the return pass to Eagles whose early ball in is cleared for a
corner; Dunne clears the subsequent ball in despite the big three coming
forward again.
Ferdinand and Bianchi play
handbags in the byline and the referee is imminently sensible.
Carrick feeds Scholes who
delivers a great chip forward but Tevez is offside.
Hamann plays in Geovanni who
feeds Petrov who delivers a long ball to Mpenza, his cross is cleared and
United come away with the ball, it goes long to Eagles but Schmeichel is
quickly off his line to smother the ball.
Corluka holds up Giggs but the
winger recovers to deliver a cross which goes wide. United try to change things up with the
inclusion of O’Shea; in at right back and Campbell
on as a striker; Brown and Carrick come off.
Ball and Geovanni combine briefly
before the Brazilian loses the ball.
Campbell gets one wide to Giggs but the return
ball in is cleared by Richards, Tevez gets it and sees his shot go wide.
City are slowing up and showing
definite signs of tiring.
Carrick and Mpenza clash and the
balls pops loose, Corluka sees an opportunity and drives one in from range just
over van der Sar’s crossbar.
Hargreaves, Evra and Giggs
combine in right only to get a goal kick decision.
Mpenza gets onto a long ball on
the right and fires in a cross for Bianchi, Ferdinand steps in and clears;
Mpenza fouls Evra giving United a free kick in a dangerous area, City clear
their lines without the help of a flailing Schmeichel.
Giggs puts in an early ball for
Tevez which simply has too much pace for the Argentinean; Hargreaves wins the
ball from a dithering Petrov and launches United forward but Tevez is held up
by Hamann and Corluka; Evra feeds a ball to Eagles on the flank the cross comes
in and is cleared by Dunne; Tevez fires the clearance wide.
Petrov makes some time and space
and gets the ball out to Mpenza; he cuts inside and fires over from a tight
angle.
Evra puts in a ball which City
clear behind, Schmeichel flaps as the ball sails past him and a surprised Tevez
can only head wide from two yards out at the near post with the goal gaping and
open; van den Sar joins in the attack as United have a corner kick from Giggs’
deflected cross, Dunne clears.
Ferdinand gets a yellow for
gobbing off and Dunne clears the ball out from United’s final attack.
Grabbing a goal against the run
of play and holding off your local rivals for 90 minutes will please the Swede,
an Injury to Bojinov will cause concern but overall the endeavour of the
players was excellent, particularly Dunne and Richards who kept their heads and
handled everything that was thrown at them; Schmeichel showed his inexperience
but came up with a couple of key saves their wasn’t much to shout about going
forward but Hamann was good and the team was focused on defence. Tonight
City sit atop the Premier
League.
United are playing like Arsenal,
plenty of lovely possession and passing and movement but very little in the way
of an end product. Ferguson even had to use a young untried
striker in order to create something.
Dominance of possession and nothing to show for it will probably mean
some new hairdryers at Old Trafford. For
a team not to pepper the opposition goal when a ‘keeper has shown he’s
vulnerable is awful, Rooney and co. are so well needed. A pretty terrible start to the season; two
points from three games.
Clattenburg had another excellent
game, he kept things flowing, made correct; mostly; decisions and used common
sense when things went askew. If he keep
on like this he’ll be going deep into a Cup competition.
The Cottagers away form last
season was awful; just one win away from Craven Cottage; Lawrie Sanchez didn’t
send them down and will want to impress now he’s been given the reins full
time.
Transfers:-
IN: Lee Cook (QPR,
£2.5m), David Healy (Leeds, £1.5m), Paul Konchesky (West Ham, £2m), Chris Baird
(Southampton, £3m), Diomansy Kamara (West Brom, £6m), Steven Davis (Aston
Villa, £4m), Aaron Hughes (Aston Villa, £1m)
A promising
Championship midfielder, a manager’s favourite, another manager’s favorite, a
Premier League wannabee and two Villa rejects.
OUT: Michael Brown
(Wigan, undisclosed), Heidar Helguson (Bolton, £1m), Claus Jensen (released),
Tomasz Radzinski (released), Mark Crossley (Oldham, free), Mark Pembridge
(released), Matty Collins (Swansea,
free)
Goal:-
Warner is reasonable cover,
Batista is a prospect and Niemmi is a vastly experienced Finn who can be a bit
dubious under pressure but is a good shot stopper.
Quality ex-international who is
sometimes fallible, better than average and reasonable cover.
Defence:-
Volz is a popular and solid right
back, Bocanegra is one of the better American players, adaptable at the back
and a threat at corners, Queudrue is a solid defender but might be on his way
out, Christanval brings solid international experience and an ability to play
in front of the back line, Knight is gaining consistency and favour at the
club, Rosenior provides good competition for the German, Hughes is a solid pro
and will bring Fulham experience, Pearce is good, experienced cover at the
back, Omozusi and Briggs are prospects, Baird excelled in the Championship and
will want to repeat the feat in the Premier League, Konchesky is a manager’s
favourite and Zakuani and Milsom are prospects.
Two good pros and a mixed bag, if
they settle quickly they may stop the drop.
Midfield:-
Davis is a solid attack minded
midfielder, Bouba Diop excites the crowd with a thunderous shot, goals and a
strong work ethic, Smertin brings creativity and adaptability to Fulham,
Bullard is a solid pro with a good work rate, he is currently recuperating from
ligament damage, Dempsey is one of the better Americans and will look to have
more impact this season at Fulham, Davies is a solid journeyman right sided midfielder,
Elrich is a promising squad player, Cook is a promising young player with
experience, Elliot will hope to win back a place in the first team; he’s a
solid defensive midfielder and James and Timlin are prospects.
An average midfield which; again;
will need to adjust to each other to play well.
Attack:-
Kamara is a solid Championship
striker and will want to do better than his two goals in West Brom’s relegation
season, John will be working hard to get back into the first team, McBride is
experienced and pops up with crucial goals, he is looking to continue his rich
scoring vein of last season, Healy is a quality international with good
Championship pedigree.
McBride is getting on and the
others may struggle to get goals in the Premier League.
Manager:-
Excelling with his native country
but keen to be a club manager, the ex Crazy Gang member has over ten years of
management experience.
Integrating the new players will
be tough and by the time things even out Fulham will be in trouble, no cup runs
and team that will struggle to hit the magic 40 this season. Their away form will remain terrible.
Liverpool FC
Raphael Benitez has one goal, the
Premier League, having been Champions League winners is great but the league is
the Grail at Anfield. Flooding the
English game with a variety of Latin superstars Benitez is putting his stamp on
the red half of Liverpool.
Transfers:-
IN: Ryan Babel (Ajax, £11.5m),
Yossi Benayoun (West Ham, £5m), Fernando Torres (Atletico Madrid, £21.5m),
Lucas Leiva (Gremio, £8m), Sebastian Leto (Lanus, £1.8m), Andriy Voronin (Bayer
Leverkusen, free), Mikel San Jose (Athletic Bilbao, £270,000), Nikolay Mihaylov
(Levski Sofia, undisclosed), Krisztian Nemeth (MTK Hungaria, free), Andras
Simon (MTK Hungaria, free), Ryan Crowther (Stockport, undisclosed).
A hot young Dutch prospect, a
solid international, a Spanish stud, a Brazilian Karel Poborsky imitator, an Argentinean
winger, a Ukrainian Karel Poborsky imitator, a Spanish prospect, a Bulgarian
‘keeper, two Hungarian prospects and a young English prospect.
OUT: Craig Bellamy (West Ham,
£7.5m), Djibril Cisse (Marseille, £6m), Luis Garcia (Atletico Madrid,
£3.5m), Florent Sinama-Pongolle (Recreativo Huelva, £2.7m), Jerzy Dudek (Real
Madrid, free), Bolo Zenden (Marseille, free), Robbie Fowler (Cardiff,
free), Danny Guthrie (Bolton, loan), Adam Hammill (Southampton,
loan)
Goal:-
Reina is young and good at spot
kicks, sometimes error prone but normally solid, Carson is the understudy and Martin and
Mihalyov are prospects, Mihaylov. If
Reina gets injured Liverpool will
struggle.
Defence:-
San Jose is a prospect, Finnan is
a solid right back who likes to get forward and cross, Hyypia is experienced
back up at the back, Agger is a quality centre back with an eye for goal who’ll
want more first team play this season, Arne Riise can play left back or left
midfield and scores the odd goal, Aurelio will want to be ready and fir the for
upcoming season, Arbeloa is a versatile right back, Carragher is the rock upon
which Liverpool fortunes rest, a excellent centre back and Liverpool stalwart,
Paletta is a promising Argentinean, Roque, Darby, Threlfall, Smith and Hobbs
are all prospects and Insua is promising, young cover.
Great home form, reasonable away
form. They have the tools to blunt any
Premiership defence but often had bad games last season.
Midfield:-
Kewell, when fit, adds creativity
on the flanks and can score goals, Gerrard is red blooded and one of the better
box-to-box players in the Premier League, he scores important goals and drives
the Liverpool máquina, Benayoun
will be a competent squad player, Alonso is a quality deep-lying playmaker,
Pennant is a promising young winger with pace, Mascherano provides quality
cover for the back four, Leiva is a promising young midfielder with
international experience, Sissoko will compete for the holding midfielder role
with the Argentine, Leto brings pace and height to the right flank and le
Tallec and Leto are prospects.
Gerrard will play but who will
support him, a stable midfield will fight for the Premier League, an unsettled
and frequently rotated midfield will only fight for the Champions League.
Attack:-
Babel is able to play wide or up
front and will be a useful back up, Benayoun will provide good cover in the
middle, Torres will hope to keep his better than a goal every three game
average to the Premier League, Voronin is a quality Bundesliga striker with
international experience, Crouch is a crowd favourite who is a better starter
than a sub, he provides a potent aerial threat, Kuyt will want to avoid a
sophomore slump but plays the roving role with class, he’ll struggle to start
and Lindfield with El Zar are prospects.
Torres will suffer the same fate
a Forlan and fail to light up the Premier League; Voronin will be classy and
will help Crouch if the two start.
Everton FC scored more goals away from home last season.
Manager:-
The Fat Spaniard, as he is popularly
known in Liverpool is quality with a record to prove it, he insists on his
rotation policy and that will make or break his Liverpool
career, sure the Champions League is big bucks but the Premier League is the
ONE.
Expect a top four place from the
Reds, they’ll make the Champions League semis at the least and do well in one
other domestic Cup. They won’t win it
this season though.
Manchester City FC
Some terrible recent history full
of awful players, play and bad management City hope to emerge out of the
shadows of their hated cross town rivals; the money of the ex Thai Prime
Minister and the management talents of Sven Goran-Eriksson are seen as the way
forward for Manchester’s local team.
Isaksson is a solid, experienced
starter, Schmeichel; if he’s half as good as his dad… and Hart is an
understudy.
An inexperienced keeper who will
need a solid back line to protect him.
Defence:-
Richards is good young cover,
Ball is an experienced left back, Onuoha is strong cover at the back, Sun provides
solid consistency at the back, Mills will challenge for the right back spot,
Dunne is the heart and soul of City with good international experience, Corluka
provides height and vision at the back, he’s still young, M. Mills is a
prospect, Garrido is experienced cover in defence and may be a starter.
Dunne is very good and the two
new signing will figure, they will need to be much less horrible than last
year, much tighter and stingy.
Midfield:-
Dabo is solid cover in the
middle, Johnson is a good prospect with first team aspirations, Ireland likes
to get forward and wants to fight for a first team spot, Geovanni has pedigree
and can play as a front man, Petrov is better known for his national exploits
than his club exploits, Hamman is quality with bags of experience, Miller is a
prospect, Fernandes is a hot young thing from Switzerland, he may start and
Elano brings class and quality with attacking flair to the middle of the park;
he elevated Brazil in the Copa America.
Some young studs and established
talent with a hint of class, when they work well they will be better than
average, who will cover the back line?
Attack:-
Mpenza is experienced cover up
front and can score, he still has pace, Bianchi brings goal scoring; sometimes;
in the tough Italian leagues to Manchester, Vassell no longer has the
lightening pace that took him to the England team, Dickov brings experience but
no goals to Manchester, Samaras is a quality Greek forward who will provide
good cover, Corradi still hasn’t quite adjusted to the English game but is a
tough competitor, Sturridge is a prospect and Bojinov will be a good addition
to the squad with plenty of foreign experience.
(At the time of press the Bojinov move is likely but unconfirmed.)
This unit will need to do the business
at home or face the drop, settling in will need to be quick and measured. They have potential to be good.
Manager:-
Sven’s record is excellent at
club level and he just stayed too long at England. The one worry is that the club game has passed
him by during his tenure as England’s
public enemy number one.
A butcher as an owner and a coach
hired on past glories, I can see City escaping the drop this season but they’ll
wallow in mid table mediocrity at best.
