Newsletter #1622

An emphatic win on Saturday as we trounced a struggling Burnley 6-1 sees us trading places with Spurs for 4th and the two teams still have a game in hand over Liverpool. This one is going to go down to the wire, and we’ve a look tonight at the result projections for 4th and European action amongst the contending teams.

We have opinion on the Burnley game, manager and tactics, pleas for patience and the usual request.

OPINION: BURNLEY GAME I

Well that was one for the books. City leading 3-0 after 10 minutes. Four thirty in the morning kick-off over here, woke up exactly half four, then realised I hadn’t reset my clock (daylight saving ended tonight)… durrr! Still rubbing my eyes ten minutes later, and wondered if I was watching the right game. Yes, City were there, as I saw Bellamy and Tevez scoring, Burnley’s defence was in the changing room not wanting to get wet, and Vieira scored a goal (not a bad header either)! Gee, if this carries on I might need to… Oh well.

Must admit that was the worst case of defending I’ve witnessed in forty years of playing (and I’ve played behind some dodgy defences I can tell you). Burnley just weren’t interested in the first half. Pity about the rain, I was waiting for the referee to call the game off, thank goodness he didn’t.

Bellamy, Tevez, Johnson, Kompany great as usual, Nedum looked very sure of himself, which was good. Still need a ball playing midfielder though. Still, can’t be too critical after scoring six. Hope my clock’s on the right time for the next instalment.

OPINION: BURNLEY GAME II

City started this game like a greyhound setting off in a race. Three goals in the first six minutes made a big statement that City want that fourth spot in the Premier League.

Half time and it was Burnley 0 City 5, some brilliant attacking football from City, with all players playing for one another, a true team effort. Adebayor’s confidence will be back after a quality brace.

There always will be some who will say “But it was only Burnley”; just remember this was Burnley who beat the Rags at Turf Moor earlier in the season, this is Burnley fighting for their lives in the Premier League; on today’s display they don’t look safe, and City made Burnley look bad from slick, attacking football.

The second half saw some really bad weather that did not help either team, but by then it was all over for poor Burnley, as the game ended 1-6.

Six games to go, and four of them at home, the fourth position is in City’s own hands. More attacking football please, best form of defence is attack! “Yes we can!” “Yes we can!” “Yes we can!”

Come on you Blues! Come on Mancini!

OPINION: FOURTH SPOT

The Premier League 4th spot is up for grabs this season and City are in the driving seat to get there. It’s almost as safe as a penalty kick (as long as it’s not Robbie Fowler that’s going to take it).

A quick showdown of the numbers:

R  Villa           Liverpool       Spurs            CITY
32            54p                              58p              59p
33 Everton     1p             55p  Arsenal      1p  Birmingham   3p
34 Potters     3p  Fulham      3p  Chelsea      0p  United       0p
35 Hull        3p  West Ham    1p  United       0p  Arsenal      0p
36 City        1p  Burnley     3p  Bolton       3p  Villa        1p
37 Birmingham  1p  Chelsea     1p  City         1p  Spurs        1p
38 Rovers      3p  Wigan       3p  Burnley      3p  West Ham     3p
End           66p             66p              66p              67p

So from this prediction the key to success is that City beat Birmingham and avoid getting beaten by Villa and Spurs. If we can get three more points from the remaining three games (United, Arsenal and West Ham) we will make it to 67 points and beat the others to it by one point.

Spurs have the hardest set-up with games against the top three coming up in the next few weeks. Since they lost so dramatically to Sunderland this weekend, I doubt they will find the strength to beat any of them. Villa are also showing signs of wear, having only won two of their last 6 games, and having problems finishing off games at home. That leaves Liverpool as possibly the hardest challenger for 4th spot. They have perhaps the easiest set-up with only Chelsea as a real threat.

It will be a nail-biting finish to the season and with 6 games to go nothing is yet decided regarding 4th spot. City have a great chance to secure it through victories against Birmingham, Villa and Spurs, but even draws against the two latter teams may be enough if we beat United, or if we leave it late, West Ham.

OPINION: A LITTLE PATIENCE

I say this as much to myself as to my fellow Blues. The next time you see Adebayor play the wrong pass, make the wrong run, or you just don’t think he is “trying hard enough”, can you just remember for a second that about 90 days ago, he saw some of his friends killed in a terrorist attack, and was so scared he was going to die that he was texting his last words to his mother?

These guys are not robots. How many nights a week do you think he has trouble sleeping? If it is less than six, it is a miracle. How many times a day does he wonder what if it had been him that had been killed, who would have taken care of the people he loves? Let’s keep that in mind shall we?

OPINION: FOCUS

It’s been a while since I contributed (due to work commitments) but I feel I have to once again because of what I’ve read on here lately (and on the MEN website). It is quite clear that certain people only contribute in order to undermine the club, basing their comments on neither fact nor informed opinion but just a re-spouting of what the mass media is saying in its unsubtle efforts to prevent City being successful and taking that vital fourth place in the league. What is disheartening is that those who do this are probably not bright enough to come up with their own opinions and so just toe the mass media line i.e. that Mark Hughes’ sacking was unjustified and ill-timed (I would never argue that it was well-handled!) and therefore anything Roberto Mancini does is to have scorn poured upon it. What these idiots never stop to consider is that since Mancini has been our manager our win (and therefore points) ratio per game is much better than at any time under Mark Hughes (with basically the same set of players) and if we had kept Hughes we would most likely have gone on to draw many more matches that we should have won, which is the reason why he was sacked in the first place. I argued with Ernie Barrow during Hughes’ reign for his slavish adherence to a manager with no tactics (who would never be able to take City to the promised land) and here he is undermining City yet again with his comments that Mancini is “inconsistent” and a “clown”. Mancini may not be the perfect article (we have to give him the same amount of time as Hughes was given to prove whether he is or not) but we shall soon see how much better than Hughes he is if he is allowed to continue beyond this season and given the chance to recruit and mould the team in his own manner. Unless of course, Ernie and the others who either can’t or won’t think for themselves have their way and we have a revolving door of managers at City and go back to being a laughing stock. Get a life and support City!

OPINION: MANAGEMENT SKILLS

Well what a fantastic result that was at Turf Moor. So what if it was only Burnley? City played with such style and how thrilling is that forward line of Bellamy, Tevez, Adebayor and Johnson? It was a brilliant performance and every player can take credit, as can the manager. Who says Mancini is a negative coach? He has done brilliantly thus far to instil belief and maintain the players’ focus, especially after the crushing disappointment after the home defeat to Everton.

There are, however, more smoke and mirrors as to who is going to be Manchester City manager next season. The wide perception is that Mancini must finish in the top four to keep his job. But is it that simple? It cannot be said with any certainty that ADUG are going to dispense with the canny Italian should he finish a good 5th, and on the evidence of the second half of this season, it would be sensible to keep him in situ. It would be better for the club if we were to have continuity under a manager as good as Mancini. Do we really want another manager spending six weeks finding out that Robinho is an expensive luxury? Do we need yet another manager to spend more time sussing the players’ strengths and weaknesses? The defensive solidity that Mancini has engendered and pattern of play that features swift, devastating counter attacks are certainly worth persisting with. Who is to say that Mancini cannot mount an eventual title challenge, given a chance to bring in more talent this summer and in subsequent transfer windows? He is certainly worthy of an opportunity on the evidence of the second half of this season. Surely there comes a time when we stop dispensing with managers and settling on the one we have?

Matters have been complicated, though, with Mancini being linked with Juventus. After initially ruling himself out of the job for now Mancini has been quoted last week in Italian newspaper La Nazione of saying “I’m ready to go back, if and when there will be a possibility. As for Juventus, Juve is always Juve. They are going through a difficult period right now but we are talking about a club with history and prestige, made up of many victories. How near I am to a return to Italy I don’t know. Football is strange. It was right for me to broaden my horizons, but I will return sooner or later.”

Clearly those quotes suggest that he could be gone at the end of this season and yet he was quoted after the Burnley game as saying: “I have never told anybody that I want to go back to Italy. I am very happy to stay here. I want to be with City again next season. Juventus are a special club, but so are Manchester City.”

There is a school of thought that suggests that in business, Italians often make as if to walk away from the negotiating table when they are actually close to agreeing a deal. The idea being that they might just strike a better deal with such body language. Maybe Mancini isn’t going that far.

It is more possible that Mancini is hedging his bets here, hence the mixed messages. After all, why should he rule out a return to his homeland, when he does not know if he will be in a job at Eastlands come August? In those circumstances, why would he turn down flat overtures from Juventus who are Italy’s most successful club historically (despite the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal), and one that he supported as a boy? The Italian national job may become available if Marcelo Lippi quits again after the World Cup and there is likely to be a vacancy at Inter where he won three Scudettos, especially given that Mourinho is fluttering his eyelashes at the Premier League and making disparaging noises about Italian football.

The self-styled “Special One” is of course often linked with the City job. One mate who supports City recently told me that some Blues will not settle for any other manager until Mourinho comes here. Mourinho is clearly a top coach having won the Champions’ League. He has generally taken teams that have already been built up by other coaches (Porto, Chelsea, Inter) and tweaked them to take them to titles, though he has not, as yet, achieved any more at Inter than Roberto Mancini did. The question mark remains over Mourinho: can he build a Champions’ League team from outside that elite?

Roberto Mancini is well qualified to build a Champions’ League team and continue the building work at City, and he is in pole position now to achieve that with four of our six remaining fixtures at home. Of course there may well be twists and turns as we face a minefield of fixtures, and no one is taking for granted that we will remain fourth, least of all Mancini who is mindful of keeping his team’s mind on the job saying: “We know it will be difficult but we want to win these remaining games. If we continue to play like this and maybe improve our performance we have a good chance.” Quite. Hopefully Roberto and his boys keep improving and keep winning, because it will mean that we are in the Champions’ League and it would be great to have him here next season.

REQUEST: DERBY TICKET

A forlorn hope really but as a 60-year fan of City, there is always hope. Am in England for the derby and would love to go; the last derby I actually attended was back in 1972 just before emigrating to Canada. Greatest derby memory: Alex Harley’s winner at Old Trafford. Would love to have that memory surpassed by witnessing a win this year that would help propel us to Europe. Can certainly pick up a ticket anywhere in greater Manchester if anyone has a spare.

RESULTS

4 April 2010

Birmingham City       1 - 1  Liverpool             27,909
Fulham                2 - 1  Wigan Athletic        22,730
Everton               2 - 2  West Ham United       37,451

3 April 2010

Manchester United     1 - 2  Chelsea               75,217
Arsenal               1 - 0  Wolverhampton Wndrs   60,067
Bolton Wanderers      0 - 1  Aston Villa           21,111
Portsmouth            0 - 0  Blackburn Rovers      16,207
Stoke City            2 - 0  Hull City             27,604
Sunderland            3 - 1  Tottenham Hotspur     43,184
Burnley               1 - 6  Manchester City       21,330

League table to 05 April 2010 inclusive

                             HOME          AWAY        OVERALL
                    P  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F   A   GD Pts
 1 Chelsea         33 14  1  1 52 14  9  4  4 32 16 23  5  5  84  30  54  74
 2 Manchester Utd  33 14  1  2 45 11  9  2  5 32 16 23  3  7  77  27  50  72
 3 Arsenal         33 14  1  2 44 15  8  4  4 31 19 22  5  6  75  34  41  71
 4 Manchester City 32 10  4  1 33 16  6  7  4 31 24 16 11  5  64  40  24  59
 5 Tottenham H.    32 11  2  3 35 10  6  5  5 23 22 17  7  8  58  32  26  58
 6 Liverpool       33 12  2  2 40 13  4  5  8 14 20 16  7 10  54  33  21  55
 7 Aston Villa     32  7  7  2 26 13  7  5  4 18 19 14 12  6  44  32  12  54
 8 Everton         33  9  6  2 32 20  4  5  7 20 24 13 11  9  52  44   8  50
 9 Birmingham City 33  7  8  2 17 12  5  2  9 17 26 12 10 11  34  38  -4  46
10 Stoke City      32  7  5  5 23 19  3  7  5  9 16 10 12 10  32  35  -3  42
11 Blackburn R.    33  9  5  2 24 14  2  4 11 11 36 11  9 13  35  50 -15  42
12 Fulham          32 10  2  4 24 12  1  6  9 11 25 11  8 13  35  37  -2  41
13 Sunderland      33  8  7  2 30 17  1  4 11 14 34  9 11 13  44  51  -7  38
14 Wolves          33  4  4  8 10 20  4  4  9 18 31  8  8 17  28  51 -23  32
15 Bolton Wndrs    33  5  5  7 22 28  3  3 10 14 33  8  8 17  36  61 -25  32
16 Wigan Athletic  33  5  5  6 14 20  3  2 12 16 44  8  7 18  30  64 -34  31
17 West Ham United 33  5  4  7 25 26  1  6 10 15 31  6 10 17  40  57 -17  28
18 Hull City       32  6  5  4 21 22  0  4 13 10 44  6  9 17  31  66 -35  27
19 Burnley         33  6  5  6 21 24  0  1 15 11 47  6  6 21  32  71 -39  24
20 Portsmouth      33  4  3 10 20 29  2  2 12  8 31  6  5 22  28  60 -32  14

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[1] MCIVTA Addresses

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[2] What are MCIVTA’s publishing deadlines?

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[4] What is the club’s official web site?

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[5] What supporters’ clubs are there?

Manchester City FC recognises three supporters’ clubs: The “Official Supporters Club” (http://www.mcfcosc.com/); the “Centenary Supporters’ Association” (http://www.mancitycsa.com/) and “The International Supporters’ Club”.

[6] Where can I find out about Points of Blue (formerly the Fans’ Committee)?

The committee operates as an interface between supporters and the club. Points of Blue appears on the club website as a minor entry under “Fans Zone”.

[7] What match day broadcasts are available on the web?

The Radio Manchester (née GMR) pre and post match phone-in is available on the web at http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/sport/manchester_city/index.shtml.

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[8] Where can I find out if City are live on satellite TV?

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[9] Do we have a Usenet newsgroup?

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[10] Do any squad members have their own web pages?

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[11] Where can I find match statistics?

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Editor: