Newsletter #1683

A much needed and welcomed three points at the Hawthorns yesterday as we beat West Brom 2-0 and put on a far better team performance, Balotelli getting the goals (and a card) and the return of that man Tevez.

We have a look at the West Brom and Poznan games tonight, Roger’s done some calculations on the Europa qualifications and the usual requests.

Next up the midweek derby.

OPINION: AT LAST!

The wait for us City supporters to see Mario Balotelli in action is over. He gets my vote of approval, but with a warning that in future games Mario will be a marked man if he continues to retaliate to bad tackles from an opponent.

I remember when Wayne Rooney first joined the Evil Empire from Everton, Shrek kept getting booked for his retaliating after bad tackles on him, so the more it happened knowing that he would get booked. Let this be a warning to Mario: he has got to keep control of himself after niggling tackles, let the referee deal with it, and keep quiet.

Two very good goals to beat WBA and stay in the top four.

Youssef Mulumbu deserves a ban for he appeared hell bent on injuring a City player with his reckless tackles. I, like all City supporters, hope that the appeal for Mario’s straight red card is a success.

A very good team performance by all the City team, and great to see our captain Tevez back.

Great to hear the City supporters chant Roberto Mancini’s name – he deserved it.

Now for the game against the enemy the “Evil Empire”, come on you Blues!

OPINION: EUROPA LEAGUE PROJECTIONS

Thursday’s efforts (or lack thereof) begs the question of “What happens next?” in the Europa League.

There are 81 combinations of results of the remaining 4 games. Of these, 63 see City qualify, 13 see City eliminated, 2 depend on the score over 2 matches against Salzburg and 3 depend on scoring more goals overall than Lech.

A final tally of 13 or 11 points means qualification, either as first or second. The points tally should be enough to put City in the top seeded teams for the round of 32 guaranteeing a home tie in the second leg (group winner or best 4 runner up).

Ten points will be OK unless City and Lech beat Salzburg and Juve win against both Lech and City. 10 might put us in the seeded group.

Nine points probably means second place in the group, but one combination of other results leaves City in top spot. Probably not enough points to be among the best 4 runners up to get a seeded spot in the draw.

A final tally of 8 means we could qualify, could even be in a three way tie for first, but it’s equally likely we’ll be out.

A final tally of 7 will mean elimination.

So in Excel, City are a 78% chance to progress, on the field I suspect the percentage is lower. Let’s hope for a City win against Salzburg while Juve don’t win in Poznan. That way we’re not having to get a point in Turin.

OPINION: POZNAN

Well after getting up at an unearthly hour in Western Australia to watch the Poznan game I was left with the same utter frustration that I felt when we went to Middlesbrough to get hammered a few years ago. I was beside myself after that result and I was beside myself with this result. I had a good talk with myself and placated myself that it is not the end of the world and why do I let myself be affected in this way and bark and growl at my family and colleagues?

Well, expectations I guess, everybody wants to get rid of the title ‘typical City’ but it was! I felt we controlled most of the match without scoring the goals; our new darling Silva missed a sitter, how? Adebayor gives the ball away so often that it beggars belief. The whole team at times could not find each other, simple basics of football. I must admit at times I have wondered about some of the tactics of the manager but I have found myself eating my words when often he has got it right. I just wonder about the rôle of Kidd and Platt; what the hell are they doing during the week other than picking up big pay packets? They must share a lot of the responsibility of the way the team is playing at present, they are the ones who are in daily contact with the players and can have some influence on performances; Kidd in particular seems to take a very non-assertive back-seat rôle. A loss at West Brom and a poor performance against United will create a plethora of criticism and I will be one of them criticising. But this is City, a loss at West Brom and a win against United is the more likely scenario. It seems no matter who we put in a City shirt they under-perform. The gypsy curse has indeed followed us! Rant over!

REQUEST: CITY IN HOLLAND

There has been some confusion about the date and kick-off time. The Manchester Evening News amongst other gave the date as 12 November. The Ajax site gives the date and time as 11 November at 4 pm. I have just rang City who confirm it is a 4pm kick-off on the 11th so anyone who is in the neighbourhood and wants to join up give me an email. At the moment there are maybe four of us going. It is at the Toekomst stadium next to the Arena. A working day and it is difficult to get time off but do your best.

REQUEST: CITY SANTA DASH

Paul Lake in his capacity as Ambassador for CITC (City In The Community) has organised a Manchester City Santa Dash sponsored by Optimum.

This Fun Run is to take place on Sunday 5th December and will consist of an initial Kids run (with an adult running if requested) inside the stadium and finishing inside the Family Stand where a goody bag will await them as they collect their medals. The adults can then start their race whilst the kids/other parent etc. have the option of enjoying the activities organised by CITC on the concourse or the events in City Square.

The run is approximately 3km long starting in City Square and participants can run, jog or even dance their way around the route which will include closing down the nearside of the carriageway of Alan Turing Way before finishing back in the square.

Lakey has ordered 3000 adult size Sky Blue santa suits and 500 children’s santa suits and these will be made available as part of a pack which fans, runners and our wider community can apply for, which will soon be advertised when MCFC marketing sends out the official announcement on the website http://www.mcfc.co.uk/

Paul, as an add on, has approached the Guinness Book of Records to assess if we will be smashing all records of people wearing Sky Blue Santa Suits in one place. City fans enjoy a challenge and the gauntlet is down. This race has built up over the last five years and with your help we can make this an amazing day and who knows what we can achieve?

When Manchester City officially announce the Santa Dash all the questions that fans and participants will have can be answered at that time. Meanwhile if you could prime as many fans as possible to the event we can hopefully make it an amazing spectacle, have a good laugh and raise lots of money – all of which will go to MCFC’s nominated charities.

REQUEST: JUVE TRAVEL

We have limited availability for the following. Also, if anybody has any spare tickets for Manchester City vs. Manchester Utd, please give us a ring on 0161 775 7500.

JUVENTUS vs. MANCHESTER CITY
Thursday 16th December
Kick Off 19:00CET.

Our experience of Turin has determined the following itinerary: licensing restrictions normally apply on a match day in the city, especially when a British club is involved. Therefore, to maximise your leisure time, the trip works best being in the city the day before and departing after the game has finished. Below are the proposed approx times.

Depart Manchester approx. 09:30 hours on Wednesday 15th December
Arrive Turin 12:20 hours, local time, transfer to our city centre hotels; we are currently awaiting full details of the hotels from our ground agent in Turin
Remainder of day in Turin is free time

Match Day Thursday 16th December
Day at leisure, coach transfer from hotel to stadium, pick up time TBC
At this point all bags will be loaded on to the coach, ready for departure after final whistle
Flight departs Turin 22:30 hours approx., arriving back into Manchester 23:30 approx.

Cost per person £295.00 4 star (based on twin share), £280.00 3 star (based on twin share), includes flights, taxes, hotel and airport transfers, no match ticket included.

Bookings can be made via
Manchester Office – 0161 775 7500
London Office – 0844 887 1447

RESULTS AND TABLE

7 November 2010

Arsenal               0 - 1  Newcastle United      60,059
West Bromwich Albion  0 - 2  Manchester City       23,013
Liverpool             2 - 0  Chelsea               44,238

6 November 2010

Bolton Wanderers      4 - 2  Tottenham Hotspur     20,255
Birmingham City       2 - 2  West Ham United       26,474
Blackburn Rovers      2 - 1  Wigan Athletic        24,413
Blackpool             2 - 2  Everton               16,094
Manchester United     2 - 1  Wolverhampton Wndrs   75,285
Sunderland            2 - 0  Stoke City            36,541
Fulham                1 - 1  Aston Villa           23,654

League table to 07 November 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         11  5  0  0 16  0  3  1  2 11  5  8  1  2  27   5  22  25
 2 Manchester Utd  11  5  1  0 15  5  1  4  0  9  8  6  5  0  24  13  11  23
 3 Arsenal         11  4  0  2 15  6  2  2  1  7  5  6  2  3  22  11  11  20
 4 Manchester City 11  3  1  1  7  5  3  1  2  8  5  6  2  3  15  10   5  20
 5 Newcastle Utd   11  2  1  2 14  7  3  1  2  6  7  5  2  4  20  14   6  17
 6 Bolton Wndrs    11  2  3  1 10  8  1  3  1  7  8  3  6  2  17  16   1  15
 7 Tottenham H.    11  2  2  1  6  4  2  1  3  7 10  4  3  4  13  14  -1  15
 8 Sunderland      11  3  3  0  7  3  0  3  2  4  9  3  6  2  11  12  -1  15
 9 Liverpool       11  3  2  1  9  6  1  1  3  3  8  4  3  4  12  14  -2  15
10 West Brom A.    11  3  2  1  8  6  1  1  3  6 13  4  3  4  14  19  -5  15
11 Everton         11  2  2  1  7  5  1  3  2  5  5  3  5  3  12  10   2  14
12 Blackpool       11  1  2  2  9 10  3  0  3  8 13  4  2  5  17  23  -6  14
13 Fulham          11  2  3  1  8  6  0  4  1  5  6  2  7  2  13  12   1  13
14 Aston Villa     11  2  3  0  5  1  1  1  4  5 13  3  4  4  10  14  -4  13
15 Birmingham City 11  2  3  1  6  5  0  3  2  6  9  2  6  3  12  14  -2  12
16 Blackburn R.    11  2  2  2  6  6  1  1  3  5  7  3  3  5  11  13  -2  12
17 Stoke City      11  2  1  2  6  6  1  0  5  4 10  3  1  7  10  16  -6  10
18 Wigan Athletic  11  1  2  3  4 14  1  2  2  4  6  2  4  5   8  20 -12  10
19 Wolves          11  2  2  1  7  6  0  1  5  4 12  2  3  6  11  18  -7   9
20 West Ham United 11  1  1  3  5  9  0  3  3  4 11  1  4  6   9  20 -11   7

MCIVTA FAQ [v1011.01]

[1] MCIVTA Addresses

Articles (Heidi Pickup)          : editor@mcivta.city-fan.org
News/rumour (Alex Rowen)         : news@mcivta.city-fan.org
Subscriptions (Madeleine Hawkins): subscriptions@mcivta.city-fan.org
Technical problems (Paul)        : paul@city-fan.org
FAQ (David Warburton)            : faq@mcivta.city-fan.org

[2] What are MCIVTA’s publishing deadlines?

Deadlines for issues are nominally 6pm, Monday and Thursday evenings by email. Unfortunately we cannot accept email attachments.

[3] MCIVTA Back Issues and Manchester City Supporters’ home page

http://www.mcivta.com/ is the unofficial Manchester City Supporters’ home page. Created in 1994, it is the longest running of the Manchester City related web sites. Back issues of MCIVTA are also hosted on the site. You can also follow on www.twitter.com/mcivta to get the latest updates.

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

The official club web site can be found at http://www.mcfc.co.uk/ and the official club Twitter page at www.twitter.com/mcfc. The club also has a facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/mcfcofficial

[5] What supporters’ clubs are there?

The Official Supporters’ Club and the Centenary Supporters’ Association have merged to become the Manchester City Supporters’ Club (http://www.mcfcsupportersclub.com/). The club also recognise the Manchester City Disabled Supporters’ Association (http://www.mcdsa.co.uk/).

[6] Where can I find out about Points of Blue?

The committee operates as an interface between supporters and the club. Points of Blue appears on the club website under the “Fans” heading (http://www.mcfc.co.uk/Fans).

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

Live match commentary can be found on the club website. The Radio Manchester pre- and post-match phone-in is available on the web at http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/manchester/hi/tv_and_radio/.

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

http://www.satfootball.com/pl.html provides a listing of Premier League games being shown on UK domestic and foreign satellite channels. Useful sites for North American viewers are http://msn.foxsports.com/, http://www.soccertv.com/.

[9] Do we have a Usenet newsgroup?

Yes we do: uk.sport.football.clubs.man-city is our home on usenet. If you are not familiar with usenet, a basic explanation is available here: http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,289893,sid9_gci213262,00.html

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

There are a number available and direct links can be found at http://www.mcivta.com/players/

[11] Where can I find match statistics?

Statistics for the current season are available from the club site, but for a more in-depth analysis try http://www.mcfcstats.com/.

DISCLAIMER
The views expressed in MCIVTA are entirely those of the subscribersand there is no intention to represent these opinions as being thoseof Manchester City Football Club, nor of any of the companies anduniversities by whom the subscribers are employed. It is not inany way whatsoever connected to the club or any other relatedorganisation and is simply a group of supporters using this mediumas a means of disseminating news and exchanging opinions.

Heidi Pickup, editor@mcivta.city-fan.org

Editor: