Newsletter #1574

A brief edition tonight with no domestic football action due to the international fixtures.

We have opinion on the transfer window, defensive duties and winning formulae together with news from a new group of German Blues.

Thanks to Pete for covering the last few editions, and keep those views coming into the regular <editor(at)mcivta.city-fan.org> address please!

OPINION: TRANSFER TIME

We are only 7 or 8 games into the new season, we are just going into the second week of October, and with no league games this last weekend, the newspapers had to write about something other than England’s 1-0 defeat to the Ukraine. So a lot of talk about the January transfer window already.

City started the season without conceding a goal, but after some games it became apparent that our full backs have been a weakness.

Micah Richards, who is a strong lad and has the pace to move forward, is not the best for positional sense; it stood out for United’s winning goal, and Capello, England’s manager, will not consider him for England because of positional sense.

Zabaleta has been playing much better in this position but is he the real answer? Bridge has been improving his game and for the best part looks good going forward, but in his defensive duties is he the best?

When City played against Villa they played down the wings and exposed our defence to be not the best; we appeared to be vulnerable to the high balls coming in from the wings. This is something that City has to stop, balls coming in from the wings, and yet only one goal was scored by Villa.

So right now the media are suggesting new full backs for City. The club still has Vincent Kompany to come back from injury along with Nedum Onuoha.

What will become very important to City is the players who will leave to play in the African Nations Cup. From the defence, this includes Kolo Toure.

Is it too soon to be considering other players? Of course not, it makes the present full backs play all that much harder to try to prove a point; on the other hand last minute deals never seem to go smoothly.

Lots more talk about Robinho going to Barça, with Barça wanting first a six month loan, probably to test the player’s moods? His ability when he puts in a total effort is brilliant, no one can question that.

With the way that Bellamy is playing, plus Petrov, I don’t honestly see us missing Robinho; if he wants to go to another team I don’t think that we should try to stop him, as long as City get the right value for him.

I feel that we have a very good squad of players but all must agree to understand it is now a squad game. Martin Petrov has to be prepared to be a squad player, he is too good a player for us to lose.

It is never wrong to strengthen the squad, we must always have a happy squad with a good team spirit to work for one another; the team comes first then the individual player.

Come on you Blues!

OPINION: DEFENSIVE WOES

I keep reading comment, not only in MCIVTA, about how poor our defence is. In defence of our defence we have the third equal best defence in the Premier League, with 8 conceded (alongside Birmingham and the Swamp Dwellers) and behind only Chelsea and Villa on 6.

It seems to me that in open play we look OK but there is a specific problem with set-pieces. Three of the goals I can think of have come from people Gareth Barry has been marking. Why not swap him with Adebayor, who seems to take up a free rôle in the box at set pieces. It’s dead easy, this coaching lark.

OPINION: EXPLANATION

Please can someone explain why managers insist on changing a winning team? We won at West Ham so why change the team for the Villa game? Start with the same team that beat West Ham and change it if and when it’s not working.

REQUEST: GERMAN BLUES

Our small German City branch Bredbury Blues Gelsenkirchen is now a member of the OSC and we are very proud and grateful that one of the most famous ambassadors for English-German relations has accepted to support our branch as our new president… Mr Bernhard Carl Trautmann OBE.

If you are living in Germany and your heart is Blue don’t hesitate to contact us! We would be happy to see some City matches with you on TV and drink some pints together!

http://www.bredbury-blues.de/

RESULTS

League table to 11 October 2009 inclusive

                             HOME          AWAY        OVERALL
                    P  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F   A   GD Pts
 1 Chelsea          8  4  0  0 10  1  3  0  1  8  5  7  0  1  18   6  12  21
 2 Manchester Utd   8  3  1  0  9  6  3  0  1 10  2  6  1  1  19   8  11  19
 3 Tottenham H.     8  3  0  1 10  5  2  1  1  9  7  5  1  2  19  12   7  16
 4 Manchester City  7  3  0  0  8  3  2  1  1  7  5  5  1  1  15   8   7  16
 5 Arsenal          7  3  0  0 14  3  2  0  2 10  7  5  0  2  24  10  14  15
 6 Liverpool        8  3  0  1 15  4  2  0  2  7  8  5  0  3  22  12  10  15
 7 Aston Villa      7  2  1  1  5  3  2  0  1  5  3  4  1  2  10   6   4  13
 8 Sunderland       8  3  0  1 12  7  1  1  2  4  6  4  1  3  16  13   3  13
 9 Burnley          8  4  0  0  7  2  0  0  4  0 14  4  0  4   7  16  -9  12
10 Everton          7  2  1  1  7  8  1  0  2  2  3  3  1  3   9  11  -2  10
11 Stoke City       8  2  0  2  4  4  0  3  1  2  6  2  3  3   6  10  -4   9
12 Wigan Athletic   8  2  0  2  4  7  1  0  3  4  8  3  0  5   8  15  -7   9
13 Bolton Wndrs     7  0  2  2  5  7  2  0  1  5  4  2  2  3  10  11  -1   8
14 Birmingham City  8  1  1  2  2  3  1  0  3  3  5  2  1  5   5   8  -3   7
15 Fulham           7  1  0  2  2  4  1  1  2  4  6  2  1  4   6  10  -4   7
16 Blackburn R.     7  2  1  1  5  4  0  0  3  3 11  2  1  4   8  15  -7   7
17 Wolves           8  1  1  2  3  5  1  0  3  4  9  2  1  5   7  14  -7   7
18 Hull City        8  2  0  2  4  7  0  1  3  4 13  2  1  5   8  20 -12   7
19 West Ham United  7  0  1  2  5  7  1  1  2  3  4  1  2  4   8  11  -3   5
20 Portsmouth       8  0  0  4  2  6  1  0  3  2  7  1  0  7   4  13  -9   3

MCIVTA FAQ [v0910.01]

[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?

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.

Live match commentaries and archives of games, reports and interviews can be found at http://mcfc.videoloungetv.com/do/preLogin?clubSiteCode=MCFC&CMP=AFC-003.

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

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