Newsletter #1421

Late goals at Sunderland, not a great performance, but we did emerge with all three points and moved back up the table a slot. We have a match view tonight, opinion on the Sven rumours and news on an old adversary.

MATCH VIEW: SAFC 1 MCFC 2

I watched the extended highlights on Football First on Saturday night and, although it’s not the full match, it still doesn’t look good.

Too often we passed the ball away to the opposition and poor passing littered the game.

Sunderland are not a good side, hence their position in the league. We should be burying these teams.

I’m amazed that it seems that Elano ‘Is back’. They must have cut the good Elano bits out of the extended highlights because I only saw him trying ‘telegraphed’ passes and being totally ineffective.

That said, I don’t feel a bit embarrassed at winning a game in the manner that we did. Vassell’s winner just about made it over the line but so what? It was actually a very good move to make it and Vassell’s position to receive the pass was brilliant. As for the penalty, I believe that there was a touch on Sturridge and it doesn’t take much to trip someone when they are running so as far as I’m concerned it was a pen.

I think that it would be ridiculous to even suggest a change of manager at this stage given that he had about 8 weeks to put together a team but the one disappointment is that the players that he has brought in seem incapable of motivating themselves. We need more guts.

OPINION: SVEN TO STAY?

I can’t believe that Thaksin will fire Sven, and replace him with another manager/coach after just one season. Manchester City have four more games to better their points total in a season in the Premier League; they have already equalled the record of points in a season. Surely MCFC have learned from past mistakes of changing manager/coaches in haste? Even if it is a new owner.

Thaksin the Chairman will not be too pleased at some of the results since Christmas after such a great start to the season, none of us are, but we must look at it as a season’s results and the improvement in the team overall; next season will be the telling season of moving for a top four spot.

Everyone at the club is saying don’t give up on Europe just yet, which is very positive despite our position in the Premier League.

The club must be thinking of a back door way into Europe, and I guess if the team cannot make it any other way, you just have to go for whichever way you can, but again I say it’s more impressive and real by winning your games in the league to get into Europe.

In the game versus Sunderland the goals did not come until there ware two strikers on the pitch; maybe Sturridge did not score himself but the penalty was awarded after he was clipped from behind as he took the ball towards goal. Elano made no mistake with the penalty, sending the ‘keeper the wrong way.

The second goal scored by Vassell was a little lucky as it trickled across the goal line; a misfired kick? Vassell had come on as a sub after Sturridge was taken off for an injury (I hope that Daniel Sturridge will be OK for the second leg final of the Youth FA Cup against Chelsea on Wednesday).

The season is not over until the last kick of the season, come on you Blues!

OPINION: COULDN’T HAPPEN TO A NICER…

One for our older readers…

Anyone else have a wry smile on Saturday at the demise of Luton Town? Wonder if David Pleat was there and fancied a hop, skip and a jump across the pitch? Not that I hold a grudge but every league they go down just won’t be far enough.

Well done Sven and the boys today on equalling our best ever Premier League total. Just a shame we lost our way over the last 5 months, who knows what may have happened with another 10 points in the bag!

Keep smiling and stay Blue.

OPINION: WINNING

In answer to Andy Johnson “Now all I have to do is invent a word that combines playing great with winning. Anybody?” How about Grinning?

And as far as the news that we are interested in Roma’s Brazilian winger Amantino Mancini, I watched United play Roma and he was terrible. All United’s best attacks were down the right and Mancini just stood and watched them and as an attacking force he was rubbish. All attitude and no substance. Definitely no thanks at any price.

OPINION: DAILY BLOG

This e-mail is of low importance but however I just wanted to show that Manchester City got a spot to shine in the American Daily Kos (world’s largest political blog). Feel free to comment your support if you happen to be a registered at daily kos.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/4/12/24750/0837/140/494140

RESULTS

13 April 2008

Liverpool             3 - 1  Blackburn Rovers      43,283
Manchester United     2 - 1  Arsenal               75,985

12 April 2008

Birmingham City       1 - 1  Everton               25,923
Bolton Wanderers      1 - 0  West Ham United       23,043
Derby County          0 - 6  Aston Villa           33,036
Reading               0 - 2  Fulham                24,112
Sunderland            1 - 2  Manchester City       46,797
Tottenham Hotspur     1 - 1  Middlesbrough         36,092
Portsmouth            0 - 0  Newcastle United      20,507

League table to 13 April 2008 inclusive

                             HOME          AWAY        OVERALL
                    P  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F   A   GD  Pts
 1 Manchester Utd  34 16  1  1 43  6  9  4  3 29 12 25  5  4  72  18  54  80
 2 Chelsea         33 11  5  0 32 10 11  3  3 26 13 22  8  3  58  23  35  74
 3 Arsenal         34 12  5  0 34 11  8  6  3 30 18 20 11  3  64  29  35  71
 4 Liverpool       34 11  6  1 42 13  7  6  3 18 13 18 12  4  60  26  34  66
 5 Everton         34 10  3  3 29 13  8  4  6 21 15 18  7  9  50  28  22  61
 6 Portsmouth      34  7  8  2 24 12  9  1  7 23 21 16  9  9  47  33  14  57
 7 Aston Villa     34  9  3  5 29 19  6  7  4 33 25 15 10  9  62  44  18  55
 8 Manchester City 34 10  4  3 23 16  4  6  7 16 24 14 10 10  39  40  -1  52
 9 Blackburn R.    34  7  6  4 22 17  6  6  5 22 25 13 12  9  44  42   2  51
10 West Ham United 34  6  5  5 18 19  6  3  9 17 22 12  8 14  35  41  -6  44
11 Tottenham H.    34  8  4  5 45 31  2  7  8 18 26 10 11 13  63  57   6  41
12 Newcastle Utd   34  7  5  5 23 24  3  4 10 17 34 10  9 15  40  58 -18  39
13 Middlesbrough   34  5  5  6 17 21  3  7  8 14 27  8 12 14  31  48 -17  36
14 Sunderland      34  8  3  6 20 18  2  3 12 13 34 10  6 18  33  52 -19  36
15 Wigan Athletic  33  8  3  5 20 14  1  4 12 10 33  9  7 17  30  47 -17  34
16 Reading         34  8  2  8 19 24  1  3 12 18 39  9  5 20  37  63 -26  32
17 Birmingham City 34  5  7  5 24 20  2  3 12 15 32  7 10 17  39  52 -13  31
18 Bolton Wndrs    34  6  5  7 21 18  1  3 12 10 34  7  8 19  31  52 -21  29
19 Fulham          34  4  5  8 20 29  1  7  9 12 27  5 12 17  32  56 -24  27
20 Derby County    34  1  5 11 10 33  0  3 14  6 41  1  8 25  16  74 -58  11

MCIVTA FAQ [v0708.01]

[1] MCIVTA Addresses

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[2] What are MCIVTA’s publishing deadlines?

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

http://www.uit.no/mancity/ 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.

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

The official club web site can be found at http://www.mcfc.co.uk/

[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.reddishblues.com/CSAWebsite/CSA.htm) 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.uit.no/mancity/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/.

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

Editor: