Newsletter #1628

Honours even at the Emirates on Saturday in a goalless draw that would normally be a welcome result, although the prizes at stake at this juncture and injury to Given, was not cause for celebration. Other results mean we “drop” to sixth spot so there’s all to play for as we go into the last few games.

My, how times have changed: here we are worrying about whether we can finish 4th or 6th rather than the worry we had a few seasons back of will we remain in the league, where’s the money coming from and which players will we be losing?

Tonight we have opinion on the last couple of games and in particular team selection and tactics, there’s some concern from North Stand season ticket holders and the usual requests with Howard packing in those guests for Reddish on Wednesday night.

OPINION: TACTICS, TEAM SELECTION AND TRANSFERS

I hope I am not alone in witnessing what I believe to be slightly negative attitudes in relation to our last couple of matches. Take yesterday’s match vs. Arsenal, we knew that a win would take us a point above Spurs in our quest for 4th place. Mancini decided to opt for safety first: how the hell are you going to win a match of this significance by leaving Tevez up on his own (he should have had Adebayor alongside him!)? Secondly, why was Vieira playing? We should have been playing a team and a system that would push Arsenal back, really test their “dodgy” ‘keeper, but no, we flooded the midfield and as a result we had one of the worst first halves of this season.

I have absolutely no faith in Bridge, I would not start him, he seems to be constantly injured, and in a game of this significance, we needed to use our substitutions in an attacking vein. Can anyone explain to me why we have 2 reserve left backs in our squad, yet we use a right back as a replacement (it can only be because they are not good enough!)? Why do we play with 3 holding midfielders? Tevez was so woeful in the first half, I would not have cared if he was subbed, Johnson was only on the periphery of the game, whilst Bellamy flitted in and out, and the main reason for this was that we did not have anyone capable of threading some decent balls to our front three.

What a transformation once Adebayor was brought on; he was a constant threat. Such a shame he only had 30 minutes on the pitch. What is the point in having quality attacking players like SWP and Ireland on the bench? We are running out of games and playing catch up football. Our home form is not “guaranteed wins”, so we must try to win every match.

I know that everyone harps on about continuity regarding a managerial rôle, but let’s be honest, Mancini’s brand of football, allied to his “safety first” approach to certain matches, just leaves me extremely frustrated. We are at our best when we are running at the opposition, pinning them in their own half, and using our quick and tricky wingers with Adebayor and Tevez in the middle. Why play a slow has-been like Vieira? He is not the player that graced the Arsenal team a few years ago; can Mancini not see this?

If we carry on in this vein, we will not pip Spurs to the 4th place, especially as we have 3 very difficult matches to play… nothing guaranteed!

Regarding possible transfer targets, I cannot see why we are being linked with an “injury prone” Torres; we don’t really need another striker, we have an adequate strike force at the club already. There are 3 positions that need strengthening, areas that we have just about papered over this season. We need a “top notch” creative midfielder, in the Fabregas or Xavi mould, someone who creates and scores goals, we then need another very good left and right back. Due to our financial muscle we obviously will have to pay top dollar. Maicon would be a good recruit as right back, Gareth Bale (doubt we would get him), as left back. Come the end of the season we will no doubt be linked to hundreds of players; I just hope we don’t offer them silly money in wages!

Come on you Blues… beat our bogey team Spurs!

OPINION: SAME OLD STORY?

This is blatant plagiarism and thanks to Glyn Albuquerque (MCIVTA 1627) for his words on the Man. Utd. match; they seem to work for Gooners too…

‘In all honesty, we did not deserve to win, and as much as we hate Arsenal (strike Man. Utd.), they created more chances than us and bossed the midfield for long periods…’

‘We did not start well, and our central midfielders are not attacking players, so we get overrun when faced by better opposition. We need to be able to keep the ball better than we did; look at the way Arsenal (and Barcelona) keep possession, whilst still probing. How Mancini thought Vieira was going to influence things just astounded me! In games like these (derby matches), we need to do everything “high tempo”, we should get players pressing the opposition, giving them very little time on the ball, but no, we revert to the “Italian” way, play safe and get men behind the ball. All this does is to invite the opposition on to us… I hate this “international manner” of playing football.’

Now my words…

If Glyn and I can see what the problem is, why not Mancini (a very experienced footballer and manager)? Vieira is out of his depth in today’s Premier League. When he does get the ball he is caught in possession, and it was amazing how many times the team in general lost the ball or just couldn’t retain possession. We now have 3 (not 2 defensive/uncreative) midfielders, no-one who can put their foot on the ball, look up and make a pass. Why oh why is Stevie Ireland not playing?

It only took 20 seconds from Vieira going off and Ade coming on for the team to look more balanced and effective.

I’m also concerned that:

1. Magic spent most of the match defending
2. When Richards came on he was often out of position
3. Tevez spent more time in midfield trying to get on the ball rather than prowling up front
4. Barry looks less and less like an England international every time I see him
5. Bellamy spent more time moaning/arguing (which is normal I know) but did not do any rampaging forward

Unless Mancini takes a positive pill in the next few days I do not see us making that 4th Champions’ League space. I was at White Hart Lane in December and I do not want to see a repeat of that abject performance.

Fingers crossed.

P.S. Mourinho has managed the Blue half of Milan, can he not come and manage the Blue half of Manchester?

OPINION: ARSENAL GAME

Don’t know why I do it? Watched United versus Spurs (11.30pm kick off over here). Then woke up at 4.30am to watch City versus Arsenal, then back to bed!

City well, they were City! And United being United, wanted to win. United were well organised, played some decent football, even without Rooney, and you can see why they have become such a footballing dynasty. City on the other hand, want to play with the big boys, but don’t know how to, a flat performance that had 0-0 draw written all over it.

Sorry, but we are light years behind United, which hurts me to say. We should copy their plan for world domination instead of letting Cook and Marwood use theirs!

Hope Shay Given’s injury isn’t too bad and that he recovers well, the reserve Nielson looked quite comfortable.

Off to bed.

OPINION: SEASON TICKET EVICTIONS

If, like me, you are disgusted at the way City fans in the North Stand are being treated i.e. being forcibly evicted from the seats they chose when we moved to the new stadium, then please sign the attached petition and let as many Blues as you can know about the petition and ask them to sign it.

Please keep the comments sensible and concise though as to have credibility when trying to change the behaviour of the club; we have to maintain respect and also bear in mind the great strides the club has made recently thanks to the new owners.

However, this is certainly not the way to repay the loyalty of the fans who have been here through all the bad times.

http://www.petition.fm/petitions/northstandblues/

REQUEST: VILLA TICKET

I am desperately in need of a ticket for the Villa game. Can anyone help? Call 07768 923 825 or email.

REQUEST: REDDISH BLUES – MORE GUESTS

The next meeting of the Reddish branch of the Centenary Supporters’ Association is on Wednesday 28th April, 7.30pm (doors 7.00pm) at Reddish Working Men’s Club, Greg Street, Stockport.

Our confirmed guests are Garry Cook, Paul Lake, Steve Redmond and Ian Brightwell.

The meeting is a fund-raising night for Sierra Leone and if anyone has any old football kit, boots etc. that they no longer want, please bring them with you on the night.

As always everyone is welcome and admission is by voluntary donation.

REQUEST: SYDNEY BLUES

Mike who is coming to Sydney, I did try to e-mail you so if you’re reading this, there is a Sydney Blues’ facebook site. Also, they get a good crowd along at Cheers bar in George St, which is in the centre of the city.

RESULTS

25 April 2010

Aston Villa           1 - 0  Birmingham City       42,788
Burnley               0 - 4  Liverpool             21,553
Everton               2 - 1  Fulham                35,578
Chelsea               7 - 0  Stoke City            41,013

24 April 2010

Manchester United     3 - 1  Tottenham Hotspur     75,268
Bolton Wanderers      2 - 2  Portsmouth            20,526
Hull City             0 - 1  Sunderland            25,012
West Ham United       3 - 2  Wigan Athletic        33,057
Wolverhampton Wndrs   1 - 1  Blackburn Rovers      28,967
Arsenal               0 - 0  Manchester City       60,086

21 April 2010

Hull City             0 - 2  Aston Villa           23,842

19 April 2010

Liverpool             3 - 0  West Ham United       37,697

League table to 25 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         36 16  1  1 60 14  9  4  5 33 18 25  5  6  93  32  61  80
 2 Manchester Utd  36 15  1  2 48 12 10  3  5 33 16 25  4  7  81  28  53  79
 3 Arsenal         36 14  2  2 44 15  8  4  6 34 24 22  6  8  78  39  39  72
 4 Tottenham H.    35 13  2  3 39 12  6  5  6 24 25 19  7  9  63  37  26  64
 5 Aston Villa     36  8  8  2 29 15  9  5  4 22 20 17 13  6  51  35  16  64
 6 Manchester City 35 11  4  2 38 18  6  8  4 31 24 17 12  6  69  42  27  63
 7 Liverpool       36 13  3  2 43 13  5  5  8 18 20 18  8 10  61  33  28  62
 8 Everton         36 10  6  2 34 21  5  6  7 25 28 15 12  9  59  49  10  57
 9 Birmingham City 36  7  9  2 17 12  5  2 11 18 32 12 11 13  35  44  -9  47
10 Sunderland      36  9  7  2 32 18  2  4 12 15 35 11 11 14  47  53  -6  44
11 Blackburn R.    36  9  6  3 26 17  2  5 11 12 37 11 11 14  38  54 -16  44
12 Fulham          35 10  3  4 24 12  1  7 10 12 27 11 10 14  36  39  -3  43
13 Stoke City      35  7  5  6 24 21  3  8  6  9 23 10 13 12  33  44 -11  43
14 Bolton Wndrs    36  5  6  7 24 30  4  3 11 16 35  9  9 18  40  65 -25  36
15 Wolves          36  4  6  8 11 21  4  5  9 18 31  8 11 17  29  52 -23  35
16 Wigan Athletic  36  6  6  6 17 22  3  2 13 18 47  9  8 19  35  69 -34  35
17 West Ham United 36  7  4  7 29 28  1  6 11 15 34  8 10 18  44  62 -18  34
18 Hull City       36  6  5  7 22 29  0  5 13 10 44  6 10 20  32  73 -41  28
19 Burnley         36  6  5  7 21 28  1  1 16 16 50  7  6 23  37  78 -41  27
20 Portsmouth      36  4  3 11 21 31  2  4 12 10 33  6  7 23  31  64 -33  16

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: