Newsletter #1697

News tonight from Alex on Mancini’s manager of the month award and the latest transfer moves, both loan and permanent.

We’ve a look at the City calendar and a request for a derby publication.

NEWS SUMMARY

General News

Magnificent Mancini: Mancini has been presented the Barclay’s Premier League Manager of the Month award for the first time since taking over at the club 12 months ago. After a successful Christmas period, in which the Blues won three of their four games and moved up to second in the table, Mancini has been acknowledged for his part in the City revolution. With five months left of the season, Mancini will be hoping to build on this success and push United all the way in the title race.

The Twelfth Man: Having been recognised for his part in City’s good form, the City coach was quick to praise the fans for their support throughout his time at the club. Though he has revealed that he believes the City faithful are some of the most loyal and supportive in the world, the Italian maestro has pleaded with fans to pump up the volume on match day. It’s no secret that the atmosphere took a hit when the club moved from Maine Road to Eastlands but the fans are certainly begin to settle into their new(ish) surroundings and the boss is hoping that the supporters will act as the team’s twelfth man in man in future games: “I think there is a momentum building up within the team and we need to keep that going, so if I had a message to our fans it would be to sing their hearts out even more when we play at home. Be more vocal from the beginning of the game until the end because they can be our twelfth man. I remember how the crowd used to be at Maine Road and the noise they used to make, which was incredible and I want us to try to create a similar atmosphere at the City of Manchester Stadium.”

Title Talk: By the time that derby comes round, United winger Nani believes City will be well out of the title race. There’s currently only two points between the two sides (though United do have two games in hand) and a run of inconsistent performances from the top sides have blown the title race wide open. Despite this, the Portuguese international can only see United and Chelsea competing for the top spot come May: “I no longer see anybody winning the Premier League this season outside of Manchester United or Chelsea.” City’s own midfield maestro Gareth Barry, however, has suggested that City have as good a chance as anyone else to finish top of the pile this season: “I think in some games this year we have played great football. We are second as we stand now and we would have settled for that at this stage before a ball had been kicked. The performance of the team has improved too and if that continues then we are a threat. I don’t know if we have enough to be title contenders this season but we can give it a good go.” Though no-one will commit themselves to saying that the club will definitely win the league this season, all surrounded by the club feel that if the club continues to improve at a steady rate, league success is imminent. Micah Richards can’t look past the threat that City will pose over the coming seasons: “With the players that we’ve got, if I were asked: ‘Do you think we’ve got a good enough squad to win the Premier League?’ I’d say yeah. When it’s going to happen, I’m not sure, but we’ll just keep fighting and hopefully we will, sooner rather than later.”

Squad News

Winging It: David Silva has only been at the club for five months, but already the Spanish winger is breaking records at City. For the third month in a row, Silva has been named the club’s official Etihad Player of the Month, a feat never achieved by any other Blue. Facing stiff competition from the ever consistent Vincent Kompany and the recently vibrant Mario Balotelli, the £24 million summer signing raked in a huge 43% of the vote.

Teacher’s Pet: Though reports in recent months would have us believe that Adam Johnson and Roberto Mancini are constantly at odds and that the winger’s attitude to his manager is “play me or sell me”, the young England international has insisted that this simply isn’t the case. The winger has been instrumental to City’s top of the table challenge this season, yet more often than not this has been as an impact sub rather than first team starter. Despite the rumoured unrest, Johnson has appeased fans by claiming he and Mancini are on the “same wavelength”: “The boss gives me little pointers – I think it’s because I’m the nearest to him! It’s for me to tell the others things as well – not to get themselves booked, stuff like that. I’m just the messenger! As a group and a team, we are all together.”

Football is a Winter Sport: While the FA and Premier League look set to implement a winter break in future seasons, in order to help the England national team to compete with their European counterparts at international competitions, City right-back Jerome Boateng has revealed that if anything, the lack of a winter break has helped both him and the club. Boateng, used to experiencing a winter break during his time in the German Bundesliga at Hamburg, believes that a break can in fact act as a detriment to teams and affect their progress in the league: “Not having a break is a tough thing to adjust to but I like it because we are all together as a squad and everyone is getting a game or two. I am still adjusting to the Premier League. I know I must improve more but I like the quickness of the game in England. It is hard but it is also fun.”

No Luck for the Irish: City left back Greg Cunningham has suffered a broken leg whilst out on loan at Leicester City and has returned to the club in order to begin physiotherapy. Having planned to remain with The Foxes until the end of the season, the injury will undoubtedly act as a set-back in the young Irishman’s progress. In consolation, Cunningham did leave with the Championship club with the words of manager Sven Goran Eriksson ringing in his ears: “He has been brilliant for us and one of our best players all season. He is very brave, has a good left foot and is a good player. He will be away for at least four months. It is really bad luck. We don’t know if we will have him back before the end of the season and I don’t think anyone could say about that at this stage.”

Transfer Talk

Star Striker: Long-term target Edin Dzeko has finally completed a £27 million move to Eastlands. The Bosnian first caught the eye of Mancini back in the summer but former club Wolfsburg had no intention of letting their prize asset go without a fight. Now, five months down the line, Dzeko has made the move to the Premier League and can’t wait to be a part of the City ‘project’: “It has been a long time that I have been linked with the club going back to last summer but Wolfsburg did not want to sell me until today. I am pleased to be at such a good club with such a big ambition as Manchester City. They were my first choice and only choice.”

Wayne Offers Hammers Chance to Bridge the Gap: Wayne Bridge has moved on loan to West Ham for the rest of the season. Sitting at the foot of the table but with a chance to reach Wembley in the Carling Cup, West Ham’s fortunes have certainly been mixed this season and manager Avram Grant will be hoping Bridge could be the difference between relegation and survival. The former England international reportedly turned down a move to Aston Villa in order to help West Ham fight against relegation: “I am delighted to sign for West Ham United. I am just looking forward to meeting everyone at the training ground, starting work and getting out on the pitch and playing in front of the fans. I am glad the loan is sorted and I’m ready to play. It will be great to play a part in helping keep West Ham in the Premier League.”

Post-Match Reaction

Drawing a Blank: Whether it was sheer good luck or rather a fantastic defensive display by Mancini’s men, City came away from the Emirates with a point. They may have come off the pitch to chants of “boring, boring City”, but having put their bodies on the line for 90 minutes and kept a number of shots from the likes of Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie and Samir Nasri out of their goal, the Blues earned their goalless draw the hard way. The game was given a talking point however, with only minutes of the game remaining, as Pablo Zabaleta and Backary Sagna squared up head-to-head. Sagna moved to head-butt the Argentine defender and both were dismissed from the pitch. Zabaleta appealed what seemed a harsh red card and the decision was overturned.

Mancini paid tribute to the defensive display that his side put in: “Arsenal played very well, especially in the first half when we were under pressure, but we were better in the second half. This was our fourth game in ten days and it is very hard to play so many games so close together, so to take ten points from a possible twelve, is very good. If you can’t win the game, you make sure you don’t lose it. I think if we came here with a full strength team, it may have been a different game, but we are very happy with a point.”

Former Gooner Kolo Touré dismissed the critics and praised his side’s performance: “Chelsea came here and lost, we left with a point. Arsenal played well and we wanted to get the three points, but it was a really difficult game. They are playing really well at the moment so I think a draw on their ground is a really good result. We defended really well throughout the team and Joe Hart made some fantastic saves – as usual – and I think we did really well as a unit. I think it’s very important to have a strong defence if you are challenging for major honours. Strikers can win you games, but defenders win you titles.” In-form stopper Joe Hart continued his excellent form with a number of excellent saves and was only too happy to come away with a point: “I was hoping to get to ten minutes without conceding a goal because I played here last season with Birmingham and had to pick the ball out of the net twice in the first seven minutes! I thought the same might happen again the way Arsenal started, but it just shows what grit and determination we’ve got at this club and players like Kolo were pumped up for this game as were the other lads.”

Out-Foxed: The Blues followed up their goalless draw at Arsenal with a potentially tricky tie at The Walkers’ Stadium. Taking on Leicester City and former boss Sven Goran Eriksson, City went a goal down within the first minute when bulky defender Bamba knocked in to put the hosts in front. As a mark of respect to City legend Neil Young, who is currently battling with cancer, the City fans donned red and black scarves to mark the occasion and on the 24th minute, in memory of his goal against Leicester in the 1959 FA Cup final victory, City fans turned their back on the game. Leicester fans applauded and the moment was quite moving for all involved. Goals from James Milner and Carlos Tevez gave City the lead at half-time and soon had the red and black clad City faithful bouncing at half-time. Leicester did find a second half equaliser though, and the two sides will have to meet again at Eastlands on January 18th. Mancini believes his side will learn from their mistakes in the up-coming replay: “Leicester played very well. We had a lot of chances in the second half. But this is the FA Cup – if we want to win, maybe we must do better. Bamba is very tall. Next time we must pay more attention to him. Joe saved a lot of times at Arsenal. Today he made a mistake, but we have another chance.”

OPINION: CITY 2011

I’ve just hung up my new 2011 City calendar (bargain at £3 in the new year sale!).

Compared to previous years they have played it very safe. The one exception is October, when man of the month is Adebayor. Methinks they would have been over-optimistic if they had him as Mr February!

REQUEST: BATTLE OF MANCHESTER

Please let me introduce myself, my name is Steph Doehler and I am the editor of the ‘Battle of Manchester’ magazine, written by both United & City fans in time for the derby match next month. The magazine includes a range of articles written by both sets of fans, as well as interviews with associates/former players of both clubs. With regard to City I’ve been in contact with, amongst others, Gary James who granted me an interview.

I am writing for a couple of reasons, firstly to you to ascertain if you would like to make a pre-order of the magazine for your members within the supporters club. The magazine is due for print next week and will be back at the start of February. I will be posting out any pre-orders before they go on general sale, so you could be amongst the first to read the magazine!

The price is £2.50 per magazine but for orders of 10+ I offer a 10% discount, and for orders of 40+ I offer a 20% discount. So far I have received over 400 pre-orders from supporters’ clubs.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me. As we go to print next week I am aiming to get pre-orders finalising by the beginning of next week.

I look forward to hearing from you.

RESULTS AND TABLE

12 January 2011

Blackpool            2 - 1  Liverpool            16,089

League table to 12 January 2011 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  20 10  1  0 29  7  2  7  0 14 12 12  8  0  43  19  24  44
 2 Manchester City 22  6  3  2 14  7  6  3  2 19  9 12  6  4  33  16  17  42
 3 Arsenal         21  6  1  3 22 11  6  3  2 20 11 12  4  5  42  22  20  40
 4 Tottenham H.    21  6  4  1 17  9  4  2  4 14 16 10  6  5  31  25   6  36
 5 Chelsea         21  7  2  1 22  7  3  3  5 14 12 10  5  6  36  19  17  35
 6 Sunderland      22  6  4  1 14  7  2  5  4 11 15  8  9  5  25  22   3  33
 7 Bolton Wndrs    22  5  5  1 22 13  2  4  5 12 16  7  9  6  34  29   5  30
 8 Newcastle Utd   21  4  3  4 25 14  4  1  5  9 17  8  4  9  34  31   3  28
 9 Blackpool       20  3  2  3 14 14  5  2  5 15 19  8  4  8  29  33  -4  28
10 Blackburn R.    22  5  3  3 15 10  3  1  7 14 25  8  4 10  29  35  -6  28
11 Stoke City      21  5  2  4 14 12  3  1  6 12 14  8  3 10  26  26   0  27
12 Everton         21  3  4  3 12 13  2  6  3 11 12  5 10  6  23  25  -2  25
13 Liverpool       21  6  2  2 17  8  1  2  8  8 21  7  4 10  25  29  -4  25
14 Fulham          21  3  5  3 14 14  1  5  4  8 10  4 10  7  22  24  -2  22
15 Birmingham City 20  3  5  2  9 10  1  5  4 11 15  4 10  6  20  25  -5  22
16 West Brom A.    21  4  2  4 13 15  2  2  7 13 24  6  4 11  26  39 -13  22
17 Wolves          21  5  2  4 15 15  1  1  8  6 19  6  3 12  21  34 -13  21
18 Aston Villa     21  4  4  3 15 13  1  2  7  8 25  5  6 10  23  38 -15  21
19 Wigan Athletic  21  2  5  4 10 20  2  4  4  8 13  4  9  8  18  33 -15  21
20 West Ham United 22  3  4  4 14 16  1  4  6  8 22  4  8 10  22  38 -16  20

MCIVTA FAQ [v1011.01]

[1] MCIVTA Addresses

Articles (Heidi Pickup)          : editor@mcivta.city-fan.org
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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: