Newsletter #1810

Well, love it or loathe it, no more Europa League for either Manchester (and surrounding areas) teams. It’s now a straight 10 game sprint to the end of the season.

Put your faint hearts in a bin liner and get out your bows of burning gold, your arrows of desire, together with your spears and let the clouds unfold!

This is (and please do disagree with me) the most exciting period in the club’s history we are about to go through.

Bring it on and battle hard…

MATCHVIEW I: CITY 3 SPORTING LISBON 2

Sporting Lisbon go through on away goals!

In the first half City looked the worst that I have seen all season, and no excuses for City have a very good squad of players but on the night in the first half they did not click together; they looked like strangers to each other on so many occasions.

Then, in the second half, City came to life to give us all an exciting finish. In the final minute Joe Hart came up front, only to see his header that would have given City victory just go wide of the post.

Had City shown the same amount of urgency in both halves, there might have been a different result.

Our noisy neighbours United are also out of the Europa League, so now both clubs focus on the Premier League, with no distractions for either.

Looking forward to the next game versus Chelsea, and because it is on a Wednesday due to Chelsea playing in the FA Cup this weekend, it gives our injured players time to get fit, plus Tévez might return.

I watched the Chelsea versus Napoli game and I must admit Chelsea played a great comeback game, so beware! Our last few games have for some reason not been like our earlier games, no more chanting “We’ll score when we want”.

The fightback tonight did show character, but it all came too late!

Now City have a week to get together for a serious charge to take the title away from the Evil Empire! Just play as City did in the second half, do it in every game, we then have a chance to take the title away from United, which will be better than any other cup!

In Mancini I still trust!

Come on you Blues!

P.S. Good poem from Phil in last edition, bet it took many of us back to school!

MATCHVIEW II: CITY 3 SPORTING LISBON 2

At half time I was wondering why I bothered turning up because City hadn’t! Sporting’s ‘keeper didn’t have to make one save and all I can remember was Johnson volleying wide.

I think we learned that unless both Kompany and Lescott are there, we really must play de Jong in front of our defence and keep Yaya (and Super Mario) further up the field.

Pizzaro looked a class act for first 15 to 20 minutes, knocking in some clever through balls but, with little movement, Yaya petulant, Balotelli playing in his slippers, no one challenging or showing any real interest, it was hardly surprising Pizzaro became frustrated and just withered away.

Sadly, it seems to me Johnson is going backwards. Unless he wants to do more than stand on the touchline and wait for the ball to come to his feet rather than challenge/pressure the defender for it when it falls short and mix it by going past people for the bye-line instead of always cutting inside to shoot, I can see little point in playing him at all.

Better we use our overlapping defenders and de Jong to cover. Micah continues to cause defenders far more trouble than Johnson and has both the appetite and ability to chivvy, chase and tackle. Likewise, Clichy or Kolarov on the left.

Fernandez’s free kick to score was frankly superb and there was no argument Sporting were well worth their 2-0 (3-0 aggregate) lead at the interval. City were loudly booed off the pitch at half time and rightly so. Thirty-eight thousand of us had paid good money to come to a game they said they wanted to win but were seemingly intent on doing their best to lose.

They looked chastened and somewhat embarrassed as the Etihad cheered them back onto the field for the second half, and Kolo Touré half-heartedly encouraged the fans to get behind them as the rest of the team sheepishly looked away.

The introduction of de Jong for Johnson at half time stiffened things up at the back and freed up Yaya. Up until 60 minutes in, we were still going nowhere. Passing back and too much across the midfield with no apparent ambition, as if we were the ones 3-0 up.

The substitution of Dzeko for Pizzaro sparked us and the first goal from Agüero momentarily lifted us but then we fell back into our slumber. Only when Agüero was brought down and Balotelli scored coolly from the spot in the 75th minute did City and the Etihad really come to life; the players could now see a glimpse of glory and at last wanted to be there.

Sporting of course made it easier and helped us look better than we really were in choosing to take their attackers off and defend. Man of the match, ‘never say die’, Agüero scored another and we had 7 minutes normal time left on the clock for our last hurrah.

When Joe Hart started playing in Sporting Lisbon’s half towards the end of normal time, with clearly still more than 5 minutes of added time to play, I couldn’t help wondering if this might just be ‘Hari Kari’; was there a real fear on the bench as they waved him forward that we might score a fourth?

Our tails were up and I suspect I was just hung over with cynicism from the dire first half. I think it was just over enthusiasm, natural instinct, by then we were all being swept along. We couldn’t help it, basking in the prospect of a glorious comeback… even if we really didn’t want to go through!

Joe was of course right to be there in the 95th minute and I really thought his cracking header was in and we had our ‘Grand Finale’, but it wasn’t to be.

Yet again, albeit belatedly, City showed their true character and irrepressible will to win, which bodes well. It couldn’t have been scripted better: we went out in style and though my head (not my heart) would agree with Phil and others that it probably was for the best I would add…

Only if we win the Premier League!

I still think we can do it but are going to need Tévez’s help. In Mancini I trust and can only hope we are saving our ‘Grand Finale’ for another day!

C’mon you Blues.

MATCHVIEW III: CITY 3 SPORTING LISBON 2

I hope City do not have to be three goals down again in every match before they show their passion and superiority.

Now is the time to press FIFA, UEFA, Portuguese FA and the English FA, particularly as the match was played in the UK and a precedent has been set by the English FA when they, in retrospect, gave a player a four week ban i.e. Mario Balotelli recently, to have the following bans placed on the Portuguese Club, Lisbon’s manager and Lisbon players and the downgrading of the 6 Match Officials for the “acting” of the players, the action of the manager and the non-functioning of the match officials!

The Lisbon Club to be fined a six figure Euro amount because they are overall responsible for the players and manager’s actions.

The three Lisbon players who in the second half “play acted” injuries be banned as follows; the first player (the one who had an imaginary arm/elbow injury) a ban of 16 matches over all competitions and the other two 8 match bans over all competitions and the player in the first half who although given a yellow card should be further given a ban of 4 matches over all competitions for over “acting” his foul.

The Lisbon manager be banned for at least 2 matches in all competitions for having left his technical area, which appeared to happen in the second half at the time of the Lisbon player’s arm/elbow incident.

The 6 officials downgraded to their local lowest league competitions in their countries because of not effectively dealing with the time-wasting caused by the play acting of the Lisbon players, particularly in the second half of the match; I did not have a stopwatch on the time wasting incidents but surely it was more than 5 minutes actually played!

If there is a petition to be signed, let me know I will be signing such a petition if I can do it by email or Internet from here in New Zealand.

It is about time these players were shown the “play acting” has to stop!

I wish also that people realised that players have to tackle and that not all tackles are fouls and certainly all do not warrant yellow cards and free kicks every time. Yes, you can shoulder charge Balotelli, but it has to be squarely shoulder to shoulder, not your shoulder into the back of the opponent’s shoulder area!

The Lisbon player with the imaginary arm/elbow injury was really shown to be time wasting and unethical when he suddenly was OK to take part again, even though he looked as though he was about to leave on a stretcher when City’s doctor turned up (and here I am taking the TV commentary team comments as correct) to assess his injury and like it states in the bible, picked up his bed and walked – another miracle!

ARTICLE RESPONSE

Re: Mike Cooke’s message in MCIVTA 1809.

Yes, but will the points you mentioned be addressed?

Lots of doom and gloom in MCIVTA 1809, but we City fans can still alter the outcome of the title. Get behind the boys at Chelsea and for the rest of the games and that will boost them no end and get the points we need.

They need to be reminded how much it means to us.

TICKET REQUEST: SUNDERLAND

Unfortunately, I left it too late to get a ticket for the Sunderland home game.

I’ve arranged a weekend in Manchester with the family just for the game, so if anyone has a spare or a season card they are not using I would be more than happy to pay full price for it.

It’s just the one ticket I need. Please contact me at the address below.

IF…

Mr Kipling wrote exceedingly good poems, and one day you’ll be a Manc, my son!

IF…

That’s a bl**dy big IF!

AND FINALLY… POINTS OF BLUE: REFEREEING

Next meeting is on 27 March and apart from usual range of topics we can watch the DVD that the FA have sent to clubs to “help” understand when to expect a red card. Reffing chief Mike Riley would like to attend but can’t do that date.

He’s offering 12 April.

Proposal so far, is stick to original date (which has been publicised) and have an additional PoB on the topic. After we see the DVD on the 27th we can perhaps add other incidents we want him to cover (the Delap red card and successful appeal for instance).

RESULTS AND TABLE

League table to 11 March 2012 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  28 11  1  2 39 15 10  3  1 29 12 21  4  3  68  27  41  67
 2 Manchester City 28 14  0  0 42  6  7  3  4 27 14 21  3  4  69  20  49  66
 3 Tottenham H.    28 10  2  2 30 13  6  3  5 22 21 16  5  7  52  34  18  53
 4 Arsenal         27  9  2  2 29 11  6  2  6 26 27 15  4  8  55  38  17  49
 5 Chelsea         28  9  2  3 31 19  5  5  4 17 13 14  7  7  48  32  16  49
 6 Newcastle Utd   27  7  5  2 21 15  5  3  5 18 24 12  8  7  39  39   0  44
 7 Liverpool       26  4  8  1 15 10  6  1  6 15 15 10  9  7  30  25   5  39
 8 Sunderland      28  6  4  4 21 13  4  3  7 15 18 10  7 11  36  31   5  37
 9 Everton         27  6  3  5 15 13  4  4  5 13 15 10  7 10  28  28   0  37
10 Fulham          28  7  4  3 29 19  2  5  7  8 18  9  9 10  37  37   0  36
11 Swansea City    28  6  6  2 19 10  3  3  8 12 24  9  9 10  31  34  -3  36
12 Norwich City    28  5  5  4 21 18  4  4  6 18 27  9  9 10  39  45  -6  36
13 Stoke City      28  6  4  4 18 14  4  2  8  9 25 10  6 12  27  39 -12  36
14 West Brom A.    28  4  2  8 14 16  6  3  5 20 21 10  5 13  34  37  -3  35
15 Aston Villa     28  4  4  6 15 17  3  8  3 16 18  7 12  9  31  35  -4  33
16 Blackburn R.    28  4  1  9 20 27  2  6  6 20 33  6  7 15  40  60 -20  25
17 Bolton Wndrs    28  3  2  9 17 28  4  0 10 14 29  7  2 19  31  57 -26  23
18 QPR             28  2  5  7 14 22  3  2  9 15 26  5  7 16  29  48 -19  22
19 Wolves          28  3  2  9 17 30  2  5  7 13 28  5  7 16  30  58 -28  22
20 Wigan Athletic  28  1  6  7 11 24  3  3  8 13 29  4  9 15  24  53 -29  21

MCIVTA FAQ [v1112.01]

[1] MCIVTA Addresses

Articles (Philip Alcock)         : editor@mcivta.city-fan.org
News/rumour                      : 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/Twitter

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://www.bbc.co.uk/news/england/manchester/.

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

http://www.satfootball.com/ provides a listing of Premier League games being shown on UK domestic and foreign satellite channels. A useful site for North American viewers is http://msn.foxsports.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://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/definition/Usenet

[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] Do any squad members have their own Twitter accounts?

A list of genuine player accounts is maintained at http://twitter.com/#!/MCFC/players

[12] Where can I find match statistics?

Statistics for the current season are available from the club site, but for a more in-depth historical 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.

Philip Alcock, editor@mcivta.city-fan.org

Editor: