Newsletter #1885

Well I’m looking forward to a nice trip to the South Coast on Saturday with a stop-off en-route at the Farnborough Air Museum… just like being a kid again!

Hopefully, we can lift what has been a touch of doom and gloom from the past couple of weeks with an important away win. If not… well… it could be a “let’s concentrate on the Cup” moment!

OPINION: CITY vs. QPR

I saw City at QPR and frankly they should have won it easily. Lescott and Zaba had very good chances in the first half and Silva nearly got past the brilliant Julio Cesar in the second.

The City fans were great and to hear that Mario song “live” was magic. Back in Spain and today’s Mundo Deportivio has the following front page story:

“Cheque en Blanco del City a Neymar” – Blank Cheque offered by City for Neymar.

It states that on Tuesday this week, at the Cipriano restaurant in London, there was a meeting between Txiki Begiristain and Pini Zahavi (the famous player agent) plus Joan Laporta (the ex-Barcelona President). It was a meeting to evolve a plan for City to undermine Barça’s efforts to get Neymar and transmit to Santos they can state their price and City will meet it.

I hope that it all falls flat as I don’t rate him that highly and it will just be another Robinho type fiasco.

OPINION: GENERAL THOUGHTS

I’m trying to keep things in perspective after the draw against Liverpool, but can’t help feeling massively disappointed. We will finish second, and should only really start to worry if we fall out of the top two spots. How times have changed. But despite shaking off the shackles of our past with that fantastic achievement last season, we still don’t seem to have captured that winning mentality that United have displayed.

Most noticeably of late we have missed Yaya. As much as I have wanted Garcia to do well, he just hasn’t been up to the task. Two, albeit stunning, strikes from distance by Liverpool did the damage. It’s the defensive midfielder’s job to protect the back line and he doesn’t have the presence or ability to do that job effectively.

I tend to agree with Keith Sharp that Mancini is treading a very fine line. I have a lot of time for him and very much like his attitude and manner, but I’m not convinced he is bringing the best out of his players – and I can’t put my finger on the reason why.

Desperately hoping I’m proved wrong regarding our finishing position, but can City really work such a miracle again!?

AND FINALLY… IT’S BEEN A WHILE

I’ve not written an article for a while, but having been to quite a few games recently (by my standards) I thought I would chuck in my twopennysworth.

I think that 9 points will now be too much for us to make up this season. We will need City to win every game and United lose three or draw 5 games, and I just cannot see this happening… but you never know!

The biggest problem that City have faced this season, in my opinion, is that we have simply not improved since last season. Dzeko, Agüero and Tévez have not been as prolific as last season and the players we have let go (Balotelli, de Jong and Johnson) have been replaced with largely ineffective players Maicon, Garcia, Sinclair and Rodwell. Only Nastasic has been a decent addition, but even he was brought in early in the season to spoil what seemed to be the dream partnership of Lescott and Kompany.

The purchases that City made in the summer never looked like improving the squad. It would be interesting to find out exactly how these purchases were made; if Mancini got what he was after I would say he needs his bumps feeling! However, I’m sure there is more to this than we will ever know, as is always the case. Most importantly we need to get this right in future; if we get rid of an attacking winger like Johnson, we need to replace with a better one, not a slow/ageing midfielder approaching the end of his career. If we lose a central midfield general like de Jong we need to replace him with the new Vieira, not with an unproven youngster who seems colour blind when passing and spends more time with matron than his coach.

I for one was not keen on RvP in the summer. I thought he would be in the sick-bay by October and of little use. I was wrong! I sincerely think he is the difference between City and the Rags. If we had bought him I think we would be 15 points clear by now. Isn’t hindsight a wonderful thing! Most importantly I think that Mancini wanted him and if it was his choice he would have moved heaven and earth (and another £5 million, or however much it took) to get him.

Most importantly, however, at the moment (especially against QPR and also against Liverpool) we do not seem to have an effective plan B. Last season when we needed a goal we often threw on de Jong and pushed Yaya further up the field to create goals. Against QPR we bought on Rodwell and Sinclair late on; you could see the QPR players breathe a sigh of relief!

I know Yaya has been away recently, but we really do need to change things significantly when we are struggling to score, no point in the odd tweak if the opposition have parked the bus and we cannot get through.

Here’s hoping we can trouser the FA Cup and finish runners-up. We then need to make sure we improve next season and cannot let other clubs secure the best players from under our noses. United have been buying titles for more than 20 years, it’s about time we used our clout to the same effect.

RESULTS AND TABLE

League table as at 8 February 2013

                    P  GD Pts
 1 Manchester Utd  25  29  62
 2 Manchester City 25  26  53
 3 Chelsea         25  24  46
 4 Tottenham H.    25  13  45
-----------------------------
 5 Everton         25  10  42
-----------------------------
 6 Arsenal         25  20  41
 7 Liverpool       25  12  36
 8 Swansea City    25   6  34
 9 West Brom A.    25  -1  34
10 Stoke City      25  -6  30
11 West Ham Utd    25  -8  30
12 Sunderland      25  -5  29
13 Fulham          25  -6  28
14 Norwich City    25 -15  28
15 Newcastle Utd   25 -11  27
16 Southampton     25 -11  24
17 Reading         25 -14  23
-----------------------------
18 Wigan Athletic  25 -18  21
19 Aston Villa     25 -26  21
20 QPR             25 -19  17

MCIVTA FAQ [v1112.01]

[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/Twitter

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[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?

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[9] Do we have a Usenet newsgroup?

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[10] Do any squad members have their own web pages?

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[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/.

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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: