Newsletter #1901

Well that tore it!

Coasting, winning then a triple Spurs whammy and poof… there goes the title. Felt rotten didn’t it? Well, as United’s players clearly did after Agüerooooo, let’s feel the pain and use it to galvanise both the players and support for what I feel is actually a rather important run in to the end of the season – it will influence the club’s approach during the summer on many levels and, in turn, how we approach next season.

Fun while it lasted though wasn’t it! Let’s do it again!

LET THE TRUTH BE TOLD

Have you ever read something ‘after the fact’ and found it hard to take?

Well it’s now closing in on 8 o’clock Sunday evening, and I’ve just readPhil’s intro to the latest issue. Ooooh it did hurt… until the slightrelief of Liverpool’s 159th minute equaliser (you could tell they weren’tplaying against Manure by the lack of a whistle about the 91st minute). Sixpoints of space seems a whole lot better than four.

Truth be told, apart from that last gasp moment, the happiest I felt today was whilst watching the Suarez chomp. I mean that is just comical stuff. I laughed large and loud!

On a more serious note, I read Martin’s piece and I have to disagree with both him and Dave, with whom he has the issue. The way I saw it, I genuinely thought – nay, I’m convinced, that Chiles was simply referring to the somewhat enigmatic post-match interviews that Robbie Manc can sometimes do.

On perhaps (but perhaps not) an even more serious note still, Andy is right about Budwater and other mass-produced US beer. Lots of advertising: hype over substance. Rather like Nasri, despite his goal for us today, and somewhat of an upturn in both effort and attainment recently.

P.S. I type this as a supporter of the champions but chances are that when you all read it we won’t be. I’m going to spend the evening and much of tomorrow hanging onto the feeling. Still, fear not. If – and that word, if, is a very big word – we finish second and manage to win the F.A. Cup, then it wil still have been a truly, truly terrific season.

CITY vs. SPURS

After watching City’s wretched loss to Spurs on Sunday, the result, in my opinion, is down to the following:

Considering we scored relatively early, we failed to get the crucial 2nd goal, and our dependence on Tévez and Agüero in the last few matches highlights our problems with scoring enough goals.

After 70 minutes, where the game was edging towards stalemate, AVB made the crucial decision to substitute some of his ineffective players, whilst Mancini merely decided to carry on! Holtby brought energy to the Spurs midfield, and everyone knows how dangerous Defoe can be… I still cannot understand why Mancini never took off the ineffective and largely useless Dzeko, and bring on another midfielder to leave Tévez as the lone striker. Our midfield was being overrun and, if I could see that, surely our bench could too? Bale had been virtually on the periphery for three quarters of the match, but only became effective in the last 15 minutes, and he certainly changed the result with just two efforts. In my opinion, Kompany was to blame for the first 2 goals, both avoidable.

City’s biggest problem this season is the lack of quality in the squad. Compare our squad to United’s, Chelsea and Arsenal. We might have 12 to 13 very god players (if all fit), but after that, average at best. Against Spurs, it was noticeable that Spurs’ 3 subs were far better than what Mancini had (no idea why Agüero was an unused sub, unless injured). As soon as Milner had to go off, I thought wow, what a big loss. Kolarov is such a waste of money – absolutely useless at free kicks (do they practice?) and does not defend too well either. Javi Garcia… what did City scouts see in this player? So slow it’s a joke (why did we get rid of de Jong?). Rodwell, always injured (surely we should have targeted Fellaini instead?), Maicon the same, Richards in that category too (and not great at defending – too often he does not read the game). Dzeko has a poor first touch, and is ponderous; we really need a quality tall striker – ideally Cavani. We need another player in the mould of Silva; we’re too reliant on him.

If possible, I would like us to target the following players who would make us so much stronger and more competitive (if we can?).

Cavani, Suarez (irrespective of his odd misdemeanours, what a player – a faster version of Tévez), Kevin Prince Boateng or Fellaini, a good young backup right and left back, maybe Eriksen from Ajax.

Basically, I am just looking for something to look forward to… especially as United have just won the Premier League. No joy at all for me: just imagine, we were good enough to comprehensively beat them at Old Trafford and yet we are so far behind them!

Come on City!

Come on City!

SPURS 3 CITY 1

The opening goal by City was a class goal, Carlos Tévez played some great football then passed it to James Milner who in turn crossed to Samir Nasri who side-footed it to score. City continued to play some slick football until the 75th minute when Kompany watched as the ball went past him for Dempsey to score; maybe Kompany did not know that there was a Spurs player behind him, or thought that Joe Hart was going to get the ball?

The second Spurs goal by Defoe was a great goal, no question about that one, but the Spurs goal by Bale, he should never have got into that position to score.

I don’t like to criticise any City player but Edin Dzeko was off form today, never helped his team, maybe lack of games, but as a professional player he should have done a lot better.

I write this before United take on Villa at home Monday evening. Although City were never completely out of winning the League, I have said for some time now that the gap at the top was too much for City to overcome.

This season for City to get a top four finish and win the FA Cup, it will have still been a great season. The rest of this season reads:

(H) West Ham
(A) Swansea
(H) West Brom
(N) FA Cup Final versus Wigan
(A) Reading
(H) Norwich

Still a lot to play for: FA Cup, and to keep our position in the top for Europe next season, we must not collapse.

In Mancini I trust! Come on you Blues!

ITV

I felt I must come to the aid of poor old Adrian Chiles following the post in a previous edition of MCIVTA. I also watched the programme when I returned from Wembley and heard the “offending words”.

I actually smiled when I heard them. My interpretation was that Roberto says one thing but is actually quite clever and means something else! I think he has learned our language well and has also grasped the concept of irony.

I think that this was what Mr Chiles meant by his comments. I do not think he was being “racist” in any way whatsoever. He understood the words but not the meaning (he probably did, but as a good presenter said it to encourage debate)!

CUP FINAL VIEWING IN MELBOURNE

Any Blues here in Melbourne looking for a place to share the event with fellow Blues? Remember, this will be a 02:15 kick-off time locally.

The Imperial Hotel, Cnr Spring & Burke Sts Melbourne.

AND FINALLY… NORTH KOREAN TIMES

Yep it’s true…

Yaya is ta ta (ho ho) – According to the North Korean Times, Yaya is definitely going, so says Bill E. Lyar.

Barcelona is in Good Kompany (ho ho) – Indeed after his rift with Mancini over public criticisms, Vinny is Catalan bound according to Billy Bull S. Hitter.

Aren’t you getting a bit bored with the random musings of our lovable red tops and the Kompany story also disappointingly was in the Telegraph, the Yaya story was on 5 Live.

Now we’ve all done things we’re not proud of, like reading the Daily Mail, but the last 5 pages of the DM are quite good, the bearded sage Martin Samuel has earned his chops putting to bed both these stories. Once you get into the editorial opinion and letters in the DM it’s time to put the paper down and retreat to a safe distance.

Yawn yawn Mancini fears for his job…

Roberto Mancini’s position is to be reviewed at the end of the season by Sheikh Mansour as speculation mounts to his future. Jaysus – What next? Bears in the forest found in defecation shock.

At work we do a 3 man 4 day project to perform an office move to relocate a client. Then we internally review what went right, what went ok and what went wrong and what have we learned about skill sets, equipment, planning tools required and what we can do better; that’s just a £3,000 job.

Of course there will be a season review, where we went wrong (Southampton, United at Home, Everton, Spurs, draws against Liverpool, West Ham away etc.). We should all be under no illusions about a review, starting with the board with the summer (2012) signings (or lack thereof), Kompany’s calf, Agüero injury, Yaya and the ACON, Mr 50% Nasri, Silva has been a bit Silver (2nd rate) this season compared to last, Dzeko has proved beyond a shadow of a doubt he is an impact sub at best, Mancini’s intemperate comments in the media (I know it’s boring but it’s very simple PR: we praise in public, criticise in private just like Brendan ‘jolly’ Rodgers) then we work our way down to the EDS performances.

See you at Wembley…

Keep it real, read all about it news of the world.

RESULTS AND TABLE

22 April 2013

Manchester United     3 - 0  Aston Villa           75,591

21 April 2013

Tottenham Hotspur     3 - 1  Manchester City       36,121
Liverpool             2 - 2  Chelsea               45,009

20 April 2013

Fulham                0 - 1  Arsenal               25,700
Norwich City          2 - 1  Reading               26,460
Queens Park Rangers   0 - 2  Stoke City            17,391
Sunderland            1 - 0  Everton               44,614
Swansea City          0 - 0  Southampton           20,561
West Bromwich Albion  1 - 1  Newcastle United      25,671
West Ham United       2 - 0  Wigan Athletic        34,544

League table as at 25 April 2013

                        P / GD / Pts
 1 Manchester Utd      34 / 43 / 84
 2 Manchester City     33 / 29 / 68
 3 Arsenal             34 / 30 / 63
 4 Chelsea             33 / 31 / 62
-----------------------------------
 5 Tottenham Hotspur   33 / 17 / 61
-----------------------------------
 6 Everton             34 / 13 / 56
 7 Liverpool           34 / 19 / 51
 8 West Bromwich Alb   33 / -1 / 45
 9 Swansea City        33 /  1 / 42
10 West Ham Utd        34 / -7 / 42
11 Fulham              34 / -8 / 40
12 Southampton         34 / -7 / 39
13 Norwich City        34 /-20 / 38
14 Sunderland          34 / -7 / 37
15 Stoke City          34 /-11 / 37
16 Newcastle Utd       34 /-17 / 37
17 Aston Villa         34 /-27 / 34
-----------------------------------
18 Wigan Athletic      33 /-23 / 31
19 QPR                 34 /-27 / 24
20 Reading             34 /-28 / 24

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: