Newsletter #1730

With the team and fans still recovering from the FA Cup final, City faced Stoke again on Tuesday night at CoMS. Once again we emerged victorious in a 3-0 win, which sees us nestled into 3rd spot in the league above Arsenal.

I’ll just repeat that for those who are having difficulty believing – we won the FA Cup last weekend and now with one game to go we’re 3rd in the Premier League.

We have a match report tonight thanks to Phil, a look at the end of season, opinion on Wembley and respect for the Cup and the fact it is all due to the socks. There’s also a request for season ticket sharing.

Last game against the Trotters on Sunday, whilst Monday sees a traditional open top bus tour with the FA Cup and celebrations at the stadium for fans.

MATCH REPORT ‘LIVE’: MCFC 3 SCFC 0

Carlos Tévez scored a brilliant brace in a comfortable 3-0 victory against Stoke as City leapfrogged above Arsenal into 3rd place with one game to go. A win at Bolton in our last game or matching Arsenal’s result at Fulham would secure third place and automatic qualification for the group stages, avoiding a potentially tricky Champions’ League Qualifying game against teams of the calibre of Bayern Munich in the summer.

After Saturday’s FA Cup win over Stoke, the atmosphere was naturally celebratory, and the City team received a very warm welcome, in particular one Yaya Touré. There were chants such as ‘Who put the ball in The Potters’ net, Yaya’ and memorably, borrowing from Stoke to the tune of ‘Delilah’ we had:

Yaya, Ya, ya, Touré,
so before, he breaks away and scores,
Oh Yaya Touré I think we should pay you some more…

The club had decided that the trophy would not be shown out of respect to the Stoke fans who had been very gracious in defeat at Wembley. City showed real class in making that decision and we can look forward to seeing City with the FA Cup next Monday. There was some good banter between the fans and I’m proud to say the City fans didn’t rub Stoke’s noses in it either.

On the pitch, this was a delightful performance from City, and indeed a professional display. With Arsenal’s defeat at home to Villa, this was no longer a meaningless match and City needed the three points. Roberto Mancini and his players richly deserve credit for a vigorous, clinical performance from start to finish that owes a lot to their professionalism and skill.

There were just two changes from the side that won the FA Cup at Wembley, with Pablo Zabaleta coming in for Alex Kolarov, and Adam Johnson in for Mario Balotelli, who had picked up a knock. Stoke were missing Kenwyne Jones, Jermaine Pennant, Matthew Etherington and Wembley villain Robert Huth.

City were clearly the better side from start to finish and passed the ball delightfully against limited opponents who were giving their all. A City goal was inevitable and with thirteen minutes on the clock Carlos Tévez scored the first of his two beautiful goals. Playing a one-two with the impressive James Milner, Tévez darted in between two defenders and turned Shawcross inside out in slalom run in the box before hit a rising drive past Sorensen.

It was a surprise that City didn’t add to this before the break, but Stoke showed plenty of heart in trying to stop us, despite being weakened by injury.

It is a real pleasure to see a whole City team that is comfortable with the ball at their feet. City continued to dominate after the break with some beautiful football and our 2nd goal came from a Johnson free kick from the right that Joleon Lescott neatly headed into the net: a rare case of a Stoke defence being beaten in the air. It was thoroughly deserved goal for Lescott who has looked like the classy defender that we signed for a few months now. He was also very good on the ball, with a clever dribble past a Stoke attacker down the touchline and one lovely chipped pass out to the left being the other highlights of his evening.

The final goal of the evening was Tévez’s brilliant free kick from 30 yards out that curled from outside the post and back into the top right hand corner with great power. It was an absolutely unstoppable, perfect strike and an exhilarating moment. Tévez ran to the Colin Bell/North Stand corner with his shirt between his teeth before taking off his shin pad to show to the camera. Clearly a popular individual, he was mobbed by his delighted team mates.

City could have had more goals: substitute Dzeko should scored when played through but only succeeded in hitting the ‘keeper. Hopefully his confidence levels will improve next season.

For City this was more evidence that the team is getting closer to the very top as City were ruthless in taking the three points. Bolton will be tougher on Sunday but a win is very possible if we apply ourselves for 90 minutes.

Ratings:
Hart: Largely unemployed. Clean handling as ever and thoughtful distribution: 7
Richards: His stock continues to rise. Another superb display of controlled aggression in both defence and attack: 8
Kompany: Yet another top drawer performance from the captain: 8
Lescott: Good header to score and dealt with Stoke’s aerial threat expertly. Some lovely skill, and accurate passing. Looking very classy: 9
Zabaleta: Another classy display from a cult hero. Received a nasty cut above his eye after fearlessly ducking into a dangerously high boot near the end. What a man: 8
De Jong: Orchestrated play from his deep position. Wonderfully aggressive again, he bossed this match like he did at Wembley: 9
Yaya: Good positional play, passing and work rate: 7
Milner: Revels in a central rôle. Did a fair job later on down the right: 8
Silva: As ever a delight to watch, and a key player: 7
Johnson: Played with freedom on both flanks: 7
Tévez: Was that a valedictory wave when he was substituted? Only time will tell. Whatever, is was an absolutely brilliant performance which we hope to see in our colours again next season: 9 (Man of the Match)
Subs:
Dzeko (for Silva 56): Should have scored when clean through: 6
SWP (for Johnson 66): Steady down the left on what could be his last game for us at Eastlands: 6
Boyata (for Tévez 88): Too late to mark
Best Oppo: Wilkinson: Head never dropped and stuck to his task: 7
Refwatch: Lee Probert: We might have been a little fortunate with a couple of free kick awards: 6

Footnote:
The few hundred Stokies who made the short trip to Manchester got a standing ovation from the home support at the end, which was visibly appreciated. It was a bit of an awkward situation for our fans to deal with. Yes, the Stokies deserve respect but they don’t need to be patronised. Our fans and the club got this spot on with the right level of respect and banter.

OPINION: END OF SEASON

What a brilliant end for the last home game of the season in the City of Manchester Stadium (soon to have a new name for next season). This was almost like an exhibition of football played by this City side, led by Carlos Tévez who played one of his best games ever for City with two brilliant goals; when Tévez is on song it’s sheer magic.

I sure hope that this was not a final game by Tévez for City by showing such brilliance to say goodbye to us all to remember him. At all costs City must hang on to King Carlos; who can ever replace him?

And now City have an even more exciting season to come with Champions’ League football, and the Premier League title to take away from the Rags!

A big thank you to every single player who ever put on a City shirt. Thank you for a great season, now go win at Bolton.

In Roberto Mancini I trust! Come on you Blues!

OPINION: RESPECT THE CUP

What an utterly fantastic day it was. The goal and the final whistle were simply the best sensations I’ve experienced as a football fan, and it makes me want much more of the same. But on this remarkable day, I also felt some disappointment concerning proceedings, particularly at the end of the game, which I think need to be addressed.

1. Why were Tévez, Dzeko and Kolarov allowed to wear their country flags/shirtswhen collecting the Cup? This is hugely disrespectful to the Club, its fans andthe Cup itself, and while I don’t directly blame the players who have limitedknowledge of the Cup’s history, both City and the FA should have ensured thatonly the City shirt was worn by players for the presentation of the Cup. Theimages of the moment when the trophy is lifted are imprinted on fans’ memoriesforever and care needs to be taken to ensure the integrity of our FA Cuptraditions are maintained. Even Nigel de Jong, normally a class act both as aplayer and a person, also fell into the trap by throwing his shirt into thecrowd prior to collecting his medal, and so sadly is dressed only in a bluet-shirt in all the Cup photos. It should be FA policy that players must wearonly the Club’s kit when collecting the trophy and/or their medals.
2. Why on earth is the PA system turned up so loud and turned on for so longafter the match? The noise starts at the final whistle and carries on until theplayers go down the tunnel. And to top it off the choice of songs is absolutelyawful. Am I the only one that’s fed up with ‘We are the Champions’ and all theother meaningless muzak they pump out? This deliberate drowning out of the fans’natural reaction to winning devalues the Cup and the contribution the fans maketo the occasion. I can’t recall any of our songs being sung wholeheartedly byall of our end after the game (other than Blue Moon, which was blasted out ofthe PA system just in case we’d forgotten the lyrics). And worse still becauseof the distracting PA racket we didn’t get round to doing a proper universalPoznan, which would have been a fantastic return gesture to the players whothemselves did several Poznans of their own. Why can’t the FA keep the PA turnedoff during the whole post-match period and simply let the fans sing? Are thepeople who stage manage the Cup Final for the FA, none of whom can be attendeesat ordinary football games, afraid that the crowd won’t sing or something?Message to the FA: consult with the fans (you know, the ones who pay theexorbitant ticket prices) about what they actually would like to see/hear whenyou’re planning the next FA Noise Fest.

There are other moans I could make, but I’ve ranted enough for now and instead I’d like to comment that Joe Hart, Vincent Kompany, Joleon Lescott and Patrick Vieira get top marks for remembering that occasions such as the FA Cup are for the fans alone, and for helping to make my abiding memories of FA Cup Final Day truly wonderful ones.

OPINION: BLUE TUNES

Here’s a flip on an old one now we have finally got ourselves some silverware…

We are, we are really here,
We are, we are really here,
We won the FA Cup and we’re in Europe,
We are really here – CITY!

OPINION: SOCKS AWAY

My first City scarf in the 70’s had maroon bar in the mix, so at the start of this season I was very happy to see the return of the maroon trim on our home socks.

Take a look at this historical record of City kits and you will see that we had maroon trim from 66-72, covering our most successful period: http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Manchester_City/Manchester_City.htm

Coincidence that it has taken so long to win a trophy? I don’t know, but from now on please keep the maroon trim!

REQUEST: SEASON TICKETS SHARE

I was wondering if any London-based fan would like to go halves on a pair of season tickets? In other words, I buy one, you buy one next to it, and we take turns to use both tickets for every other game. For some must-see games, we’d probably agree not to swap, and just use our own single ticket. I don’t currently have a season ticket, but would prefer to be in either the Colin Bell or East stand.

Basically, as we live in London, my girlfriend and I can’t afford to travel up for every home game. But we’d love to have a pair of tickets for half the games. If anyone else is in a similar position, and would like a seat-sharing buddy, please contact me at the address below.

RESULTS AND TABLE

17 May 2011

Manchester City      3 - 0  Stoke City

League table to 18 May 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  37 17  1  0 45 10  5 10  4 29 25 22 11  4  74  35  39  77
 2 Chelsea         37 14  3  2 39 13  7  5  6 30 19 21  8  8  69  32  37  71
 3 Manchester City 37 13  4  2 34 12  7  4  7 24 21 20  8  9  58  33  25  68
 4 Arsenal         37 11  4  4 33 15  8  6  4 37 26 19 10  8  70  41  29  67
 5 Tottenham H.    37  8  9  1 28 18  7  5  7 25 27 15 14  8  53  45   8  59
 6 Liverpool       37 12  4  3 37 14  5  3 10 22 29 17  7 13  59  43  16  58
 7 Everton         37  8  7  3 30 23  4  8  7 20 22 12 15 10  50  45   5  51
 8 Fulham          37  8  6  4 28 21  3  9  7 19 20 11 15 11  47  41   6  48
 9 Stoke City      37 10  4  4 31 17  3  3 13 15 30 13  7 17  46  47  -1  46
10 Bolton Wndrs    37 10  5  3 34 22  2  5 12 18 32 12 10 15  52  54  -2  46
11 West Brom A.    37  8  6  5 30 30  4  4 10 23 38 12 10 15  53  68 -15  46
12 Newcastle Utd   37  6  7  5 38 24  5  5  9 15 30 11 12 14  53  54  -1  45
13 Aston Villa     37  7  7  4 25 19  4  5 10 22 40 11 12 14  47  59 -12  45
14 Sunderland      37  7  5  7 25 27  4  6  8 17 29 11 11 15  42  56 -14  44
15 Blackburn R.    37  7  7  5 22 16  3  3 12 21 41 10 10 17  43  57 -14  40
16 Wolves          37  8  4  6 28 27  3  3 13 16 36 11  7 19  44  63 -19  40
17 Birmingham City 37  6  8  5 19 22  2  7  9 17 34  8 15 14  36  56 -20  39
18 Blackpool       37  5  5  9 30 37  5  4  9 23 37 10  9 18  53  74 -21  39
19 Wigan Athletic  37  5  8  6 22 34  3  7  8 17 27  8 15 14  39  61 -22  39
20 West Ham United 37  5  5  8 24 28  2  7 10 19 39  7 12 18  43  67 -24  33

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