Newsletter #1383

A last-gasp winner on Saturday means we keep our 100% home record intact. We have a match report tonight thanks to Phil.

Also tonight a fine rant from Jon on the state of the national game, opinion on Superman and the usual festive calendar activities and requests on ticket help.

MATCH REPORT: MCFC 2 RFC 1

A last minute winner is always a special thrill, and Stephen Ireland’s last minute screamer won this game and sent us home with an extra spring in our step when we thought our chance to win had gone and we were happy to settle for a point against an awkward Reading side. For the second game in succession, he scored a volley of the highest quality, except that this time it was even more spectacular, and young Stephen was buried by all his team mates (including a sprinting Isaksson) whose sheer delight made sure that he didn’t manage to expose his undies this time.

I don’t know what he’d been taking, but the Eastlands DJ took us into a 90s time warp when he played Two Unlimited’s ‘No Limits’ as the players warmed up ten minutes before the kick-off. Whilst it’s difficult to reconcile it with the regular, lilting strains of The Doves, it was a suitable choice for the day. We certainly have all the ‘techno-techno-techno-techno’ in Elano, Petrov and Stephen Ireland (no need to pine for the sublime skills of Maurizio Gaudino nowadays), and so it proved as the young Irishman showed us how natural talent allied to hard work on the training ground pays off, as it was his excellent technique that eventually won this game. Elano and Ireland are reputed to try to out-do each other for tricks on the training ground. Healthy competition if ever there was one, and it’s great that Sven accommodates such dazzling talents in his starting eleven.

City started off in great form, despite Elano looking like he was suffering the effects of his long journey back from World Cup qualifiers in South America. It wasn’t long before we took the lead. Corluka, who had been excellent for Croatia in midweek, picked up where he left off, gliding forward to play in Stephen Ireland who from the inside right position, who delayed his cross expertly for the advancing Elano, who struck the post. His rebounded effort was saved by Hahneman, as was Mpenza’s, but the ball broke loose to Petrov who creamed the ball into the net with one of his trademark arrowing left-footed finishes. It was unstoppable!

It was exhibition stuff and surely it was a matter of time before City added to the score? However, it wasn’t to be as; after a spell of stroking the ball around the pitch beautifully with little end product, City took their foot off the pedal and Reading came into the game more and more, presenting a physical but fair (well, except for Hunt’s terrible high tackle on Gelson) challenge. The visitors certainly seemed to be dominating as we moved towards half time, despite the sterling efforts of the classy Hamann and the energetic Gelson Fernandes in midfield.

Corluka had been holding the top of his hamstring for the best part of ten minutes and was clearly struggling, and the delay in substituting him cost us dear. Reading’s assistant, Wally Downes, clearly spotted that Corluka was a passenger and gestured to his players that City needed to make a change and Reading were instructed to attack our right hand side. Dunne and Corluka were in the process of swapping positions as Sun Jihai was about to come on, but it was too late and an attack penetrated down our right as we reorganised and ended up with James Harper hitting a shot high into the roof of the net, with Isaksson rooted to the spot.

The second half started with City trying to assert some superiority. Samaras, who is interestingly attracting the interest of Lazio, replaced Mpenza at half time, and he did ok, without giving us the physicality of the Belgian. He still looks like a player who is not suited to the physical nature of English football, and highlighted Sven’s need to bring in one, if not two top strikers in January. Nevertheless, the Greek went close with a lunge from a Petrov cross and gave his all as City struggled to assert any superiority.

City didn’t look like scoring though and we did not bring Petrov into the game enough. Stephen Ireland tried to get things going with his inventive skills but there wasn’t the movement around him for City to capitalise, and he got lost in a Reading maelstrom for a good while. A clearly flagging Elano was replaced by Geovanni who hit a powerful shot over but we needed a little bit more drive and zip and failed to supply the ball often enough to the pacy, tricky Petrov.

Reading certainly weren’t sitting back, and as well as having the physical edge, they passed the ball around well without quite having the final pass or finish when they did get near our goal. Kitson and Doyle were a lively threat for the visitors but Dunne was outstanding again at the heart of a back four that had regained its customary poise.

The visitors did win a series of free kicks that our defence dealt with well, and it looked like we would have to settle for a point, and deserved no more, until Hamann floated up superb diagonal defence-splitting pass that gave Geovanni a clear sight of goal in stoppage time. He tried to place the ball over Hahnemann but shot over. With that opportunity squandered, it looked like City would not get another chance as Geovanni and we in the stands held our heads in anguish for a good thirty seconds after. Sonko looked like he was running the clock down when he received treatment for an injury. Ah well, at least we hadn’t we hadn’t lost!

Then a high ball was flicked on by Samaras (yes he did win a couple of headers!), to Geovanni just outside the box, and he cleverly directed a header to the advancing Ireland whose screaming volley gave the Reading ‘keeper no chance and sent us all in to raptures. My wife couldn’t stop laughing and was hoarse with all the excitement!

It was a game that City scarcely deserved to win, but a win nevertheless and we left the stadium to the strains of “The Boys in Blue Never Give In” followed by chants of “I never felt more like singing the Blues when City win, United lose”, which was nice.

For the second game in succession, City managed to win without collectively hitting anything like top form. It highlighted the need for Sven to bolster his squad: not only do we need at least one top striker, but we need a more physical presence to bolster our midfield, complement our skill and allow us to dictate games more. With Sven’s Thaksin-bankrolled revolution, who knows, there may be ‘no limits’ to what we can achieve.

Isaksson: Had no chance with their goal. Assured in everything he did, and very assertive on crosses: 7
Corluka: Cool and classy and initiated the opener. Hopefully his injury will not keep him out for long: 7
Dunne: Brilliant again at the back. A superb captain who leads by example: 8
Richards: Read the game better than of late, and didn’t put a foot wrong: 7
Garrido: Another important cog in a good defence: 7
Ireland: A brilliant winning goal and cleverly teed up Elano in the build up to the opener. Drifted in and out but as he gets more experienced, he will get better and better: 7
Hammann: A class act: won the ball well, neat and tidy throughout, with no little skill: 8
Fernandes: Energetic and passed the ball well: 7
Petrov: A clinical finish for the first, but denied the service to hurt the opposition more: 7
Elano: Looked tired and out-of-sorts, but very nearly scored: 6
Mpenza: Battled well and had a shot saved in the lead up to the goal. Unfortunate to be replaced at half time: 7
Subs:
Sun: Slotted in well at right back and supplemented the attack: 7
Samaras: Tried hard but struggles with the physical nature of the game in England. Involved in the build up to the goal: 6
Geovanni: Some nice touches and an astute header to set up the winner, but he really should have sealed it by then: 7

OPINION: SUPERMAN RETURNS

I swear before I even started to think about writing this, I was thinking team spirit is worth another player. I have just been onto the MCFC website and seen Sven praise team spirit; what do they say, “great minds think alike” (I wish)?

Let’s give Reading credit for they came to Eastlands to play football and try to win this game. Mind you, they might have been encouraged by the fact that they won this fixture last season 0-2.

City got the early goal that Sven asked for, which then had to put Reading into a more attacking mode, and that’s exactly what Reading did.

Petrov opened the scoring after Elano sent in a scorcher that hit a post and rebounded to Mpenza who hit a defender and it then rebounded to Petrov who made no mistake with a terrific drive.

However, Reading kept coming for the equalizer and it arrived just before half time, Harper sending in a very good drive that left Isaksson with no chance to save.

The second half saw both teams go at each other for the winner, and it did not come until injury time, when Superman (Ireland) latched on to a headed pass from Geovanni to volley in a worthy winner. Yippee!

Reading might feel that they deserved a point but that’s not true; City deserved this win. City the only team left in the Premier League with a 100% record at home.

Next game versus Wigan with their new manager Steve Bruce; he has played against City this season already with Birmingham, so we already know how he can try to play the spoiling game.

Come on you Blues!

OPINION: THE NATIONAL GAME

I went to the England game on Wednesday night, I feel that sitting through that and the 2 hour scrum for a tube in the p***ing rain earns me my 5 minute rant!

I’ve heard all of the pontification and self flagellation on Radio 5 and in the press, and it’s all very worthy. But I have to say I disagree with pretty much all of it.

A few facts…

• Football is a game played by 11 people per side.
• You have 90 minutes.
• Good players are capable of both good and bad performances.
• It is not the case that Croatia have better players than England. MostPremier League clubs would not consider most of the Croatian squad membersas being worthy of a contract.
• Croatia lost to Macedonia a few days before beating England, so does thatmean they are a poor team?
• Italian World Cup winning players are paid comparable money to Englishinternational players, so this cannot be the cause of so-called lowmotivation for the national team.

My conclusions from all this are that:

1. English players are perfectly good enough when playing for anyone otherthan the national team.
2. They don’t perform to the same level for country as for club.
3. It isn’t a lack of financial motivation that’s the problem.

So that leaves much of the blame at the door of the manager. But not all of it. McLaren has made some terrible tactical choices and squad selections (he made some stinkers on Wednesday alone!). But you have to look at the individual performances.

Joe Cole (stay on your feet you lazy sod). Frank Lampard (people were incredulous when he was named MOTM), Steven Gerrard, Sol Campbell. For me, Barry, Richards, Bridge, Carson are all exempted, on the basis that they either tried hard without support, or lost their bottle having been thrown in under unfair circumstances.

Anyway, my point is this. We need:

1. A manager who will penalise players for poor performances for England,irrespective of club form or the name on their shirt (yes, that means youFrank Lampard). Can someone explain to me how Lampard stayed on at halftime, and Barry was taken off? I assume it was because when Barry gothold of the ball, his passing was poor, whereas Lampard had the goodgrace never to touch the ball…
2. Someone who can make the players realise that playing for him and fortheir country is an honour and a privilege, not a natural progression anda right because of status.
3. Someone who has won something in the past, and can pass on the confidencethat that brings to the players.
4. Someone who is not afraid to play any of the players he selects in hissquad. Why have Defoe in the squad if he wasn’t happy to start him inplace of Owen? It’s like saying “I’d rather shuffle the whole teamrather than start with you.” How is he supposed to feel about that?Surely he’d be better not selecting him, and putting someone with thepotential to be world class, like Walcott, in?
5. Someone who looks to the future, instead of being tied to the previousselections.
6. A media that can get their heads around the fact that a quarter finalexit in a major competition is actually an acceptable result. We shouldalways aim higher, but we are not a top four country at the moment.

When we come up against “lesser” nations, we need a manager who can show the players the difference between the attitudes “they’re rubbish, we’ll easily beat them” and “they’re rubbish, I want to go out there and thrash them”. It’s a subtle but critical difference in mindset. And it’s the same as “They’re awesome, I’m terrified” vs. “They’re awesome, what a fabulous opportunity to show how good I am”. It’s fear vs. confidence. And that has to come from the coach.

It does not require a root and branch assessment, or a sea change – in fact this is a distraction from the problem at hand.

We have the strongest league in the world, and we have some of the best, most promising young players.

The national team should show more confidence in them, and let them generate competition for places.

It only took Sven a few months to fill City’s young players with new found confidence.

We just need the right man, and to clear out the players for whom the badge isn’t motivation enough to perform.

OPINION: SPELLCHECK

Impressive typing in Sunday Times.

Perhaps other fans will be amused by the player ratings for the Reading match in today’s Sunday Times (25 Nov 07) which contains no less than 5 names spelled incorrectly.

“Player ratings: Man City: Isaacson 6, Richards 6, Ireland 7, Mpenza 6, Elano 6 (sub 59 Geovanni 6), Petrov 7, Corluka 7, Hammann 6, Dunne (Starman) 7, Greoodo 6, Fernadez 6 Samaran (sub ht) 6”

You just can’t get the staff these days!

OPINION: SEASONAL FUN

Had 2 nice surprises at the start of some Christmas shopping at my local Woolworths today. Firstly my wife consented to my 8 year old died in the wool Blue grandson, and something of a Rag hater (can’t think where he got that from) assisting with some calendar shuffling. My second and nicest surprise was discovering someone had beaten us to it. We could only see one Rag calender on show but that was one too many so we decided to re-locate it anyway.

We felt the best place for it was at the back of the nice new City calendars. Imagine my delight to discover there was already a Rag one firmly ensconced there. We got the same great result with the Chelsea and Liverpool calendars so we had to resort to sticking it at the back of the Barbie calendars, most appropriate we agreed. I’m hoping some more McV readers will take up my invitation to take part in this harmless sport, I’m reliably informed one leading light at McV gave it a go in Lincoln recently. Believe me it’s great fun.

I compare it to stripping off completely on a Greek beach and taking a dip. It’s awkward the first time you do it but it soon becomes natural. Give it a go (I mean calendar shuffling); you’ll love it and you’re providing a public service.

Kind regards to all and enjoy your Christmas shopping.

REQUEST: ACCESS CARDS HELP

Can anyone help explain the situation with the access card system at City? I recently bought tickets for the game against Bolton for me and three members of my family in the family stand. We all have access cards but today I got a letter from the ticket office saying that I should not use my access card to gain entry to the ground but instead use a paper ticket, which was enclosed in their letter.

I phoned customer service for an explanation and was told that some access cards won’t work for the Bolton game and where the system has identified this, people have been sent these paper tickets. I asked if the other three access cards were affected and was told that if they haven’t received paper tickets, then their access cards are OK.

I have this horrible feeling that we’ll get to the ground and some of us will be able to get in and some won’t. Can anyone shed any light?

REQUEST: BLACKBURN TICKETS AVAILABLE

I have 3 tickets for the Blackburn game on 27th December (2 adults and 1 child). They are in the commonwealth bar hospitality area. Anyone interested in buying these from me please contact me.

RESULTS

25 November 2007

West Ham United       1 - 1  Tottenham Hotspur     34,966
Fulham                2 - 2  Blackburn Rovers      22,826

24 November 2007

Newcastle United      0 - 3  Liverpool             52,307
Arsenal               2 - 0  Wigan Athletic        60,126
Birmingham City       0 - 2  Portsmouth            22,089
Bolton Wanderers      1 - 0  Manchester United     22,089
Everton               7 - 1  Sunderland            38,594
Manchester City       2 - 1  Reading               43,813
Middlesbrough         0 - 3  Aston Villa           23,900
Derby County          0 - 2  Chelsea               32,789

League table to 25 November 2007 inclusive

                             HOME          AWAY        OVERALL
                    P  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F   A   GD Pts
 1 Arsenal         13  7  1  0 20  6  3  2  0  9  4 10  3  0  29  10  19  33
 2 Manchester Utd  14  6  1  0 14  1  3  2  2  9  6  9  3  2  23   7  16  30
 3 Manchester City 14  8  0  0 13  3  1  2  3  5 11  9  2  3  18  14   4  29
 4 Chelsea         14  3  3  0 11  3  5  1  2 10  6  8  4  2  21   9  12  28
 5 Liverpool       13  2  4  0 12  4  5  2  0 10  2  7  6  0  22   6  16  27
 6 Portsmouth      14  2  4  0 11  6  5  1  2 14  7  7  5  2  25  13  12  26
 7 Aston Villa     13  5  0  2 11  7  2  3  1 10  7  7  3  3  21  14   7  24
 8 Everton         14  4  1  2 16  7  3  1  3 10  9  7  2  5  26  16  10  23
 9 Blackburn R.    13  3  2  1  8  5  3  3  1  9  8  6  5  2  17  13   4  23
10 West Ham United 13  2  3  2  9  7  3  1  2 10  4  5  4  4  19  11   8  19
11 Newcastle Utd   13  4  1  2 11 11  1  2  3  8 10  5  3  5  19  21  -2  18
12 Fulham          14  2  4  2 14 14  0  3  3  4  8  2  7  5  18  22  -4  13
13 Reading         14  4  0  3  8 10  0  1  6  9 21  4  1  9  17  31 -14  13
14 Tottenham H.    14  2  1  3 15 12  0  5  3  9 13  2  6  6  24  25  -1  12
15 Bolton Wndrs    14  2  3  3  8  8  0  2  4  4 10  2  5  7  12  18  -6  11
16 Birmingham City 14  2  1  4  7 10  1  1  5  6 12  3  2  9  13  22  -9  11
17 Middlesbrough   14  1  3  3  8 12  1  1  5  4 14  2  4  8  12  26 -14  10
18 Sunderland      14  2  2  2  6  7  0  2  6  8 22  2  4  8  14  29 -15  10
19 Wigan Athletic  14  2  1  3  5  6  0  1  7  5 19  2  2 10  10  25 -15   8
20 Derby County    14  1  2  4  5 14  0  1  6  0 19  1  3 10   5  33 -28   6

MCIVTA FAQ [v0708.01]

[1] MCIVTA Addresses

Articles (Heidi Pickup)          : editor@mcivta.city-fan.org
News/rumour (Don Barrie)         : 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 bu email. Unfortunately we cannot accept email attachments.

[3] MCIVTA Back Issues and Manchester City Supporters’ home page

http://www.uit.no/mancity/ 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.

[4] What is the club’s official web site?

The official club web site can be found at http://www.mcfc.co.uk/

[5] What supporters’ clubs are there?

Manchester City FC recognises three supporters’ clubs: The “Official Supporters Club” (http://www.mcfcosc.com/); the “Centenary Supporters’ Association” (http://www.reddishblues.com/CSAWebsite/CSA.htm) and “The International Supporters’ Club”.

[6] Where can I find out about Points of Blue (formerly the Fans’ Committee)?

The committee operates as an interface between supporters and the club. Points of Blue appears on the club website as a minor entry under “Fans Zone”.

[7] What match day broadcasts are available on the web?

The Radio Manchester (née GMR) pre and post match phone-in is available on the web at http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/sport/manchester_city/index.shtml.

Live match commentaries and archives of games, reports and interviews can be found at http://mcfc.videoloungetv.com/do/preLogin?clubSiteCode=MCFC&CMP=AFC-003.

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

http://www.satfootball.com/pl.html provides a listing of Premiership games being shown on UK domestic and foreign satellite channels. Useful sites for North American viewers are http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer, http://www.soccertv.com/, and http://www.livesoccertv.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.uit.no/mancity/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: