Newsletter #1600

Reaction tonight to the Everton game, a look at some individual player performances, Mancini’s sartorial style and an optimistic ticket request ahead of the Cup semi finals. Come on Tevez!

OPINION: EVERTON GAME I

Mancini has been brilliant in everything he did till Saturday, but why oh why did he change a winning team? I would have started with Benjani because I thought he had a great game against Blackburn. Then, when Santa Cruz limped off, I just could not believe he brought Robinho on: I was shouting at the TV “bring Benjani on!”

To be fair, I have not seen City (collectively) play as poorly as they did on Saturday. Our midfield was overrun, every high ball and 50/50 was won by an Everton player. Every Everton player played like his position in the team depended on this performance, they chased and harried from the first whistle, whilst City looked slow and laboured, and individual mistakes is what cost us. Firstly Zabaleta giving the foul away, then de Jong moving out of the wall at the crucial time! I was pleading that we went into the half time break only 1-0 down, but what on earth was Micah Richards thinking of? The “clown” gave away a needless penalty, and after that it was curtains for us.

I know as fans we all have our views and think we know better than the Manager and his assistants, but personally, I do not agree with playing Bellamy and Petrov on opposite wings; they are both left wingers. Why not use SWP – he was fit – on the right and then replacing Bellamy with Petrov later in the match? I also feel we definitely need to play 2 strikers, one of whom has to be a big guy; we now have 3 to choose from. Poor Tevez, he was feeding on scraps.

Maybe it was a blessing in disguise that it required us to lose on Saturday, especially in the manner in which we did, to make a full assessment of what qualities or frailties we have in our squad. In my humble opinion, every time Everton played a long ball into our half, it was nearly always met by an Everton head, whether it was the Everton player’s greater desire, or our lack of height, or maybe a bit of both, but we were certainly second best in the air. What was very noticeable, was how their midfield totally overran ours. De Jong was nowhere to be seen and Barry at least got more involved in the second half. Fellaini was a constant nuisance, and his height and desire was a major factor in dominating play at both ends of the pitch (we really need someone like Viera to come in, and hopefully his height and strength will make a difference). De Jong runs about and tries to break up play as much as possible but he does not possess any creativity at all. In defence, Garrido, Richards and Zabaleta are not good enough, in the positions they currently play in; just compare the relevant players in the top 4 teams in the league – would our guys oust them? I don’t think so.

Richards does well but is a makeshift centre half (and he is not tall enough). As for right back, he has never been able to read the game and his positioning is always suspect. I hope we get Lescott and Toure back ASAP (and they too, have been poor to date). Kompany fills in admirably at centre half but I would like to see him in the Fellaini rôle, bossing the midfield with Barry. Maybe we should buy the Portsmouth centre half? We have the money!

When is Mancini going to realise that Robinho is a “luxury” we cannot afford? Everyone knows he does not turn up when we play away, and just about does enough when we are at home. He never, ever takes on the full backs – why? Look what Bellamy and SWP do, they run at the opposition’s defence. We need to offload him ASAP.

I appreciate that it’s only when we lose that much of our criticism is voiced but this was going to happen sooner or later, and with our spending prowess, much of the limelight is focused on us, and we have to deliver, or be a laughing stock. I really hope Mancini has learnt a lot from our defeat and rectifies it immediately, or else I can see us blowing our Carling Cup chances (Fergie must be chuckling in his beer!).

Come on City!

OPINION: EVERTON GAME

Never in my forty years of supporting City have I failed to watch a game in its entirety… until this morning.

Thank God that it was at a reasonable hour, otherwise I would have been really cheesed off.

I turned it off at half time and left it to my granddaughter so she could watch Ice Age, a darn sight more entertaining I can tell you.

What a pathetic performance, changing Benjani for the injury prone Santa Cruz, making it worse by bringing on Robinho (what was wrong with bringing Benjani on?). What a complete waste of money Robinho is, and how the hell are we going to sell him playing like that? Yes Fergus we do have problems, we have Robinho!

But all this goes to show that we are a long way off the pace for a Champions’ League spot. Everton gave us a lesson on determination, guts, attitude and a fair bit of skill, in a team that probably cost less than Robinho.

Still, the Wellington Phoenix beat a Robbie Fowler North Queensland Fury side 3-0 in a Australian A League, in appalling conditions in Wellington. So not all’s lost, at least my granddaughter’s happy!

OPINION: CITY SLICKER

It is comforting to know that as a City fan, the local newspaper is so on the ball with what is going on with all things City.

Take the MEN 15th January for example. A whole four weeks after Mancini arrived and first displayed his now famous blue and white scarf, our local rag has “revealed” that the “secret” is out as to where the scarf came from!

Apparently (are you wetting yourself with excitement?) that the scarf was one of the many thousands that were given away free on fans’ seats three years ago when City played United in May 2007.

Hands up who did not know that the first time you saw the scarf four weeks ago?

REQUEST: PRIDE OF MANCHESTER

Hello fellow Manchester City supporters. My grandfather Frederick Tilson was a professional football player from Barnsley, who played for Manchester City and represented England in the 1930’s time period. Most remembered for his part in Manchester City’s FA Cup victory 1934 at Wembley, a football side that featured a young goalkeeper Frank Swift where my grandfather scored two goals against Portsmouth.

My parents once dreamed about me being a sports hero like my grandfather but that dream soon faded away when I was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy!

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy an illness that is terminal where through life muscles deteriorate. These devastating effects disturb muscle function, eventually leadingto premature death; usually it is the heart muscle that fails, leading into heart failure.

Primarily the male population are affected by Duchenne, where the expectation to live into their late teens is deemed unlikely – caused by a faulty gene from birth. I’m 22 years old!

I work voluntary alongside a charity called Action Duchenne. We raise awareness and create fund-raising opportunities where the majority of money we raise goes directly into Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy research with hope there may be a cure or at least an effective treatment.

I want to make an impact within the Duchenne community where I believe that by creating awareness opportunities a treatment may come with a faster pace than sitting waiting patiently. We want things to change now, not in say 10 years down the line. When you hear the words Breast Cancer, or Aids, or Cancer in general mostly you can associate quickly the severity. However, with a disease like Duchenne being quite reserved, not many know the severity when in fact this illness may be worse than all these conditions combined!

I have a very good opportunity to raise a massive amount of awareness by being entered into an awards scheme named “Pride of Manchester” where it’s a UK based awards scheme. However, there are no rules stating that you have to be a British citizen or even reside from England – you can still participate in the voting!

Please vote me in. I can’t stress how important this achievement would be for the community, it has the potential to start a revolution that may affect everyone living or affected by Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy!

I’m up against Garry Barlow, lead singer of Take that and a host of other celebrities such as Alex Ferguson, Manchester United manager and Ryan Giggs, Manchester United player so I really need everyone’s help and I have to gain quite a large amount of votes to even have half a chance. Please tell your friends, your family having them tell their friends and family and so on.

Whilst living on death’s doorstep, I aim to impact society; the more successful in this award I can be, the longer all young men and children with Duchenne will live!

Website: http://www.adtilson.com/
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/actionaware
Signing up you must be a free registered member of Pride of Manchester online to have your vote counted. Website: http://www.prideofmanchester.com/awards/2009i.htm

When you have registered via Pride of Manchester click on the link above that will bring you to the voting page and shown will be awards you can (optionally) vote for. However, scroll down to the bottom page until you come across the award ‘Mancunian of the year’.

Click where it says please select, where a drop-down box will appear where you should see the name Carl Tilson. Leave other blank and below put your reason why you think I deserve the award (please note you don’t have to reside in England to vote, your vote will count).

Please help me beat this illness, together we can! Positivity… determination… motivation…

REQUEST: CARLING CUP TICKETS

Having just watched the display against Everton, this request may be pointless but let’s keep the faith and go for it.

First request on these pages (I think?) for help in securing Carling Cup final tickets please. I have a very close friend from Moscow whom after a short time of trying, I persuaded to turn her back on Russian-influenced Chelski and follow City from afar, which she duly obliged. She is going to be in England over the time of the final and of course I would love to take her to her first live City game and what a game!

I know, I know, it is premature and probably the kiss of death, but I live in hope we make it. Since I had to give up my season tickets, my chances of securing 2 tickets are slim at best. So if anyone can help, knowing you have enough points or whatever is needed but unable to attend, assuming of course we make it, I would be very grateful if you could help secure 2 tickets for the game. The final is scheduled for Sunday 28th February.

Here’s hoping… or as they say in Russian “ya nadeyus”.

Thank you.

RESULTS

17 January 2010

Aston Villa          0 - 0  West Ham United      35,646
Blackburn Rovers     2 - 0  Fulham               21,287
Bolton Wanderers     0 - 2  Arsenal              23,893

16 January 2010

Stoke City           1 - 1  Liverpool            27,247
Manchester United    3 - 0  Burnley              75,120
Tottenham Hotspur    0 - 0  Hull City            35,729
Wolverhampton Wndrs  0 - 2  Wigan Athletic       27,604
Chelsea              7 - 2  Sunderland           41,776
Everton              2 - 0  Manchester City      37,378

League table to 17 January 2010 inclusive

                            HOME          AWAY        OVERALL
                    P  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L   F   A  GD Pts
 1 Chelsea         21 10  1  0 34  8  5  2  3 18 10 15  3  3  52  18  34  48
 2 Manchester Utd  22  9  1  1 27  8  6  1  4 22 11 15  2  5  49  19  30  47
 3 Arsenal         21  8  1  1 30  9  6  2  3 25 14 14  3  4  55  23  32  45
 4 Tottenham H.    21  7  1  3 26  8  4  4  2 16 14 11  5  5  42  22  20  38
 5 Manchester City 21  7  3  0 26 14  3  5  3 16 16 10  8  3  42  30  12  38
 6 Aston Villa     21  6  3  2 17  7  4  3  3 12 11 10  6  5  29  18  11  36
 7 Liverpool       21  6  2  2 26 11  4  2  5 12 15 10  4  7  38  26  12  34
 8 Birmingham City 21  5  4  2  9  6  4  2  4 12 13  9  6  6  21  19   2  33
 9 Fulham          21  6  2  2 15  6  1  4  6 11 18  7  6  8  26  24   2  27
10 Everton         21  4  5  2 16 15  2  3  5 14 19  6  8  7  30  34  -4  26
11 Stoke City      21  5  3  3 15 13  1  4  5  4 13  6  7  8  19  26  -7  25
12 Blackburn R.    22  5  4  2 15 11  1  2  8  8 28  6  6 10  23  39 -16  24
13 Sunderland      21  5  3  2 18 13  1  2  8 12 25  6  5 10  30  38  -8  23
14 Wigan Athletic  20  3  3  3 10 13  3  1  7 13 31  6  4 10  23  44 -21  22
15 Burnley         21  5  4  1 14  9  0  1 10  8 34  5  5 11  22  43 -21  20
16 West Ham United 21  3  3  4 18 20  1  4  6 10 17  4  7 10  28  37  -9  19
17 Wolves          21  3  2  6  9 17  2  2  6  8 21  5  4 12  17  38 -21  19
18 Hull City       21  4  3  3 13 16  0  4  7  7 26  4  7 10  20  42 -22  19
19 Bolton Wndrs    19  2  4  5 16 23  2  2  4 10 15  4  6  9  26  38 -12  18
20 Portsmouth      20  3  0  7 13 16  1  2  7  5 16  4  2 14  18  32 -14  14

Heidi Pickup, editor@mcivta.city-fan.org

Editor: