FC Utrecht striker Ricky Van Wolfswinkel is reported to be a new target for Liverpool.
There are a number of top European clubs interested in Van Wolfswinkel, but it is thought that Roy Hodgson is trying to jump to the head of the queue by making a €9 million bid in January.
Van Wolfswinkel has been in fine league form for Utrecht this season and has scored 11 goals in 18 league games. He made his international debut in 2010 against Ukraine after rising through the Dutch U-19, U-20 and B teams.
Van Wolfswinkel has played against British opposition twice this season in the Europa League. He bagged a hat-trick against Celtic and gave Hodgson a chance to scout him when he played against Liverpool at Anfield earlier in the month.
Liverpool’s league form has been erratic this season and Roy Hodgson knows that things must improve in order for him to keep his job. The Reds are thin in the striking department and with Fernando Torres struggling to find form this year a new striker could be just what the Anfield side needs to revitalise their season.
Here are Van Wolfswinkel’s highlights from Utrecht’s game with Celtic…
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Over the years football has produced many eccentrics. Some players show their uniqueness on the pitch, some through their behaviour both on and off it. After Mario Balotelli’s backheel created such a furore this weekend now seems the time to look at those players who are currently baffling the fans with their bizarre behaviour.
The majority of these players are on this list for the simple reason that they are interesting. They are not all nice guys. Bellamy, Barton and Cole are here because they stand out, they are the ones who can’t behave, who don’t seem to respond to discipline or public condemnation. Many of them are complete jerks but they are all entertaining.
Their predecessors are cult heroes: there is the 5’6” Mexican goalkeeper/part time striker Jorge Campos who designed his own offensively loud kits and spent as much time as possible outside his area. He literally lit up my USA ’94. There is the Reading and Cardiff legend of Robin Friday, rumoured to have scored the greatest goal of all time whilst on LSD and then there are the household names; Paul Gascoigne, still as mad as a hatter and Eric Cantona, master of the pitch, poetry, film and Kung Fu.
Whilst the majority of these players may lack the originality to reach the heights of these true showmen, they are still finding new and ingenious ways to generate headlines, whether they are trying to put phones into completely impractical places or confronting bullies at school, at least they aren’t just tweeting about having a nap and playing Fifa. (Well Rooney might be!)
Click on Cisse below to unveil top 10 unpredictable footballers
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Who makes your list and what makes them mad? http://twitter.com/#!/philipwroe
New QPR signing Nedum Onuoha has admitted that he is glad to be reunited with manager Mark Hughes, and the ambition of the newly promoted club was a deciding factor in his move from Manchester City.
The versatile defender has signed a four-and-a-half year deal with the Loftus Road club for an undisclosed fee, joining Taye Taiwo as a new face at the London club.
Onouha has spoken of his admiration for Hughes, who he worked with at City, and is eager to get started with his new employers.
“This was the right time for me to join a club like QPR,” he told the club’s official website.
“The manager obviously played a massive factor in my decision to come here. I’ve worked with him before and he always wants players around him who are open and honest.
“He wouldn’t have come here if he didn’t believe that there was a squad of players here that can achieve the goals he has.
“The ambition of the owners was really appealing.
“This is my club now and I’ll give everything to help us succeed,” he stated.
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Onouha will be charged with shoring up Rangers’ vulnerable rearguard, and is in line to make his debut against Chelsea in the FA Cup on Saturday.
There are reports in the Metro that West Brom striker Peter Odemwingie has become a summer transfer target for Tottenham. This is partly due to his performance against Spurs at the weekend in which Odemwingie scored his 13th Premier League goal of the season.
Odemwingie arrived at West Brom in the summer from Lokomotiv Moscow for a fee of just £2.5m. The Nigerian international has suggested his future remains in England, but the dream of playing in the Champions League is one possible lure.
Odemwingie told Fifa.com “You never know what’s round the corner in football but all I can say right now is that I’m very happy here at West Brom.” But the desire to play in Europe is clear and Odemwingie went on to state “My hope is that, if we stay up, we can start raising our objectives and look at reaching the top half and qualifying for Europe.”
West Brom manager Roy Hodgson has guided the club to the 40 point mark and nearly secured their place in the Premier League for another season. The player’s desire to play at a bigger club could pave the way for a move to North London.
Like this rumour? Follow me on Twitter
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After losing to Chelsea, no matter how Manchester United get on at the weekend against Liverpool, one thing is for sure: any slip up for Sir Alex Ferguson won’t affect their ‘noisy neighbours’ Manchester City. We’ve been wondering all season whether Roberto Mancini’s men were ready to make a real assault on the Premier League title, but now it would seem their title bid is as good as over as the Eastlands club sit 10 points adrift of Man United. Even so, City fans can be reassured by the fact that when it comes to winning silverware, it is only a matter of when, and not if. They have bought some of the world’s best players and in David Silva they have a player who can unlock any defence. Can he be the real difference next season?
Silva was another big name who came to the Premier League off the back of a huge transfer fee. So naturally, the media were quick to write him off after a couple of mediocre displays. But if we’ve learnt anything from foreign stars coming to England, it’s that it can take time for them to settle. Silva’s settling period seems to be well and truly over as he is now consistently playing as well as anyone else in the country.
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With a full season under his belt, Silva can only get better. He has already adapted to the physical nature of the Premiership and has shown signs of his technical genius. As well as having the ability to hardly give the ball away like all good Spanish midfielders, Silva floats around his opponents, proving to be impossible to mark. In fact, I don’t think you can call him a midfielder because he quite often fills that gap behind the front men which most defenders struggle to cope with.
If you add Silva to an improving Edin Dzeko, a fit Adam Johnson and the power of Yaya Toure, Nigel de Jong and Vincent Kompany, I’d say City have all the ingredients of a Premier League winning side. With experience of fighting a top four battle, next year could prove to be the year City finally get one over Manchester United after years of watching them lift trophy after trophy. What is brilliant for the neutral of course, is that Ferguson is highly unlikely to let that happen quite so easily, so it makes for some interesting viewing next season. But United need to invest, or at least replace some of their ageing stars. It’s been widely recognised that what Fergie needs is a new creative midfielder. Someone like…David Silva, perhaps?
Silva could be the key to whether or not City finally get their hands on the Premier League trophy. Until then, he is more than capable of continuing to mastermind Mancini’s assault on the Europa League – a trophy they probably should win this season. They still have the FA Cup this season as well, so despite being off the pace in the league, there is still much to play for.
City fans may have to endure their bitter rivals lifting the trophy again come May, but the future is definitely looking bright. What’s that old phrase? Every cloud has a silver lining? City certainly have theirs.
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Enjoy my predictions for next season? Follow me on Twitter for more at www.twitter.com/@joino
On Sunday the unstoppable force will meet the immovable object in a clash of the titans at Old Trafford. When the Premier League’s top two clash it is a massive game whoever they may be but when the game is also a Manchester derby it is bound to be a battle of epic proportions.
There is no doubt that both managers want to win this game with the winner claiming top spot but Sir Alex Ferguson still believes that the biggest game in football is Manchester United v Liverpool, claiming that he has always “considered it to be the game of the season in English football”.
And despite his vast experience as a manager and unquestionable success, it is difficult to see why he thinks this Sunday’s game is not the biggest match of the year.
Roberto Mancini’s sit top of the tree having only dropped two points so far as their free-flowing attacking football lives up to the high expectations put on the star-studded side. While in recent years the signings made by Mancini and those before him have resembled a kid in a sweet shop, this summer has seen some very shrewd buys with top transfer Sergio Aguero making a bigger impact than anybody could have imagined, looking like a world-class player and making Carlos Tevez throw a tantrum in order to get noticed.
At the same time the arrival of Samir Nasri from Arsenal has allowed David Silva more freedom behind Aguero to weave his magic, while Clichy and Savic have given the Italian even more strong defensive options at a club that doesn’t concede many goals and Owen Hargreaves will give them the vital knowledge of how to win big trophies.
These additions have meant that the side Fergie’s men will come be facing is stronger than anything that City have ever had at their disposal and as the Blue half of Manchester look to claim only their second victory in the league at the Theatre of Dreams since 1975 and go five points clear at the top of the Premier League.
If City cross into the red half of Manchester and come away with victory, not only will they prove that they are capable of beating the big teams but it will send a message that they are ready to take over the mantle as the country’s biggest club from their closest foe. And it is this matter that makes this the biggest game of the season.
When a young Alex Ferguson trotted into the offices of Old Trafford his mission was to end the dominance of Liverpool who won trophy and trophy in the 70’s and 80’s. This instantly reignited the ferocious relationship between the sides that has lasted the past quarter of a century and although it took time, 12 Premier League titles later his side have now become the figurehead of the league while Liverpool have fallen into the depths of anonymity, living on their history to maintain a space in the footballing limelight.
Any match between Manchester United and Liverpool is massive because they are the two most successful clubs in the history of the English game and that rivalry will always remain but it is no longer a championship deciding battle. The title threat from the Merseysiders is now non-existent and despite the enthusiasm that surrounded the club after Dalglish’s appointed in January, the only thing that will enter the Liverpool trophy cabinet this season is dust.
They have been trophyless since 2006 and are shrinking more and more in their stature with the departures of big players such as Fernando Torres and Xabi Alonso suggesting they are becoming a selling club and the overpriced purchases of Downing, Henderson and Carroll highlighting their desperation to cling on to the tails of the big teams. The only thing preventing total meltdown at Anfield is the support, which backs its team to the hill. Last weekends the home fans were more influential than the preverbial 12th man and spurred their team to a draw. Without that backing the side would be dwindling around the relegation zone as it was under Roy Hodgson.
While Liverpool have been falling City have been rising and our now in a position where victory over United could see them become the head of English football for the next 20 years. The Manchester derby has not been this big in a long time with City often fighting battles at the other end of the table to the Reds but the teams are now closer than ever and it is up to Sir Alex to take this threat seriously if they want to return to the top.
Although they come into the game as underdogs, Mancini has guided his team to victory over United in the League Cup and most recently in the FA Cup semi-final on the way to ending the club’s 35-year wait for a trophy. With one piece of silverware in the bag they are hungry for more and although Sunday’s game won’t decide the title race, it will be the clearest sign so far which half of Manchester may be celebrating in May.
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Liverpool versus United will always be a big game. History, traditional and the rivalry between fans will never burn out. But there is a noisy new kid on the block and on Sunday we will see why the Manchester derby is now the biggest game in English football.
If you want to talk about this topic or anything else to do with sport leave a comment below or follow me on Twitter @jrobbins1991.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has stated that he has to be careful with young superstar Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, but believes the winger should be in England’s Euro 2012 squad.
The wideman has impressed since moving to north London from Southampton, with many surprised that he was not included in The Three Lions squad to face Netherlands in an international friendly on Wednesday night.
Despite this, Wenger feels Oxlade-Chamberlian could feature in Poland and Ukraine this summer.
“Physically we have to monitor him because after every game he can have a little problem,” he told the club’s official website.
“We know now that a large percentage of players who play a lot of games between the ages of 18 and 21 have bony stress responses. I never expected the number to be so high.
“[It happens] because your skeleton is not completely finished and the bones are not completely developed to absorb the kinds of shocks you get in the Premier League.
“We have to be cautious about that. But you are always in a trap when the player is as good as he is, like Jack Wilshere is too.
“You cannot take him out of the team, you have to keep him there. They can win you games.
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“Until the end of the season there is no problem and if he continues to play like this I am convinced he will go to Euro 2012,” Wenger concluded.
Fast running out of superlatives for this supremely gifted young United centre-back. The question is not is this lad any good, its fast becoming how good… twice now in quick succession he has featured live on ITV and they’ve certainly not (despite the channels many flaws) failed to realise just how blessed they’ve been to witness the next potential English defensive superstar. It’s not ridiculous hype, this kid is very much looking the real deal and today’s coming of age performance in a potential cauldron of fire was immense.
He put his body on the line today – Numerous blocks from thunderbolts on the edge of the box were met with barely a flinch and his anticipation/bravery when going in for headers were amazing. When you then take into account this lads fast developing distribution, (actually more positive on the ball than most of our midfield) it becomes clear that this lad could arguably be the perfect modern centre-back, although he has to continue putting in this level of performance against much better opponents than Marseille.
Signs are he is more likely to get down and dirty than Rio and that he is superior in possession. He is purposeful with the ball, likes to keep the game moving forwards and attempts to find team-mates with long raking passes rather than just dwelling on the ball to appear skilful and then just laying it back to the goalkeeper under pressure. What he needs to demonstrate is that he has the same defensive prowess of Rio against high calibre opponents and that his reading of the game is as good as the guy he is meant to replace, one can’t argue with the fact that the signs are looking good at the moment.
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2. Midfield Breakdown (Literally)
After an initial 20 minutes in which some of our midfield play was reminiscent of that away leg against Inter a few years back at the San Siro, we were soon found wanting once again as we have so often been this season in the centre of midfield.
It was painful to watch and the culprit wasn’t the much maligned Darron Gibson who is so prone to blame that even if he was selected on the bench and the team lost, many detractors would find a way of producing evidence the lad produced a fart which distracted the players on the pitch and therefore he should be sold. I personally thought he did very well in the initial stages, was forward thinking both on the ball and off it (good movement to support the lone striker and made sure Nani always had an easy pass inside). He looked sharp and up for it but sadly his partner’s were so off the boil that the possession required in order for him to make a success of his role was non-existent and he was rendered ineffective for the majority of the game. It doesn’t matter how good a goalscoring attacking mid you are, if your game relies on others feeding you with possession… you are going to suffer, if they’re not up to their job. Lampard is the most similar player to Gibson and as they are both not playmakers, they suffer in a team that is not cohesive and rely on their colleagues to run the game whilst they go about scoring goals… clearly after the 20th minute, that did not look like it was going to plan and he was unfortunately hooked off for Scholes.
Fletcher started off brightly, full of archetypal verve and dynamism. Once a few errors were made on the ball, almost trying too much… he went into his shell on the ball and relied on his industry off it to mask what was fast becoming a mediocre display. He was over-hitting long passes and when running with the ball unable to release players in forward positions with his weaker foot instead having to go back and forcing his defenders to retain possession for him.
That said he wasn’t as bad as Michael Carrick who put in a dreadful display. I’m a big fan of Carrick in the Premiership and I’ve always questioned his ability with regards to being an international class creative midfielder due to his lack of footwork in tight spaces and lack of mobility on the ball. Despite these shortcomings its been clear that many misinterpreted or misunderstood what his role was at United, that of a defensive midfielder who would read the play break it and keep playing moving forward through a simple efficient pass forward to a more creative player. This latter definition is how I measure a good Carrick game, if he does that.. I’m more than happy and it is down to the likes of Scholes & Anderson to provide the creative input. Tonight however, he put in a non-shift rather like that night in 08/09 when we were destroyed by Barcelona, completely clueless on the ball, always passing it back, scared of the ball and relying on the likes of Vidic and Smalling to bail him out. His defensive positioning was generally sound as per usual but with Anderson out for a potentially lengthy period. I am rather worried with regards to our aspirations in the Champions League if the likes of Fletcher and Carrick don’t get their act together.
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3. Lack of Penetration
I knew it was likely to be a 0-0 as soon as Berbatov was being asked to play up front alone. Unless Nani scores or produces magic time after time, it is very easy to prevent United from creating regular goalscoring opportunities due to the fact that Rooney despite his improving fitness, doesn’t possess the agility to be a genuine menace on the left flank and Berbatov lacks the pace to get in behind defences and the aerial prowess to flick balls into the path of a Nani or Rooney when they make late runs off the flank. He’s basically a decoy forward, a guy just there to occupy space and its not the United way to not really look to be a goal threat and just focus on stifling opponents, we need to at least look dangerous on the counter if we are to progress against more potent sides away from home.
4. Lack Of An Away Goal… Dangerous?
• 99/00: Lost v R. Madrid (QF) 3-2 at home after drawing first leg away 0-0.
• 00/01: Lost v B. Munich (QF) 2-1 at home after losing first leg away 0-1.
• 07/08: Won v Barcelona (SF) 1-0 at home after drawing first leg away 0-0.
• 08/09: Won v I. Milan 2-0 at home after drawing first leg away 0-0.
So I’ve been having a look at our CL campaigns since 1999, to see if the lack of an away goal would have any significance in the second leg. Well as you can tell from the stats, its pretty inconclusive.. if anything it suggests that United are a more solid outfit in general these days, less likely to go overly gung-ho at home in order to compensate for the lack of an away goal and more measured in their approach. So hopefully this conclusion can wipe the smile of Deschamps face and prove that Fergie was right to be content with that result and the side he put out.
That said in the second leg, we mustn’t forget that Valbuena and Gignac (the French Higuain – even though Gonzalo could’ve played for France himself) will both be back barring further injury and provide a genuine bite to Marseille’s counter-attack. Will be interesting to see how highly Fergie rates their capability to get a goal at Old Trafford and whether he’ll treat it as a one-off cup tie where he expects us to just score more goals than them or whether he’ll adopt a more clinical approach and rely on keeping tight and getting a goal through a moment of magic/set piece.. for the sake of entertainment I hope its the former.
5. Opposition MOTM: Andre Ayew
The son of 3 Time African Footballer Of The Year Abide Pele, this lad clearly has quite a pedigree to live up to. Some of you might remember him for providing the assist for the game-winning goal scored by Asamoah Gyan in the World Cup for Ghana against the USA after sending a lob pass into the United States defence, which Gyan collected and then converted. For his performance in the match, Ayew was named Man of the Match by FIFA. Sadly for him and his nation, Ayew missed the team’s quarter-final defeat on penalties to Uruguay due to yellow card accumulation robbing them of a genuine match-winner.
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After having signed a new contract this season, he has settled now and is seen as a key figure in the first-team set up and we saw why today.. barely 21, he has that raw direct dribbling style reminiscent of Charles N’Zogbia, not afraid to go into areas that most conservative wingers, stay away from and unless you’re Ryan Giggs succeed in. He looked a menace and whilst his end product is lacking for now, if he can develop a right foot and learn how to make the most out of defenders backing off him, he could win himself a move to a bigger club.
Conclusion:
One of those displays where despite our mediocrity in midfield, we should still have expected to brought home a lead. It’s hard to tell how this game will go but I’m hoping we’ll just be positive and relieve some pressure off our midfield and surround them with attacking talent capable of putting this decent but not frightening Marseille side to the sword.
Fulham owner Mohamed Al Fayed has criticised former boss Mark Hughes, calling the Welsh coach ‘an odd man’ and stating he has lost his spark.
Hughes surprisingly left Craven Cottage in the summer after stating he was not happy at the club, and recently slated the London outfit for lack of ambition.
The Egyptian businessman has hit back however in damning fashion.
“What a strange man Mark Hughes is,” an open letter revealed in The Telegraph reads.
“Sacked by Manchester City, he was becoming a forgotten man when I rescued him to become manager of Fulham Football Club.
”Even when results were bad, I did not put pressure on him. I gave him every support – financial, moral and personal. He received everything he asked for and more.
”He fully negotiated a two-year extension to his contract.
”On the day he was due to sign, he walked out without the courtesy of a proper explanation for such capricious and potentially damaging conduct.
”And now he insults the club that saved his career, claiming it lacks ambition and he insults the players as too old, even though they delivered an eighth position finish last season and a place in the Europa League.
”He is not just disrespectful but entirely wrong.
”Fulham has just announced plans for a splendid new riverside stand that will substantially increase the capacity of Craven Cottage.
”The playing squad has been strengthened with many fine young players and Fulham is progressing in every way, with an outstanding manager in Martin Jol, the man we really wanted when Hughes was appointed.
”Fulham will endeavour to prosper without him simply because, when the challenge came, Mark Hughes lacked the courage and commitment to take on the task of leadership.
”If people are looking for a flop, they only have to no further than the man who has lost his spark.
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“If ever there was a man [who] lost his spark, I fear it is Mark. I would feel sorry for him had he not acted so dishonourably,” it concluded.
Hughes has been out of the game since leaving the Cottagers in the summer, but is one of the favourites for the vacant Leicester City post.
Good grief. I mean, seriously, wow. The over reaction to Manchester City’s performance at The Emirates is unbelievable. A football team went to another stadium and played for a point and that’s it. You’d think they’d started a nuclear war, or been involved in an international drug smuggling scam, or put a cat in a bin, or something. Maybe that’s a slight over reaction, too, but, heigh ho, what’s good for the goose and all that.
I find it very amusing, more than anything, when the accusation of ‘anti-football’ is branded about. I have slated our own supporters for this when moaning about teams parking the bus. It’s a term of snobbery of the highest order and only cracked out of the cliché cupboard when a side has been dominant and failed to win. City fans did it when Birmingham came to Eastlands.
And now Arsenal fans are doing it when City went to The Emirates. You know, like it’s City’s fault Arsenal didn’t (couldn’t) score. It wasn’t Birmingham’s job to let City score, just as it wasn’t City’s job to let Arsenal score. If you have 68% of the possession, but only manage five shots on target, you only have yourselves to blame.
Defending is just as much a part of football as attacking is. City did the former very well and the latter took a back seat. It’s almost as if playing for a draw at one of the best clubs in the league is a crime. In fact, I was rather forcefully told by an Arsenal fan after the game that “even f*cking Blackpool came here and attacked” and, in fairness, he’s right, they did. And look what it got them: -6 in the Goal Difference column.
Does Arsenal’s FA Cup victory over Manchester United in 2005 mean less because they defended for 120 minutes and then won on penalties? Of course it doesn’t.
It seems though, of the comments (mainly on Twitter) from Arsenal fans I’ve seen about City’s choice of style for Wednesday’s fixture, most, if not all, have missed the point entirely. It’s all well and good saying things like “if that’s what £200m buys you, they you are welcome to non-football” or “Man City are the most boring side in the Premiership!” or “spending £300m+ and only getting a point, if I was a City fan I would be furious” or “I’m disgusted I paid £72.50 to watch Man Sh*tty park the bus”.
One fan went as far to say City played 12-0-0 because of the goalposts. I assume he forgot that the size of the goal doesn’t change each week and that putting the ball in-between the posts instead of onto them is a job for the attacking team?
The point is, though, (aside from the fact that the later the evening went on, the total City had spent on the team rose, it seemed, until it peaked at about £1bn – seriously), City don’t park the bus in front of their goal every week. In fact, it’s happened twice this season: Wednesday evening and in the first half at White Hart Lane. City may have the best defensive record in the league so far this season, but they have also scored more than, for example, Tottenham and, somehow, it’s Tottenham who are being portrayed as the free-scoring saints and City as the smash-and-grab merchants.
All good teams are built from the back; it’s the first thing a good manager gets right. Roberto Mancini seems to be getting it very right indeed and that the attack (with one or two exceptions) is coming along nicely too is the added bonus.
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City, like Arsenal, have put on some fine attacking displays this season. And they will put on some more as the season goes by. So they had to defend like beavers in order to secure a point at The Emirates. Off the back of four games in ten days, ten out of twelve points is a good haul, especially as the final game was the toughest of the fixtures. Total football was never going to be on the agenda; City have saved and will continue to save that for the teams it will be most successful against.
I also re-iterate the point that it’s not solely City’s fault that Arsenal didn’t score. Paying £72.50 for a ticket to a football match is obscene, but that’s not because your team didn’t break my team down. It’s because £72.50 to watch any game of football is obscene. And if you’re disgusted with anyone, it should be your own team for not putting one of their chances in the net. And for setting the price that high.
It’s not the away team’s job to entertain the home fans.
Hearing Arsenal fans complain about City’s style last Wednesday does feel somewhat hypocritical. It would be pertinent to consider their own club’s history of grinding out 1-0 victories by shutting the shop, pulling the shutters down and setting the alarm when having taken the lead before criticising.
I have been impressed with City’s defensive record this season. I’m not used to it; we’re more than halfway through the season and I’m yet to fully appreciate that, if City are under pressure with ten minutes to go, the chances are they won’t concede. For a City team to be playing keep-ball for the last five minutes while leading by one goal is unnerving. I’m far too used to panic stations, hoof it anywhere and defending deeper than a military submarine on manoeuvres.
If truth be told, I’m neither disgusted nor disappointed that City drew 0-0 at The Emirates. I would have taken it, if offered, at the start of the day. The manner of the draw doesn’t matter: it’s a dangerous game to play, because it could have been a disaster if Arsenal had scored. But they didn’t (couldn’t), so it wasn’t.
In fact, I was more disappointed with the result of the reverse fixture. City played some good football that day and were very harshly done to by a team that had a man more for 87 minutes. I didn’t blame Arsenal for getting Boyata sent off in that game because he got himself sent off. I didn’t blame Arsenal for taking advantage because I’d expect City to do the same. But I doubt it would have been such a clear cut victory had Boyata stayed on: it wasn’t exactly easy for them even with the man advantage and City could have scored on several occasions before the second goal went in.
At no point this season have City claimed to be title contenders, in fact, quite the opposite. When asked, both management and players alike have played down City’s title ambitions. It’s the fans and the media that have played it up. Sure enough, come mid-April if they are still where they are now, then they are very much in the mix, but right now they still have a long way to go and a lot to learn. Spending hundreds of millions assembling a team isn’t like playing Football Manager. Players won’t settle, high numbers of players in and out makes it difficult to gel a team, managers don’t know their best combinations… But, most importantly, throwing money at a club won’t win you the Premier League title. There’s much more to it.
Arsenal have been there and done it. City haven’t.
Least, not for a long time, at any rate.
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Just because X number of millions have been spent on a team doesn’t mean that they will suddenly go out and dominate. It’s taken a long time for some City fans to learn this lesson (and some still haven’t, judging by the people that sit near me – I’m looking at you Angry Lady). City are a work in progress. A work in progress that won a well-earned and hard fought point away from home on Wednesday evening.
It’s very easy to say that City won’t be title contenders because no title contender would park the bus at an away game. However, it is also worth considering that an entirely different title contender would break down a stubborn defence when playing at home.
Don’t blame the opposition when you don’t score.
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