Archive for January 2013

City v Fulham (League) – Sat 19th Jan [2v0 win]

January 21, 2013 admin Matches No comments

I left at Aberdeen at 5AM to get down to this match, the talk of the week had been snow and how England was getting it badly. I picked up Wayne, Kieran and Darren in Dundee at the back of 6 and then we headed down the road to Manchester. Wayne and I were late for the away match of this fixture at the start of the season and didn’t want t a repeat of that. We got parked in the velodrome which was free ;) – normally they have someone charging for parking so this was a nice surprise. We headed into the City centre for lunch at Red Hot Buffet where we got our fill of Pizza, Pasta, Chinese, Indian and Desserts. We checked out the club shop and Wayne bought a new top before meeting Steve Pickston and heading along to the ground and City Square. It was pretty cold so we all headed into the stadium in good spirits all expecting convincing City win. As we went up the spirals Kieran let me know he has never see City lose, leaving me thinking I hope today isn’t the day.

The match started perfectly with Silva turning in a cracking Dzeko shot from close range. City continued to play the ball around well but Fulham were getting back into the match towards the end of the second half. They managed to get a few runs down our left hand side and a few dangerous looking crosses into our box. As much as I am not a fan of Berbatov you have to admire his touch and ability on the ball. City scored a goal in the 68th minute when David Silva slotted a ball past Schwarzer into the corner of the net only to miss out on his hatrick a minute later when he slid one in just past the post, the crowd heckled him humorously, we all love our magician.

A great result in the end only to made even sweeter with United dropping points away to Spurs the next day.

Arsenal v City (League) – Sun 13th Jan [2v0 win]

January 16, 2013 admin Matches No comments

It’s 37 years since our last win at Arsenal so most fans were most likely pessimistic of the prospect of Arsenal away with YaYa, Aguero and Nasri missing. The funny thing being was that I felt positive, I had been saying all week that I thought that we would win and Dzeko would get the winner!

I arrived in London at 7 in the morning and decided to walk up to the Emirates, I know the area fairly well and remembered that the Drayton Arms opened at 12 and it would show the Rags v Liverpool game.

The talk all week had been about £62 tickets and the fact that City had returned 900 tickets of our allocation, from talking to fans most thought the news would be received negatively but the media seemed to support the stance the club and fans took on the price of tickets. I met friends in the pub and unfortunately United won, that never dampened spirit of the fans as they City fans blasted song after song. My favourite in the pub being “Na Na Nastisic, better than cnut Vidic, plays for City and Serbia” – it’s only fair he has a song as he has been class this season (our best signing by far in the window) – There was debate to start with that he has taken Lescott’s slot after he had such a great season last year but the fans are warming to a classy player at such a young age (certainly looks a better prospect than Savic).

After last year I was concerned about the atmosphere but it’s been the best one this season – atmosphere enhanced by the early sending off and the high spirits of the fans. We belted out “We are the Champions, Champions of England” for the majority of the game and song after song in between including showing our support for Mancini, Milner, Dzeko, Kompany, Nastasic, Zabaleta amongst the many.

As I said it’s the loudest atmosphere this season, only to be marginally better by the Champ16ns match last year at Sold Trafford. The fans continued to sing “£62 pounds and we are still here, 2 sets of fans had banners and the stewards and then police removed these from fans – harsh when we consider we are all meant to have freedom of speech.

Dzeko was rugby tackled for the pen “our first in 3 years away from home btw” but failed to finish after save from his legs and then off the post. City continued to press and Tevez setup Milner with one of those passed sent with the eyes that Ronaldinho was all to famous for, Milner received the ball and whipped it across the keeper and into the back of the net. It made a cracking ping when it hit the post and went in and the City fans went mental. Dzeko then got a tap in from a great assist from Tevez reaching for the ball. Well deserved goal as Dzeko had a cracking performance, holding the ball up well and leading the line with power. Dzeko setup Tevez late on and he should have scored, he opted to go round the keeper but the keeper saved well, I may be wrong but feel if the roles were reversed Dzeko would have hit it sooner and we would have ended up with a 3 goal lead.

Kompany was sent off late on for a tackle where he clearly won the ball. This was later rescinded much to the surprise of City fans on Bluemoon and other City forums. After the match Brian and I were Interviewed by Sky Sports News about the ticket prices. Milner was fantastic and Garcia had is best performance for Man City

The final whistle blew and the linesman whispered to Lescott –“ go see the fans, they paid £62 for this!” – oddly he was banned by the FA for the next set of features. As the remaining Arsenal fans began to exit the City fans echoed loudly – “Sh!t club and you charge too much!” – summed it up perfectly

Well that 24 hours on the bus was certainly worth it as I have now seen City win away at Arsenal, Man United and Chelsea.

1970 European Cup Winners’ Cup Final – Manchester City v Górnik

January 16, 2013 admin Matches No comments

Manchester City were without winger Mike Summerbee with a leg injury that had troubled him since the League Cup Final the previous month.George Heslop came into the team as a result, though Summerbee was fit enough to be named as a substitute Heslop was given the task of man-marking Włodzimierz Lubański, who The Guardian identified as “an outstanding individual… …whom Malcolm Allison considers to be in the same class as Eusebio.”

Manchester City started strongly, particularly Francis Lee; The Guardian correspondent wrote “Lee, indefatigable and nigh irresistible continually embarrassed the Górnik defence in the early stages”. Lee had the first chance of the match, a close range shot which was saved by Kostka. Manchester City took the lead in the 12th minute. Lee cut in from the left wing, escaping a tackle from Alfred Olek, and struck a fierce shot. Goalkeeper Hubert Kostka parried the ball, only for it to land at the feet of Neil Young for a simple finish. Shortly after City defender Mike Doyle sustained an ankle injury after colliding with Stefan Florenski.] Manchester City played on with ten men for a period as Doyle received treatment from trainer Dave Ewing, but the defender was unable to continue. Substitute Ian Bowyer replaced him. The change prompted an alteration in formation, in which Colin Bell switched to a deeper position. Shortly before half-time, Young won the ball after loose play from Florenski, which put him clear on goal. As Young moved into the penalty area Kostka rushed out of his goal and upended him, leaving the referee no option but to give a penalty. Lee struck the spot-kick with power into the centre of the goal. Kostka’s legs made contact with the ball, but the force of the shot carried it into the net to make it 2-0. Górnik got a goal back midway through the second half, but there were no more goals and the match finished 2-1.

Winning manager Joe Mercer said “the heavy rain in the second half ruined the game” and that he was “quite happy with the performance of our team, although the technical level was rather low in the second half”. Górnik manager Michał Matyas blamed his side’s poor start, saying the “first goal came too early for us and we never recovered from this shock.

City v Reading (League) – Sat 22nd Dec [1v0 win]

January 6, 2013 admin Matches No comments

Last minute goal – you beauty!!

Very frustrating game but deserved 3 points after so much posession

Gareth Barry of all people leaving the masses with grins leaving the Etihad.

 

 

Newcastle v City (League) – Sat 15th Dec [3v1 win]

January 6, 2013 admin Matches No comments

I watched this match in a hotel bar in Oman, fantastic City performance, first half was very special!!

 

City v Rags (League) – Sat 9th Dec [cnuts]

January 6, 2013 admin Matches No comments

Well where do I start, I list all the names of City fans who attended the match from the North East of Scotland but it would take too long, a really great turn out – well done – pity about the score.

I’m writing this in the airport after the game and young Shay McGillviary has just had his photo taken with Mancini – nice gesture Roberto!!

Speaking of Roberto, although nobody wants to pick the team, most along with myself reckon Carlos Tevez should start every game, he is more than capable of 60 games a year

and is the teams most influential player, certainly the most consistent, and maybe serious thought should be given to this matter

While I’m whinging we might as well get rid of the Ballotelli subject – time he was dropped, not good enough for this squad and has failed to convince the fans lately – big time.

The game – I haven’t seen any percentages yet but we certainly had the majority of the play and didn’t score enough, some of our football especially in the second half was a good as we’ve played all season., Zabaleta (apart from the first goal), Tevez, Nastasic, Silva even Nasri played well but we didn’t beat what is really a poor United side and that’s important because I still think we used the wrong players to start with. I don’t even think United necessarily wanted it more than us either, they got the rub of the green and three points.

I don’t think a 6 point gap is worth mentioning at the moment and its 2 years since we last lost at home which is a great achievement in itself, hopefully the manger & the team will treat this as a wake up call and onwards & upwards in the remaining games.

Cheers

CTID

Deryck

I’d just like to say that was a great performance from the boys in blue, was so proud, the rapists were lucky!!

City v Everton (League) – Sat 1st Dec [1v1 draw]

January 6, 2013 admin Matches No comments

Flew down Saturday morning with Steve, David & Kim, only one other City fan on the plane & didn’t get chance to give him our supporters club card. Please try and pass these cards on to other supporters, that’s what we bought them for – I will make sure I pass them on in future.  It can only strengthen the club !!

Chaos & confusion before the game so didn’t get chance to meet anyone for a pre match pint. I stayed at my sisters overnight and went for the train from Flixton to Oxford Rd with the intentions of meeting Steve, unfortunately when the train arrived the Guard decided that it was full so nobody got on. Fortunately I managed to catch a bus bit later. Meanwhile the trams to Steves hotel were not operating and when he eventually got to the hotel he was told the hotel he had booked was 10 minutes walk away. Always leave plenty of time before matches is the moral of the story.

The match was a typical Everton (of old) dour affair – they scored one & Joe Hart made a couple of decent saves. I think we are now starting to suss Everton out, and can now ruffle their feathers which I thought we did quite well on Saturday, especially Felliani who normally is allowed to boss everything and for David Moyes opinion it was definitely a penalty and so were the other 5 that haven’t been given in previous games against The Toffees.

The crowd reaction to Mancinis substitution of Carlos Tevez was poor, but this time he Definitely did get it wrong, Dzecko is not a good starter and I hope Mancini thinks hard about this – it’s starting to cost points.

Tevez apart there great performances from Gareth Barry and Vincent Kompany is leading from the back really well again, Silva is playing too deep at the moment along with Yaya.

Samir Nasri must be in line for a good game soon – it’s about time!

Not had chance to watch the Rags at Reading yet but if the bottom of the league teams can put four past them in the last few games then we

Should be able to do the same or better on Sunday. Fingers crossed.

 

Watford at home in the FA Cup – should be a City win

Rags away to West Ham a hard one for a change

 

All the very best for the derby match – enjoy

 

Deryck