Monday 20th December 2010
K.O 20:00
The relief most of us will feel in finally getting back to meaningful football after Tevezgate should be tempered by the opposition. This fixture has held little joy for City in recent years, with last season’s defeats being particularly hard to take. Perhaps the loss at Goodison became a bête-noir for Mancini, as seeing the side outmuscled and outfought by the Toffees seems to have set him along the road to putting together the kind of athletic, physically imposing side the Blues have become.
What made the encounters so acrimonious last season? The Lescott transfer saga was obviously a major factor, with Everton’s manager branding our pursuit of his player “disgusting”. Quite how making two bids for a player is considered disgusting aside, the real bad feeling was obviously a result of Moyes’ very public emasculation over this statement:
“Maybe City are having dialogue with somebody else, but it is not between me and City.
He said they were talking to people who make the decisions here. Well he knows who makes the decisions at Everton and it is me”
When you consider these words in the context of what actually happened it’s no surprise Moyes felt so bitter towards City. Who wouldn’t hate someone or something who pulled the rug out from under your feet in such emphatic fashion? It’s enough to consider feeling sorry for him.
Consider, mind, consider
The resentment seems to be very much at the front of Moyes’ thinking with his comments on the Tevez issue this week. Surely Evertonians are by now pretty sick of him harping on about Lescott and the past? Possibly it is an attempt to fire his players up, disguise the Toffees poor form this season or the players they have missing through injury and suspension, but whatever it is it’s wearing pretty thin and the Blues will be hoping to ram his words right back down his neck.
Team news for City is a bit of a mixed bag. Kolarov should return from suspension to reclaim the left back slot, and there are no real injury concerns for Mancini. On the downside, Nigel de Jong misses out due to picking up his fifth yellow card against West Ham, which is a worry as this would be exactly the type of match Nige would excel in. Anything else? No? Moving along then.
This is a huge fixture for City for many reasons. Chief may be the chance to go top for Christmas – something the club last achieved in 1929 – but there are plenty of other factors swirling around the fixture like so much snow in a blizzard.
• Can we break down a resolute, committed side who would be happy to leave Eastlands with a point?
• Who will come out on top physically in what is sure to be a combative, intense game?
• Will the Everton supporters ever realise the irony of singing “If you know your history” followed by “you’ve never won fuck all”?
Hopefully we will get some positive answers to the first two points, with a clinical City performance handing out a thoroughly deserved beating to Moyes&Co. Regarding the last point however, don’t hold your breath eh?
Thanks go to The Man In Blue of ManCityFans.net for writing this preview.