Monday's B*ll*x

[Chinners]

Dani Alves prefers Chelsea over Manchester City as he enters crucial Barcelona talks
Alves Brazilian star Dani Alves is entering a crucial week of talks with Barcelona over a new contract. It is claimed that if he is going to move, Alves would prefer a transfer to Chelsea over Manchester City .
Alves, who joined Barcelona from Sevilla in 2008, is one of the best attacking right-backs in the world, underlined by his 2010 Ballon D’Or nomination. Since arriving at the Nou Camp, Alves has won the Spanish league twice and a Champions League.
However, with his contract expiring in June 2012, Barcelona have been hoping to tie Alves down to an extended deal. Manchester City and Chelsea have been following developments closely but the player and club have been unable to come to an agreement following months of talks. Spanish daily 'Sport' claims that Alves' agent Joaquin Macanas will sit down with Barcelona technical director Andoni Zubizarreta this week in a final attempt to bridge the gap and come to a deal.
Should they be unable to do so, 'Sport' speculates that Macanas will test the water and see what Manchester City and Chelsea are prepared to offer, with the view to a January move. Apparently, given the choice between the two clubs, Alves would prefer a move to Premier League champions Chelsea over Eastlands, even if Manchester City were to offer him more money. Certainly, he would form an awesome full-back pairing at Stamford Bridge alongside Ashley Cole

David Pratt: Manchester City fans booing is a good thing
Manchester City assistant boss David Platt says the negative reaction to a second goalless draw in four days emphasises how far the club has come.
The Blues were booed off after Saturday’s stalemate with Birmingham on the back of last Wednesday’s derby 0-0 with United.
Roberto Mancini’s decision to replace Carlos Tevez with Gareth Barry seven minutes from time prompted sharp criticism, and Platt said: ‘If we don’t win a game at home that is what will happen.
'Part of that is down to the objectives we’re trying to meet, which shows how far we’ve gone in the last couple of years.’
.City's dropped points mean the club still find themselves six points behind leaders Chelsea - despite the Blues suffering a humiliating 3-0 home defeat to Sunderland on Sunday.
The club's 22-point haul after 13 games under Mancini this season is the same number as under his predecessor Mark Hughes at the same stage last season.
The Welshman was sacked four matches later.

Mancini urges Johnson, Silva to get on scoresheet more often at Man City
Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini has put the heat on Adam Johnson and David Silva by asking them to score more goals.
City rely too heavily on captain Carlos Tevez to score for them and Mancini wants Johnson and Silva top contribute more to a currently toothless attack.
“Adam Johnson is not a defensive midfielder, David Silva is not a midfielder, they are offensive players,” he said after the scoreless draw with Birmingham City.
“But we have this problem from the start of the season; if Carlos Tevez does not score, we don’t have another player who can.”

Mancini Man City record saw Hughes sacked last term
Roberto Mancini's record at Manchester City this season cost Mark Hughes his job last term.
Mancini has gathered the same number of points from Manchester City's opening 13 matches this season as Hughes did a year ago..
Yesterday's goalless draw against Birmingham leaves Mancini's side in fourth place with 22 points, the same total acquired by Hughes, who was sacked four games later after his 17th game ended in a 4-3 win against Sunderland.
The lack of improvement, despite Mancini's £140million outlay this summer on James Milner, Yaya Toure, David Silva, Jerome Boateng and Aleksandr Kolorov, puts the Italian under huge pressure, particularly as fans chanted yesterday for Craig Bellamy, who has been forced out on loan to Cardiff.

Man City flops make Grand exit
MANCHESTER CITY'S millionaires came to terms with their 0-0 draw with Birmingham by flying out to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Fans might have expected Nigel De Jong, Vincent Kompany and Patrick Vieira to be in for extra training or at least to watch a video of Saturday's game.
But instead they went on a seven-hour flight to be VIP guests of BMW Mercedes to see Sebastian Vettel clinch the world title.
So while City fans lick their wounds, their highly-paid heroes can still enjoy the celebrity lifestyle. SUN

Revealed: Manchester City's pre-match comments which fired up Birmingham City
ALEX McLeish revealed that Blues brushed off pre-match comments disrespecting their capabilities.
Kolo Toure talked about how important it was not to lose against the top teams like Manchester United, as long as you beat such also-rans as Wigan, Fulham and Blues.
And Vincent Kompany wrote off McLeish’s men by guaranteeing a victory and goals.
“I saw Toure’s comments and I totally understand where he’s coming from,” said McLeish. “We had totally the same situation at Rangers and we had to beat Celtic as well.
“Winning against the smaller teams was very important if you were going to try and win a title.
“Now we know in the Premier League that the Champions League is very important, not necessarily winning the league for Manchester City at this stage of their development, and results like this can harm you.
“But there is a long, long way to go and we have already been written off. It’s a season where there’s plenty of points to play for, people shouldn’t get paranoid about things now.”
Craig Gardner will be checked today after rolling his ankle in the 0-0 draw.
“Craig felt it warming up for the second-half,’’ said McLeish. “He was struggling. We we lost a bit of momentum and our shape. But Lee Bowyer came on and did a really good, experienced job.”

WAG OF THE DAY

http://www.elisabettacanalis.org/

TRANSFER BOLLOX
Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson flew to France on Sunday to watch Rennes's £15m-rated midfielder Yann M'Vila as the Anfield club consider making a bid to sign the 20-year-old. Daily Mail

Barcelona full-back Dani Alves would pursue a move to Chelsea over Manchester City if he fails to agree terms on a new contract at the Catalan giants. IM Scouting

Chelsea are lining up a move for Palermo's Argentine attacking midfielder Javier Pastore as a long-term replacement for Frank Lampard. Caughtoffside.com

Championship outfit Middlesbrough are ready to sell centre-half David Wheater and midfielder Gary O'Neil if Premier League clubs make moves for the pair in the January transfer window. Daily Mirror

West Brom's out-of-favour Czech Republic striker Roman Bednar is wanted on loan by Hull City and may be prepared to leave the Baggies and the Premier League for a spell back in the Championship. Daily Mirror

Andy Carroll says he will be "devastated" if he has to pull out of England's friendly with France on Wednesday after suffering a groin strain in the 0-0 draw with Fulham on Saturday. the Sun

Aston Villa midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker is set to play hardball with the club until the summer to get a bumper new deal at Villa Park with his current deal due to run out in July. Daily Mirror

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger admits that he regrets the departure of England call-up Jay Bothroyd from the club after the player was axed by the Gunners as a kid for throwing his shirt at former coach Don Howe. Daily Mirror

Liverpool boss Hodgson admits that his future at the club is out of his hands after a section of supporters responded to Saturday's defeat at Stoke by again calling for former great Kenny Dalglish to return. Daily Mail

Aston Villa midfielder Barry Bannan, who made only his third Premier League start in Saturday's 2-2 draw against Manchester United, said he was more nervous about his driving test last week than facing the Premier League giants. Daily Mirror

[Lionheart]

Mancini urges Johnson, Silva to get on scoresheet more often at Man City

Well perhaps you should put them on the team sheet occasionally Roberto.

[kinkylola]

Mancini urges Johnson, Silva to get on scoresheet more often at Man City

Well perhaps you should put them on the team sheet occasionally Roberto.

Yea, he should have tried that against birmingham ...

[Ted Hughes]

Nowhere did Mancini single out Johnson for not scoring & nowhere has Dani Alvez said he wants to go to Chelsea, as the headlines suggest.

[Dunnylad]

...and if you needed proof the press hate us and are now sensing blood, the Daily Mail suggests that Ballotelli is about to be rescued from his difficult start to the season - or if he waits long enough AC will sign Bianchi to fill in....

Mario Balotelli on AC Milan shopping list... as Manchester City striker goes to San Siro to cheer on Rossoneri

AC Milan are ready to rescue Mario Balotelli from a difficult start to his Manchester City career.

Roberto Mancini only brought the high-maintenance Italy striker to Eastlands from Inter Milan last summer in a £23million deal.

But the 20-year-old picked up an injury early in his English career and agent Mino Raiola, when asked if Balotelli was happy in Manchester, recently replied: 'So so'.
Derby delight: Balotelli (centre) was at the San Siro to watch AC Milan win

Derby delight: Balotelli (centre) was at the San Siro to watch AC Milan win

The self-confessed AC Milan fan was at the San Siro on Sunday to cheer the team to a 1-0 victory against Inter and reports in Italy say that Serie A's most successful club are already working on a deal to sign him at the end of the season.

The revelation comes in no uncertain terms from the Mediaset website, which is owned by AC Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister.

The club's chief executive Adriano Galliani, who runs the club day to day, has admitted he would some day like to see Balotelli in a rd and black shirt, though Raiola has previously tried to play down the idea that a deal is anything but in the distant future.
Mario Balotelli scores against West Bromwich but was also sent off in the game

Milan have new-found confidence in the transfer market after bringing in Robinho from Manchester City this summer, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic on loan from Barcelona with a view to a permanent deal.

Despite leading the team to the top of Serie A, boss Massimiliano Allegri wants to add another striker and is tipped to turn to Torino's Rolando Bianchi, a former Manchester City flop, as a stopgap in January.

But the dream remains Balotelli. The striker is close to Mancini, who brought him through the ranks at Inter, but Balotelli is said to fear that the manager won't be around at Eastlands too long after coming in for criticism for limited ambition and defensive football.

However, City assistant boss David Platt leaped to Mancini's defence after the goalless draw against Birmingham on Saturday.

'It is wrong for people to level at the gaffer that he is a defensive coach,' said Platt. 'He isn't, in any way, shape or form.

'It is too easy to look at it and say you have taken a striker off and put a midfield player on. It isn't a computer game.

'We more or less camped out in the Birmingham half for the majority of the second half. But people felt because we were playing Birmingham it was three points guaranteed. It is never that in the Premier League.'

[blues-clues]

Man City flops make Grand exit
MANCHESTER CITY'S millionaires came to terms with their 0-0 draw with Birmingham by flying out to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Fans might have expected Nigel De Jong, Vincent Kompany and Patrick Vieira to be in for extra training or at least to watch a video of Saturday's game.
But instead they went on a seven-hour flight to be VIP guests of BMW Mercedes to see Sebastian Vettel clinch the world title.
So while City fans lick their wounds, their highly-paid heroes can still enjoy the celebrity lifestyle. SUN


BMW Mercedes???? WTF is that? I wonder if they compete with Audi Ferrari? Stupid twunts....do they even chick fur mostooks?

[Chinners]

BMW & Mercedes are partners in the motor racing world ..... hence the name apparently

[frozen_pea]

BMW & Mercedes are partners in the motor racing world ..... hence the name apparently

Not in any form of motorsport I've seen.

Used to be rivals in F1, until BMW bailed, and now have no affiliation with F1.
Next year BMW are to be Mercedes rivals in the DTM (German Touring Cars).

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/ ... 10484.html

Shows the entries:
Mercedes Benz GP Limited, McLaren Mercedes, Force India Mercedes (Mercedes being engine suppliers for last 2)
BMW Sauber Ferrari - Was BMW but part owned by Peter Sauber, sold back to Sauber but still had the BMW name and was using Ferrari engines.

I believe the reason the thread is called bollox is because most the content from the news articles is bollocks!

[Dameerto]

I love it when the Sun calls our players 'millionaires' like it's some kind of insult - I challenge them to name more than a handful of first team Prem players who WONT be millionaires by the end of their current contracts. They might find one or two at Blackpool but that's about it.