Happy Anniversary - 25 years today
Manchester City 5 Manchester United 1
According to this morning's headlines, the dust hasn't quite settled on Sunday's thrilling 1-1 draw with Chelsea, as captain Vincent Kompany demonstrates.
The defender is quoted on the FourFourTwo website praising the professionalism of teammate Frank Lampard, whose equaliser against Jose Mourinho's men rescued a point for the champions against all odds.
And Kompany believes Lampard's heroics could prove vital in the title race.
"Ever since I've been at this club, seasons and big moments have been decided on small events like this, so I will never underestimate what it could mean to our season," the skipper declared.
"Frank has brought experience; experience is not just a word you make up - it's really something that helps, like the goal he scored.
"It means keeping your head cool when you're under pressure and we're down to 10 men. How many players would've scored that goal? That's what he's proven in only a few minutes."
Long may it continue! Speaking of which, there seems to be some speculation over when Lampard will leave City to make the move to the States.
Some media sources are debating the prospect the midfielder could extend his stay at the Etihad Stadium to fill the gap potentially left by Yaya Toure during the Africa Cup of Nations.
One of those sources is Stuart Brennan of the Manchester Evening News, who writes: "The Blues have a problem looming with Yaya Toure expected to link up with the Ivory Coast squad in January and Lampard set to move to New York City squad when his current deal expires in January.
"But City may request an extension of the loan to avoid going down to just two central midfielders in Fernando and Fernandinho.
"The plan was for Lampard to join the Blues in order to keep his fitness and focus before embarking on his new adventure in Major League Soccer with the newly-formed City franchise.
"But New York, managed by ex-City star Claudio Reyna, gather for pre-season training in January - and Lampard will not need to work on his fitness as he will be in the middle of the English season.
"Toure has talked about international retirement, but he is likely to make one last attempt to win something with his national team after reaching two finals and two quarter-finals in the last five African tournaments.
"That means he is set to miss up to five weeks of City’s season during the intense post-Christmas period – including trips to Chelsea and Everton, and the home clash with Arsenal."
In other news, focus is now turning to tomorrow' night's Capital One Cup clash with Championship side Sheffield Wednesday - and Owls boss Stuart Gray is relishing the challenge.
"It’s one of them games where nobody gives us a chance," he told the Sheffield Star. "We can go there, be relaxed and play with confidence.
"When you talk about City, you are always talking about finishing in the top four. Having seen them on Monday, they will be there or thereabouts.
"If we were a side who were struggling for confidence and playing poorly, then I would be concerned but the game can’t come quick enough for the players.
And finally, there's a snippet of transfer speculation in the Daily Express as Richard Tanner believes City and Chelsea will go head-to-head again next summer - this time for the signature of Ross Barkley.
Claims Tanner: "With 17 overseas stars in their first-team squad, City need to sign more England players to comply with the Premier League and UEFA's home-grown quotas. That is why they are desperate to hold on to England pair Joe Hart and James Milner.
"City are understood to have asked Everton what they wanted for Barkley during the summer transfer window and were stunned to be told £50million - £20m over their valuation.
"They were prohibited by offering more by UEFA sanctions imposed for breaching Financial Fair Play rules, but are ready to test Everton's resolve again next summer with an improved offer in a bid to solve the lack of English talent in their team and to ensure they have a ready-made replacement for Ivory Coast international Toure, who will be 32 next year."
Manchester City target Everton’s Ross Barkley to fill homegrown gap
• City hope £30m Everton midfielder will join next summer
• New deals already on table for Joe Hart and James Milner
• Touré’s meaty display for City does not disguise loss of appetite
• City rely on Frank Lampard’s late strike to deny Chelsea
Manchester City have identified Everton's Ross Barkley as their primary transfer target. Photograph: Craig Brough/Action Images
Ross Barkley is a target for Manchester City next summer with the champions valuing the midfielder at around £30m and viewing him as among a select few English homegrown players who could slot instantly into their team. City also hope Joe Hart and James Milner will sign the new deals they have been offered.
City were interested in buying Barkley in the close season but would not countenance paying Everton’s asking price of £50m. There is a recognition many of Manuel Pellegrini’s squad are at their peak so the need to start building for the future is pressing.
To do so, City require players who are either already established players of the quality of Yaya Touré, David Silva, Sergio Agüero, Vincent Kompany, Hart, Samir Nasri and Edin Dzeko, or have the potential to be so, as with Eliaquim Mangala, who is 23 and cost £32m during the summer.
With the Premier League and Uefa demanding clubs should have eight homegrown footballers in their squads for their respective competitions, City have found it a challenge to find English players of the requisite quality. In recent seasons Adam Johnson, Jack Rodwell and Scott Sinclair were all bought to fill the berths, while Micah Richards was at the club from a young age. All have left City apart from Sinclair who remains on the fringes of the first team.
Although the signings of Johnson, Rodwell and Sinclair are viewed as errors of judgment – Richards has also disappointed and is on loan at Fiorentina – there is a belief that Barkley is a far better player who can one day replace the 31-year-old Touré, 11 years Barkley’s senior.
Before firming up their interest in Barkley during the summer, City did detailed background checks on the England international and were encouraged by the results. The club’s information showed Barkley is intent on a successful career and has a winning mentality.
When Pellegrini informed the City hierarchy Barkley was good enough to help the club to win more Premier League titles and to claim a first European Cup, inquiries were made at Everton. Though City valued Barkley at £20m, they were prepared to pay a premium of over £30m to secure his signing but Bill Kenwright, the Everton chairman, quoted a price of £50m for the midfielder, and City decided to put their interest on hold.
However, despite Everton’s valuation it is believed they will sell next summer with the price thought to be negotiable. Barkley, who is sidelined because of a knee injury, signed a four-year contract worth around £60,000 a-week in July, a deal he was offered by the club as they sought to strengthen their bargaining position.
While City believe that there is a paucity of English talent, they believe within three years – and possibly even two – their academy will yield such players. There is even confidence at the club they have an 11-year-old on the books who can be better than Lionel Messi.
The development of their own players is viewed as a long-term plan that should offer a continual supply to the first team. The club’s Etihad Campus training complex, which is situated across the road from the stadium, is due to be opened next month.
After a number of Pellegrini’s players signed fresh deals, the club have started discussions with Hart and Milner over contracts. Hart, 27, is in the final two years of his deal. Milner, who was among City’s standout performers in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium, has less than 12 months remaining
Yaya to reveal all on Africa call
Manchester City Yaya Toure will hold talks with boss Manuel Pellegrini in the next fortnight to discuss his international future. The Manchester City midfielder is due to represent Ivory Coast at the upcoming African Cup of Nations, which runs from January 17 to February 8. Toure would be expected to meet up with his international counterparts during the first week of the New Year, meaning the Citizens could potentially be without their talisman for six weeks. The Premier League champions, however, are receiving indications from the 31-year-old that his decision is not cut and dried. Toure is still feeling the physical effects of playing at this summer's World Cup Finals, and has also noted the decision of Didier Drogba to call time on his career with the Elephants. Sources have indicated Toure is currently speaking with his family members about his decision and has told Pellegrini he will not keep him hanging on.
Frank Lampard's clutch equaliser against Chelsea could be crucial to title race for Manchester City, says Vincent Kompany
Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany believes Frank Lampard's dramatic equaliser against former club Chelsea could prove to be a pivotal moment in the title race.
Barclays Premier League trophies are rarely won and lost in September, and never after five games of the season, but Kompany has plenty of experience at the business end of the competition and knows the trophy can be settled by little moments.
Lampard's late volley against the side he represented for 13 distinguished years felt significant and not just because of the personal link between player and club.
In one touch the former England midfielder gave 10-man City a 1-1 draw and an unlikely share of the spoils, and keeping his club within five points of the leaders rather than an imposing seven.
'Ever since I have been at this club, seasons and big moments have been decided on small events like this one so I will never underestimate what it could mean to our season. It could be crucial,' Kompany said.
'Frank brings quality. The goal he scored you would have seen from him for the last 15 years in the Premier League.
'He is clever and still extremely motivated.
'He brings experience. It is not a word you make up, it is something that helps and it is like his goal: keeping your head cool in a moment when you are under pressure and down to 10 men - how many players would have scored that goal?
'He has proven it himself in only a few minutes, which is good.'
Lampard will not be around when the title race is settled, with a new life at New York City waiting for him in the new year, but Kompany believes both parties are getting a good deal from his short-term loan arrangement.
'I think it goes both ways. He needed what we can offer him and I think we needed what he can bring to us,' said the Belgian.
'If you talk to him I reckon that's how he sees it as well and his goal was just the icing on the cake.
'Ultimately you play so many competitions you need all the guys to be there and he is another who will clearly make our team stronger.'
The nature of the Major League Soccer schedule does offer the tantalising prospect of a future return for Lampard, though at 36 this would appear to be his farewell to English football.
Kompany does not know if the chance will come again but has no doubts Lampard is still up to the task.
'That is not for me to judge, I think he has his personal plans as well, but I can base things on what I see day in, day out on the training ground and he is one of the better players,' the City skipper added.
'That is as simple as it is. The rest is not up to me.'
Sheffield Wednesday: Gray unfazed over City challenge
Stuart Gray, the Owls head coach, says his team will not have an inferiority complex when they travel to Premier League big boys Manchester City tomorrow night.
The Sheffield Wednesday boss is under no illusions at the size of the task facing the Championship club but is backing his players to enjoy the third round Capital One Cup tie.
But Gray, who attended City’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea on Sunday, told The Star: “It’s one of them games where nobody gives us a chance.
“We can go there, be relaxed and play with confidence. If we were a side who were struggling for confidence and playing poorly, then I would be concerned but the game can’t come quick enough for the players.
“We will enjoy the occasion. The pressure is off when you aren’t playing league games. The players will be composed.
“The most important thing is the team. It’s not about individuals. If anybody plays for themselves, they will end up sat next to me in the dugout. We will need a team performance against City.”
Gray, who will be able to call upon Royston Drenthe and Hallam Hope after the loan duo were granted permission to play by their parent clubs yesterday, has paid tribute to City boss Manuel Pellegrini, saying: “He’s done a fantastic job. It’s his first job in England and you’ve got to give him credit for winning the Premier League title and Capital One Cup last season.
“Sometimes it’s about managing the egos at that level. He’s got world class players who expect to be playing.”
Whatever side City field tomorrow, Gray knows it will be a tough test for his in-form team.
He said: “I’m not in control of what team they will select. They will all be internationals.
“It’s a great opportunity for my players to test themselves against world class players. They’ve got a quality squad but I will have our team ready to give them a good game.
“When you talk about City, you are always talking about finishing in the top four. Having seen them on Monday, they will be there or thereabouts.
“It’s a great game for us. I think we will play with a freedom, be composed and will play with 100 per cent commitment.
“It’s one game that the players are desperately looking forward to. I’ve got many lads who are chomping at the bit and wanting to play. We will cause them problems.”
What frustrated Gray is that City can stockpile players.
“I think Chelsea have got 20 players out on loan at the moment; it just shows what the big clubs can do,” he said.
“City are always going to be involved in lots of competition so they need that strength in depth but the disappointing thing is the amount of foreign players who have come in and stopped the British players from playing.
“I think there was a stat in a Champions League game last week that said out of all the teams who featured in the competition, only 17 British boys featured so it’s affecting the national team too.”
He fears for the long-term future of the English game.
“I think when City played against Bayern Munich last week that Joe Hart was the only Englishman involved,” he said. “That’s the way football is at the moment.
“The Championship isn’t as bad as that. I’m just a little disappointed for the younger lads who feel as if they aren’t getting an opportunity but maybe that’s to our benefit at Sheffield Wednesday where we can get players on loan. We saw that with Sam Hutchinson last season.”
There is a strong possibility Gray will rotate his squad, given that Wednesday have three league fixtures still to play before the next international break.
Injuries have robbed Gray of midfield pair Kieran Lee and Sam Hutchinson but Chris Kirkland, Jeremy Helan, against his former club, and Gary Madine are all pushing for starts. Gray has rubbished speculation linking them with Sunderland midfielder Liam Bridcutt.
Wednesday’s development squad, meanwhile, drew 1-1 at Brentford yesterday. Matt Penney was on target for the visitors.
Paul Lake remembers 25 years on
Blues legend Paul Lake tells MEN Sport about his first league derby, which ended in a famous win for the hosts at Maine Road.
A quarter of a century on, Paul Lake can still see the face of the City fan, his hands clasped as if in prayer, his lips forming the word “Please ...” over and over again.
Lake was a nervous young Blue, a month short of his 21st birthday, driving through Longsight on his way to playing in his first league derby.
When the City fan at the bus stop spotted the talented young star, part of a bright new generation at Maine Road, he clasped his hands and began the plea that rammed home to Lake the magnitude of what he was about to walk into.
For many people the Manchester derby was, and still is, the most unenjoyable day of the football calendar, a match that can determine the mood of every workplace, pub and school playground in the city.
“It hit me hard that day,” says Lake, now working as a club support manager for the Premier League.
“It was an emotional drive to the ground for me, one that made me realise the expectations and my responsibility towards the people I was representing.
“I saw a young lad and his dad at the bus stop on the way to the ground.
“The dad put his hands together in prayer and just mouthed ‘Please, please, please’. It kind of haunted me.
“The man wasn’t laughing, he was genuinely serious. And his little lad had such big eyes ...”
Lake and his team-mates did not disappoint. They were the underdogs on that day in 1989, newly-promoted and expected to be easy meat for Alex Ferguson’s team which was bolstered by the big-money signings of Paul Ince, Danny Wallace, Neil Webb and Gary Pallister.
City were without the injured Andy Dibble and Clive Allen, while midfield enforcer Neil McNab was ill and unable to play. United also had their problems, with Webb, Bryan Robson and Steve Bruce all missing.
United made all the early running and City looked set for a long, tough afternoon. But the Blues got a break courtesy of a group of Reds who had managed to buy tickets in the North Stand. When trouble broke out, and the visiting fans spilled onto the pitch, Salford referee Neil Midgley took the players off.
“That calmed us down,” says Lake. “Tony Book and Mel Machin gave us a good talking to, in a positive way. When we went out again, we seemed to win everything – every knock-down, every second ball.”
In the space of a minute City had seized control of the game as David Oldfield fired home and then Trevor Morley reacted quickest to bag the rebound when Jim Leighton blocked Lake’s shot.
Ian Bishop headed in the third as City played with a passion and commitment that their Red rivals could not match, and he was hoisted aloft by Lake to create an iconic picture.
Mark Hughes launched himself into an acrobatic scissors kick to smash the ball past Paul Cooper and reduce the deficit in the second half, but the Blues were not to be denied.
Lake set up Oldfield for his second and City’s fourth, and when Andy Hinchcliffe steamed forward to power in a header from David White’s brilliant cross to make it 5-1, he could not resist holding up five fingers to remind the miserable visiting support of the scoreline.
“As home-grown players, you dream of giving the fans days like that,” says Lake. “That day has been a strong and abiding memory for me ever since. Until the events of recent years, it was one of City fans’ most treasured moments.
“Having played in derbies since I was in the under-11s, I appreciated exactly what derbies meant. I’m sure that is something United fans understand just the same way City fans do.
“I was still living in the Haughton Green area of Denton with my family at the time, and I was used to Reds in the area taking the mickey. But the next morning I walked down to the paper shop as slowly as possible, bought every newspaper I could, and walked slowly home again. Funnily enough, I didn’t see one of those Reds that day, not a single one.”
It was a fleeting moment, as United went from strength to strength and City re-doubled their self-destructive instincts over the next 10 years. But the march back to the Premier League, and Sheikh Mansour’s take-over, have meant that the Blues are again top dogs in Manchester.
Manchester United are ready to reject a move for one of their former heroes, 29-year-old Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo, to avoid upsetting their current crop of players. (Metro)
Real Madrid are interested in signing Chelsea midfielder Ramires, 27. (Daily Mirror)
Roma want 15-year-old Stromsgodset midfielder Martin Odegaard, who is also a target for Manchester United and Liverpool. (Daily Express)
Arsenal and Liverpool midfield target Isco, 22, will not be sold by Real Madrid in January, according to coach Carlo Ancelotti. (Daily Star)
Manchester United want Netherlands defender Ron Vlaar, 29, who is out of contract at Aston Villa at the end of the season. Arsenal are also interested. (Daily Express)
Sunderland boss Gus Poyet says he was "hurt badly" when 29-year-old right-back Phil Bardsley left the club to join Stoke last summer. (Daily Star)
Manchester United players were unhappy with manager Louis van Gaal's substitution of winger Angel Di Maria, 26, during their shock 5-3 defeat at Leicester. (dssc)
Van Gaal questioned the role of Wayne Rooney, 28, as a striker and Juan Mata, 26, in midfield ahead of the game at Leicester. (Sun - subscription required)
Liverpool could have nearly £7m of Champions League money withheld as Uefa looks into whether the Anfield club breached Financial Fair Play rules. (Times)
Former Watford and West Ham boss Gianfranco Zola is on Fulham's five-man managerial shortlist along with Chris Hughton, Tim Sherwood, Steve Clarke and caretaker-boss Kit Symons. (Daily Mirror)
Cardiff have not given up hope of bringing in Leyton Orient boss Russell Slade as their new manager, despite the League One club rejecting three approaches for him. (Western Mail)
Former Newcastle and West Ham manager Glenn Roeder could return to football by becoming sporting director at Cardiff. (Sun)
QPR defender Rio Ferdinand, 35, is being considered as the Football Association's candidate for British vice-president on Fifa's executive committee. (DSSC)
Professional Footballers' Association chief executive Gordon Taylor is trying to get parliamentary support for a plan that will mean Premier League clubs having to field a minimum of four homegrown players. (Times)
Former Manchester United coach Rene Meulensteen believes Red Devils boss Louis van Gaal does not rate 19-year-old summer signing Luke Shaw, who at £31.5m is the most expensive left-back in the world. (Talkshit)
Despite being sent off against Leicester at the weekend, Manchester United defender Tyler Blackett, 20, is set to be fast-tracked into the England team. (Daily Telegraph)
Arsenal playmaker Mesut Ozil, 25, believes he is targeted for criticism more than other players, but the World Cup winner insists he has nothing to prove. (Daily Star)
Former Newcastle, Wimbledon and Luton manager Joe Kinnear is still hopeful of a return to management. (Newcastle Chronicle)
Defender Daniel Agger, 29, says he left Liverpool during the summer to join Brondby as he did not feel appreciated by Reds boss Brendan Rodgers. (Daily Telegraph)
Former France and Arsenal winger Robert Pires, 40, was given an impressive welcome as he arrived in India to play in the Indian Super League, which starts in October. He tweeted: "Didn't know I had so many fans in India!!!"
AFC Wimbledon striker Adebayo Akinfenwa, 32, celebrated being the strongest footballer on computer game Fifa 15 by bench-pressing a member of staff at the game's launch in London. (Twitter)
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