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08/01/2012

God’s Own Club v The Bitter Devilworshipping Rag Swampdwellers

And so we square up to that lot over the road for the first time since The Demolition Derby and Sir Baconface, Whiskynose, Taggart will need no pre-match team talk after being outclassed in that iconic league fixture. To say that vicious wounds were inflicted on the whole red club that day would be an understatement. Never have they been more humiliated by their greatest rivals and boy has it hurt them. To be knocked out of the FA Cup by the same team will surely have further reverberations deep into the Agent Glazer’s boardroom in the U S of A and we can all smell their fear and bitterness towards us. If we beat them, no complaints of having a weakened side will deter from the fact that the shift of power is well and truly in full motion.

It seems quite mysterious that this is the first time City have been drawn at home against them in this great trophy for over half a century and the phrase “Hot balls” comes to mind. The strange thing is that it would probably have been better if the tie was held at The Swamp because another wound inflicted on that cess pit of humanity would be even sweeter. However a home tie it is and we must take full advantage of that by our wonderful supporters ensuring that we play our part as “The extra man”. The cockney supporters are not looking forward to this game one single bit and don’t be surprised if they are very apprehensive and quiet come kick off time. We should capitalise on this by making our manor a cauldron of noise and hostility. Let’s turn the screw right from the start and make em ave it!

Laughable rumours of the devilworshippers being so desperate that they are considering asking Paul Scholes to come out of retirement shows how they are down to the bare bones of experienced players within their squad and it is likely that they will be fielding a team containing such world class stars as Anderson, The Shirley Temple haircut twins, Johnny Hahahaaaa Evans, Berbaflop and of course that wonderful “Dodgy” keeper. City also will most likely start without a few usual starters, the most important of course being Yaya Toure. However, Bobby The Manc’s options of Milner, AJ, Zabba, Nige and Kolarov appear options more than good enough of taking care of Taggart’s Terribles.

All City have to do is stay solid and strong early on and not to react to the certain butchery tactics that Taggart will no doubt deploy. An early goal will shatter the rag’s already shattered ego and a convincing victory would be very likely to follow. Potential dangers may be want away forward Shrek who still possesses the ability to cause a problem or two in the City half of the pitch. The new Duncan Edwards appears their most promising player and he must be restricted from those deep, penetrating runs from midfield. Whichever keeper the Purple Nosed One selects, will be under immense mental pressure to perform and this is potentially a weakness that City must be exploit to the full be pressing high up the pitch right from the whistle.

Aguero is a must starter for this game and hopefully he will be accompanied by either Edin or Mario. A compliment of Merlin, AJ, Milner, Nige and AN other in midfield should be enough to keep control and support the front two. The defence is a little more fluent and be it Micah, Gael, Zabba or Kolarov as fullbacks, they are good enough. Vinny and Joleon will surely start in the centre of defense and they need to come forward as often as possible for corners and set pieces close to the enemy penalty area.
The devilworshippers are notorious for their fans being cowardly and The Men In Spack have form for steaming into families and relish a ruck when they heavily outnumber their opponents. We will outnumber them at least six to one so we need to ensure that we do not let pockets of Blues get outnumbered particularly after the game when the rag dummies will be being spit out as they throw their toys out of the proverbial pram after they have been beaten once more.

In summary, a Blue victory is the only foreseeable outcome and a nice, jolly, celebratory painting the town Blue after the game is very much the order of the day.

3 – 0 Aguero 2, Hargreaves
Cum on City!!!

Thanks to Burt of www.mancityfans.net for this weeks special FA Cup edition match preview

West Bromwich Albion versus Manchester City, The Hawthorns.

Barclays Premier League, 26th December 2011, 15:00pm.

Top of the league and having a laugh!

Merry Christmas! For some today means recovering from over consumption, character assassinations by relatives or for those lucky few freedom down the motorway to a raucous Hawthorns. For families Blue through and through or slightly infected this Christmas must surely have been a joy for all toasting the mighty Blues top of the league! I for one have encountered some rather sheepish characters this year, unable to make eye contact or excrete the usual fountain of excrement at a Blue target. Bliss!

The man with the master plan.

Christmas runs:
Dodgy Turkey aside our opponents today couldn’t have dreamed of a better December so far. Having never previously taken a Premier League point away from home in the twelfth month they are on a run of two games undefeated. Taking six points from Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park and Newcastle United at St James’ Park or is it Sport’s Direct Arena? Setting them up for a run of two challenging home ties against the mighty Blues and Gollum’s dogged Everton lot at New Year. With relegation safety clearly on the agenda for New Year picking up points away from home especially against your rivals, Blackburn, will no doubt boost Albion’s confidence when Mancini’s men turn up.

128 meetings have seen:
City wins-53.
Draws-26.
Loses-49.

After entering December on a high then successfully gaining qualification for the Europa League against Bayern Munich, well sort of, Mr Clattenburg eased City into their first league defeat of the campaign at Stamford Bridge. The 2-1 defeat to Andre Villas Boas’ men was bitter to take as chances put away early on and stonewall penalties recognised could have seen City canter on to yet another away win. However if City are going to be Premier League Champions, can’t believe I’m saying it, then rebounding quickly is a must. An action packed free flowing game against the Gooner’s saw City find their rhythm whilst taking points off of their rival. Backing this up with a training session 3-0 victory over a lacklustre Stoke City looking for damage limitation helped secure top spot for crimbo. Roberto Mancini has said losing the Toure brothers for the Africa Cup of Nations will be hard but having all these points in the bank early on gives a good platform to build from in 2012.

One’s to watch:
A threat at the back for City will come from the energetic Irishman Shane Long. He is the leading goal scorer in the league with five goals so far this season. I expect City to control the tempo by retaining possession for long spells of the game. This usually results in our back line pinching up to the halfway line presenting a possible opportunity for a West Brom counter attack. Chris Brunt is capable of creating a chance out of nothing from open play or the dead ball. City will have to stay alert for the full 90 minutes if they want to come away from the Hawthorns with a clean sheet.

Can Shane Long be the man to make Hart’s bulge?

Gareth Barry will be the lynchpin in midfield as boxing day games can be feisty occasions. Whether he is shadowing a player like Chris Brunt and lifting the ball off of his foot or feeding the ball through the channels to make a play he’s a guy every manager would want in their Christmas stocking!

With or without the ball Gaz Baz will always make his presence felt.

Predicted line-ups:
WBA: Foster, Reid, McAuley, Olsson, Shorey, Thomas, Mulumbu, Scharner, Brunt, Odemwingie, Long.

MCFC: Hart, Clichy, Lescott, Kompany, Richards, Milner, Barry, Yaya, Silva, Aguero, Balotelli.

West Bromwich Albion 1-4 Manchester City.

A massive thanks to steveo_88 of www.mancityfans.net for this weeks Festive match preview

Manchester City v Arsenal
Sunday 18 December 2011
Kick Off: 16:10
Venue: Eastlands

This Sunday sees our very own Manchester City face Arsenal in an important Premier League clash as the fourth in a quadruple-bill of games. Before we kick-off, QPR face our nearest challengers Manchester United at high noon, Aston Villa host Liverpool at 2.05pm and Tottenham entertain Martin O’Neill’s Sunderland at 3pm.

Pre-Match Talk

City go into the clash with talk in the media and by so-called ‘respected’ pundits that this match is our biggest test of the season so far and that now we will see what City are made of. A fraction of this talk is true in that it is an important game but surely now is the time for this hype before every game with one of the SKY 4 or Tottenham as though it were an exam of life and death proportions to come to an end. In the build-up to Tottenham away the discussion reverberated around how attacking we would be; United away – similarly, how could we handle playing the Champions in their own back yard; Liverpool away – this suddenly became our biggest game of the season, harder than Old Trafford according to Gary Neville; Chelsea away – this was our biggest game of the season and so, yes you guessed it home to Arsenal is now our biggest game of the season.

Looking at our last outing, away to Chelsea, City were excellent for 25-30 minutes, were one up and should have been further ahead via either a stonewall penalty that was not given or several other chances. Chelsea equalised and whilst it was 11 v 11 until the 55th minute a draw would have been fair. Clichy was then red-carded and subsequently with less than 10 minutes to go, Lescott conceded a penalty and our unbeaten league record went up in smoke. Alas it is not a disaster, not even a blip on that one result but these things happen and we were against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. I am sure we would have all taken 7 points out of 4 games on our travels at Tottenham, United, Liverpool and Chelsea before the start of the season.

Turning attention to our visitors, Arsenal have reacted superbly since an awful start and huge credit must be given to Arsene Wenger for steadying the ship. After 7 league games they had won two, drawn one and lost four with the embarrassing 8-2 mauling by United and subsequent 4-3 loss at Blackburn still fresh in the memory. Their difficult start to the season had been predicted by many after a troublesome summer where they lost Cesc Fabergas to Barcelona following a long-running transfer saga for many seasons and also Samir Nasri in the final days of the August transfer window to City.

The additions of Mikel Arteta and Gervinho have been welcome to the fans at the Emirates, Per Metesacker, Chu Young Park and Yossi Benayoun less so. Without doubt though the star of the show has been their captain, centre forward and talisman Robin Van Persie who has been the most clinical finisher in the league this season. His record reads 15 goals in as many league games this term and 33 goals this calendar year. Suffice to say, if City are to be victorious on Sunday then Van Persie’s threat needs to be minimised as much as possible.

Form

City go into the game on the back of their first league defeat of the season at Chelsea but will be looking to maintain their 100% record at home – currently played 7, won 7. Going back further, City have not lost at Eastlands since 20 December 2010 when Everton were 2-1 victors and this was one of only two league defeats suffered all season with the other being at home to Arsenal (0-3) when Dedryck Boyata was red carded in the 4th minute.

Arsenal’s reaction to defeat by Tottenham in the North London derby at the beginning of October has been emphatic having won 7 of their last 8 league matches with one draw. This run includes a memorable 5-3 win at Stamford Bridge. In addition to this they have qualified for the Champions League knockout stages but did exit the League Cup to City at the Emirates following a late Sergio Aguero winner.

Recent Previous Meetings

2011-12 season

League Cup: Arsenal 0-1 City

2010-11 season

League: City 0-3 Arsenal
League: Arsenal 0-0 City

2009-10 season

League: City 4-2 Arsenal
League Cup: City 3-0 Arsenal
League: Arsenal 0-0 City

2008-09 season

League: City 3-0 Arsenal
League: Arsenal 2-0 City

2007-08 season

League: Arsenal 1-0 City
League: City 1-3 Arsenal

Good memories from our 4-2 win over Arsenal at Eastlands in September 2009 including Adebayor’s mad moment in the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22BtVb3hLjw

Will Roberto recall Samir Nasri to face his old club?

The teams

Gael Clichy serves his one match suspension against his former club whilst Samir Nasri will be pushing for a start to appreciate the expected lively reception from the visiting supporters. City have not kept a clean sheet in the league for 8 matches since the 4-0 away triumph at Blackburn back in October. With this in mind, Roberto Mancini may bring back Nigel De Jong to offer the back four more protection and deny the likes of Van Persie the space to operate in. Kolarov is injured but Micah Richards should return at right back with Zabaleta switching to left back.

My side to face Arsenal

—————————————-Hart

Richards——————–Kompany—Lescott—————Zabaleta

——————————-De Jong——Barry

Silva—————————-Yaya Toure———————Aguero

———————————-Balotelli

Arsenal have problems in the full back areas with Sagna, Jenkinson, Santos and Gibbs all injured meaning that they will play with four central defenders. In midfield, with Jack Wilshire still missing for another month, it will be the usual trio of Arteta, Ramsey and Song with Walcott and Gervinho supporting the free-scoring Van Persie. The Russian Andrei Arshavin, who Arsenal supporters often championed about being delighted to have him rather than Adebayor will be on the bench after a torrid last 12 months has seen his confidence and form desert him.

Predictions:

I do not like predicting City games but I think that a sell-out crowd will roar us on to a narrow victory against a much improved Arsenal, maybe 1 or 2-0 to City. For the visitors, I think ultimately they will miss out on qualifying for the Champions League as they over rely on Robin Van Persie remaining injury-free too much. Arsenal to finish 6th.

A big thanks to Mark Garrett for this weeks Match preview

Manchester City v. Norwich City
Date: Saturday 3rd December 2011
Kick-Off: 15.00
Venue: Ethiad Stadium

I don’t know why, but for some reason the first thought that popped into my head when signing up to do this preview was: How would Stephen Fry go about doing this?

I’m sure he would have written at length about Edwardian England’s favourite past-time pleasure of keeping Canaries, and of how this lead to the rather odd colour combination of yellow and green. He would probably also go on about king Raedwald and East Anglian rule being overthrown by the Mercians. And perhaps, should he have known about it, he might have told an anecdote about how a devout, Swedish, Manchester City fan almost became a Canary when given a pair of Patrick FC Nantes as his first pair of football boots.

But stuff Stephen Fry and his pompous ramblings. Let us instead borrow a line from his fellow Norwich City celebrity fan and majority shareholder, Delia Smith:

“Let’s be ‘aving you!”

DELIAS DRUNKEN 12th MAN RANT

Delia’s somewhat besotted half time entertainment, fittingly enough, dates back to the last Premeier League meeting between Manchester City and Norwich on February 28, 2005 -– a night most Canaries (Delia certainly included) probably wish they could forget. City, away at Carrow Road, fought their way back from a two nil deficit in the first half after goals from Siberski and Fowler. The latter then clinched the victory with a 93rd minute goal.

If Delia’s lack of motivational skills is to blame or not, we might never know, but things went from bad to worse and at the end of that season Norwich were relegated from top flight football. As a result the two clubs have only played eachother ones since then: a third round League Cup clash in 2007, which City won 1–0, thanks to a goal by Gorgeous George Samaras. In 2009 the Canaries were relegated once more, but replicating the achievement of Saturday’s opponent, Manchester City, the club bounced back in spectacular fashion with back to back promotions.

Norwich seem to have taken on the fight to survive in the Premier Lague in a cautious but shrewd manner. Despite a fairly big turnover on players, the club’s transfer dealings have been quite frugal. A few squad players, who were deemed not to cut the musterd on the highest level, have been shipped out, and hungry, youngish players have been brought in for low fees, on free transfers or on loan. The best signings so far are holding midfielder Bradley Johnson (joined from Leeds), 23 year old attacking midfilder, Anthony Pilkington (Huddersfield), and Welsh international striker Steve Morison (Milwall). The latter two are joint topscorers with supersub, Grant Holt. All three players have scored four goals so far this season (three of Holts goals have come in sub-appearances –- the winning 2-1 goal against QPR last weekend came only three minutes after he entered the pitch).

Supesrub Grant Holt have scored four goals this season, three of the have come in sub-appearances

Form
Manchester City are still unbeaten in the domestic competitions. But form wise the Blues actually have their worst week of the season behind them, with a loss against Napoli in the Champions League last week and a draw at Liverpool on Sunday. The League Cup win away to Arsenal on Tuesday restored the order and City are going into the game against Norwich with a record of WWLDW from their five last games (WWWWD in the league).

Norwich’s victory over fellow Premier League newcomers, Queen’s Park Rangers, last weekend, saw them put an end to a streak of draws and defeats. The club’s record in the five last games is LLDDW. That said the Canaries have had a fantastic start to the season. The club is sat prettily in tenth place with 16 points, seven points clear of relegation. What could be a concern for City is that 11 of the 16 points have been picked up away from Carrow Road.

The teams
City manager, Roberto Mancini, seems to be taking a more daring approach in home games this season. Last season the Italian prefered to play with two controlling midfielders in a 5-2-3-1 formation, even at home and almost regardless of opposition. This season the basic formation, at least against lesser opponents, is closer to a straight 4-3-3 with very offensive fullbacks. However, Mancini does seem bothered about the team’s defensive displays of late, which leads me to believe that he might resort to the more cautious tactics used last season for this game, playing Barry and de Jong behind an attacking line up of Yaya, Milner/Nasri, Silva and either Dzeko or Balotelli.
Manicini’s man management skills have sometimes been questioned in the past, and it will be interesting to see how he will handle the Kolarov situation. The Serbian fullback was played out of position in midfield in the Lague Cup game against Arsenal, but was taken off before half time. Will Mancini now give Kolarov a starting position to help him regain his confidence, or will the back four purely be selcted based on form an opposition?

Norwich usually play a 4-3-3 with Steve Morison leading the attacking line flanked by Pilkington and Bennet. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if Norwich manager Paul Lambert switches to a classic 4-4-2 for this game, giving Holt a place next to Morison up front, to give the attack a more physical presence.

Injuries
The City squad is fully fit, although training reports suggest that Kolarov’s substitution on Tuesday might not purely have been down to being outrun and outplayed by Arsenal youngster Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

“What, me injured?”

The Canaries’ injury list is longer, but the only regular starter doubtful for Saturday is Belgian defender Ritchie de Laet, on loan from our recently not so noisy neighbours.

Players to watch
Manchester City’s whole team is pure eye-candy. However, Bosnian international Edin Dzeko showed promising form against Arsenal in the League Cup. If he is rewarded with a place in the starting line up, I think he will repay Mancini with a great performance and a goal or two.

Starting or not, the man in green and yellow to look out for is Grant Holt. The 30 year old striker joined Norwich in League One for the 2009-2010 season and scored 24 goals in 39 appearances. The following season, in the Championship, Holt was good for 21 goals from 44 games. This season Holt has mainly been used as an impact sub, but some impact he has had!
In the last five games Holt has scored three goals, all of them after coming on as a sub. He’s total goal tally so far is four goals.

Predictions
I struggle to see any reason why Manchester City would not walk away with three points from this game. Yes, Norwich has shown great form for a promoted team and their away form is very impressive. But City are miles ahead of the Norfolk club in terms of quality. My prediction is that Mancini will try to get City back on track defensively. Not conceding any goals will therefore be priority for the Italian. That said there is enough fire power in the skye-blue side to break the Norwich down.

City 2 – 0 Norwich

A big thank you to Mr Nool from www.mancityfans.net for this weeks Match Preview