David Silva's Left Foot: August 2011

Wednesday, 31 August 2011

End of an era for Shauny

Transfer deadline day (31/08/2011) saw Shaun Wright-Phillips leave Manchester City for Queens Park Rangers. A move that was almost as inevitable as it was difficult to see.

Shaun is, at this moment in time, the most successful graduate of City's Academy having featured in 30 games for England to date. He has played 181 times for City scoring 31times, and some of those have been memorable ones. Sweep was also named Young Player of the Year 4 times in a row between 2000-2003; Not bad for a player who was deemed too small to make it by Nottingham Forest who released him in 1996.

His move to Chelsea in 2005 upset and angered fans as they felt his head had been turned by the promise of a big money move. They felt let down on a big scale, but due to the financial state the club was in at the time £21m was simply too good to turn down.

Despite winning all 3 domestic competitions, Shaun was never a nailed on starter for Chelsea and eventually moved back to City for £9m in 2008, but since Sheikh Mansour took over the club Shaun once again found himself struggling to get a regular spot in the first team.

Shauny (in my opinion) is too good to be sat on the bench, but unfortunately just wasn't in Mancini's thinking for the squad. His transfer to QPR will give him a chance of regular 1st team football once again and also the opportunity to break back into the England squad. Hopefully he can do both.

Sky Sports News interviewed Wright-Phillips after his transfer to QPR and when asked about his feelings for City fans a sombre Shaun stated; "There will always be a blue spot in my heart."

I'm sure I speak for the majority of City fans when I wish him good luck at QPR and you will always be welcome in Manchester.

Monday, 29 August 2011

Player Review: Micah Richards

Micah Richards

D.O.B: 24/06/1988

Height: 5ft11

Position: Right-Back / Centre-Back

Joined Club: 2001

Fee: ___

Debut: 22nd October 2005 v Arsenal

Micah has been at Manchester City since the age of 14, making him the current longest serving player at the club, and he's only 23. Although making his debut as a sub against Arsenal in October 2005, it wasn't until 12th February 2006 that he made his full debut against Charlton.

Needless to say he burst onto the scene, full of confidence and with bags of potential, tipped for future greatness. In November 2006 he was called up to and made his debut in the England squad in a friendly against the Netherlands just 12 months and 23 days after his full club debut making him England's youngest ever defender. He is also the youngest City player ever to be given the captains armband.

Richards is widely known for his powerful and athletic physique, he is an absolute powerhouse and very few in the league can match him for brute strength or his ability to leap above others to head the ball.

Early, or should I say earlier in his career there were many questions asked about his concentration and positional sense and it isn't until recently that those questions have started to be silenced, partly due to the style of play Mancini employs sees Richards way out of position. Thankfully, Richards has always posessed enough pace to make up for for this more often than not.

As was largely expected after such a good start, his form tailed off for a while and he didn't appear to be living up to his initial hype and began to write him off. What many failed to acknowledge though was that Richards had made his debut at just 17 years old and he was, and is, still very young for a defender and had plenty of time to regain his form.

The arrival of German international Jerome Boateng in the summer of 2010 seemed to spark Richards back into life. And although he only featured in 18 league games with a couple of injuries also hampering his game time (30 games in all competitions), he pushed out Boateng and held off Zabaleta, reaffirming himself as the 1st choice right back for the 2011-12 season ahead. It is yet to be seen how many games he gets though as Mancini will no doubt rotate the squad often enough to keep everyone fresh and on their toes.

He has started the current season in great form and seems to be relishing the style of play Mancini uses at City as both full-backs have the license to get forward often providing extra width down the flanks. His return to form last season even prompted Brazilian legend Carlos Alberto to declare that Richards "holds the keys to the hopes of England for this coming generation." High praise indeed.

Richards had been recalled to the England squad for a friendly against the Netherlands (deja vu?) but the recent riots forced the FA to cancel the game on grounds of safety, and rightly so. He has however been included in the squad for the Euro 2012 qulifiers against Bulgaria and Wales. If Richards continues as he has started this season there is no way Capello can ignore him again any longer than he has done.

Who gets the nod when everyone's match fit?

It's the million pound question at the moment after Mancini added Samir Nasri and Sergio Aguero to his already formidable attacking options. Just who will be in the 1st choice front 4 when everyone is match fit?

Now of course we have to allow for squad rotation and because of this the front 4 (in a 4-2-3-1 formation) will inevitably change many times throughout the season. But lets just list who Mancini has to call from (or who is most likely to be left) to fill the 3+1;

Adam Johnson
Carlos Tevez
David Silva
Edin Dzeko
Mario Balotelli
Sergio Aguero
Yaya Toure

That's 7 players who Mancini has used as part of the quartet in his favoured and highly flexible 4-2-3-1 formation. Each player brings something different to the table, and therein lies the beauty of Mancini's problem. I don't think there is a manager in the world who has quite as many options at his disposal.

Last season, with Balotelli and Dzeko new to the Prem, and without Aguero and Nasri in the side, pundits and journalists alike would have said Tevez was an automatic starter. And even at the beginning of this season before he returned from his holidays they were still banging on about how City will miss Tevez's goals.

It was as though the media was gearing itself up for City's almighty crash and burn as Tevez was to be sold and if he wasn't they stuck the knife in by using inaccurate quotes of Tevez never wanting to step foot in Manchester again. One media outlet (not naming names, they don't deserve the publicity) even went to far as to say that he would only be available for away games if he wasn't sold. Yes that really is what they published. Stupidity of the highest order which is laughable and contemptible in equal measure.

In all honesty though, and this is in no way me taking away from what he has done for City on the pitch, Tevez's form dipped at the back end of last season but City still managed to win the FA Cup and finish joint 2nd on points in the Prem with Chelsea. So did City really miss his goals at that time? It'll be a what if at best I suppose.

Fast forward a couple of months to this season, no Carlos Tevez in the side in pre-season and no chance of him starting for the first few week in the Premiership due to match fitness and have we really missed Tevez? Errrm, no.

Without Carlos being the focal point of City's attack it has given other players the chance to grow into the team in ways that simply weren't possible last season. We'll look at the main 2, David Silva and Edin Dzeko.

David was fantastic last term and was a deserved candidate for Player of the Season. But for as good as he was (and he was good) he always seemed as though he was being held back by something, always seemed as though he had to find someone to pass to rather than take the shot on. When Tevez played, Silva was always looking to get the ball to him, and to be fair they had a good understanding but no real connection was made with the rest of the squad. Was this simply down to the language barrier and him feeling more comfortable with Tevez? Maybe.

When we got to pre-season David looked as though he'd clicked with the rest of the squad, his movement had got even better, his understanding with the rest of the squad seemed to have grown dramatically even more than it had done towards the end of last season. To top it off, he no longer looks afraid to shoot. Without Tevez, Silva has grown into the team and visa-versa in a way not possible when the Argentinian was there.

Then to Edin Dzeko, the man the media was calling a £27m flop, the man the media managed to convince the majority of fans was a waste of money. Sluggish, heavy first touch, and clumsy were all ways of describing the 6ft4 Bosnian, and they were a fair assessment. However what wasn't fair was that none took into account any of the circumstances as to why he looked that way.

Moving from the Bundesliga to the vastly more physical and quicker paced Premier League after a winter break, with no prior training with the team, being played out of position several times, with Carlos Tevez the only focal point of the majority of attacks... it was all stacked against him right from the start. However there were a few who saw past this, who saw that he could adapt and could prosper with the right service.

And how right we were (yes I don't mind gloating that I was one of them), Edin must feel like the cat that got the cream when he looks behind him and sees the creative influences of Aguero, Silva and Nasri. At Wolfsburg he thrived off a partnership, a partnership that if we're truly honest with ourselves is unlikely ever going to be created with Tevez. Instead he had 3 truly class players behind him against Spurs and look what the end result was.

At this moment in time I can't see past Nasri and Aguero as being the right players to complete the quartet. Nasri has as much creativity as Silva and both can interchange positions, drifting into the centre, out wide, swapping flanks. Having two players like that is a nightmare for defences as they get pulled inside then back out trying to cover the movement of the attackers. Then Aguero, although he isn't quite as involved in games as Tevez is, his movement behind Edin, fading left or right depending on Silva and Nasri provides not only space for himself but for Edin to position himself in the 18yard box.

The combination of those 4 was absolutely devastating against a side that was playing Champions League football last season. The defence didn't have an answer for it as they couldn't predict what kind of play they were up against. Was there going to be a one-two between players and a perfectly weighted first time cross? Was it going to be whipped in close to the ground or high up for a header? Or was there a searching through ball followed by a piece of individual brilliance? How about a lay off for a belter from outside the box?

Yes this game had each one of those, and it's just a taste of things to come as that was the first game they had all played together as an attacking unit. This is why the 4 that started against Spurs simply have to be the first choice. I understand that they will be rotated and wont all play together all the time, but for sheer versatility and attacking ability they would be my first choice.

How that affects the team behind them is for another time, and what about the others in the list; Toure, Tevez, Johnson, and Balotelli? Each will no doubt get a number of games this season, there is no doubt about that, as City try to put a realistic attempt together to compete for 4 trophies. And of course each one of those players has abilities suited to certain types of games which will allow Mancini to cater his team to the opponent.

After, and even during the Spurs game, commentators, pundits and journalists alike were comparing modern day City to City's past 'Holy Trinity' of Colin Bell, Francis Lee and Mike Summerbee. Of course, as has always unfortunately been the case, the media and commentators failed to mention one of the most unsung heroes of the era, the late, and truly great Neil Young. But City fans will now be daring to wonder whether this quartet can be as successfull, or even moreso than those 4 City legends .

We just need a catchy name for them now... Unfortunately, it has already been pointed out to me that if you take the first letter of their surname you get the word NADS. But shouting Go NADS will probably get you a few funny looks, although with the sense of humour City fans have I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if that caught on and was incorparated into a new terrace chant.

And just in case you want to see them in action again while there's a break for the Euro 2012 qualifiers here are the highlihgts of Spurs v City again. Enjoy.

Sunday, 28 August 2011

City Stats: Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City

Joe Hart

Distribution: 35 - 21 - 14 - 60%

Saves: 5 - 4 - 1 - 80%

Minutes: 90

Pablo Zabaleta

Shots: 0

Passes: 47 - 38 - 9 - 80%

Interceptions: 3

Tackles: 6 - 4 - 2 - 66%

Minutes: 64

Vincent Kompany

Shots: 0

Passes: 47 - 42 - 5 - 89%

Interceptions: 2

Tackles: 4 - 3- 1 - 75%

Minutes: 90

Joleon Lescott

Shots: 0

Passes: 47 - 39 - 8 - 82%

Interceptions: 0

Tackles: 5 - 3- 2 60%

Minutes: 90

Gael Clichy

Shots: 0

Passes: 58 - 46 - 12 - 79%

Interceptions: 0

Tackles: 3 - 1 - 2 - 33%

Minutes: 90

Gareth Barry

Shots: 1 - 1 - 0%

Passes: 72 - 65 (1 assist) - 7 - 90%

Interceptions: 3

Tackles: 5 - 3 - 2 - 60%

Minutes: 90

Samir Nasri

Shots: 2 - 1 (1 blocked) - 0%

Passes: 76 - 71 (3 assists) - 5 - 93%

Interceptions: 1

Tackles: 3 - 1 - 2 - 33%

Minutes: 90

Yaya Toure

Shots: 1 - 1 - 0%

Passes: 97 - 90 (1 assist) - 7 - 92%

Interceptions: 0

Tackles: 4 - 1 - 3 - 25%

Minutes: 90

David Silva

Shots: 4 - 2 - 2 - 50%

Passes: 67 - 62 - 5 - 92%

Interceptions: 1

Tackles: 5 - 3 - 2 - 60%

Minutes: 90

Sergio Aguero

Shots: 4 - 1 (1 goal) - 2 - 1 blocked - 25% (25% shots-goals ratio)

Passes: 26 - 19 - 7 - 73%

Interceptions: 0

Tackles: 6 - 2 - 4 - 33%

Minutes: 76

Edin Dzeko

Shots: 10 - 6 (4 goals) - 3 - 1 blocked - 60% (40% shots-goals ratio)

Passes: 49 - 39 - 10 - 79%

Interceptions: 3

Tackles: 12 - 1 - 8%

Minutes: 90

Micah Richards

Shots: 0

Passes: 11 - 7 - 4 - 63%

Interceptions: 0

Tackles: 2 - 1 - 1 - 50%

Minutes: 26

Stefan Savic

Shots: 0

Passes: 16 - 15 - 1 - 93%

Interceptions: 0

Tackles: 1 - 1 - 0%

Minutes: 14

Team stats

Shots: 22 - 9 (5 goals) - 40% (22% goals-shots ratio)

Passes: 648 - 554 - 85%

Interceptions: 13

Tackles: 56 - 23 - 41%

Possession: 59%

Corners: 5

Fouls: 115

Friday, 26 August 2011

Boyata goes on loan to Bolton

20 year old Belgian defender Dedryck Boyata has joined Bolton Wanderers on a season-long-loan. I've said before that Bolton is a great place for young players to go on loan, mainly due to Owen Coyle who seems to have a knack of getting the best out of them and helping them develop.

With the possibility of losing Gary Cahill before the transfer window closes Boyata would bolster the Bolton back line, and Owen Coyle certainly rates the versatile defender;

"To bring in a player of Dedryck's age and quality is something, as we have shown before, we like to do.

"He is a tremendous addition. His versatility means that he can operate at centre-half and full-back."
We have already seen Wilshere and Sturridge benefit from spending time under the management of Coyle and this is something Dedryck hasn't failed to notice.

"I'm really looking forward to working with the manager." He says; "I have seen how he got the best out of Jack Wilshere and Daniel Sturridge."

Good luck to him.

Thursday, 25 August 2011

Champions League Group Draw

Manchester City now know who they will be facing in their first venture into Champions League football. City were drawn with Bayern Munich, Villarreal and Napoli in group A.

The games against Bayern will have a little more meaning with Jerome Boateng leaving City this summer for the German giants, citing that he wanted to play in the centre of defence to help his international prospects.

Interestingly enough (or maybe not) none of the teams in group A finished higher than 3rd in their respective leagues last season, which are all considered the top 4 leagues in Europe, making it quite possibly the most competitive and open group this time round.

The full group listings are as follows;

Group A

Bayern Munich
Villarreal
Manchester City
Napoli

Group B

Inter Milan
CSKA Moskva
Lille
Trabzonspor

Group C

Manchester United
Benfica
Basel
Otelul

Group D

Real Madrid
Lyon
Ajax
Dinamo Zagreb

Group E

Chelsea
Valencia
Leverkusen
Genk

Group F

Arsenal
Marseille
Olympiacos
Dortmund

Group G

Porto
Shakhtar
Zenit
APOEL

Group H

Barcelona
AC Milan
BATE
Plzen

Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City

This Sunday sees City travel down to London for a showdown with Spurs. It's no secret that City have got off to a great start with back to back wins and scoring 7 in the process, while Spurs on the other hand have had a game postponed due to the riots and then capitulated to United in the 2nd half of Monday's fixture.

Spurs are likely to be without several players as they face an early injury crisis at the club and even if they manage to complete the loan of Adebayor he will not be able to feature against the Blues. City on the other hand have no long term injury troubles to worry about with only Nigel De Jong being a slight doubt for a starting spot after getting a knock against Swansea. Knowing Mancini he will wait for Nigel to be 100% before putting him back into action, such is the luxury of having a squad like City's.

The fixtures against Redknapp's men have been quite tasty of late with both teams fighting for top 4 spots in the last 2 seasons. This season though, City wont just be fighting for a top 4 finish, but will be trying to push for the Premier League title after spending around another £75m in the transfer market.

City came out with a 0-0 draw the last time they went to White Hart Lane, but with them being in such good goal scoring form of late you wouldn't put money on them not scoring on Sunday. Spurs have yet to get off the mark as far as anything positive is concerned and will be desperate to do so after the defeat on Monday.

Quite possibly the most dangerous player in the Spurs team is Dutch attacking midfielder Van Der Vaart. Last season Van Der Vaart notched up 13 Premier League goals and managed 9 assists proving that he is definitely one that the defence needs to keep an eye on.

One duel that could catch the eye is that between Micah Richards and Donkey Kong lookalike Gareth Bale. The Welsh winger drew many plaudits last season, however for as many people who raved about him there were an equal number of people saying that he was simply overrated. Richards has also been on fine form for around the last 12 months and although there have still been murmurings about his positional awareness he is back in contention for an England call up.

City fans will be eager to see the club's latest signing Samir Nasri get his first game, and although he is clearly match fit I think he will only make the bench due to his lack of time with his new teammates.

David Silva will no doubt be instrumental in how City perform and Edin Dzeko will want to continue on his scoring run having scored in his last 4 outings for City.

A City win would be a safe bet on current form, but the game could well prove to be a very open one and closer than would be desired, especially if De Jong isn't in the squad to take care of Van Der Vaart.

Wednesday, 24 August 2011

Vladimir Weiss wants to leave Manchester.

It has been made public that Vladimir Weiss had completed his medical at Dynamo Kiev and that they were willing to pay the estimated £3m valuation for his services, but this was 2 days ago now and nothing seems to be happening. Reports today suggest that there may be other suitors interested in his signature and a growing number of City fans are becoming eager to see him walk through the exit.

The young Slovakian joined City full of promise and if he was at this level in the City team of 4 years ago he would probably be a first team regular. As it stands, Mancini feels he's not developed to the required level as we saw by the season-long loan at Rangers last season where he performed to a relatively average level.

Weiss began to get the disapproval of City fans when he got himself mixed up in the issue of sectarianism which blights the Scottish Premier League. He is obviously a very impressionable young man, but that can not excuse his actions after the SPL chiefs and hierarchy of each club had spoken against such things.

One of his tweets which caused quite a stir was; "All Celtic fans I hateeeeee youuuuu!"

He was also confronted by Police during and Old Firm clash as he held aloft a scarf displaying "We Are The People" to Celtic fans.

He further alienated City fans by boldly displaying his obvious affection for Rangers often displaying things like "Rangers forever" and "WATP" or just simply banging on about Rangers being "Champions again" on the day City rose to the top of the Premier League after beating Bolton 3-2 at the Reebok Stadium.

Through his twitter page he has shown a complete lack of respect for the club that developed his talent since he joined in 2006. And because of this, despite his potential and a promising pre-season, City fans are not too saddened by his potential sale.

I still stand by my opinion of if he got his head down and stepped his game up a little further he could have a great future in the game, although most likely wont be with City now. And no disrespect to Rangers, but with Vladimir so desperate to go back there on loan this season you have to ask the question; was he happy playing at a lower level and happy with the personal level he was at? That doesn't strike me as someone motivated to up their game and prove themselves on the biggest stage.

To top off his lack of dignity on Twitter, he then makes no bones about his feelings by saying;

"One thing is for sure, I want to leave Manchester."

He also appears to try to drum up a bit more interest in himself by declaring that several teams in England (notably Wigan) and Spain are "immensely interested" in signing him. Well I don't see anyone beating the door down Vladi, is this just another case of you being a legend in your own mind?

Whatever the case, Vladi, I don't think too many people will miss you when you're gone.

Samir talks exclusively with Citytv

After signing a 4 year deal with City, Samir Nasri spoke exclusively to mcfc.co.uk.

Samir says he is relieved "because it was a long long negotiation" and admitted that he got "a little bit frustrated" because he had told Wenger he wanted to leave before pre-season started so he could train with City before the Premier League campaign kicked off.

When asked about his knowledge of the City faithful, Samir replied;

"I can see they are really passionate, and it reminds me a little bit of Marsaille (his hometown club). Arsenal have good fans, but not that passionate since they moved from Highbury to the Emirates. And I remember when we played against City when we lost 3-0 the crowd was amazing."

What Samir knows well is the English weather and he says he's here "to win titles, not for the sun" which is good to know. He sees no real difference between London and Manchester so settling further north should be no problem for him.

He also tells of how the influence of French legend Patrick Vieira helped him decide that City was for him, saying that it is important to have people around you who know the difference between the clubs and that can relate to him.

You can see the first part of the exclusive interview here on mcfc.co.uk.

Mancini admitted that he has followed Samir for the last 5 years from when he was manager at Inter Milan, and is pleased that he has landed a player he feels possesses real quality.

"I think that he is a fantastic player, he has technique, he has mentality. I know him from when he played in Marseille because I followed him when I was at Inter and we wanted to take him 5 years ago. But in the last 4 years in the Premier League he has improved a lot. And now I think he is a top player."

There are a few concerns about where he might fit in but Mancini feels he will sometimes be able to play both Nasri and Silva with "one left and one right" of an attacking triumvirate in certain matches.

Nasri also gives Bobby other options as he is no stranger to playing in the centre of the pitch either giving the boss even more options to choose from. It is a problem that will no doubt give him a headache at times, but I'm sure every other manager in the league would like the very same problem.

Ade'bye'or ... again.

So 'Onest 'Arry is taking Ade to Spurs on a season long loan, and after the abysmal display from his strikers last season who can blame him?

I wonder how long it will be before Ade opens his mouth again only to contradict something he's already said? He's already contradicted himself so many times in the run up to this.

First he came out with that he loves Arsenal and its fans whilst on loan at Real and despite the fact that the majority of them hate him, even more so after 'that' goal celebration. But he then has the idiocy to say that Spurs was his preferred loan move until Real came in for him and City chose to send him to Real, but this was only after Spurs had shown some interest in him when the season finished of course and Real didn't make any moves for a permanent move.

Now correct me if I'm wrong but if you truly loved a club and its fans would you then be openly saying you want to move to their local rivals? Yes I know it's not unheard of but come on, at least be consistent with what you say and what you actually do. I doubt the Gunners will be showing much love for him when he trots out onto the pitch in the 'chicken on a bascketball' shirt.

He also said that he doesn't really mind the chants that he was subjected to by Spurs fans whilst on loan in Madrid last season, and that they didn't even bother him. Although at the time he made an official complaint about them as he perceived them to be racist. That's hardly making out that it's water off a duck's back is it?

Anyway... It's clear that City will be subsidising his wages, however it appears that Spurs will be forking out more than they initially wanted to as well as paying a loan fee to City which will cover most if not all his remaining wages.

I did try and get a quote from Twitcher, actually I didn't as I'm not really bothered about what rent-a-quote has to say, but if I was to ask him about the deal he'd probably say something on the lines of; "Yeah e's a triffic lad, triffic player. E'll make a real diffrence to the squad, top top clarss player. Yeah triffic." Or something along those lines, probably.

Tuesday, 23 August 2011

City in for a little French Fancy as Samir Nasri deal is agreed.

Thankfully the will-he-wont-he media circus can now stop, as quite frankly it had got as tedious as the will-he-wont-he Tevez saga. City have agreed terms with Arsenal (and greedy, money grabbing agents) to bring the 24 year old to the Etihad Stadium.

I must admit though, it was a little entertaining for a short time with Arsene Wenger doing the holier than thou act because Mancini dared to answer a question about his interest in Nasri. This followed by Mancini giving a knowing smirk at each subsequent question on the subject.

Samir Nasri arrives from Arsenal for a fee of around £22m which for someone in the last year of their contract is probably a little steep. However what it does show is how much Mancini wanted him in the squad. And who can blame him as last season saw the attacking midfielder notch up 42 games, 13 goals, and 5 assists in all competitions with Arsenal.

He will team up with former Arsenal teammate Gael Clichy who also joined City this summer. Gael, who has stated he feels like he's been at City for years, will no doubt help his compatriot settle into life in the North West with his new club.

What does Samir bring to City? Pace, creativity and the technical ability to dance through defences with the ball at his feet. It is another sign that the team is being molded into what Mancini envisioned when he took over. City, generally speaking, now have a very strong and robust defence with a more agile and technically adept attack.

Just stop and think for a moment, and you would be hard pushed to find many teams with a creative combination like that of David Silva, Sergio Aguero and Samir Nasri. There certainly isn't one in the Premier League that's for sure.