Manchester City Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours

Juan Pablo

Attacking MF, Right sided MF. We badly need squad depth with 2 for every position so its a good signing by Sven. Bianchi scored on his debut tonight in a 4-1 win over Orgryte in Sweden, Corradi, Samaras and young Logan with the others. Goals here

Xavi6

Yeah nice to see Bianchi scoring from a yard. It's the kind of thing we've lacked up front since The Goat left. All the vids I've seen of him on youtube suggest he's a 'right place at the right time' striker. Perfect.

A good pre season is needed for Samaras and Corradi purely to give them confidence and three goals in two games between them is the perfect start.

Apparently Logan has been described as a two footed Ashley Cole who can play on the right wing as well as defence. Once he's not a money grabber we're apparently sorted!

Geovanni is a solid signing for free. We've not much of a squad so he's a good addition. If we could grab Petrov it'd be great.

Xavi6

Another win for City in the last game of their tour of Sweden. This time a brace from Bianchi and one each from Corradi and youngster Laird settled the contest. Kasper Schmeichel also saved a second half penalty. Micah Richards took over the captain's armband in the absence of Richard Dunne.

Team: Hart (Schmeichel 46), D.Mills, Richards, M.Mills, Ball (Miller 53), Logan, Dabo (Fernandes 53), Hamann (Johnson 53), Ireland (Samaras 53), Corradi (Laird 70), Bianchi.

Xavi6

Well how f**kin happy I am! Haven't been this excited about starting a season since we got out of Division 2!

8 absolutely quality signings by Sven in a month (4 in the last 2 days):

1. Valeri Bojinov - Proven, young goalscorer in Serie A.
2. Martin Petrov - International class left winger we've been lacking since.....well ever really (unless you count Peter Beagrie!).
3. Gelson Fernandes - Rated as Switzerland's best prospect.
4. Geovanni - Cost Barca an arm and a leg, cost us nothing.
5. Rolando Bianchi - 18 goals in Serie A last season.
6. Javi Garrido - Apparently wanted by a host of clubs, plays left back.
7. Elano Bulmer - Set up two goals when Brazil beat Argies 3-0 at Emirates Stadium last year. Creative midfielder.
8. Vedran Corluka - Uncompromising Croatian defender. Played in side that beat England last year.

I can't really argue with any of these signings (yet!). It'll take time for them to gel with the players already there but for once I'm not really fearing relegation.

kinaldo

The Micah Richards column!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/6939151.stm

Good stuff and kinds words about Joey Barton.

Makes a change from penning your autobiography before the age of 25.

kryogen

its very rare for a united fan to envy a city fan, but i do envy the fact that you guys have micah richards on your team! and judging by the news today hes going to extend his contract again...:(

but he is young and hopefully he can make the controversial switch to old trafford at some stage in his career!! he is an immense defender and it is a great coup for you guys that he seems to really want to stay with city!

Xavi6

Successive defeats had me worried that the honeymoon period was well and truly over but a great win over Villa yesterday has us back in second. Didn't see the game and apparently it was a shocker but we won so who cares?! The goal was quality. Michael Johnson is fantastic. Sven sees him as a future international and club captain and he has filled the void left by Barton superbly. He's probably even better!

Savman

Xavi6 wrote:

Successive defeats had me worried that the honeymoon period was well and truly over but a great win over Villa yesterday has us back in second. Didn't see the game and apparently it was a shocker but we won so who cares?! The goal was quality. Michael Johnson is fantastic. Sven sees him as a future international and club captain and he has filled the void left by Barton superbly. He's probably even better!

I watched it with 3 City fans was quite a dull affair. Villa were bad, City were worse but the goal was worthy of winning the game.
Bianchi should made it 2-0 in injury time but Barry cleared off the line. That Johnson fella has some real potential, just breezed past 3 players so I take my hat off there.

~Rebel~

Typically Samaras got the winner in the last minute. Was gonna bet on him to score and all as soon as I heard he was gonna be taken out of exile!

kensutz

You lot were lucky tonight

Xavi6

http://goal.com/en-us/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=432453

Eriksson Very Keen On Riquelme

According to reports from the British press Manchester City are after Argentine playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme, and could offer Villarreal 8 million euros for the services of the player.

The Daily Mail declared that Manchester City manager Sven Goran Eriksson has been keeping a close watch on the gifted Argentine international for some time now, and negotiations between the club and the player’s agent could begin in the near future.

It was reported that Eriksson said that Manchester City owner Thaksin Shinawatra is willing to offer Villarreal 8 million euros for the highly rated midfielder, who hasn't seen any first team action with his club this season.

“He wants us to play in Europe, and he told me that he can provide the necessary finances to buy the players that we need. But he only wants to buy players that will be able to help us reach this goal,” affirmed Eriksson.

Despite not playing competitively since the Copa America earlier in the year, Riquelme was recalled to Argentina's national team squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Chile and Venezuela.

Personally I wouldn't be a fan of such a move. It might sound crazy but I don't think we need him. He's the wrong side of thirty and hasn't played in a while. It's also a position that doesn't need strengthening with Elano, Geo and Ireland. Early in the summer I would have wet myself at the prospect but not now. We need a keeper and a striker and apparently there's going to be a load of money at Sven's disposal come January.

Vokes

Do you reckon, with Bojinov out, Sven will buy in a 'big name' striker (Anelka?), maybe go 4-4-2 and put Elano wide right?

Xavi6

SofaKing wrote:

Do you reckon, with Bojinov out, Sven will buy in a 'big name' striker (Anelka?), maybe go 4-4-2 and put Elano wide right?

Well that's two questions. Firstly Bojinov will be back in January which is great because he's gonna be special with a few games under his belt. Mpenza has done well but won't score twenty goals a season. I would welcome Anelka back however I think Sven has had enough controversy from his England days and won't want a potentially disruptive influence at the club. He may buy a striker but I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't.

As for the formation, you can't fix what isn't broken. Ok teams may cop on as to how to play against Elano but so far he's been virtually untouchable. He'd be wasted out wide anyway as it would limit his range of passing. Stevie Ireland's had a good start to the season so no need to move him from there.

Mr Alan

Micah Richards is interviewed in the latest issue of Nuts and says that he was a boyhood Arsenal fan, and that if they ever came in for him, he'd go to them....strange thing to say?!!?!?

Xavi6

Mr Alan wrote:

Micah Richards is interviewed in the latest issue of Nuts and says that he was a boyhood Arsenal fan, and that if they ever came in for him, he'd go to them....strange thing to say?!!?!?

Ah yes Nuts, the footballing gospel. Yeah Micah was an Arsenal and Ian Wright fan as a kid but I'm sure they've sensationalised the quote. Everyone wants to play for their favourite club, doesn;t mean they actually will get to.

Mr Alan

Xavi6 wrote:

Ah yes Nuts, the footballing gospel. Yeah Micah was an Arsenal and Ian Wright fan as a kid but I'm sure they've sensationalised the quote. Everyone wants to play for their favourite club, doesn;t mean they actually will get to.

Exactly what he said...."i was a big Ian Wright fan when i was younger, so i supported Arsenal. Wright and Patrick Viera were my idols so yea, if the opportunity came to play for them one day, I'd take it"

Xavi6

Mr Alan wrote:

Exactly what he said...."i was a big Ian Wright fan when i was younger, so i supported Arsenal. Wright and Patrick Viera were my idols so yea, if the opportunity came to play for them one day, I'd take it"

Eaxactly what he said...according to them. Come on, you know as well as I do that player quotes are often manipulated if it'll sell more papers/magazines.

Mr Alan

Not if they are in inverted commas in an interview, the publication would be leaving themselves open to a fairly massive law suit. a headline or story might not be based in fact, but if its an interview with a player and the answers are in inverted commas, i always take that as being wat the player said.

Xavi6

Mr Alan wrote:

Not if they are in inverted commas in an interview, the publication would be leaving themselves open to a fairly massive law suit. a headline or story might not be based in fact, but if its an interview with a player and the answers are in inverted commas, i always take that as being wat the player said.

Yeah that's fair enough but I always take magazine interviews like that with a pince of salt. He did say "one day" and is on the verge of signing a new contract with us so I think we're safe for now. But if they want to trade him for Fabregas....

Smegball

The thing is can you see Wenger spending the 20m + which would probably be required to buy Richards?

Mr Alan

Smegball wrote:

The thing is can you see Wenger spending the 20m + which would probably be required to buy Richards?

not sure tbh, its a move that would go down massively well with fans i reckon, with richards being English and a proven premiership talent. plus he does have the money that he didnt spend in the summer, rumoured to be considerably more than 20 million, stranger things have definately happened.

Nunu

Ah yes, Micah Richards. Who when asked in the post match interview after their win against Utd, which meant more to him the win or getting man of the match replied: "Getting man of the match"
I think that shows where his priority lies;)

eirebhoy

Xavi6 wrote:

Stevie Ireland's had a good start to the season so no need to move him from there.

That was some volley (well saved) from a very tight angle against Boro.

What's up with Bianchi? He scored on his debut. Was apparantly excellent in the 2nd game and then got dropped.

Vokes

Xavi6 wrote:

As for the formation, you can't fix what isn't broken. Ok teams may cop on as to how to play against Elano but so far he's been virtually untouchable. He'd be wasted out wide anyway as it would limit his range of passing. Stevie Ireland's had a good start to the season so no need to move him from there.

Totally agree. I was at the Fulham / ManC game recently and he was excellent. Even when he didn't have the ball, Elano was causing Fulham awful problems floating about with the Fulham CBs / MFs unsure as to who should come pick him up.

However, I remember reading an interesting article recently (which ill try dig up) about how once the team are settled and fairly used to playing together, Sven will go with 2 up front (Bianchi & new guy) permanently + Elano out wide, which would be a shame if true.

Smegball

Coming from a United fan, I'd be delighted if Elano moved out to the right
Although it would stop us seeing and admiring his brilliance in the centre.

Mr Alan

For your sake City fans, you should pray they don't move Elano out to the right, you'll have to put up with Gray/Keys/Jamie etc ****eing out of them all year how you cant POSSIBLY play him there a la gerrard! Seriously headwrecking!

Xavi6

http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/oct15c.html

Bianchi ponders English exit
Monday 15 October, 2007

Ex-Reggina marksman Rolando Bianchi admits that a return to the peninsula is possible as he struggles to make an impression at Manchester City.

The 24-year-old fired his way to fame with 18 goals in Reggio Calabria last year, but has recently been forced to accept a substitute’s role at Eastlands.

“I’m not used to being left out of the side and we will have to see what happens,” Bianchi told Il Corriere dello Sport.

“I’m from Bergamo and the only way I know is to be stubborn and work hard. I have to convince the boss to change his ideas.

“Eriksson has explained that he wants a faster striker and he seems to have been proven right by the results, but Manchester City is a test I will succeed in.”

Despite his lack of playing time, Bianchi has shown promise when given the chance with two goals in five games in all competitions.

“I have set a reasonable deadline of December for things to change and then we will have to consider options as I don’t like playing five or 10 minutes of games,” he revealed.

In pre-season, Bianchi had looked set for a move to Napoli, but the deal broke down as reports suggested that the Atalanta youth product had refused the move.

“I still ask myself what happened at Napoli and I want to repeat to the people there that I would never dream of snubbing their city or team,” he insisted.

“I have seen some strong words said on their websites and insults from Napoli fans, but I don’t think I deserve that.”

It is believed that a number of Serie A sides, including Napoli, are keeping an eye on Bianchi and could swoop in January to end his English adventure.

Well I didn't expect player discontent already, though I suppose it was on the cards at some stage. The problem is there's no need to change the way we're playing at the moment. I think Bianchi is quality, as he showed on the opening day against West Ham, and he will get his chance. Only question is will he stick around long enough? I hope so.

Xavi6

A really sad picture I found today. Here's Maine Road as it is now....

Peyton Manning

Looks like it has the same average attendance now as does City of Manchester stadium...

Xavi6

Elano scored for Brazil in their win over Ecuador yesterday

http://www.megavideo.com/?v=1RJVM349

Some skill by Robinho in the build up

Xavi6

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/man_city/7061560.stm

Man City step up strikers search

Manchester City boss Sven-Goran Eriksson will have funds available to buy new strikers in January, according to club owner Thaksin Shinawatra.

City spent £40m revamping their squad over the summer after the former Thai prime minister completed his takeover.

He said: "All the fans know we need strikers, so Sven is looking to add some players, not many - just a few."

Thaksin also paid tribute to Eriksson's achievement in leading a much-changed City to third in the Premier League.

"We're lucky we have Sven," the Thai told BBC Sport.

"He helped us a lot in terms of putting the team together because they all come from different clubs, different countries, but they are a very good team because of Sven."

City travel to Chelsea on Saturday where victory would take them seven points clear of the Stamford Bridge outfit.

Eriksson has brought the likes of Elano, Martin Petrov and Vedran Corluka into the team to play alongside established City stars Richard Dunne, Michael Johnson and Micah Richards.

Strikers Rolando Bianchi and Valeri Bojinov were also brought in over the summer but Bojinov suffered a serious knee injury just six minutes into his first start for the club.

Italian Bianchi, who cost £8.8m from Reggina, has failed to settle and was not even on the bench for Saturday's win over Birmingham.

Something else to look forward to.

Peyton Manning

Me thinks you lot will sign Afonso Alves.

Xavi6

Archimedes wrote: »

Me thinks you lot will sign Afonso Alves.

Me hopes so. Although our last signing from Heerenveen hasn't quite gone according to plan.

Vokes

Perhaps Anelka?

Or dare i say it, Huntelaar?

Xavi6

SofaKing wrote: »

Perhaps Anelka?

Or dare i say it, Huntelaar?

While I'd welcome The Elk back with open arms I can't see it happening because he won't come back.

Huntelaar is the dream. He'd certainly bring a touch of Klass..... *cough*

DerekD Goldfish

I thought Bianchi did very well last seaosn at reggina
just doesnt seem to suit citys new formation
would do well up front with someone with pace.

shepthedog

Perhaps some of you city fans can tell me what happened with Kasper Schmeichel? He had a storming start to the season and now hes been shipped off on loan to Cardiff?? Seems very bizarre. Joe Hart in goal now, last I heard he was only covering until Kasper recovered from a slight injury??

Peyton Manning

shepthedog wrote: »

Perhaps some of you city fans can tell me what happened with Kasper Schmeichel? He had a storming start to the season and now hes been shipped off on loan to Cardiff?? Seems very bizarre. Joe Hart in goal now, last I heard he was only covering until Kasper recovered from a slight injury??

Was wondering the exact same thing myself when I heard....

An Citeog

shepthedog wrote: »

Perhaps some of you city fans can tell me what happened with Kasper Schmeichel? He had a storming start to the season and now hes been shipped off on loan to Cardiff?? Seems very bizarre. Joe Hart in goal now, last I heard he was only covering until Kasper recovered from a slight injury??

Tbh, he didn't really have a storming start to the season and looked fairly dodgy at times. He did make a couple of good saves but a season on loan at Cardiff will do him a hell of a lot more good than warming the bench at city. It was the City defence, namely Richards and Dunne, that performed out of their skins and limited the opposition to very few chances. I'm sure Sven has another keeper already lined up for the January transfer window.

MrJoeSoap

He's only there for a month, not the season.

Xavi6

He's gone on loan for the simple reason that he isn't good enough right now. Needs to learn how to take a cross. Maybe Hart should go out on loan too to learn how to close his legs.

Issy's back now and he's an international keeper so he should go back into the team now, starting midweek against Bolton in the cup.

Nunu

Archimedes wrote: »

Me thinks you lot will sign Afonso Alves.

Looks like it going to happen:

Manchester City have secured a deal for Brazilian international Afonso Alves, according to reports in Holland.

It is reported that City owner Thaksin Shinawatra flew to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport on Wednesday to open talks with Heerenveen and he seemingly wasted little time in securing a deal in principle.

It is now claimed that a 20million euros (£13.85million) deal is in place for January, and that manager Sven Goran Eriksson reportedly joined Shinawatra in Holland on Thursday to talk with the player.

Alves is contracted to Heerenveen until 2011 - but he has made little secret of the fact that he wants to quit for one of Europe's top leagues.

Middlesbrough showed interest in the summer and Alves admitted he would be open to a move to Teesside, so a switch to Eastlands is sure to appeal to him.

Alves has risen to prominence in recent seasons after he moved to Heerenveen in 2006 from Malmo. During his first season he bagged 31 goals in 34 games and this season has proved equally as fruitful.

He has 10 goals to his name this term, which have come from just four games and that included a momentous seven-goal haul against Heracles.

City have turned to Alves as they look to bolster their options up-front, which are currently very limited.

Summer signing Valeri Bojinov sustained a serious knee injury in his first start for the club in August which has sidelined him until January at the earliest, whilst fellow new arrival Rolando Bianchi has failed to settle and looks as if he could leave during the transfer window.

Emile Mpenza has been filling in, but Eriksson does not consider him a long-term solution - which then leaves Georgios Samaras and some sources claim he could be used in the Alves move.

Samaras arrived at City from Heerenveen in 2006 but he has failed to live up to his hefty £5million price tag and again looks highly unlikely to be part of Eriksson's thinking for the coming years at City.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_2840981,00.html

Xavi6

Alves would be nice alright but we just don't seem to have much luck with strikers. Bring back The Goat!

dereko1969

ah, the goat, halcyon days.
i'd love to see bianchi getting a run of a couple of games but seeing as he didn't even come off the bench last night against bolton i think he'll be on his way in january. alves sounds great but so did samaras.
so hopefully spurs or west ham at home in the next round of the cup!

Xavi6

http://www.perthglory.com.au/default.aspx?s=pgfc_newsdisplay&id=20048

A Glorious City
Sunday, 4 November 2007

Perth Glory Football Club is set to be boosted with a deal to form a strategic alliance with English Premier League giants Manchester City.

It’s proposed that Glory will be the Australian representative in a worldwide alliance that City will put together and could reap the benefits both on and off the field in a wide ranging exchange of ideas and resources.
PGFC Glory & Manchester City

“We believe this type deal will greatly help the club and allow us to do some very exciting things,” said Glory co-owner John Spence at a press conference in Perth today.

Mr Spence facilitated the relationship between Perth Glory and Manchester City through his extensive global business connections. The full extent of the relationship will be revealed in the coming weeks when City bosses launch the program in Thailand, the home country of the clubs owner.

Through Mr Spence’s company the opportunity exists for the Glory to benefit from youth academies which will be set-up in locations where Karama Resorts operate.

“We could also tap into City’s sports science and coaching set-ups to ensure best practice is applied here and we also anticipate having some of their players coming to Perth to play with the Glory.

“On the flip side our players here will be given a platform to visit Manchester City during the off season to help in their development and showcase their talent,” Mr Spence said.

Fantastic business opportunities are also expected for sponsors of the Glory who will gain exposure in growing Asian markets with both Manchester City and Mr Spence committed to development in the region.

The exciting partnership is further confirmation of Australia’s rise in football prominence and Perth Glory’s strong reputation as a leader in the sport in this country.

Great news for me living here. Be super to have a few of our fringe players out here on loan. Maybe even have some preseason friendlies with City playing over here. Fantastic stuff!

Xavi6

....City beat Huddersfield 10-1 to record our biggest league vitory ever. Hattricks for Tony Alcock, David White and Paul Stewart. Oh and it was never a peno for Huddersfield! Enjoy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKoEJF_BcvM

Vokes

Xavi6, it looks like Johnson is out for a few weeks for much needed surgery? He seems to have been a pretty important player for ManC so far, doing a lot of the running and hustling that Hamann can't do anymore.

Do you reckon that the U21 Swiss signing Fernandes can take Johnson's place? Or is he a far too similar to Hamann and Eriksson will go 4-4-2?

Xavi6

SofaKing wrote: »

Xavi6, it looks like Johnson is out for a few weeks for much needed surgery? He seems to have been a pretty important player for ManC so far, doing a lot of the running and hustling that Hamann can't do anymore.

Do you reckon that the U21 Swiss signing Fernandes can take Johnson's place? Or is he a far too similar to Hamann and Eriksson will go 4-4-2?

Yeah Johnno's a big loss but hopefully it'll only be for three weeks max and there's an international break included in that.

To be honest I'm not sure what Sven will do but I think/hope he'll put Ireland in the middle. It certainly worked well on Monday for the second half. Vassell put in a decent showing so he could start on the wing or we could go with Geovanni. I don't think Sven will change the formation though. It's working too well (if you exclude the Chelsea slip up). Only problem is that Didi is one yellow away from a suspension. If that happnes we'll have no choice but to play Gelson Fernandes but I don't feel he's ready yet.

Savman

I was at COMS for the Sunderland game and imho I have to say I'm amazed that City team is still 3rd. Ireland got MOTM, but we all thought he was fairly poor except for the goal. Petrov's touch was all over the place and he looked totally off form. Elano was hardly in the game at all but it looked like Eriksson had him playing off Mpenza in a 4-5-1. I could never understand why Sven goes for that formation especially at home.

We thought Corluka should've been given MOTM cos him and Dunne had decent games, Vassell looked totally disinterested as did Bianchi who was the first to walk off the pitch at full time. It just looked like there is something lacking in the team and, maybe, City have been playing above themselves lately because Sunderland were the better side for the 1st half, and were good value for the draw. Just seems like typical Sven tactics of playing a tight game and nicking a late goal.

Just my 2c

Xavi6

Savman wrote: »

I was at COMS for the Sunderland game and imho I have to say I'm amazed that City team is still 3rd. Ireland got MOTM, but we all thought he was fairly poor except for the goal. Petrov's touch was all over the place and he looked totally off form. Elano was hardly in the game at all but it looked like Eriksson had him playing off Mpenza in a 4-5-1. I could never understand why Sven goes for that formation especially at home.

We thought Corluka should've been given MOTM cos him and Dunne had decent games, Vassell looked totally disinterested as did Bianchi who was the first to walk off the pitch at full time. It just looked like there is something lacking in the team and, maybe, City have been playing above themselves lately because Sunderland were the better side for the 1st half, and were good value for the draw. Just seems like typical Sven tactics of playing a tight game and nicking a late goal.

Just my 2c

Some very valid points there Sav.

To be fair the reason Sven goes 4-5-1 is because we don't actually have two decent strikers to justify a 4-4-2. Our midfield has our most depth so it makes sense to get as many as those players into the XI as possible. The injury to Bojinov screwed Sven's plans big time as I'd say he'd have been our main target man up top.

All the City fans on the club forum said that Corluka should have gotten MOTM and he is certainly better at centre half than at full back. Maybe Micah should play right full when he gets back.