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0 Comments - Add comment Written 2 days ago by malcylon

From exhilaration to deflation in the space of six days. It is tempting to suggest that leopards do not change their spots, even if they become very wealthy creatures.

Following on from an impressive dismantling of Liverpool and the serene negotiation of a European hurdle that befuddled both Aston Villa and Celtic, Manchester City produced an insipid second half display that left them exposed to a stoppage time sucker-punch at Sunderland.

The well worn phrase "typical City" has been trotted out since. For some this is a hankering for the affection once afforded to the club, when the Blues propensity for tragicomedy made them many people's second favourite team. But money, ambition and a highly talented playing squad mean that the bad old days are over, as is the romance many associated with failures both glorious and ridiculous.

On Sunday, City were undone by a team who overrode their technical inferiority with a fierce hunger to claim a big scalp. This is not "typical City". To use a familiar phrase from Roberto Mancini's post-match interviews "this is football".

These are the challenges that Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal are faced with on a weekly basis. The bread and butter they all happily devoured at the weekend against West Ham, Stoke and Blackburn stands as the latest example. By contrast, City and their fellow pretenders Tottenham fell short in perceived formalities. Spurs’ defeat to a previously shambolic Wigan at White Hart Lane was an amusing eye-opener.

As many at Eastlands are already too aware following hysterical coverage of the club’s lavish transfer dealing, knee-jerk scrutiny is now a fact of life, and this extends to the team’s on-field activities. A magnificent performance between the posts from Joe Hart saw Mancini’s side stumble to an opening goalless draw at Tottenham, and numerous commentators dismissed City’s quest for honours this season. A week later, Liverpool were clinically dismissed 3-0 and the Blues were suddenly genuine title challengers in the eyes of many. Then there was Sunderland.

Following his club’s biggest win over the Anfield outfit since 1937, Mancini’s post-match comments were telling. An all-action debut from James Milner, Gareth Barry’s best display in City colours and key contributions from fellow England hopefuls Micah Richards and Adam Johnson were all touched upon.

But the recurring theme was the Italian’s references to mentality and how important this had been in his team’s approach to the game. This is a central factor for City in games such as the one at Sunderland because the array of talent at Mancini’s disposal is beyond question.

Murmurs of discontent justifiably remain about an overly defensive approach from Mancini. City have registered 17 shots on target in their first three games compared to Chelsea’s 27, Manchester United’s 28 and Arsenal’s 32.

Misses like Carlos Tevez’s horror-show at the weekend will happen from time to time, and at present the Blues are not creating enough chances to recover. Against Liverpool, although the team were not flattered by the result, every genuine chance was converted.

On the other hand, during a start that must be viewed as satisfactory and no more, Mancini has established a rock-solid feel at the back, where Vincent Kompany’s form has been imperious. City are still to concede a goal from open play in all competitions, and a solid defence is a hallmark of all successful teams because of the vital mental edge it provides.

As they merrily bellowed “ruining football, but we don’t care” at Sunderland, City’s away supporters seemed to have adapted to their new situation with their famous gallows humour intact.

Mancini’s players must also attune themselves to the new realities of the challenges facing them and eradicate stumbles such as the one experienced on Wearside.

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Tags: football,league,premier,mcfc,epl,tevez,mancini

City v Liverpool: The Mancini plan

1 Comment - Add comment Written on 23-Aug-2010 by malcylon

Manchester City fans will hope to see something that quickens the pulse in their side's first Premier League home game of the season against Liverpool on Monday night. So far this term, 180 minutes of football against Tottenham and FC Timisoara have brought a solitary goal from the Blues and an approach riven with caution.

A wide array of attacking talent means many of the Eastlands faithful are eager to see the shackles release. But there is method in Roberto Mancini's apparent mundanity.

A common criticism of Mancini's approach since he took up his post in December has been the repeated deployment of three defensively minded midfielders at the expense of more creative operators, such as the now jettisoned Stephen Ireland. Yet during his time at Inter Milan, Mancini predominantly used similar tactics and won three consecutive Serie A titles - the first albeit as a result of the Italian match-fixing scandal.

Javier Zanetti, Esteban Cambiasso, Patrick Viera, Olivier Dacourt and Santiago Solari were all utilised during this time as part of a central midfield base behind a roaming playmaker and front two who enjoyed more or less complete attacking freedom. This supposedly defensive set-up led to Inter a 97 point haul and 80 goals on their way to the 2006/07 Scudetto.

It may surprise those who saw City labour to draws towards the end of last season with a virtual flat-back-seven, but the system does not have to be a negative one. Essentially a 4-1-2-1-2, Mancini now has the personnel to effectively use his favoured approach in Manchester.

He should be wary of the sporadic success the diamond formation has experienced in the English top flight. An unshakeable loyalty to it was a large factor in Luis Felipe Scolari losing his job at Chelsea 18 months ago. On the other hand, his successor Carlo Ancelotti often used a variant of it in guiding the Stamford Bridge outfit to the title last term.

Nigel de Jong is the City player best suited to sweeping up at the base of the diamond, leaving the onus on the midfield two regularly break forward into the opposition box. Yaya Toure showed himself to be fully capable of this against Timisoara, and new signing James Milner should relish the responsibility.

David Silva has been earmarked as the loan playmaker, and his rapport with the club's forwards will be crucial to the system's success. In Romania on Thursday, through balls were misplaced and runs misjudged, but the former Valencia schemer has all the qualities to thrive in the role.

The primary appeal of the system is that it allows a side to dominate possession - something City have done in their opening two encounters.

The Blues have enjoyed their most memorable successes over the past two seasons by using pace and skill to open teams up on the counter-attack. Such an approach can be exhilarating to watch, but championships are won by sides who control possession and therefore their destiny on a weekly basis.

On Thursday night, Mancini sent Mario Balotelli and Adam Johnson out to the flanks to open the game up and the move proved decisive. Nevertheless, he seems to have decided that the approach which has brought him numerous managerial honours will be plan A.

Expect to see City line-up in this way against Liverpool and do not be surprised if the display is disjointed at times. Extravagant price tags do not mean new players will bed into an unfamiliar system immediately, nor should they.

If points are dropped over the next month, it is a time for all associated with Manchester City to hold their nerve and back the man with a new haircut and a familiar plan.

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Tags: manchester,liverpool,city,silva,mcfc,mancini

Manchester City take the bus to Sierra Leone

0 Comments - Add comment Written on 23-Aug-2010 by malcylon

Beneath the layer upon layer of articles about big money signings and whether the manager of the day can fashion a side to win the Premier League, there are always incredibly heart-warming stories to be heard about the generosity of City fans around the world.

One such story concerns the huge dedication of a small number of fans to make the impossible possible. On Wednesday 25^th August Phil Holme, Tony Griffiths, Alex Channon, Howard Burr will travel to Freetown in Sierra Leone in order to deliver a mini-bus for an aspiring youth football club that was setup as a City supporting club. Paul Lake, Ambassador for City in the Community will also travel with the party. They have been helped by the generosity of fans around the world to make it happen.

Here is an abridged version of the story so far as told by Phil Holme of the Portadown Supporters Club branch...

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Armani with future young MCFC Sierra Leone players

In the autumn of 2003 a member of Reddish Branch of the MCFC supporters club completed 30 years as a police officer in Manchester and retired. He then started working in Sierra Leone in West Africa, where his job was to train detectives out there to investigate child abuse.

Sierra Leone has for the past several years been either last, or second to last in the world wealth league tables published every year. Average life expectancy is around 38 years and living conditions for most people are appalling. On top of all these problems the country has gone through a particularly bloody civil war that lasted 11 years and only ended in 2000.

When he arrived in Freetown, the capital City, Tony noticed the usual scattering of people wearing Arsenal, Liverpool and Stretford shirts. It soon became apparent that football is massive in the country and most people follow the English Premier League.

At the end of his first week he was enjoying a beer at a beach bar when a young man approached him by the name of Armani Sheku Kamara who was selling watches, sunglasses etc. He noticed that he was wearing a Stretford lapel badge and as Tony is a dyed in the wool blue he joked with the young man that he could not buy any of his merchandise from a man wearing such an offensive item. Within a short time he agreed to throw the offending item into the Atlantic Ocean and negotiations commenced.

It soon became apparent that not only did he have a good knowledge of Premier League football he also had a good knowledge of the ups and downs of Manchester City. He assured Tony that he was only wearing the offending badge because a customer had given it to him and he promised him that if he could get him a City shirt he would be a City fan for the rest of his life. Little did he know what that conversation would lead to.

In early 2004 Tony returned to Sierra Leone having spent a few weeks back in Manchester, and of course took back with him a City shirt for Armani. Within a few days of receiving the shirt Armani told Tony that he was setting up a Man City Supporters Club in Freetown. When Tony next returned to UK he discussed the Sierra Leone situation, first with Howard Burr the Secretary of the Reddish Branch and then with Alex Channon former Chair of the CSA. It was then that the Sierra Leone Branch of the Manchester City Supporters Club was born.

On Tony’s next visit he was able to take back with him several dozen assorted City shirts donated by City fans over here. They proved very popular and soon were being seen all around the Freetown streets. Soon Armani had formed a Manchester City Football team in Freetown as well as a Junior Man City team. The problem was that they were wearing a red and white striped kit that they had to rent on a match-by-match basis. Following discussion with Lorraine Firth at Manchester City the Club kindly donated a full kit for the team out there. There was also a concerted effort by a lot of Branches to collect as many shirts, boots as possible these were also sent out to Sierra Leone.

Tony Griffiths last visited Sierra Leone in March 2007 and we were proud to hear of many men women and children wearing an array of City shirts around the capital and beyond. The football team formed such a short time ago is going from strength to strength and Armani is something of a local celebrity who is frequently interviewed on national radio in Sierra Leone and works extremely hard to promote Man City for no financial reward. On 23^rd November 2008 the Man City Youth team appeared in the Sierra Leone F.A. Youth Cup final and WON. Not bad for a team that did not exist 4 years ago. You now can't walk through Freetown without seeing a City shirt and hearing shouts of “City till I die”

Unfortunately the first team had to pull out of the main league last season as it did not have enough cash to fulfil their away fixtures although the league have agreed to keep their place in division two for next season assuming they have funds in place.

The next phase is to try and help make the team financially independent by raising money for a mini bus this doubles up as both transport to away matches, which is one of the most prohibitive costs to the team, and during the rest of the week it becomes a revenue maker by running it as a proper bus in Freetown. This will give two people a job and also raise enough cash to keep the teams running. Also it should provide enough to replace the bus every 10 years.

This is not just another fund raiser - the work being done is changing lives and keeping young people off the streets and giving them a common bond - it is CHANGING LIVES and even SAVING some.

The bus arrived in Manchester on 12^th July where it was liveried up with sponsorship logos including the new MCFC Supporters Club logo. Special thanks to Barclay Signs Ltd from Stockport who did this free of charge. The bus is now on its way to Sierra Leone with all the kit and equipment donated by Man City fans where Tony, Howard, Alex, Paul, Neil Cole from Endemol (who will be filming the whole process) and myself (Phil Holme) will be there to meet and deliver it to MCFC Sierra Leone and Armani.

We can’t thank the Club enough in particular Garry Cook and Paul Lake but everyone has been fantastic, there are too many to mention but our heartfelt thanks goes to EVERYONE who has been involved in helping or donating in anyway whatever. Without you it would not have happened but please remember the appeal goes on.

City as a Club have always been fan friendly. When we were taken over, there were those who thought here we go another rags or chelski etc. Well I’m here to tell you the heart of Man City is in great shape and if anything is going to get even more fan friendly especially with the unification of the Supporters Club. I am proud of my football club (how many can say that in this day and age) long may it continue thank you Sheikh Mansour.

On 28th July a container was loaded with the bus and six pallets of kit, training gear, laptops, books, a kids bike a scooter and a partridge in a pear tree (well maybe not the last one) Alex and Howard were there to lend a hand and Neil was there to film the container being loaded. The long journey began on the 29th July with the container off to Felixstowe where it will be loaded aboard the ship bound for Freetown and is due to arrive on 26th August. We, that is Tony, Alex, Howard, Paul, Neil and myself will be leaving on 25th August for Freetown to meet the ship the following day - here’s hoping it’s on time (everything is crossed).

There is a very busy itinerary whilst we are there Armani has contacted the Minister for Sport and various media outlets that want the story. We will be going to various schools and we will be attending a football game of MCFC Sierra Leone. On the Saturday we will be handing out training gear and kit to the teams at our hotel and on the Sunday it will be the official handover of the bus outside the National Stadium.

So it’s all go from here guys - I reckon we may add just a little water to the docks on the 26th - can't see there being a dry eye so to speak

Thanks again for all your support - and please remember we are still collecting.

Phil Holme

CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO THE BUS APPEAL

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Tags: football,manchester,city,africa,youth,cook,lake,mcfc,sierra leone,freetown

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