Archive for the ‘Manchester City’ Category

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So the time is nearly upon us. The massively over-hyped games between Everton and Manchester City, followed by Manchester United and Liverpool are just around the corner.

The respective fields will be taken by multi-millionaires running round doing something they love whilst being watched by, in the main, poorer working class people who have managed to scrape together the cost of either a season ticket or a matchday ticket.

Higher in the stands will be Roy Keane’s favourite people. The prawn sandwich brigade who sometimes don’t even know which game they are attending. The score, or even who is victorious, is a complete irrelevance to these types. (more…)

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For a short period of time, a couple of years ago, Brendan Rodgers looked as though he may win the Premier League title with Liverpool. He certainly came closer than they have done for many a year and all the stupid cliches came babbling forth from the experts and the press. My favourite is, “they will never have a better chance of winning it than they did that year“.

That, of course, is complete nonsense as, under Jürgen Klopp, they may very well have their best chance of winning it, although it is yet to come. (more…)

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Is it a coincidence that the six richest clubs in the Premier League currently occupy the top six places in the Premier League?

I suppose it depends upon your view of Leicester City’s achievements last season. If you think, like many others, that their winning the title was a one-off, freakish, yet sensational story then the natural order of things has been restored.

If, however, you think that the Leicester story can be repeated by either themselves or another unfancied club, then the amount of money a club has available to buy players is less relevant. (more…)

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The Premier League is beginning to take shape. The top six are starting to pull away from the rest and all that remains now is to see in which order they finish.

This is all a little better than in previous years when the top four has usually consisted of Manchester United, City, Chelsea and Arsenal, not necessarily in that order.

Other than last season when Leicester City gatecrashed the party there is a familiar look to four of the top six but two new arrivals are threatening the natural order of things. (more…)

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Like a chain smoker reaching the airport exit after an eight hour flight, like a shopaholic after a particularly long bank holiday weekend during which all of the shops have been closed, like a fish returning to water after almost too long out of it, these are all experiences which are accompanied, at some stage, with a massive sigh of relief. To return to normal having been out of the comfort zone for so long is a blessing. Just ask the fish! If speech were possible it would surely mop it’s brow, say “phew” and thank it’s lucky stars that it were still around to tell the tale. (more…)

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Czechoslovakia, Greece, Denmark and Portugal spring to mind as relatively recent winners of the European Championships. None of the four could be considered as serial winners of competitions.

Wales also stayed in the last competition for longer than England and even managed a 3-1 win over Belgium while England couldn’t even scrape a draw with Iceland and exited the tournament in their usual fashion, ie when there was still plenty of it left! (more…)

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A quarter-ish way through the season and things are, unfortunately for some, beginning to take shape.

Draws at home did not help the cause of either Manchester United or Tottenham Hotspur.

United should have beaten Burnley by three or four goals but their failure in front of goal may yet prove that Zlatan Ibrahimović was not the signing which should have been prioritised during the recent transfer window. (more…)

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If anybody was wondering which of the two managers placed the most importance on this game then it became obvious as soon as the teams were announced.

José Mourinho went with a strong line up which was only really missing Eric Bailly from what would be considered a first-choice eleven.

Pep Guardiola, on the other hand, went with a team which could best be described as mainly second choice. (more…)

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Well here we are, dear readers, preparing for the second Manchester derby of the season and we’re only in October!

Regular followers of this irregular missive will have noticed that I have, on occasion, seen fit to bemoan the way that cup draws seem to bring the Manchester clubs together, before the final, on a fairly consistent basis. They seem destined never to get to the altar, always having to have a sordid little affair long before the big day ever dawns which then, invariably, belongs to somebody else. (more…)

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Manchester United appointed Jose Mourinho in the full knowledge that he rarely stays at any club for more than two years, whether the reason for departure is his choosing or not. He has since indicated that he would like to stay at Old Trafford for “many years“.

Manchester City did the same with Pep Guardiola. Having spent five years in charge at Barcelona, (one of them with the B team), he developed his current wanderlust and spent a further two years in charge of Bayern Münich. The impression is that, if he is successful at City, then he may be talked into staying longer. (more…)