I will be back!!!!

Well, I have been gone for a long time but I am making a return! Unfortunately certain issues in my private life prevented me from even turning my computer on at times let alone allowing me to write. I am quite sure that any problems are now behind me and after a little holiday I feel totally refreshed.

I would like to say thanks to everyone that has emailed me it was quite overwhelming and I have only just finished getting through reading them!

While I have not been writing I have still been going to all the games so I am totally up to date with whats going on, in the next couple of days I will be concentrating on changing the name and header of the blog, then after that I will be writing about what has been going on.

Thanks again for all those who have been in touch and I am looking forward to writing for you once again.

Man City 5 - 1 Birmingham City - *Video*

Goals from Tevez, Adebayor, and our very own true blue Nedum Onuoha helped us to an impressive victory over Birmingham. Goals and highlights below!

This really was a good win today, Birmingham have been a very good side all season. I did expect us to beat them at home but putting five past them sends out a strong message to our remaining opponents, we just need to keep it up now.

It has not been hard to turn ourselves back into a free scoring good attacking team, all that has happened is a slight change of tactics. We have not been sitting deep and instead have been holding a higher line, teams just can not handle us when we play that way.

The players attitude has had a lot to do with our good form as well, they all seem up for the challenge which is something that I don't think we were seeing enough of on a regular basis. Mancini has to be given credit as well, he has made these changes and seems to have injected some passion into the team, lets hope he can cope with the pressure and grab that fourth place for us.

Fourth place is certainly ours for the taking now and although I don't think we should get excited just yet, I do have a feeling that we may actually have something to smile about come the end of the season for a change. Come on lads you can do it!!!!!!!

Goals and highlights.

Burnley vs Man City - Sat 3rd Apr 17:30 pm

We travel a short distance today to play a struggling Burnley side, I would like to say that this should be a comfortable win for us but you just never know.

I really hope that we don't mess up in this game against Burnley, it is so hard to be properly confident about a game when your team is so inconsistent.

As well as our inconsistency this season, I think that a lot of teams have us figured out. We are far to rigid at times and sit back to much, it is not hard for opposition teams to counter that. The main way the opposition have foiled us this season is by working hard, almost every time we have come across a workman like team this season we have struggled.

We only managed to comfortably overcome Wigan after we changed the way we were playing, we pushed our line much higher up and did what we are good at, ATTACKING! That is the way that I think we should play for the rest of the season instead of using Mancini's unimpressive 'safe' tactics. However we set up tomorrow one thing is for sure, we must win!

Man City Team News:
Wayne Bridge is still out after a hernia operation and Martin Petrov is still struggling with a knee injury. Stephen Ireland misses out with an ankle problem and Pablo Zabaleta is suspended.

Burnley Team News:
Steven Caldwell is expected to come straight back into the squad after being out for four months with a groin injury. Former City man Stephen Jordan is expected back for Burnley after recovering from a knee problem, the same can't be said for Chris McCann with his knee problem expected to keep him out.

Possible Man City Line Up: Given, Richards, Toure, Kompany, Garrido, Bellamy, De Jong, Barry, A Johnson, Adebayor, Tevez.

Possible Burnley Line Up: Jensen, Mears, Duff, Caldwell, Jordan, Alexander, Elliott, McDonald, Paterson, Fletcher, Nugent.

My Prediction: Burnley 0 - 2 Man City.

Worth A Bet: Adam Johnson scores the first goal in a 2 - 0 City win.

Everton result is a bad set back

Last nights result was a big blow to us, I should think we would have to win close to every remaining game to claim fourth place.

After last nights game the stats made good reading for City, bags more possession, more goal attempts, better passing percentage and so on.

So why did we lose? Maybe it was because the referee was rubbish or maybe you could just say it was one of those nights. Last night I would have used both of those excuses when I was fuming but after thinking about it when I had calmed down today, we lost because Everton had our number.

Every time an opposition team has us sussed we can't cope, we don't seem to be able to counter act the other teams game plan and to be honest it is getting annoying. I don't know why we can't because the quality we have in our squad suggests we should be able too, they need to sort it out though because otherwise we will slip further down the table never mind getting fourth.

It's not that we shied away from a quite frankly unclassy dirty Everton team last night because we got stuck in back, I just think we concentrated on that side of the game too much at times because when we did play football we were ripping them apart.

It also could have been a slightly different game last night if we didn't start with one up front again, Tevez on his own against two big strong centre backs is certainly not the way I would go. We should be playing two up top and especially at home because it changes the way the opposition think about playing if they have one more attacker to worry about.

I don't understand what Mancini is thinking with his tactics sometimes, one week he gets it spot on and then he changes it for whatever reason. Why would you change a formation that won the week before away from home to bring an out of form Ireland in as support for your striker, I don't know that's for sure.

I am really on the fence now as to what will happen as far as fourth place is concerned, I think we can do it if we want it bad enough but the question is do we want it bad enough?

Fulham 1 - 2 Man City - ( Santa Cruz 7', Tevez 36', Murphy pen 75')*Video*

They certainly know how to make us sweat, the game against Fulham wasn't much of a spectacle but I don't suppose that matters, as long as we get three points that will do for me.

Our goals came from Roque Santa Cruz and Carlos Tevez, Roque was in the right place at the right time to tap home our first before Carlos doubled our lead after a bit of smart play in the box. GOALS AND HIGHLIGHTS BELOW.

We should have had this game wrapped up well before Fulham managed to give us a scare by getting a penalty, although we were only more or less going through the motions we were still a lot better than Fulham. Fulham were certainly not at full pace either if they were the game would have been tougher, but having just played Juve and with a Cup game coming up their minds were obviously elsewhere and we should have made them pay.

I don't want to be overly critical of our team because at the end of the day we won without busting a gut, however I still would have liked to see us really stick it to Fulham. I think it all comes back to us not be very good at finishing teams off, perhaps the players were happy with the way things were going and that's fine but if they would have got that third goal which was there to be had it would have saved us all a lot stress!

Although we were not really tested yesterday I still think that we had some good individual displays, Toure for one I think proved a lot of his doubters wrong. He was very steady yesterday and made a couple of important interceptions, Kompany again was also very good at the back and I can certainly see him as a permanent fixture there for some time to come.

Mancini also got it right yesterday, I have to say I was surprised when I saw that he was playing a 4-4-2 but maybe he is realising that packing the midfield and playing one up front is not always the way to go.

Overall it was a good performance, it is going to be a different ball game in midweek against Everton though so I hope that the players don't become complacent and make sure they step it up for that game.

Goals and highlights.

Fulham vs Man City - Sun 21st Mar 15:00 pm

Villa drew today but Spurs won which makes this game a must, must, must win, it will not be easy against a Juve conquering Fulham team but still we must win!

I am not looking forward to this game if I am honest because if we don't win then that could be the end of that, no fourth place and another mediocre season to look back on. I think we would probably have to win this to stay in the race unless the teams around us decide to totally lose form, something that I can't see.

I am not more worried about Fulham because they beat Juventus because they have shown their quality throughout the season, I have had this game down as a tough one for us for a while now because we are hopeless at exploiting hard working teams.

Roy Hodgson has said he is prioritising the cup competitions so with them playing in the FA Cup in midweek we might see a weaker team put out against us tomorrow, not that I necessarily think that will make a big difference.

Hodgson is doing a brilliant job at Fulham and has his team working very hard, so no matter what team he puts out I think they will still play the same way. If they do approach the game in a workman like fashion then we could be stuffed because we never seem to know how to unlock those kind of teams.

Don't get me wrong though Fulham work very hard but they can also play football, players like Clint Dempsey are more than capable of taking advantage of our defence and if we are not working hard ourselves that's exactly what will happen.

It is down to our players now, it is time they backed up what they have been saying about being the strongest team and knowing how important it is to qualify for the CL, prove it to us!

Fulham are sure to be a good test of our players commitment to the cause, with no disrespect to Fulham if our players are putting their all in, we should be beating these kind of teams.

Man City Team News:
Wayne Bridge is out for up to a month after having a hernia operation, Martin Petrov is out with a knee injury and Emmanuel Adebayor is suspended.

Fulham Team News:
Andy Johnson and John Pantsil are both out with knee injuries, David Elm could miss out after suffering from illness. Danny Murphy and Jonathan Greening missed out against Juventus but are both expected to be back in the squad for this game.

Possible Man City Line Up: Given, Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Garrido, Johnson, Zabaleta, de Jong, Barry, Bellamy, Tevez.

Possible Fulham Line Up: Schwarzer, Kelly, Hangeland, Hughes, Shorey, Davies, Murphy, Baird, Dempsey, Gera, Zamora.

My Prediction: Fulham 0 - 1 Man City.

Worth A Bet: Nigel de Jong scores in a 1- 0 City win.

Help a fellow City fan win a comp!

Just a quick favour to ask of you, one of my followers and regular readers Col Bury is currently involved in a short story competition.

On top of being a big blue Col is a top fella and an extremely talented writer and deserves to win this competition as much as anyone else, so if you could please go to http://joehuntersfixers.blogspot.com/2010/03/short-story-7-gallance.html and vote it would be much appreciated guys.

After you have clicked the link and are on the page you can find the voting poll on the right hand side, be sure to vote for number 7!

Thanks.

In it for the long run

Well for a long time now I have been getting told by other teams supporters that our owners will leave eventually, sorry guys but they have just proved again that they are here to stay.

As you have now probably heard (sorry been at work) our owners are set to spend a further one Billion Pounds on developing the area around Eastlands. I did write about this happening in Feb 2009 here, I wasn't sure if it was all to be believed back then but thankfully it was (roughly).

The money is expected to be spent on many things including a fan zone which is expected to be ready by next season, possible stadium expansion, a world class training complex and many other things that have not properly been disclosed yet.

This is great news for us, firstly it assures us that our owners are in Manchester for the long run and on top of that not only will the club benefit but the people of Manchester too.

This development process is sure to lead us to the top of the table when it comes to football clubs, it is still going to take time but I imagine that we will get there.

The best players in the world are surely going to want to come to the most outstanding set up in World football, will this dream ever end? I hope not!

Are you a video star?

So earlier on I was watching a video on City's official site of the players doing tricks and to be honest I wasn't all that impressed.

I know loads of people who could pull those tricks off with ease including younger lads, so it got me thinking and I want people who are daring enough to record themselves doing tricks and send them into me.

If you think you are up to it then send me your video, you can email it to me at wevegotrobinho@live.co.uk.

I only want fresh original videos and to make sure of that I would like you to say 'me against City' into the camera at the beginning of your video.

Here is the video of the city players so that you can see what you are up against. http://www.mcfc.co.uk/Video/Features/Etihad-skills-school.

Bridge over troubled waters!!! *Video*

Chelsea 2 - 4 Man City
Lampard 42', Tevez 45', Bellamy 51', Belletti s/o 75', Tevez 76'(pen), Ballack s/o 81', Bellamy 87', Lampard 90'(pen).

What a win! That's six points off arguably one of the best teams in Europe this season, we needed to win that game and for a change we did it! BRILLIANT!!!!

Tevez and Bellamy both got two goals a piece today, Tevez managed to equalise for us right before half time before Bellamy finished off a good counter just after half time to put us in front. Tevez then converted a penalty after Gareth Barry was brought down, Bellamy rounded the game off after finishing off a move forward that he was involved in starting. Goals below!!!!

Finally City gave us a pick up, we played reasonably well today although I still think we can play better, I think beating Chelsea when we are not on the very top of our game proves how good we can be. When we went one nil down I thought it was undeserved, we were not playing well going forward but neither were Chelsea, thankfully Tevez put us back on terms before the break. I have to say Tevez's equaliser certainly made us book our ideas up in the second half, we started off well with Bellamy putting us ahead and then we continued to improve.

I have already seen a lot of Chelsea fans say that they played badly but I think we had something to do with that, Drogba for starters was not allowed to get away with bullying our defence, Lescott, Kompany and Richards gave him a taste of his own medicine and muscled him.

The defence was excellent all game and as well as keeping Drogba contained they made sure that Anelka, Cole, Malouda and then Kalou and Sturridge were not effective going forward. I have to say it looks like Kompany and Lescott have answered the call for better performances from our centre backs based on their few performances when they have played together.

This was just the sweetest result today, we have managed to beat an excellent team away from home, Sturridge played against us and was beaten, Terry got one shoved up him for a change and most importantly we have taken three points. It couldn't have really worked out better for us!

We should be full of confidence now and have a renewed sense of vigour in our quest for fourth, I am starting to get confident again I probably shouldn't but oh well carpe diem, COME ON CITY!!!!! CTID.

Goals. *Not many decent videos available yet, this may need time to load for you*


P.S. Sorry I haven't been posting as much lately but I have had some obstacles to get past in my private life lately.

Stoke City vs Man City - Weds 24Th Feb 19:45 pm

Must win? I know some City fans who don't think so, they would prefer to go for fourth but I disagree with them. We should go for both!!!

This is going to be a tough game again for us tonight but we can win, Stoke are going to give us a bad time tonight and we will need to be more physical against them. I am not suggesting that we go out with the intent to play in a physical style but when we have to get stuck in we must do it.

As far as I am concerned if we show our class tonight we will win, the problem is we don't know what side will turn up. After playing better against Liverpool I am hoping that we will continue to build on that and turn it on against Stoke, I think we can do that and win.

Man City Team News:
Carlos Tevez is still not back from Argentina so will not play, Adam Johnson is cup tied and Patrick Vieira is suspended. Martin Petrov is expected to still be out with a knee injury and Kolo Toure and Roque Santa Cruz will undergo late fitness tests.

Stoke City Team News:
Matthew Etherington and Danny Higginbotham are expected to undergo late fitness tests and Abdoulaye Faye and Andy Wilkinson will miss out through suspension.

Possible Man City Line Up: Given, Zabaleta, Kompany, Lescott, Bridge, De Jong, Ireland, Barry, Wright-Phillips, Bellamy, Adebayor.

Possible Stoke City Line Up: Sorensen, Huth, Shawcross, Diao, Collins, Lawrence, Delap, Whelan, Sidibe, Fuller, Sanli.

My Prediction: Stoke City 1 - 2 Man City.

Worth A Bet: Lescott scores in a 2 - 1 City win.

Man City vs Liverpool - Sun 21st Feb 15:00 pm

Massive massive game for us tomorrow, we must beat Liverpool and try to pull away from them.

This is not a game we would really want at the moment considering our form but basically that's tough, we simply have to start performing better.

Liverpool have been quite similar to us this season, very inconsistent and frustrating. They have started to perform better lately though and we will definitely have to be on top of our game to beat them.

I think this is the first game that I have come across this season where I am just not quite sure what will happen, I have every faith that if we play well that we can beat Liverpool but that's a big if considering our form. I certainly don't think we should be nervous about playing them, I don't think they are a major threat although they are a threat.

I tend to trust in the fact that City are destined to do something sooner or later and at the moment I am hoping that fourth spot will be ours, saying that if we can't slow Liverpool down tomorrow then I am not sure that we will be able to make it to the Champions League. I think that they will keep their momentum going and be really tough to beat to fourth, so come on City stuff them!!!

Man City Team News:
Carlos Tevez is still in Argentina spending time with his new baby and will not play, Patrick Vieira is suspended. Vincent Kompany is having a test on his groin and is rated at 50/50, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Stephen Ireland have both been carrying knocks but are expected to feature in the squad. Martin Petrov is out with a knee injury although Craig Bellamy is expected to return after resting his own knee problem.

Liverpool Team News:
Fernando Torres and Glen Johnson are both out injured although Yossi Benayoun may return after recovering from a broken rib. Sotirios Kyrgiakos is suspended.

Possible Man City Line Up: Given, Richards, Toure, Lescott, Bridge, De Jong, Wright-Phillips, Barry, A Johnson, Santa Cruz, Adebayor.

Possible Liverpool Line Up: Reina, Carragher, Skrtel, Agger, Insua, Lucas, Mascherano, Kuyt, Gerrard, Maxi, Ngog.

My Prediction: Man City 1 - 0 Liverpool.

Worth A Bet: Joleon Lescott scores in a 1 - 0 City win.

David Gonzalez did sign!

Colombian goalkeeper David Gonzalez Giraldo is a Man City player.

He was on trial with us for a while and there was reports that he had signed although nothing official was ever released to say that he was a Man City player.

But he is a City player and we definitely know that now because he has been playing for the reserves.

Gonzalez has previously played for Independiente Medellin, Deportivo Cali, Caykur Rizespor and Huracan, he has also represented the Colombian National team.

He is suppose to be a decent keeper and holds the longest clean sheet record in Colombia. I don't know if he will ever make a first team squad but you never know, you would hope he is at least good enough to challenge Taylor for a place on the bench.

Caicedo scores for Malaga *Video*

Well taken goal by Caicedo, I hope he comes back to play for City next season.

Chelsea up next if we beat Stoke!

We have been drawn against Chelsea away in the next round of the FA Cup, if we beat Stoke of course.

If we do go through I am glad that we have got Chelsea, I wanted them when we got drawn against Stoke. I think I want them as early as possible to avoid the heartbreak of being knocked out later on in the competition if that were to happen. I know that's not a good way to think but if we are destined to win it then it is better to get the best teams out of the way as soon as possible in my opinion.

First we have to beat Stoke and hopefully we will, then it would be time to take on Chelsea and if we were to beat them, there are no teams left in the competition that we need to fear.

Frustration is mounting!

The way the team are performing at the minute is really annoying City fans, we are used to City teams that attack and that is just not what Mancini is setting out to do at the moment.

Apart from the first couple of games under Mancini City fans have been angry to see our style of play, we are very flat and not exciting to watch or more simply we are an Italian team playing in the Premier League.

We want attacking football at City because that is what we are used to, you could argue that watching slightly boring football that is effective is not so bad except it isn't effective!

I could not believe it when I saw that we were only starting with one striker yesterday, we shouldn't be playing a lone front man at home against any team particularly one that isn't top notch opposition. Adebayor was receiving the ball but then had nobody there to pass to, it was a pathetic decision by Mancini.

When Mancini first came I was very pleased with his tactical decisions because he was doing things that we used to want Hughes to do, Mancini seems to have taken some backward steps since arriving though. When he did change it yesterday he didn't even have any options on the bench that would positively affect the game apart from Santa Cruz who played well after coming on, it left me asking why he has allowed the likes of Weiss, Benjani and even Donal McDermott to go out on loan.

He seems scared to play a proper formation and line up, why not use your strengths to good effect? We have two good English wingers now who know that in the Prem they will have to work back, then play just two defensive midfielders and I am sure that we would have enough to help out defensively. Instead Mancini wants to only think about not conceding before the plans how to score a goal come in to his thoughts, why I do not know!

You can take these problems right back to why Hughes was sacked, we certainly didn't play like this under him that's for sure. Hughes would never have been so negative and these performances of late cement the fact that he should not have been sacked.

Will the owners see fit for Mancini to be sacked after some dodgy performances, who knows.

The competition winner is............

The draw has been done to see who has won my free shirt give away competition and the winner is Mark Duckworth.

Mark correctly told me that the teaser was the post code of Maine Road and the post code of Eastlands, Marks numbered email was drawn at random and now he gets a brand new free City shirt of his choice.

Mark will now be emailed and asked to provide an address where I can either go and give him the shirt or send it to him. Hopefully Mark will then send me a picture of himself with his new shirt along with a few words.

Thank you to everyone who entered and because of the good response that I got I can see more free prize give aways coming in the future.

*If Mark does not contact me within seven days the draw will be redone.

Man City 2 - 0 Bolton (Tevez 32' pen, Adebayor 73')*Video*

Another regular performance at best, but another three points none the less.

Our first goal was a penalty, Adam Johnson won the penalty and Carlos Tevez just about scored it. Our second was scored by Emmanuel Adebayor, Vieira pinged a ball over the top to Ade which he then finished emphatically. Goals and highlights below!!!

We were not impressive last night by any stretch of the imagination and if we are to continue to win games we will have to play a lot better.

It made me laugh a little when I heard Owen Coyle say that Bolton made us look average for large parts of the game, sorry to break this to you Owen but we made ourselves look average, playing well we would have hammered Bolton. To be fair to Owen Coyle he is probably not the only manager that has thought his team has done well against us this season when really we are playing badly; we need to stop teams thinking that by playing better otherwise they come to play us with a lot more confidence.

Our players were not really at fault for our performance last night they all played OK, the main reason we were bad was because we were set up wrong again. Ade and Tevez were continuously on the flanks instead of being in the middle and Adam Johnson had to play on both sides of the pitch. We were badly lacking an extra wide man whilst at the same time being overloaded in midfield, I ideally wanted to see SWP come on at half time but it didn't happen, when he did come on it proved that Mancini should have started with him because he made a difference.

We need to start playing with a balanced team because we look much more of a threat when we do, playing a 4-4-2 with our two inform strikers would suit us down to the ground at the minute and in the next game I hope to see us line up with two wingers in the side.

Now to our home debutant's, I thought that Vieira was only good in patches and basically his only contribution to the game was the pass for Adebayor's goal, I think he could get better for us though because he does not look match fit at all. Then there was Adam Johnson, he was fantastic for us last night and is certainly a bargain considering all the money that we have spent lately. A lot of City fans I know were questioning why we didn't wait until the end of the season and get him for free and I did say to them that you bring players like him in as soon as you can because it is to risky to leave it until he has options, I think that last night he proved that spending money on him was definitely the right decision.

P.S. Just to let you know, there is not long left before the draw is done to determine who wins the free City top, if you don't know about it you can see the details by clicking the following link, http://wevegotrobinho.blogspot.com/2010/02/win-man-city-shirt.html.

Goals and highlights.

Man City vs Bolton - Tue 9Th Feb 19:45 pm

We must win convincingly tonight and continue to push for that Champions League spot. Bolton are not a bad team but I feel that we should be able to push them aside in our quest for fourth.

This is another game where I have no concerns over the opposition, we are way better than them and should be able to reflect that by winning.

I would like to see a lot more hard work put into this game tonight considering how effortlessly we approached Hull. Bolton are sure to work hard and we must match that, our midfield for one certainly need to be more of an engine for the rest of the team than they were against Hull.

So just a bit of hard work mixed with a bit of class and I am sure that we will take all three points against a side that do not come close to us in terms of quality.

Man City Team News:
Joleon Lescott is ready to return to the team but is expected to start on the bench, Roque Santa Cruz is also fit and should also return to the bench. Vincent Kompany (groin) and Micah Richards (calf) are doubtful and Craig Bellamy is being left out so that he can rest his knee. Patrick Vieira and Adam Johnson are both expected to make their home debuts.

Bolton Team News:
Gary Cahill is expected to be out for the season after being taken ill before the Fulham game which means Andy O'Brien may come in to partner Zat Knight if Knight has shook off a thigh strain. Fabrice Muamba (ankle) is doubtful while Gavin McCann and Ivan Klasnic remain sidelined. Vladimir Weiss is not allowed to face his parent club.

Possible Man City Line Up: Given, Zabaleta, Boyata, Toure, Bridge, A Johnson, Vieira, De Jong, Barry, Adebayor, Tevez.

Possible Bolton Line Up: Jaaskelainen, Ricketts, O'Brien, Knight, Robinson, Lee, Muamba, Cohen, M Davies, Taylor, K Davies.

My Prediction: Man City 4 - 0 Bolton.

Worth A Bet: City win 4 - 0 with Patrick Vieira scoring on his home debut.

Robinho scores on Santos debut! *Video*

This is what he is capable of!

Win a Man City shirt!!!

To celebrate my blog being one year old I am giving my readers the chance to win a City shirt of their choice.

All I want you to do is email me your answer to wevegotrobinho@live.co.uk. Each email will be given a number depending on the order that I receive your email in, for example the first email I receive will be number 1, the second email number 2 and so on. All the numbers will then go into the hat and the first number randomly picked out will be the winner.

The winner will be announced between now and next weekend, I will wait until I stop receiving emails before I do the draw, if I am still getting emails by next weekend then next Saturday will be the last day to get your answer in.

All I want you to do is put the following two sets of numbers and letters in the correct order and then tell me the significance of each one.

1) W7N 1M4 This is the.............................

2) F3F 1M1 This is the..............................

I think the teasers are quite easy and I hope that a lot of you know the answer so that you will be in with a chance to win, Good Luck!!!

*Comments have been disabled so that nobody can leave the answer below.

Shirt competition tomorrow!!!

Tomorrow I will be posting a teaser for my readers to answer in order to celebrate my blog being one year old, the winner will win a City shirt of their choice.

All the details that you will need to know will be posted along with the teaser tomorrow, so keep your eyes on my blog tomorrow if you want the chance to win.

Hull 2 -1 Man City (Altidore 31', Boateng 54', Adebayor 59')

Total rubbish, I can't believe how bad we were again today! We have to beat teams like Hull if we are to finish fourth.

We were poor today and I think it had a lot to do with the team selection. Mancini should have started with SWP and Johnson, we lacked width throughout. I thought the whole point in signing Johnson was to have an equal balance on each side of the pitch, so why those two players didn't start is beyond me.

As well as not being tactically set up properly we lacked any kind of fight, Hull wanted it more than us and got stuck in to us, something that we did not do. Every second ball was won by Hull, our passing was terrible and basically we lacked any conviction in all areas of the field.

After not starting with a positive attacking team I thought that Mancini changed things to late, Bellamy and Ireland who have both been poor in recent weeks should have been replaced sooner. When he did make some changes I felt he made the wrong ones, SWP should have definitely been brought on but he didn't do it.

I was surprised to see Petrov brought on before SWP considering how bad he is, I don't know why Mancini can't see that Petrov is not good enough, he won't tackle, he doesn't track back and he doesn't even do what he is best at and run at people all that often anymore.

As you can see by the way I have sporadically vented my frustration, I am very bitter and disappointed with the result. It is just not good enough though, sometimes it seems like it is only us fans who can see the problems that could be easily fixed.

We have a real shot at fourth but if we carry on playing like this then we can forget about that, I think that Mancini should have a training session or two based on attitude and work rate because both of those things certainly need some work.

Yet again we have to look to our next game to get back on track, as always and maybe stupidly I believe we can do that.

Johnson signs!!!

We have beat the transfer deadline and completed the signing of left winger Adam Johnson from Middlesbrough.

Johnson has signed a deal that will last until June 2014, the fee is believed to be around six million pounds although the club have only officially referred to the fee as undisclosed.

This is a good signing, Johnson is not a bad player at all. He has been impressive for the last couple of seasons and because of his good displays he has attracted the interest of Real Madrid and Chelsea as well as a host of other clubs.

It is good to see City sign another good young British player, that can only help us considering the rule that is due to come in on having a set amount of home growns in your match day squad.

I am pleased with this signing especially considering we signed him for a fee that could prove to be a snip should Johnson reach his full potential, hopefully he can come straight into the team and maybe even push for a World Cup place.

What do you think? Are you a Johnson fan?

Man City vs Portsmouth - Sun 31st Jan 13:30 pm

Our focus turns back on to the league tomorrow as a struggling Pompey side visit Eastlands.

We have to make sure that we stick the boot in on a club that are struggling on and off the pitch.

I don't like to see what has happened to Pompey but when it comes down to a football match I don't care what position they are in and hope that we can make their situation a little worse.

We should by rights hammer Pompey tomorrow, we are in good form and they are in poor form. Our squad is much stronger than theirs and on top of that their defensive rock Younes Kaboul has just been sold, so I can't really see us not scoring a few goals against them.

Actually all we have to do to convincingly win this game is play like we did against Utd in the Cup, I have no doubt if we play like that for this game we will comfortably win. In fact if we play to that standard for the rest of the season we will easily make fourth spot.

Just a little message to any Pompey fans, I really want us to hammer you tomorrow but it's not good seeing what has happened to your club after making so much progress in recent years and I hope you pull through.

Man City Team News:
Joleon Lescott and Wayne Bridge (both knee) are both expected to miss out although Bridge has been getting closer to fitness and may make a return, Roque Santa Cruz and Patrick Vieira are both set to miss out with calf problems. Emmanuel Adebayor made his return in midweek and is expected to be back in the match squad along with Kolo Toure.

Portsmouth Team News:
Jamie O'Hara has returned to Pompey for another loan spell and will be available as will David Nugent who has returned from his loan spell at Burnley. Younes Kaboul has left for Spurs but goalkeeper Asmir Begovic has not yet joined him as expected and should be available.

Possible Man City Line Up: Given, Richards, Kompany, Boyata, Garrido, Zabaleta, Wright-Phillips, De Jong, Barry, Bellamy, Tevez.

Possible Portsmouth Line Up: Begovic, Finnan, Hreidarsson, Ben-Haim, Wilson, Mokoena, Boateng, Mullins, Basinas, Utaka, Piquionne.

My Prediction: Man City 4 - 0 Portsmouth.

Worth A Bet: Nigel de Jong and SWP score in a 4 - 0 City win.

Big game and a big player lost!

I am still gutted, I really thought that maybe it was our year to win a trophy. It wasn't to be and we just have to plod on.

We played quite well last night and I wasn't disappointed with the performance, just the result. I just can't stop thinking about Shay Given's mistake though, he should have come out and claimed the ball when it ran away from Gigg's before Scholes scored, I am not going to hold a grudge against Given or anything but that does stand out as a key moment in the game and it could have been prevented.

We will just have to dust ourselves down and get on with it now, we are progressing and that is there for all to see. Maybe I got drunk on the hope of winning a trophy when really all I want is to see us make steps in that direction and that is what we are doing.

On the back of that game we have seen Robinho leave on loan, he has headed back home to Brazil on a deal lasting until the 4Th of August.

How frustrated am I that Robinho has left? VERY! I am not surprised that he has been allowed to leave because he just has not looked bothered. I am frustrated though because of the talent that he has, this lad could be one of the very best in the World if he wanted but he just refuses to show what he is capable of.

I really hope he comes back and proves a point to everyone although I am not sure if he will or not, he should otherwise he faces the prospect of fading away into oblivion. We shall see what happens with him, maybe we will just have to buy Messi!!!

Man Utd vs Man City - Wed 27Th Jan 20:00 pm

It is here, the big one! Can we do it? Absolutely we can!!!!

I had a lot of people asking me at work today 'are you nervous' my reply was no! I just hope our players feel the same way because they have nothing to be nervous about, we can more than match Utd if we want to!

Again all we need is hard work and determination and I am positive that we can win, our big players need to earn their tags as big players tonight and send us through to the Cup final.

I am looking to our midfield to make a big impact tonight, they are by far the most important part of the team in this game. We can not concede and it will be their job to guard the defence and well at that, I believe we have the players to manage that and I have every faith in them. The midfield will also be very busy attacking tonight as well, we must go all out and put pressure on Utd to win the game.

We need 180 minutes worth of hard work tonight and that is what I think we will get from our players, they are 90 minutes away from Wembley and if that isn't the biggest incentive you need then I don't know what is.

Come on lads you can do it!!!! CTID!!!!!!!!!!

Man City Team News:
Roque Santa Cruz is still out with a calf injury as is Patrick Vieira who has a similar problem, Joleon Lescott and Wayne Bridge (both knee) are also still out. Emmanuel Adebayor is back from Togo and may make the team, Kolo Toure is also back with us and is expected to start. Robinho is in the squad despite being linked with a move away.

Man Utd Team News:
Owen Hargreaves (knee) and John O'Shea (thigh) are out and it remains to be seen if Nemanja Vidic who has been suffering with a calf injury will play.

Possible Man City Line Up: Given, Richards, Toure, Kompany, Garrido, Wright-Phillips, De Jong, Barry, Zabaleta, Bellamy, Tevez.

Possible Man Utd Line Up: Van der Sar, Neville, Brown, Ferdinand, Evra, Obertan, Fletcher, Anderson, Giggs, Berbatov, Rooney.

My Prediction: Man Utd 0 - 1 Man City.

Worth A Bet: Carlos Tevez scores in a 1 - 0 City win.

Change to come and a prize up for grabs!

Firstly as some of you may have guessed the situation with Robinho means I will most likely be changing the name of my blog in the near future, I have a name in mind already but any suggestions are welcome.

Next I would like to tell you about a give away that I am doing, my blog is almost a year old an to celebrate it's 'birthday' I will be asking for an answer to a very simple question, the winner will win a City shirt of their choice! The question will be posted on the 30Th of January, full details about the give away will be given on that day also.

(REGRETTABLY THE COMPETITION DATE HAS NOW CHANGED DUE TO COMMITMENTS THAT I HAVE ON THE 30TH DURING THE DAY, IT WILL NOW TAKE PLACE ON THE FOLLOWING WEEKEND)

Scunthorpe beaten, next up is Stoke! *Video*

We defeated Scunthorpe today and now we must face Stoke at home in our quest for FA Cup glory.

We won 4 - 2 today with the goals coming from Petrov, Onuoha, Sylvinho and Robinho. They were all good goals with Sylvinho's being the pick of the bunch, Goals below!

We played alright today, not amazing but we did enough to get the job done. Scunthorpe were not bad and gave us a harder time than some Prem teams have this season, ultimately it was our class that shone through to help us win the game.

Our team was a much different one to usual today, two young men, Abdisalam Ibrahim and Greg Cunningham made their debuts. Ibrahim impressed me in the first half and although he faded in the second had an all round good game. Cunningham wasn't tested that much after coming on for de Jong in the second half, anything he did do was done well though.

I also thought that Boyata did well today, he has been a little shaky in his first couple of games at times but today he was very steady. Benjani was also a bit of an unsung hero, he worked very hard up top.

There was also a much better performance from Robinho today, he has took a lot of stick lately but did show signs of improvement today. He was trying a lot harder and was even tackling, he reverted to mixing his skill with doing the simple thing and it worked. He even scored after finishing off a good piece of build up, lets hope he continues to improve, if he isn't leaving that is!

Another Mancini win has seen us go through to play Stoke at home on the weekend of the 13/14Th of February. It is a good draw for us and we should be able to win it.

A few trips to Wembley for us lot this season? We shall see!

Goals.

Scunthorpe Utd vs Man City - Sun 24Th Jan 16:00 pm

Another Cup game against Scunthorpe sees us to travel to them this time round, it should not prove to be much of a task for us.

Having already beaten Scunthorpe 5 - 1 this season you would expect us to win this game, which I do. Scunny have been struggling in the Championship this season but they have been doing better lately, not that I expect that to make any difference to the result of this game.

We are expected to make a few changes for the game today and I will not be surprised if we do, any team that we put out today should be able to beat Scunthorpe and take some strain off our regular starters ahead of the Utd game.

Man City Team News:
Roque Santa Cruz and Patrick Vieira are both out with calf injuries and Joleon Lescott, Michael Johnson and Wayne Bridge all have knee problems which will see them miss out as well. Kolo Toure is still at the African Cup of Nations and Emmanuel Adebayor is still not ready to return to the pitch but was expected back in the Country today.

Scunthorpe Team News:
Josh Wright has recovered from illness and may return to the starting line up, Michael O'Connor misses out due to suspension. Big City fan Josh Lillis son of former City player Mark Lillis hopes to keep his place in goal against his beloved Blues.

Possible Man City Line Up: Given, Vidal, Boyata, Onuoha, Sylvinho, Wright-Phillips, Ireland, Barry, Petrov, Robinho, Benjani.

Possible Scunthorpe Line Up: Lillis, Byrne, A.Wright, Mirfin, Williams, Thompson, Woolford, J.Wright, McCann, Hayes, Hooper.

My Prediction: Man City 3 - 1 Scunthorpe Utd.

Worth A Bet: Ireland scores the first goal in a 3 - 1 City win.

Man City 2 - 1 Man Utd (Giggs 17', Tevez 42' pen,65') *Video*

Get in! I am so relieved and overjoyed, first blood is ours and now we must see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Tevez was our main man again and scored both of our goals, his energy and work rate is unbelievable and no matter what Ferguson says, he must be regretting letting him go. Goals and highlights below!!!

We played decent for periods last night and managed to get the win, we will have to play a lot better to beat Man Utd away from home though. When we played them at their own game and attacked them last night we looked good, the problem was we sat back way to much and let Utd put pressure on us. I feel we should go to Old Trafford and attack them throughout, that's when we are at our most dangerous and that is when Utd look most vulnerable.

I don't have a lot more to say as I still slightly overwhelmed, but one last thing I must point out is the teams work rate last night. They all worked very hard all the way through the game, at times our passing was bad and our marking was poor but as long as they are giving their all, then that can be forgiven.

I just hope the lads go to Old Trafford and maintain their advantage, we can do it CTID!!!

Man City vs Man Utd - Tues 19Th Sep 20:00 pm

It is time for our players to stand up and be counted, I will be in great form in the stands tonight but I really don't care that it is United we are playing. I am more bothered about reaching the final of the Cup and honestly that's all this game is about for me.

It has been a long time for some City fans since they saw proper silverware at the club, luckily I am younger and have not had to endure that heartache for as long as some of you, not to say I am willing to wait any longer! We need to win this game and give ourselves that glimmer of hope that might suggest that this year is our year!

I am not going to evaluate what certain players need to do in this game that they didn't do against Everton because basically it doesn't matter, this game is a whole different kettle of fish. The players can go into it with a clean slate ready to give their all, they must near kill themselves tonight to win this game and that's what I hope to see.

Us fans can also make a huge difference tonight, to often do I see people around me not clapping or singing and cheering. Those people know who they are and tonight you must must must make an effort to get right behind the team for as long as the game goes on for. Lets make it an experience that we will never forget, win or lose.

COME ON CITY!!!

Man City Team News:
Stephen Ireland looks set to return to the bench tonight after recovering from injury but Roque Santa Cruz will miss out after being sidelined for a month with a calf injury. Nedum Onuoha should be on the bench again although Joleon Lescott (knee) and Wayne Bridge (knee) are said to be out with injury even though Bridge was rated as a week away by Mancini a couple of weeks back. Patrick Vieira (calf) is still out as is long term casualty Michael Johnson. Toure is at the African Cup of Nations and Adebayor is still in Togo.

Man Utd Team News:
Rio Ferdinand (calf), Nemanja Vidic (calf), Dimitar Berbatov (dead leg), Ben Foster (back), Owen Hargreaves (knee), John O'Shea (thigh) and Ryan Giggs (old) are all expected to be out.

Possible Man City Line Up: Given, Zabaleta, Richards, Kompany, Garrido, Wright-Phillips, De Jong, Barry, Bellamy, Benjani, Tevez.

Possible Man Utd Line Up: Kuszczack, Rafael, Brown, Evans, Fabio, Obertan, Fletcher, Anderson, Nani, Owen, Diouf.

My Prediction: Man City 2 - 0 Man Utd.

Worth A Bet: Nigel de Jong and Carlos Tevez score in a 2-0 City win.

Everton 2 - 0 Man City (Pienaar 36', Saha 45'pen)

What a totally rubbish performance, we don't expect to win every game but surely we expect the team to try harder than they did yesterday.

The team decided to return to the form that got Mark Hughes sacked yesterday, we were terrible. The whole team were poor but there were also some particular awful individual performances, Martin Petrov and Robinho being the two that stand out most.

Robinho got most of the flack but Petrov was just as bad as him, non of these players looked as if they had played football before and if either of them ever makes a tackle I will probably suffer from shock for a long time! Robinho ran round yesterday like a headless chicken, maybe it was his way of trying harder but what he was doing was pointless. His confidence is obviously low and he needs to sort that out rapidly or he will find himself getting sold because he is not wanted and not because he thinks he is worth a move to a bigger club.

Petrov is the one who is annoying me the most at the moment, a lot of City fans agree with what he says about deserving to be in the team, I don't I have always seen what Mark Hughes saw in him. He is a liability, he doesn't even do what he is good at anymore and run at people and as for his tackling, I have never seen anyone bottle going in for a tackle as much as he does.

I think the thing that annoys me most about both of these players, is that they are clearly talented players on their day. It is just a shame we are not seeing the best out of them regularly.

Now I have got that out of the way I want to be clear that I am not just blaming these two players, I think we also saw de Jong have a bad game for the first time yesterday and Zabbo wasn't as neat as he usually is. In fact the only player who I thought did OK was Javier Garrido, he was steady and did his job well.

I just hope they got the slap in the face they needed before we play United, I mean lets face it if we approached the semi final in this manner then United would have really battered us. So if I am trying to be positive I would say that the defeat may have been a blessing in disguise that will help us pull our socks up on Tuesday!

Everton vs Man City - Sat 16Th Jan 17:30 pm

Arguably our toughest game of Mancini's reign takes place today, Everton have been playing better in recent weeks and will be hard to beat.

I have a lot of respect for Everton's ability, I think a lot of people have wrote them off but I still think they are a strong side despite their bad patch.

I still think that we should win this game as long as we don't become complacent, in recent times we have seen the team take it easy after a couple of wins and expect to win games, if we do that today all our good work of late will be wasted.

I have something a little different in my build up today, my good Evertonian friend Anthony or 'Chunky' thought it was a good idea for him to have a little say on today's game and I agree.

Anthony aka Chunky says.........

''I am looking forward to a good game of football today, I think both teams will be up for it and it should turn out to be a good contest. We are both in form and will both really want to win the game, but I see Everton coming out on top with a 3 - 0 win. City have the best striker in the League at the moment but I feel one man can't take down a team like ours that have a strong team ethic.''

Well if all goes to plan I will be seeing Chunky at the game today and on behalf of us all I will be sure to tell him how wrong he is!

Man City Team News:
Shaun Wright-Phillips (ankle) and new signing Patrick Vieira (calf) are both said to be fit but may not be rushed into the team. Joleon Lescott (knee), Nedum Onuoha (calf) and Stephen Ireland (hamstring) are all expected to be missing, Wayne Bridge may feature on the bench. Kolo Toure is at the African Cup of Nations and Emmanuel Adebayor is still recovering from that terrible attack on the Togo team bus.

Everton Team News:
Sylvain Distin returned to training this week after coming back from a hamstring injury but is not expected to make his first team return today. Yakubu Aiyegbeni and Joseph Yobo are on African Cup of Nations duty and Lucas Neill looks set to play his last game for Everton before moving to Galatasaray.

Possible Man City Line Up: Given, Zabaleta, Richards, Kompany, Garrido, Petrov, De Jong, Barry, Bellamy, Benjani, Tevez.

Possible Everton Line Up: Howard, Heitinga, Neill, Baines, Neville, Cahill, Fellaini, Pienaar, Osman, Donovan, Saha.

My Prediction: Everton 1 - 3 Man City.

Worth A Bet: Nigel de Jong and Benjani score in a City win.

Video of our progress in the Carling Cup!

I have been sent a video from City that shows the progress we have made in the Carling Cup so far.

So here you go!

Can you dance like Tevez?

City are running a competition to see who is the best at impersonating Carlos Tevez's goal celebration.

From the official site.........

Not only have the performances and goalscoring exploits of our Argentinean ace made the headlines over the past few weeks but so has the celebratory dance routine now known as ‘The Tevez’.

We want you to record yourself and your friends doing ‘The Tevez’, upload it to YouTube and email a link to us at mcfc@mcfc.co.uk and we’ll choose our favourite.

The winner will receive a signed Tevez shirt, two tickets to City vs Portsmouth on the 31^st January and have their dance shown on the big screens at CoMS at the game. The closing date is 28/01/10 with the winner notified the following day.

And for some inspiration, here's the man himself...

Do you want to feature in a City documentary?

City have sent me an email about a documentary that is going to be made and they want the fans to feature!!!

Here is the info................

Your Stories - Be a part of City History

MCFC has commissioned a major documentary about the Club during the 2009/2010 season focussing on both the team and a group of long-time supporters.

The Producers want to hear from fans who have experienced the ups and downs of following the Club over the last 30 years.

They want to talk to fans who remember any of the following:

1976 – League Cup Final - MCFC v Newcastle.

1981 – FA Cup runners up - MCFC v Spurs.

1998 – Relegation to the third tier - Stoke v MCFC.

1999 – The legendary Gillingham match which secured promotion.

It might be that you weren’t at the game itself but remember it for another reason – maybe it was the day you married/became engaged. Or perhaps you just watched the game in the pub ?

If you have fantastic stories about any other City matches, the Producers would also like to hear about those, too.

The best stories will be filmed as part of the documentary. These will then be combined with footage of the match and maybe comments of the players involved, so your story is preserved forever.

Please email us with your memories asap, ideally by the end of January, to matthew.mccann@endemoluk.com

We look forward to receiving your stories, Many thanks.

Man City 4 - 1 Blackburn Rovers *Video* (Tevez 7', 49', 90', Richards 39', Pedersen 71')

Another win saw us move up to fourth spot in the table, Carlos Tevez was the driving force behind the teams performance last night.

City's and Tevez's first goal was scored off his knee after Benjani turned to drill the ball towards the goal. Our second was scored by Micah Richards, he picked the ball up in his own half and steamed towards the Blackburn box, he then passed to Benjani who hit the post but Micah was there to put the loose ball into the back of the net. Both of Tevez's other two goals we absolute crackers that he curled from outside the box and passed Paul Robinson. Goals and highlights below!!!!

We played well last night and each and every player can say that they played their part, I was very impressed with our whole back four and particularly Zabbo. Zabbo goes about what he does very quietly but oh boy he is effective, he put in a real strong performance last night and didn't put a foot wrong. Garrido was also steady again, he does get wrong side of his attacker at times but I am sure Mancini will soon knock that out of him. Lescott and Toure will have a job getting back into the defence at the moment because they are playing very well as a unit.

In the midfield I was impressed with Barry again, he seems to have put his bad form behind him, de Jong was also excellent again. I was a little disappointed with Bellamy and more than disappointed with Petrov, Bellamy just wasn't himself last night and Petrov may as well have not been playing. Bellamy just had an off night he wasn't bad as such but he wasn't good either, Petrov was a waste of space and did pretty much nothing, why he plays him on the right hand side I will never know because I am not even sure he knows what a right foot is!

And then there was our forwards Tevez was exceptional, think of every possible way of playing a game of football well and add them all together, that was Tevez's performance last night! Benjani wasn't to bad himself, although he drifted in and out at times he was really strong, held the ball up well and ran the line very well.

The players must see themselves that making the top four is in their hands, all we have to do is keep it going and we will have no problem with making the top four and maybe even getting higher than that.

Goals and highlights.

Man City vs Blackburn Rovers - Mon 11Th Jan 20:00 pm

A win against Blackburn tonight will see us make our way into the top four, hopefully we can do that and then stay there!

We convincingly beat Blackburn in our first game of the season and I don't see why this game should go any different. Blackburn will fight hard but lack what I believe to be any necessary class that they will need to defeat us.

I can't see Blackburn giving us any problems when going forward so for me it is just down to our attackers to stick the ball in the net, saying that I wouldn't take the likes of McCarthy and Roberts for granted because you would have to be stupid to do that but I still can't see how they will bother us if we defend properly.

We must win tonight to keep our momentum going, a place in the top four is ours for the taking if we apply ourselves properly. We have to continue to build on our good form of late and resend the message out to any doubters that we are a force to be reckoned with.

Man City Team News:
Patrick Vieira's debut is in the balance, he has been carrying a knock on his calf and is rated doubtful. There are also still concerns over the fitness of Shaun Wright-Phillips (ankle), Joleon Lescott (knee) and Nedum Onuoha (calf), SWP is said to be nearing fitness but whether he plays remains unknown, Lescott and Onuoha are not expected to feature. Wayne Bridge is close to fitness but expected to need another seven days of training before returning to the squad, Roque Santa Cruz is rated at 50/50 to make tonight's game. Kolo Toure is away at the African Cup of Nations and Adebayor is resting and trying to recover from the terrible incident he encountered this week.

Blackburn Rovers Team News:
Brett Emerton is looking to return to the the starting line up after being out with a groin injury, Vince Grella misses out due to a thigh strain and El-Hadji Diouf also misses out due to suspension.

Possible Man City Line Up: Given, Zabaleta, Richards, Kompany, Garrido, De Jong, Barry, Petrov, Robinho, Bellamy, Tevez.

Possible Blackburn Line Up: Robinson, Chimbonda, Nelsen, Samba, Givet, Emerton, Andrews, N'Zonzi, Pedersen, McCarthy, Roberts.

My Prediction: Man City 3 - 0 Blackburn Rovers.

Worth A Bet: Tevez bags two goals in a 3 - 0 City win.

* For anyone who normally parks in one of the stadium car parks like myself I would suggest maybe leaving a little earlier than normal, this week City said that they were using some of the car parks to store snow so maybe you will have to find alternative parking.

Caicedo joins Malaga on loan

Felipe Caicedo has joined Malaga on loan for the rest of the season.

Felipe has spent the first half of the season on loan to Sporting Lisbon but did not get many opportunities, he will be hoping to go to Malaga and impress new City boss Roberto Mancini.

I am hoping that Caicedo will do well in Spain because I want to see him come back and get a chance with us, I am a Caicedo fan and have high hopes for him.

Arabic version of the official site launched

City have now completed the making of an Arabic version of the official website.

If that sounds good to you then you can find it by clicking this link - http://www.manchestercityfc.ae.

Adebayor is coming back and so should Toure!!!

Emmanuel Adebayor is returning home from the African Cup of Nations after a terrorist attack on the Togo team bus resulted in people being killed and injured.

This is totally the right decision and I am glad he is coming back, although he is coming back he might not play for a while as there is a fear he may be traumatised.

Although Adebayor will be returning home safe there is still a worry about the other footballers who are still in Angola and in particularly for us Kolo Toure. I think that City should demand that he returns, number one priority of course is his safety but it is also the perfect excuse to get him back so that he can play for us.

I would just like to say on behalf of myself and all my readers that our thoughts are with the families of the people who were killed and injured in the terrorist attack.

Is Vieira a good signing?

Roberto Mancini's first signing has been made, Patrick Vieira was the chosen man but has he still got what it takes?

Mancini has described Vieira as a World class midfielder, there is no doubt that Vieira was once a World class player but if he still has what it takes to compete in the Premier League remains unknown.

Since leaving Arsenal he has had a lot of injury problems that have disrupted his time in Italy badly at times, saying that when he has played I personally have not seen him play a bad game.

I am pleased with the signing of Vieira, he will bring lots of experience and class to the squad and those two things will help all of our squad improve especially the younger lads. The other reason that I am happy we have signed him is just because of who he is, it's great having top class players like Tevez and Robinho at the club but when a Premier League legend like Vieira signs that you have grew up watching it feels very special.

I genuinely believe that we have made a good signing, if it doesn't work out then we haven't committed to him by giving him a huge contract and if it does work out as I think it will, then that will benefit us no end.

What are your feelings on the signing of Vieira?

Cristian Ansaldi deal could be close

A deal for Argentina International left back Cristian Ansaldi looks to be likely at the moment.

The Rubin Kazan left back has been heavily linked with a move to us for the last few weeks but with no heavy evidence to back it up.

The rumours seem to have turned into truth in the last couple of days, reports in Russia say that a fee has now been agreed and all that has to happen now is for the player to agree personal terms. I have done my own digging on how true this is but unfortunately I can't get anything more out of anyone than 'there has been contact'.

Ansaldi is highly rated and has been watched by some big clubs around Europe, hopefully if we do sign him we will see why so many clubs have had an eye on him.

Because a lot of you probably haven't seen a lot of Ansaldi I was going to put his stats up for you but Lloyd at Man City issues already has that covered, so because it is one of my favourite blogs I am going to refer you there. Just click this link www.man-city-issues.blogspot.com.

Semi Final postponed!!!

Due to concerns over the safety of the fans, tomorrows Carling Cup tie has been postponed.

This is a real let down, I am sure like me many of you had started to hype yourself up so that you were ready for the game.

The home leg of the fixture has been rearranged for the 19Th of January with the away leg being played on the 27Th of January.

Next up Scunthorpe!

City have been drawn away from home to Scunthorpe in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

The tie is due to take place on the weekend of the 23rd and 24Th of January.

A nice easy draw for us should see us progress into the fifth round.

Middlesbrough 0 - 1 Man City (Benjani 45') *Video*

Another win and clean sheet for City and Mancini sees us head into the next round of the FA Cup.

Benjani's strike just before half time was enough to see us through to the next round, Benjani's movement was good which helped Petrov to pick him out, Benjani then took one touch and slotted home. Goal below!

I have to say I was surprised with the starting eleven for us today, it was weaker than I was expecting. We went with Given, Zabaleta, Richards, Boyata, Kompany, Sylvinho, Weiss , Garrido, De Jong, Petrov, Benjani. Tevez, Bellamy and Barry all found their way onto the field which I was also surprised about considering we play United in midweek, I think that Mancini was just trying to make sure that even one nil was going to be enough to see us win.

The first half was a little poor from both teams, a lot of our players didn't really seem to know what position they were playing in and in turn that meant we were all over the place. In the second half we were a lot more comfortable and took total control of the game, Boro huffed and puffed but ultimately never made Given make a save.

The main thing that I took from today's game was how stupid Vladimir Weiss made us all look, he was awful. We have all been shouting from the roof tops for him to get a chance and he let us down, he didn't get at people and take them on as we all have wanted. I am really disappointed with him as he did not take his chance at all.

All in all another win, another clean sheet and the next round of the FA Cup beckons.

Now bring on United!!!!!

Goal.