Man City 2 - 0 Hull City - GOALS AND HIGHLIGHTS VIDEO

Although we were poor again today for large parts of the game, goals from Negredo and Toure helped us to take all three points against a Hull team that came to play.

We were poor again today especially in the first half, we weren't passing well again, our defending left a lot to be desired and we were continuously over complicating things. Fair play to Hull though, they made us look bad as well because they put pressure on us and came to the Etihad with attacking intentions today.

The first half today was not pleasant to watch and the defensive errors started early with a mix up between Joe Hart and Joleon Lescott, the poor defending continued throughout the first 45 minutes, with the midfield non existent at times. Although we did have a lot of possession in the opening half of the game, we continuously gave the ball away with sloppy passing, Hull took advantage of this and upon gaining possession back they passed well and came at us very directly. Our attacking prowess was also a miss in the first half, once we got in and around the box we did what we usually do and played one pass to many or tried the impossible through ball one to many times.

At the start of the second half we saw Pellegrini make a much needed substitution, he brought Alvaro Negredo on in place of the very ineffective Edin Dzeko and it freshened us up. Whilst still not hitting our peak we did improve a lot in the second half, we stuck to a high line and tried to pile the pressure on Hull. We played more as a unit in the second half and it certainly improved us, individual mistakes were not as often, the passing was more fluent and in the end these slight improvements helped us on our way to victory.

Pellegrini needs to have a long hard think during in the international break because the team are just not performing, we seem to have a nervous energy about us at the moment and I don't know if that's because of the pressure of how he wants them to play or just because of the pressure involved in being a top team, regardless what the problem is it needs to be fixed. As well as the manager analysing what is wrong, the players also need to have a look at themselves. There are far too many big names not performing at the moment, the likes of Yaya Toure, David Silva, Joleon Lescott and Joe Hart to name but a few are top players at the top of the football ladder and it is hard to see why they would have a drop in form, whatever the reason we need them to get their heads down and start performing consistently if we are to have a chance at the title.

Goals and highlights.

Man City vs Hull City - Saturday 31st Aug 12:45 pm

Our next game sees us come up against another newly promoted team, Hull City. After our showing against Cardiff it is evident we can not play that badly again, especially against these new boys fighting to stay up.

I can't say I know a lot about the way Hull play because so far this season I have only seen snippets of them, although I have studied the stats from their first two games. Against Chelsea in their first game the statistics suggest they more than held their own at Stamford Bridge, but then the figures collected from their game against Norwich are poor, so the stats didn't help me get a picture of what kind of team they are, apart from an inconsistent one perhaps. What I do know about them is that they have a manager and a squad with a wealth of premier league experience, so you would imagine that they will be testing opponents.

As for City, well we just have to play better than we did against Cardiff, it is as simple as that. First of all our defending was terrible right the way through the team against Cardiff, we seem to fall apart when Kompany is absent. It must be a big miss not having your reliable captain around but it is not a valid excuse, our players are good enough to cope without him. Secondly, I grew up being taught that football is easy if you do the simple things well and it always turned out to be true. I think City need to take on this philosophy because we are always over complicating things, mainly by trying to walk the ball in. Overall, when we play to our potential, I believe we are almost unstoppable. We just need to rid ourselves of the inconsistency that has been affecting us since last season and then we can be confident of going on to win these games and trophies.

Man City Team News:
Nastasic is expected to return to the starting line up after recovering from an ankle injury, Stevan Jovetic is also expected to be in the squad after suffering with a minor hamstring injury, Micah Richards has been training after also having trouble with his hamstring and could return to the squad, Vincent Kompany continues to be absent with a groin injury.

Hull City Team News:
Stephen Quinn is expected to return to the squad having been out with a hamstring injury, Abdoulaye Faye is struggling with a calf injury and may miss out, Yannick Sagbo is suspended.

Possible Man City Line Up: Hart, Zabaleta, Nastasic, Lescott, Clichy, Silva, Toure, Fernandinho, Navas, Aguero, Dzeko.

Possible Hull City Line Up: McGregor, Chester, Davies, Elmohamady, Figueroa, Koren, Huddlestone, Livermore, Boyd, Graham, Aluko.

My Prediction: Man City 4 - 0 Hull City.

Worth A Bet: Fernandinho scores the first goal in a 4 -0 Man City win @ 80/1.

Champions League Group! Your thoughts?

The Champions League draw has just been completed and we have been drawn against, BAYERN MUNICH, CSKA MOSCOW AND FC VIKTORIA PLZEN  in GROUP D.

I like getting the top teams as soon as possible because it is a dream that we get to play against these famous clubs, something unimaginable a short time ago.

This time round we have managed to get the current champions in Bayern Munich, one of Russia's top teams in CSKA and current champions of the Czech Republic FC Viktoria Plzen.

Brilliant draw for us this time, we get to test ourselves against the current champions and we have a couple of weaker teams in there to give us a good chance of going through, couldn't of asked for anything better in my opinion.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Cardiff City 3 - 2 Man City - TERRIBLE!

Well in my pre match I had us down for smashing Cardiff today, although I stupidly made this prediction based on thinking we were going to be consistent, silly me!

We were absolutely terrible today and although Cardiff worked hard, the defeat was all our own doing. I discounted Cardiff as a poor team and I stand by that, all they did was stick ten behind the ball and that was us gazumped, just as we were against the same tactics last season.

Today our passing was just awful, our defending poor and our work ethic was lacking, it is almost like they think they have a right to win these games at times and just do not put the effort in.

If we were to look back at the game you would see we actually dominated possession, but as we know that doesn't necessarily mean a whole lot. It is ok to have a lot of the ball when your not giving it away every other pass or trying to score the prettiest goal every time you go forward.

We need to just keep things a little more basic at times and our class will shine through. As I mentioned we always seem to want to score the prettiest goal we can rather than just making sure we do the basics properly first, today for example our goals came from having a pop and your run of the mill cross and it worked, but more often than not for some reason we want to walk the ball in. I thought this would of been addressed in pre season as this is not a new issue, it was a big problem last season when we weren't scoring enough.

Now to the players, I am not at a stage where I want to pick out certain players yet as it is not something I like to do if I can help it and seems as its just the second game I am going to let certain people off. What I will talk about however is players that I think should be playing, Gareth Barry being the player in question.

What has Barry done wrong that means he should be frozen out? Barry has been a major part of our transformation and has seen us through plenty of games by very quietly marshalling the midfield, today for instance he would have sat in the midfield cleverly breaking up play, something that needed to be done but just wasn't. It is almost like he is just not fashionable enough to play for City, I would bring him back into the fold with immediate effect.

Just to finish up, is it drastic to think that this is an extremely bad result in terms of the title race? I personally don't. We cannot lose games like this if we want to win the title, in fact we have to win these games if we are to finish top, don't get me wrong I am not panicking but it is not a good sign if we can't take advantage in these more favourable fixtures.

That's my opinion, what do you think?

Cardiff City vs Man City live stream information

Todays match is on SkySports 1 but for those who do not have SkySports there are 37 stations up to now that should be available to watch today's match against Cardiff City.

I know a lot of people are familiar with online streaming now but for those that are not, this should help.

If you go to the following link http://www.wiziwig.tv/broadcast.php?matchid=211442&part=sports then you will see the page that will display the links to watch today's game, the links to the streams will not be displayed until one hour before kick off.

Each link will be run via a different type of software for example you may just be able to click one that will load on your web browser or there will be some where you have to download software.

Each stream will tell you which software it is being run on for example if next to one of the links it says Sopcast you will need to download the Sopcast player software. All software is available via this next link http://www.wiziwig.tv/software.php?part=software .

The best streams to watch are the ones with the higher Kbps rate, so if one stream says 150 Kbps and one says 2000 Kbps then you choose the latter and this will also help you know which software to download so you can get the best possible stream.

A little heads up I always find Sopcast the best software to use, so it would probably be worth downloading that in preparation for when the game links are announced.

Hopefully this was helpful and not confusing. I think everyone should be able to understand once you explore the links, it is quite straight forward.

Enjoy!

Cardiff City vs Man City - Sunday 25th Aug 16:00 pm

Next up is newly promoted Cardiff City, after strolling to three points against Newcastle I expect us to take three points in our first away game of the season.

In my opinion this is going to be a tough game for Cardiff tomorrow and they will have to work extremely hard to avoid being hammered, for me Cardiff have one of the weakest squads in the league. They have made a decent signing in terms of experience in Medel and one that I believe to be a very good signing in Caulker but apart from those two and Bellamy, they are badly lacking in quality.

As for us, we were superb in our first game and I would think that Cardiff's defence will be overwhelmed with the amount of quality they are coming up against. The likes of Navas and Aguero should have a field day against what is effectively, a championship defence at best. Navas in particular is going to be a major problem for Cardiff, he never stopped against Newcastle and his quality did not fade either, it is scary to think that with more Premier League experience he will get better.

Only one issue for us tomorrow and that is the absence of Vincent Kompany, it makes me uneasy when Vinny is out and not just because we will miss his superb defencive skills, Vinny organises the team and breeds confidence. It will also be interesting to see who Pellegrini replaces him with, Nastasic has been training and he will most likely play but if he doesn't quite make it, who will he go with? Garcia is being mentioned as is Boyata, Garcia hasn't done bad when at centre back in pre season and against Newcastle, I however would like to see a once promising Boyata get his chance if Nastasic is not fit.

Man City Team News:
Kompany is missing with the groin injury he picked up against Newcastle, Micah Richards is likely to miss out with what is believed to be a hamstring injury, Nastasic has been training and could return to the squad after suffering with an ankle injury and Jovetic is expected to be in contention after having a minor hamstring problem.

Cardiff City Team News:
Cardiff are expected to be clear of any injuries with Andreas Cornelius set to be fit after suffering with an ankle injury and Andrew Taylor is set to return to the starting line up after serving a suspension.

Possible Man City Line Up: Hart, Zabaleta, Nastasic, Lescott, Clichy, Silva, Toure, Fernandinho, Navas, Aguero, Dzeko.

Possible Cardiff City Line Up: Marshall, Connolly, Caulker, Turner, Taylor, Medel, Gunnarsson, Bellamy, Kim, Campbell, Cornelius.

My Prediction: Cardiff City 0 - 5 Man City.

Worth A Bet: Navas first goal in a 0 - 5 Man City win @ 300/1.

Man City 4 -0 Newcastle United *GOALS VIDEO*

Just got back from watching City smash Newcastle four nil as predicted in my pre match which is always a bonus for me, not as much of a bonus as how well we played though. We were brilliant, even when we strolled through the second half. Dzeko and Navas were unbelievable tonight and I think we have a lot to look forward to this season because we can only get better.

Sorry about the brief post match but work beckons tomorrow, found some early goal highlights hopefully they won't get pulled.

UPDATE
After going on my iPad I see the content may not be loading on such devices for whatever reason, if that's the case for you then you can find the highlights by clicking HERE

Man City vs Newcastle United - Mon 19th Aug 20:00pm

A new season is here along with a new manager, first up for us, Newcastle United.

Newcastle should prove to be a decent test for our opening game, they have some good players that are capable of causing us plenty of trouble, I can only see one outcome though and that's three points for City.

I don't want to disrespect Newcastle or any other team we play these days but these games are our bread and butter now and we should be winning them, especially at home. To be honest I very rarely worry about any team we play anymore and as cocky as that sounds, it is not meant to. I don't think its wrong of me to expect that we win this game tonight, the quality of playing staff that we possess are of the highest standard possible and yes for all non City fans the money has made this so, but that is just the way it is.

We still have to be careful against Newcastle tonight don't get me wrong, they have some dangerous players that are capable of punishing us if given the chance.

The player who gets all the press at Newcastle is Cabaye and as good as he is, he is not the Newcastle player that worries me the most, the one to watch for me is Moussa Sissoko. I knew of Sissoko when he was playing in France and I always thought he was decent, but the way he finished the season with Newcastle after only signing in January impressed me. He adapted very quickly and has a little bit of everything to his game, he is capable of causing danger via all areas of the pitch. Yaya had him in his pocket when he came to the Etihad last season and I think he will have to do the same again this time around to stop him.

Now to City, with four new players signed this summer how many will start tonight? I would say two with Navas and Fernandinho  likely to start, leaving Negredo and Jovetic on the bench, unless Aguero isn't risked of course. I personally would like to see Negredo start the game, he has really impressed me in pre season. His touch is second to none as is his sheer bullishness when going at defenders, granted he should of put more goals away in pre season but that will come, I have no doubt about that. Saying that unless you play with three forwards that would mean dropping Dzeko, but it is probably about time for Dzeko to get his chance at City once and for all. He had a good pre season and if he can bring that form into the new season, it may finally help him to cement a place in the starting line up.

Man City Team News:
Nastasic (ankle) will be missing for the opening game, while Sergio Aguero could making his comeback to the team after suffering from a knee injury throughout the pre season programme.

Newcastle United Team News:
New loan signing Loic Remy misses out with a calf problem and Jonas Gutierrez is expected to have a fitness test after suffering from a hamstring injury.

Possible Man City Line Up: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy, Silva, Toure, Fernandinho, Navas, Aguero, Dzeko.

Possible Newcastle United Line Up: Krul, Debuchy, Coloccini, S Taylor, Santon, Ben Arfa, Tioté, Cabaye, Gutiérrez, Sissoko, Cissé.

My Prediction: Man City 4 - 0 Newcastle United.

Worth A Bet: Fernandinho scores first goal in a 4-0 City win @ 100/1.

Join the fantasy football league before the season starts!

This season I have set up a fantasy football league and everyone is welcome to join.

The season starts tomorrow, so if you want to enter, then now is the time to do so.

If you would like to join, all you have to do is go and create your team (if you have not already got one) on the Premier Leagues website, which can be accessed by clicking the following link www.premierleague.com

Once your ready to join the league you will need to enter the following code 634945-154213 and that's it your in.

Thanks for reading.

Premier League fantasy football league, join in!

I have created a fantasy football league for the new season and everyone and anyone is welcome to join.

I have thought about doing a league many times in the past, I have always been worried about not having enough people join though.

So I am hoping people will give it a go, the aim is for at least twenty people to join for the league to go ahead.

If you would like to join all you have to do is go and create your team (if you have not already got one) on the Premier Leagues website which can be accessed by clicking the following link www.premierleague.com

Once your ready to join the league you will need to enter the following code 634945-154213 and that's it your in.

Thanks for reading.

Man City vs Arsenal live stream information

There are 33 stations that should be available to watch today's friendly against Arsenal.

I know a lot of people are familiar with online streaming now but for those that are not, this should help.

If you go to the following link http://www.wiziwig.tv/broadcast.php?matchid=214159&part=sports then you will see the page that will display the links to watch today's game, the links to the streams will not be displayed until one hour before kick off.

Each link will be run via a different type of software for example you may just be able to click one that will load on your web browser or there will be some where you have to download software.

Each stream will tell you which software it is being run on for example if next to one of the links it says Sopcast you will need to download the Sopcast player software. All software is available via this next link http://www.wiziwig.tv/software.php?part=software .

The best streams to watch are the ones with the higher Kbps rate, so if one stream says 150 Kbps and one says 2000 Kbps then you choose the latter and this will also help you know which software to download so you can get the best possible stream.

A little heads up I always find Sopcast the best software to use, so it would probably be worth downloading that in preparation for the new season regardless of what you watch on today.

Hopefully this was helpful and not confusing. I think everyone should be able to understand once you explore the links, it is quite straight forward.

Enjoy, hopefully!