Man City 4 - 1 Tottenham Hotspur

A game full of missed opportunities, bad passing, goals and penalties finished with us as the victors, it must have been a cracking game to watch for a neutral.

I will start with Spurs, I have to give Spurs credit, they came to try and win which is something we don't see a lot from the away team.
They created a few chances and although they messed up a couple of them, they also had Joe Hart in their way, England's number one was absolutely fantastic.
Ultimately Spurs lost the game because we were the better team but only just, neither team passed well or defended well, if I was a Spurs fan I would certainly feel like 4 - 1 was not necessarily a true picture of how they played.

As for us, as I mentioned our passing was poor and our defending was terrible at times, we attacked well but our end product wasn't good enough.
It has been a long time since I have seen us defend so badly, we looked panicked, were sloppy and were causing ourselves problems.
I am not concerned about it that much though, you just have to look at Fernando as an example because he was absolutely terrible yesterday, we know he can play much better than that and I think it can be put down to an off day.

It was much the same scenario with our passing because that was bad as well, the whole team were guilty of it but none other than David Silva was the main culprit and the whole world knows how good he is at passing a football, so yet again you have to let them off with a run of the mill bad day at the office.

We had a few players that played well yesterday and who kept us ticking over well we weren't at our best, Clichy, Navas, Milner for example but lets face it, Sergio Aguero was the difference.
Pochettino was bang on when he said that he is the best striker in the world, what attribute has Aguero not got because I can't think of any, he is a defenders worst nightmare, I think that if you want to stop him then there's not much more that you can do but kick him, a truly integral player for us who needs another new contract putting in front of him asap.

Overall we played decent enough, beat a good team that caused us problems, bagged another three points and can start to build some momentum again after being interrupted by the International break.

Man City vs Tottenham Hotspur - Preview

        Manchester City vs Tottenham Hotspur
        Saturday 18th October, Etihad Stadium
                              Kick Off 12:45
                     Referee: Jonathan Moss

Finally the International break is over and we can get back to league football, it has only been two weeks but it seems like an eternity since our last game, hopefully we will be raring to go.

 

It always feels like its a fresh start after an International break and where that might work for some teams, I don't think that the break came at the right time for us this time around.

We have taken eight points from our last four games which included games against Arsenal and Chelsea, we brushed aside Hull and Villa without breaking much of a sweat and were clearly starting to click, hopefully the break will not break our momentum.

 

As for Spurs, well I haven't managed to see a great deal of them this season so I cannot possibly judge them to much, they clearly have a talented squad and some outstanding individual players and will surely pose a threat.

 

Last season we smashed Spurs twice and although I am not expecting that to happen in this game, I still think that we will win the game quite comfortably.

 

Like I said I haven't seen Spurs play loads this season but when I have seen them play I felt like they were lacking defensively, a lot of their midfield is attack minded and the defence is not protected well enough, once you do break through what is effectively a two man midfield then you hit two centre backs that lack the pace to keep up with the likes of Silva and Aguero and I think that we will capitalise on that.

 

Man City Team News

Samir Nasri continues to recover from a groin injury, Fernandinho is expected to miss out with a hamstring problem and Eliaquim Mangala is also set to miss out after returning from International duty with a muscle injury, Yaya Toure only got back from International duty on Thursday and may be rested.

 

Tottenham Hotspur Team News

Hugo Lloris (thigh) and Nacer Chadli (hip) did not feature for their Countries this week but are likely to be fit enough to make Tottenham's match day squad at the very least, Emmanuel Adebayor and Nabil Bentaleb only returned from International duty on Friday and may be rested, Kyle Naughton (ankle) and Kyle Walker (pelvis) remain sidelined.

 

Possible Man City Line Up
Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Demichelis, Clichy, Milner, Toure, Fernando, Silva, Aguero, Dzeko.

 

Possible Tottenham Hotspur Line Up

Lloris, Dier, Kaboul, Vertonghen, Rose, Capoue, Mason, Eriksen, Lamela, Chadli, Soldado.

 

My Prediction

Man City 3 - 0 Spurs.

 

Worth A Bet

Pablo Zabaleta scores the first goal in a 3 - 0 Man City win @ 200/1.



Man City vs Sheffield Wednesday - Preview

      Manchester City vs Sheffield Wednesday
  Wednesday 24th September, Etihad Stadium
                             Kick Off 19:45
                      Referee: Paul Tierney

We welcome Sheffield Wednesday to the Etihad in the first game of our quest to defend our League Cup.

 

I am not someone who takes any competition for granted and we should be trying to win this trophy again, although it does feel like it is a game without the pressure that the league and champions league carries.

 

I can't pretend that I see a lot of Sheffield Wednesday play, I do regularly check their results when I am flicking through the score centre on the ipad but that is only because I follow ex hopefuls like Helan to see how they are getting on, apart from that I don't know very much at all.

 

I do know that they have been doing quite well so far this season, they are just three points off the top of the league and have lost just one game to Stuart Pearce's high flying Forest team.

I imagine that Wednesday will come full of confidence and adrenaline ready to take on the big boys and so they should, still I think it will be difficult for them to get a result at the Etihad, although not impossible of course.

 

It is hard to talk about us in relation to tomorrows game because we are without doubt going to see a lot of changes to the starting line, I don't think it should make to much difference though because I think that the players brought into the team will have a point to prove, it is going to be difficult to name a possible team and I am going to choose from the senior players but it will be no surprise to see the likes of Bytyqi and Hiwula in the squad.

 

I imagine that the result of tomorrows match will not matter to much to the manager whatever the outcome, I think that Pellegrini will want to win this trophy but I don't imagine that he will have a sleepless night if we were to get knocked out.

It is a shame that the League Cup is so undervalued these days but managers just don't like the extra games and it is this competition that is sacrificed, I would like to think that our club want to win this trophy as much as the others but I do doubt that will be the case, I know that I want to win it just like I did pre 2008, a time when it would of been a dream to see us lift this cup.

 

Man City Team News

Pablo Zabaleta is suspended following his red car against Chelsea, Sergio Aguero is out with a minor knee injury and David Silva will miss out with an ankle complaint, Stevan Jovetic is still recovering from a hamstring injury and Fernando is still not ready to return due to a groin injury.

 

Sheffield Wednesday Team News

Everton and Reading have given permission for on loan pair Hallam Hope and Royston Drenthe to play and both may feature, Kieran Lee (groin) and Sam Hutchinson (back) continue to recover from injury.

 

Possible Man City Line Up

Caballero, Sagna, Demichelis, Nastasic, Clichy, Sinclair, Fernandinho, Lampard, Navas, Milner, Dzeko.

Possible Sheffield Wednesday Line Up
Kirkland, Palmer, lees, Loovens, Mattock, Maguire, Semedo, Coke, Helan, Nuhiu, May.
 

My Prediction

Man City 3 - 1 Sheffield Wednesday.

 

Worth A Bet

Frank Lampard scores the first goal in a 3-1 Man City win @ 50/1.

Man City 1 - 1 Chelsea - Shafted Again

There is only one place to begin and that is with the referee, he was card happy, inconsistent and took every opportunity that he could to slow us down.

Mike Dean should definitely be relieved from Premier League duty in the coming weeks, he was absolutely shocking. He blew his whistle nearly every time we made a tackle, booked players for their first foul, refused to give us a penalty twice and ultimately sent Zabaleta off for a second bookable offence when he should not have been shown the first yellow, not to mention that he let Costa get away with putting his hands around Zabbas throat.

We were very very good today and bossed Chelsea in every area of the pitch, there is no way they would have scored against us had Zabbo not been sent off, they caught us on the break a few minutes after the dismissal when we were still reeling from the refs decision, as soon as we composed ourselves we started controlling the game again and super Frank Lampard grabbed the goal that secured a point, although we clearly deserved three.

The referee is the main talking point for now and rightly so, but there were so many positives to come out of today's game.
I will start with the team, nearly the whole team were committed to the cause and did not stop fighting, Yaya was the weakest link again but I am not going to say he played badly but he certainly played within himself and could have offered more, but as a whole the lads were immense.
Next some praise for the manager, in my pre match I said I wanted to see us go all out and attack Chelsea, Manuel set us up to do just that and it worked perfectly, he made a wise move by starting Milner knowing that his work ethic would be well utilised against a Chelsea team whose main objective was to make sure that they didn't concede and then of course he made the decision to bring Lampard on, need I say more.
I will finish off with the debut of Mangala, what a great performance from the Frenchman who rightly took the man of the match award at the Etihad. Imagine getting thrown into the side for the first time to face such tough opposition, it could be daunting for some players but that clearly wasn't the case for Mangala, he was absolutely immense and had Costa and co in his pocket all game, he was strong, quick, powerful, he reads the game well and always came out on top when it came to a tackle, if this was just a regular performance from him then I will declare now that we have the best centre back pairing in the world.

We didn't get the result we deserved today but I don't think that we need to dwell on it, it was our best performance this season by a mile and I think we should just look forward to continuing on that path, more so than ever I still maintain that we are by a distance the best team in the league, as long as we don't drop any silly points then I am sure that we will catch up and overtake the current leaders.

Man City vs Chelsea - Preview

            Manchester City vs Chelsea
 Sunday 21st September, Etihad Stadium
                        Kick Off 16:00
                   Referee: Mike Dean

Following tough games against Arsenal and Bayern we finally get an easy run out against Chelsea, in all seriousness this is potentially a vital game for us even though it is still early in the season.

Chelsea come to us tomorrow having won all of their league games this season, they have a good manager, a good team and they are scoring goals, it does not take a rocket scientist to work out that they will cause us some serious problems.

I expect Mourinho to try and conduct one of his tactical master plans against us tomorrow, we have seen him do it a few times in big games since he has returned to Stamford Bridge, he clearly orders possession and patience as well as solid defending and it works very well because he knows that his team can still score goals at the same time.

This is an important game for us, if we don't win the game then we could end up eight points behind Chelsea after just five games and it would take a brave person to suggest that Chelsea would relinquish such a lead even though it is very early into the season, I certainly wouldn't expect City to.

I would like to see Pellegrini send out a team that is all about attacking because Chelsea have been conceding goals, they haven't played any of the big boys yet and two of the teams they have faced have just been promoted, it certainly points towards defensive frailties.

I am feeling unsure again when it comes to predicting a result, not because I am worried about the prospect of facing Chelsea, more because I don't know which City will turn up.
I felt we played better against Arsenal and did well against Bayern but it is still clear that all of our cogs are not turning, if they do start to click into gear then I would back us to beat not only Chelsea but anyone.

Man City Team News
Stevan Jovetic continues to recover from a hamstring injury and Fernando is also set to miss out again as he is still suffering with a groin injury, Dzeko was said to be suffering from a back injury but is expected to be in the squad.

Chelsea Team News
Diego Costa will start despite carrying a hamstring injury, Chelsea are thought to have no other injury worries.

Possible Man City Line Up

Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Demichelis, Clichy, Navas, Toure, Fernandinho, Silva, Aguero, Dzeko.

Possible Chelsea Line Up
Courtois, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta, Fabregas, Matic, Schurrle, Oscar, Hazard, Costa.

My Prediction
Man City 3 - 1 Chelsea.

Worth A Bet
Fernandinho scores the first goal in a 3-1 Man City win @ 190/1.



Man City 0 - 1 Stoke City - Disappointing

If anything was going to put me in a bad mood this weekend then this result was it, it just was not acceptable.

A Stoke team that have been seen to try and play football since Hughes has become manager reverted to type and put ten men behind the ball, we couldn't break them down and then somehow they managed to score.
Stoke defended well today but apart from that they were clearly a terrible football team, how they got themselves in a position to score a goal after sitting in their own half all game is beyond me.
This loss was simply our own fault, our players are good enough to break down a team like Stoke but for whatever reason they didn't do it.

I am going to drag Pellegrini in for some blame while I name the worst players from today's game, I am not a fan of rotation and three games into the season it is not necessary, Sagna was terrible and didn't provide the extra man going forward like Zabbo would have done, he should have been replaced.
Then there was Kolarov who has definitely improved over the last year but was poor today and much like Sagna left us lacking going forward on the left, he also should have been replaced.
Last but certainly not least is YaYa Toure, he was the worst player on the pitch by a long way, he had a couple of shots and did nothing else and I mean nothing, he must of been bad today because I heard other people in the ground slating him for the first time since he has been at the club, normally people seem scared to say anything bad about him and Pellegrini can be included in that because he didn't have the bottle to drag him off today, no player should be untouchable when they are not contributing.

I don't know what was wrong with us today, it was like the players were playing at pace but their brains weren't, I think the only thing that we succeeded at was passing the ball to death.

I am still very annoyed at the moment and will definitely not have it in me to watch MOTD tonight, I am sure however that after a few days of reflection that I will be anxiously looking forward to the next game as usual, my head is ruling at the moment but my heart tells me that we will make amends for this defeat.

Man City vs Stoke City - Preview

               Manchester City vs Stoke City
       Saturday 30th August, Etihad Stadium
                             Kick off 15:00
                       Referee: Lee Mason

Next up at the Etihad Stadium are Stoke City, Stoke lost their first game and could only manage a draw in their second game despite playing against ten men for 75 minutes, it is quite easy to suggest that it is doubtful that they will pose much of a threat to us.

It is never my intention to disrespect any of our opponents but I don't see what Stoke can bring to the game that will cause us any problems.
In their first home game of the season they were beaten by Aston Villa, a team that are more or less on par with Stoke, they didn't really cause Villa any problems and lost the game with a whimper.
In their second game of the season they could only manage a draw against a Hull side playing with ten men for most of the game, now I didn't manage to watch as much of this game as I would have liked so I wont say to much but the basic facts involved don't make good reading.

The good thing about Stoke these days is that they aren't as boring to watch as they used to be, they don't just try to defend and hoof anymore, Hughes has them trying to play football a bit more.
There is a couple of decent players in their team that could cause us problems but the main player I think we need to watch is Arnautovic, he always looks a good player when I see him play, he likes to attack and he isn't scared to have a pop.
I also think it is worth keeping an eye on Bardsley if he plays tomorrow, in my opinion Bardsley is under rated, he is good at going forward and can weigh in with a goal, he definitely could be the source of an unsuspected threat.

As for us, we have started the season well enough, 2 games, 6 points, 5 goals, not bad at all but there is much more to come.
We have conjured moments of brilliance in our first two games that have turned into goals, but we haven't played a full 90 minutes of football where we have been consistently good. I know it is only early season and I do believe that we are going to get better and better, we are entering our third game now though and should be fit enough and sharp enough to really turn it on.

As you have probably worked out by now, I expect us to win this game and win it comfortably at that, in fact I expect us to absolutely hammer them.

Man City Team News
Alvaro Negredo is the only definite absentee with a broken foot, Eliaquim Mangala is again expected to miss out due to a lack of fitness.

Stoke City Team News
Victor Moses may not be deemed match fit and is expected to start on the bench, Geoff Cameron is set to miss out with a thigh problem, Bojan Krkic (rib) and Phil Bardsley (knee) were both expected to miss out but some reports now suggest that they may be included in the team.

Possible Man City Line Up
Hart, Zabaleta, Demichelis, Kompany, Kolarov, Nasri, Toure, Fernando, Silva, Jovetic, Dzeko.

Possible Stoke City Line Up
Begovic, Bardsley, Shawcross, Wilson, Pieters, Sidwell, Whelan, Odemwingie, N'Zonzi, Arnautovic, Crouch.

My Prediction
Man City 5 - 0 Stoke City.

Worth A Bet
Fernando scores the first goal in a 5-0 Man City win @ a massive 260/1.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DRAW - BAYERN MUNICH - AGAIN!

The draw for the Champions League has just finished and we have ended up in what I would say is a tough enough group.

We have been put in group E alongside Bayern Munich, CSKA Moscow and A.S. Roma, of course we know we can beat both Bayern and CSKA after drawing them last year at this stage, Roma finished second in Serie A last season and will surely be a decent test for us.

Not a group we would have asked for I don't think but we should be able to get out of it, they are all going to be hard away trips and I think our home games will be key.

I suppose it doesn't matter really who you get because in a competition like this there are so many good teams and in the end you have to beat the best to be the best, it is also easy to forget at times how feared we will be by the other teams.

Exciting trips ahead!

Man City 3 - 1 Liverpool *Highlights Video*

On a rainy Monday night at the Etihad two goals from Stevan Jovetic and one from Sergio Aguero were enough to send Liverpool home defeated.

Where to begin, well in my pre match I declared that I wasn't nervous of playing Liverpool and yesterdays game shown that there was no need to be, I felt that we are a better team than them and last night I think we proved as much.

Liverpool came and played with men behind the ball and in the first half it worked for them quite well, we couldn't find a gap, they were seeing a lot of the ball and breaking forward when they saw an opportunity, an individual mistake as well as some great work from Jovetic sent them in at half time one down, probably undeservedly so.
Although we were not bad in the first half, we certainly were not at our best and were lacking in midfield and defence, Liverpool caused us problems and had our defence in a spin at times.

In the second half I thought that we were much better, we were more composed, organised and began to dictate the play.
There were still gaps in our midfield and Liverpool were still causing our defence problems but ultimately we were in control of the game.
Our attacking had gone from average to exceptional and it only took ten minutes for us to score our second goal, a goal that was a perfect example of how to rip a defence apart in the blink of an eye.
Our threat going forward continued and at one point we looked in the mood to score a bag full, it didn't go that way but we did manage a third, again we showed how easy it was to breach Liverpool's defence, a simple pass from Navas to Aguero and our Argentine finished superbly to score just 23 seconds after coming on.

Over 90 minutes last night I don't think I could wholeheartedly say that we were the best team, but when it mattered most we were far superior, our class shone through and we deservedly came out on top.

There was a couple of things that were particularly unpleasing about our performance last night, firstly our midfield.
Our midfield is far to lightweight at times and totally exposes our defence, Nasri and Silva mostly take up positions further up the pitch so really we only have two in the middle of the pitch.
I am sorry to disappoint all those people who make excuses for Yaya but it was this man again that did not pull his weight, in fact he did absolutely nothing again.
Now saying that, I do understand that Yaya may decide to impact the game when he can be bothered, so even if you keep him on the pitch, I still felt that plugging the gap in midfield is something that Pellegrini could have done.

I don't think our defence looked the best last night either, they were making me a little nervous at times which is unusual.
I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt because I don't think they were protected well enough but I still think they need to improve on this performance because they looked a tad shaky.

Now I have finished with that opinionated analysing, how good is Stevan Jovetic! I have spoken to a fair few City fans who have said to me that if he didn't start the season well that we should sell him, I fought his corner because I have seen his qualities over many years.
Stevan was absolutely class last night, he covered most of the pitch fighting from the front, his link up play was excellent and his sheer class shone through, if he continues like this he is going to be a superstar.

Once again not the best display by our standards, I do think though that we are going to get better with every game, we will get fitter, sharper, stronger and continue to dominate the league.

Man City vs Liverpool - Preview

            Manchester City vs Liverpool
     Monday 25th August, Etihad Stadium
                          Kick off 20:00
                 Referee: Michael Oliver

       

Our second game of the season brings us our first big test, we beat Liverpool to the title last season and you would expect them to be there or there abouts again come the end of the season.

Its only the second game of the season but for me this is a very important game and could even be a season defining game come the end of the campaign, for us and Liverpool alike.
I know some people will be thinking that sounds extreme and it very well might but I'm not just thinking of the three points at stake, of course gaining three points and preventing a title rival from taking them is important, however at this stage of the season the potential confidence booster from winning this game could prove more important than three points, it will give us that extra boost that could help us cruise through our up and coming fixtures.

Both ourselves and Liverpool have played one and won one, although neither team performed to the standards that we know that they are capable of.
We put in what can only be described as a professional performance against Newcastle, we were lacking that cutting edge, looked as bit sluggish and did only what we had to for us to win the game.
Liverpool on the other hand looked good going forward against Southampton but lacked the organisation and discipline that we showed against Newcastle and at the end of their game I felt that Southampton were worthy of at least a point.

I don't expect to see either team perform in the same manner on Monday night, I am expecting an adrenaline filled end to end game.
Last season City and Liverpool were the two best teams to watch if you wanted to see attacking football and I am expecting both teams to put on a good offensive show in this encounter.
Of course this time around Liverpool are without Luis Suarez and that makes a big difference when it comes to dealing with Liverpool's attack, although some suggest that it wont.
Strangely enough I was picked up from a night out in Wythenshawe (I know, I know) by a Liverpool fan taxi driver last night and a Suarez argument broke out, he was claiming they wont miss him and that Balotelli will fill the gap, he was clearly deluded although I have seen Liverpool fans saying similar things online, so they are trying their best to cover it up but it is obvious to all that Liverpool will miss Suarez, but we certainly wont.

Ultimately I expect us to win this game, playing Liverpool doesn't make me nervous in the slightest, I think we have the more experienced squad and to be blunt I just think we are all round a better team and if that sounds a little cocky it is not meant to be, it is just the way I feel.

Man City Team News
Alvaro Negredo continues his recovery from a broken foot and Eliaquim Mangala is again expected to miss out due to a lack of fitness.

Liverpool Team News
Daniel Agger, Jon Flanagan, Oussama Assaidi and Adam Lallana are all set to miss out with knee injuries, Jose Enrique is expected to face a late fitness as he also has a knew complaint. New signings Lazar Markovic and Alberto Moreno are in line to make their debuts.

Possible Man City Line Up
Hart, Zabaleta, Demichelis, Kompany, Kolarov, Nasri, Toure, Fernando, Silva, Jovetic, Dzeko.

Possible Liverpool Line Up
Mignolet, Johnson, Skrtel, Lovren, Manquillo, Gerrard, Allen, Henderson, Coutinho, Sterling, Sturridge.

My Prediction
Man City 3 - 1 Liverpool.

Worth A Bet
Yaya Toure scores the first goal in a 3-1 Man City win @ 60/1.

Man City 3 - 0 Swansea City - Goals and Highlights.

Another home game finished, another home win in the bag and another three goals, a perfect result on the face of things but there are certainly still issues that need ironing out.

We started well today, we looked sharp, organised and up for it, when Negredo scored a free kick it was easy to think that we were going to go on and score a hat full again, however we tailed off and to be fair some of that was down to Swansea.

After going one up we seemed to take our foot off the gas, our intricate through balls weren't coming off and we just couldn't take hold of the game. Swansea were also playing a smart game, they knew they didn't have much of an attack due to injuries and instead were happy to sit inside their own half and wait for us to come at them, their midfield was crowding us out and when they saw a chance to break they went for it.
The first half finished with us leading but it could of easily been the other way round, Swansea had some really good chances and if their finishing had been better they could have gone in at the break having scored a couple of goals.

The second half started almost identically to the way the first half did, we had the bit between our teeth and immediately set out to put Swansea under pressure. We weren't spectacular in the second period but we took a hold of the game a lot more than we did in the first half, don't get me wrong Swansea never looked like they were out of the game at any point but we were putting them under a lot more pressure and creating chances. Stepping it up a gear going forward ultimately proved too much for Swansea to handle and two goals from the impressive Samir Nasri were the rewards for putting in a tad more effort.

It wasn't the best performance today, the midfield was being bypassed too easily again, we were untidy and we are still sacrificing possession of the ball in favour of a direct approach far too much at times, but after feeling very frustrated with the team lately, I am quite happy with today's result.

Don't get me wrong I am never going to be happy when there are issues that need ironing out, however the most important thing today was that we won the first out of three games leading up to the Arsenal match, especially with Spurs, Utd and Liverpool dropping points.

I just really hope that Pellegrini can sort out these little problems that the team have and that we can go on and get the away game monkey off our back, if that happens and we get six points from our next two games and then beat Arsenal, I am convinced that no team will be able to get in our way and stop us from winning the title.

Goals and Highlights.

Man City vs Swansea City - Sun 1st Dec 2013, KO 16:10

Can anyone stop us from winning at home? Swansea City are the next team with the task of trying, Swansea are a very capable team but I don't think that we will relinquish our home record to the Welsh club.

Swansea are a decent team, they have a few good players and a very good team ethic, they are one of the few teams in the premier league that I enjoy watching. Unfortunately it is because of Swansea's positive style of football that I am 99% sure that we will beat them, they like to play football and press forward, if they do that against us we will open them up and more than likely have a field day.

As I mentioned, I am quite positive that we will win this game, but there is no doubt that our defending will have to improve if we are to take three points without any scares. Our defending is awful at times without Vinny and teams like Swansea who play good fluent football are more than capable of punishing us, Pellegrini needs to solve the issue because plan A to outscore the opposition is a dangerous game to play.

Today's game could be more important than it seems as it could prove pivotal when it comes to the title, this is the first of three important games before we welcome Arsenal to the Etihad. Winning all three of these games and then beating Arsenal is obviously very possible for a team of our quality, if we can do it then we could be top of the league before the new year and maybe even by Christmas day.

Man City Team News:
Vincent Kompany has recovered from his thigh injury but is not match fit and Pellegrini is said to be edging on the side of caution and is not expected to play our captain, David Silva (calf) and Stevan Jovetic (calf) are both expected to miss out as they continue their recovery from injury, Matija Nastasic is also suffering with a calf injury and will not play. Jack Rodwell is available for selection after recovering from a knock.

Swansea City Team News:
Wilfried Bony (hamstring) and Michu (ankle) are both expected to be missing for the visitor's, Angel Rangel picked up a knock on his calf against Valencia in midweek and is also expected to miss the game, Garry Monk continues to recover from a knee injury.

Possible Man City Line Up: Pantilimon, Zabaleta, Demichelis, Lescott, Clichy, Toure, Fernandinho, Navas, Nasri, Aguero, Negredo.

Possible Swansea City Line Up: Vorm, Davies, Williams, Flores, Tiendalli, Hernandez, De Guzman, Shelvey, Dyer, Pozuelo, Vazquez.

My Prediction: Man City 3 - 0 Swansea City.

Worth A Bet: Fernandinho scores the first goal in a 3 - 0 Man City win @ 100/1.

Man City 4 - 2 Viktoria Plzen - Dismal - Goals and Highlights

I wasn't expecting much tonight in way of exciting football because of the changes to the team, I did however expect to see a solid performance from the team and a comfortable win, that didn't happen.

I am not happy with our performance tonight I thought it was terrible, but a win is a win and I suppose that will do for me seems as we are already through, I am much more concerned with Pellegrini's decisions.

I am still not convinced by Pellegrini and he certainly didn't endear himself to me tonight, firstly and most importantly I am absolutely disgusted that Kolarov was allowed to captain City.
Kolarov has never played with any kind of fight or passion for City and his performances have been consistently bad for the majority of the time he has spent at our club, with tonight's performance by him a prime example of that. So my question is, how on Earth did Pellegrini see fit to make him captain?
This was a bad call by Pellegrini and I don't feel like he has taken picking someone to captain our club seriously, if you have played football you would be able to imagine the confusion and discontent in the dressing room when the other players found out he was captaining them, terrible decision by the manager.

Then there was Pellegrini's decision to include Aguero and even Nasri for that matter, these guys shouldn't of been playing tonight as far as I'm concerned and shouldn't have to be considering the squad we have. Now I am a person who does not believe in rotation and I think that professional footballers should be able to play as many games as they have to, however when you get a good chance to rest your most important players then I think that's quite acceptable, I feel like Aguero in particular was put at risk of injury tonight when he did not need to be.

I have to finish off my little rant with a few words on Edin Dzeko, if you read my blog regularly you will know I try my best not to persecute players but I have had enough of Edin.
This guy is lazy, he couldn't trap a bag of cement, his shooting is terrible and basically he just does not care about playing for City, for him to score tonight almost felt like an injustice had been done.
I can only imagine Pellegrini kept him on tonight in order to not totally kill off any kind of confidence that Dzeko has, that is the only possible reason I can think of, I know pub teams that would drag him off if he played like he did tonight. He is consistently poor now and I can only surmise that he does not want to play for City because both him and Kolarov alike for that matter do not perform this poorly for their countries, it is time to show these guys the door.

I know I am being very negative especially considering we have just scored 10 goals in two games but sometimes you have to concentrate on the negatives to get to the positives. I think I am so annoyed because the things I have highlighted from tonight's game are traits that we have seen throughout the season so far, poor managerial choices, poor individual performance and a lack of fight, all these things need to be weeded out for us to win trophies.

I think I must have needed to get these things off my chest for a while considering this was not the article I was writing in my head on the way home, no time to dwell on it though and I am already looking forward to seeing our first choice team against Swansea.

Goals.

Man City vs FC Viktoria Plzen - Wed 27th Nov 2013 KO 19:45

How refreshing to be going into a Champions League tie at this stage of the competition without having to worry about qualification, of course we still want to win but it will be nice to sit in the Etihad and watch City without any pressure.

Having just smashed Spurs six nil in the league, we now go on to face bottom of our European group at home, the possibilities are of course endless.

We are not going to put six goals past every team that visits the Etihad but we should be looking at putting a few past Plzen, players are bound to be rested for this game but with our squad being so strong the lads that do play should be able to cruise to a comfortable victory.

Now I know some people who will argue that there is pressure because we want to finish top of the group, I would have to disagree, finishing top of the group would be nice but only for the significance of being numero uno. I keep hearing people saying that its important because it means that we get an easier tie in the next round, that is a load of nonsense, every game after the groups will be tough, if we finish second in our group are the teams that finish first in theirs going to get an easy tie?

The only ones who should feel any pressure tomorrow are the players who come in, the likes of Dzeko, Hart and Richards need to impress when they get the chance if they are to get regular football and these games provide the perfect opportunity for them to do that.

Man City Team News: Vincent Kompany (thigh) was expected to be named in the squad after training with the team but Pellegrini has now ruled him out, David Silva (calf) and Stevan Jovetic (calf) are also not ready to feature. Jack Rodwell is again suffering with a knock but Aleksandar  Kolarov is expected to return from illness.

FC Viktoria Plzen Team News: No information seems to be available regarding injuries but upon seeing their squad sheet for the game it seems that Plzen have no major injury concerns.

Possible Man City Line Up: Hart, Richards, Boyata, Lescott, Kolarov, Milner, Fernandinho, Garcia, Navas, Toure, Dzeko.

Possible FC Viktoria Plzen Line Up: Kozáčik, Rajtoral, Procházka, Hejda, Limberský, Hořava, Horvath, Petržela, Kolář, Kovařík, Tecl.

My Prediction: Man City 4 - 0 FC Viktoria Plzen.

Worth A Bet: James Milner scores the first goal in a 4 - 0 Man City win @ 70/1.

Man City 6 - 0 Tottenham Hotspur - Goals and Highlights

We all enjoyed our home comforts today, the team continue to baffle us after beating a very good Tottenham team six nil.

What a win today, to score 6 goals against any team at this level is impressive but to beat a strong team like Spurs by that deficit is ridiculous, not to mention that we still weren't quite firing on all cylinders today.

It was like the team had read my pre match, the Spurs defence were scard to death of Aguero and Negredo and couldn't cope with them, Fernandinho and Nasri won the midfield battle with a helping hand from Toure and Navas and our defence managed to keep out a very unimpressive Roberto Soldado.

Now I won't for one minute suggest that we absolutely pasted Spurs all game today because we didn't, we were very good for large parts of the game but most of all we were clinical when it mattered.

Apart from us being a goal up just seconds after kick off, the first 20 minutes of the game were quite evenly contested. Both teams were playing with a high tempo and both had good chances to score, as the game progressed we started to dictate the pace of the game and take control, adding a further two goals before half time pretty much secured the three points.

We started the second half as we finished the first, putting constant pressure on Spurs with free flowing attacking football. We were relinquishing possession due to our gung-ho style at times but we looked quite happy to let that happen if it meant that we could play with that extra bit of freedom, the team were obviously confident that Spurs were not going to cause them a problem, three more goals in the second period of play finished off what in the the end was a hammering.

We were good today there's no doubting that but I still believe that we can play better, although we won six nil we didn't really play to our full potential, we had just done enough by our high standards.

We were a bit sloppy at times and gave the ball away more than we should, the defence were left wanting on a couple of occasions and we let a few good chances go begging, all these mistakes happening while easily winning the game, which is somewhat mind boggling.

Of course when we play 'good' that is like anyone else playing unbelievably well and although it comes across like I am picking holes in the team after winning six nil, I am not. When the level has been set high then there will always be room for comparison, I suppose the main comparison should be the difference between us winning and losing because when we are capable of beating a strong team like Spurs without breaking much of a sweat, it is hard to believe we can lose games to the likes of Sunderland.

No time to dwell on lost points in games gone by though, hopefully we will kick on again now and go through a period of consistently winning, if we get the away form sorted and carry on winning at home then I am convinced that we will win the league regardless of what any of our rivals achieve this season.

Goals and Highlights.

Man City vs Tottenham Hotspur - Sun 24th Nov 2013, KO 13:30

Premier League football is back and the games come thick and fast from now on, thankfully our first game after the break is at home, because for me it is a must win.

It is rather worrying for me to be glad we are at home, of course I am always happy to make the trip to the Etihad with my dad and my brother, in fact I love it, but this week I am extra glad because it means we don't have to play away, which is a worrying attitude.

I don't like the fact that I feel relieved that we are playing at home and I shouldn't feel like that, don't get me wrong I truly believe we can beat any opposition out there on our day, but right now what we need is three points and as the team have proved, that is probably going to be more achievable at home.

We need to get three points tomorrow but I would say that Tottenham are probably thinking the same, Spurs are certainly a rival for the title and beating us tomorrow would give them a boost and leave us hanging by a thread.

Tottenham are a very capable team and have a strong squad but ultimately they don't match up to us in my opinion, we are stronger in every area of the pitch and there isn't a single player in their team that I would replace one of ours with.
I am not going to question their defence because I think that Aguero and Negredo are capable of running rings around any defence in the world.
In the midfield I think we have the edge, Fernandinho has really settled down now and I am pretty sure he will outshine Paulinho just as he did when he came up against Oscar and Ramires, then there is Nasri who will cause problems for Spurs by defending and attacking, he has been the epitome of hard work and class in recent weeks, throw a decent performance in from Yaya and there shouldn't be a problem.
When it comes to Spurs attacking us then apart from Townsend, I don't see anything to worry about. I rate Defoe and if he was to play then I would be concerned, it is also rumoured that Adebayor may play and as we know he can be dangerous, the striker that will probably play is Soldado and he is the one that I am least worried about facing. I don't think he should cause our defence many problems and in fact I would be disappointed if he did, in my opinion he is a totally overrated player and I was really surprised that the shrewd chairman at Spurs spent so much on him, ten million more than Negredo to be precise but lacks his power, movement and energy. (Cue the performance of his life)

I just hope the team prove me right in my assessment of the two teams because they need to, with Arsenal and Chelsea winning again we could be out of the title race by next week if we don't beat Spurs.

Man City Team News: Vincent Kompany (thigh), David Silva (calf) and Stevan Jovetic (calf) are said to be nearing full fitness but this game will probably be to soon for any of them, Matija Nastasic and Fernandinho are expected to return to the side after recovering from knocks, Guidetti scored a couple of goals for Sweden during the break and may finally make the squad.

Tottenham Hotspur Team News: Christian Eriksen (ankle) and Danny Rose (toe) both miss the trip to the Etihad, whilst Zeki Fryers (groin), Nacer Chadli (hamstring) and Hugo Lloris (concussion) are all available for selection for the visitors.

Possible Man City Line Up: Pantilimon, Zabaleta, Demichelis, Nastasic, Clichy, Toure, Fernandinho, Milner, Nasri, Aguero, Negredo.

Possible Tottenham Hotspur Line Up: Lloris, Walker, Dawson, Chiriches, Vertonghen, Paulinho, Dembele, Sandro, Sigurdsson, Townsend, Soldado.

My Prediction: Man City 2 - 0 Tottenham Hotspur.

Worth A Bet: Fernandinho scores the first goal in a 2 - 0 Man City win @ 115/1.

Man City vs CSKA Moscow - Tues 5th Nov 19:45 pm

The Russians are in town for our next champions league encounter, this is an important game for us because if we win then I would imagine we will get out of the group.

All the headlines are about Hart not playing and the racism row from the away leg, a shame really considering that a win for us would probably mean getting past the group stages.

I am looking forward to the game tomorrow, firstly it has got me out of going to any bonfires (miserable so an so I know) and secondly I think we are going to hammer them and put one foot into the knockout phase.

CSKA come to the Etihad in slightly better form than they were in when we played them last time out, they have won their last two games scoring seven goals in the process. Does that mean that they are going to come to the Etihad and perform against us? No it doesn't, CSKA are a poor side and they just don't have the quality in their team to match our abilities.

As for us, we are in good form at the moment and look confident with it, this leads me to believe that CSKA are going to be the next team to get a hiding at the Etihad. We have far too much ability to do anything but win this game, couple that with playing on a good  pitch and I think we will see a much larger scoreline than we did in Moscow.

Man City Team News:
Vinny Kompany remains sidelined with a thigh injury and Stevan Jovetic will also miss out due to a calf injury, Joe Hart will take up a place on the bench for the second successive game.

CSKA Moscow Team News:
Vasily Berezutsky (knee) and Alan Dzagoev (hamstring) are both expected to miss out along side Aleksandrs Cauna who has a toe injury.

Possible Man City Line Up: Pantilimon, Zabaleta, Demichelis, Nastasic, Kolarov, Toure, Fernandinho, Nasri, Silva, Aguero, Negredo.

Possible CSKA Moscow Line Up: Akinfeev, Nababkin, A.Berezutski, Ignashevich, Schennikov, Elm, Wernbloom, Tosic, Honda, Zuber, Doumbia.

Worth A Bet: David Silva scores the first goal in a 5 - 0 Man City win @ 80/1.

Man City 7 - 0 Norwich City *Goals Video*

68.5% possession, 27 shots, 772 passes, 100% of tackles won and 7 yes 7 goals, what a performance by us today, Norwich were lucky it wasn't much worse.

Firstly I feel disappointed with Norwich, so how Chris Hughton feels is any ones guess, we were quality today but Norwich were very poor, they are a much better team than they shown. Their downfall today was that they didn't consolidate and settle for defeat, they kept trying to play against us and that was a very bad idea.

Barring five or so minutes early in the first half where Norwich passed the ball well, they didn't get a look in, we chewed them up and spat them out with ease.

We were just on a different planet to Norwich today, it was almost like watching under 10s play against men at times. As a team we didn't even really exert ourselves today, everything we did was precise and effective, every player did their job and did it well.

The first players to take a bow in our team today should be Silva, Nasri and Aguero. Silva and Nasri were pulling all the strings in midfield, Norwich couldn't get near them and when they did they got turned inside out. Whilst they were busy cutting through the Norwich midfield Aguero was running the defence ragged, they couldn't deal with his movement, they didn't know whether to come or go and when they did decide to make a move on him he was already out of sight.

The whole team were exceptional today, they played like they had been told to go on the pitch and just enjoy themselves. It was a refreshing performance to watch, there was no hangover from the defeat to Chelsea, we looked confident and assured, breezing through the game.

There is a worry that has come from today's game, not a worry for us but everyone else. I have just seen Pellegrini's post match interview and he was asked if it was our best performance under his management, he said no and I have to agree. Of course we were out of this world today but it was easy and we didn't have to put maximum effort in, if we had of played like we did against Utd where we put everything we had into the game, we would of scored double what we did today.

Hopefully this quality of performance will continue, we have become more consistent lately and look more confident, if we can keep it up we will soon catch Arsenal and then leave them behind.

GOALS.

Man City vs Norwich City - Sat 2nd Nov 15:00 pm

Norwich City are our next opponents at the Etihad, it seems like an eternity since we last played at home, hopefully home comforts will play a part against Norwich.

So our opponents, Norwich currently sit 18th in the table and have conceded quite a lot of goals lately, surely this game will be a walk in the park? Well actually not necessarily, I do expect us to beat Norwich but it may not be as easy as their position and results suggest.

For starters 18th can quickly turn in to 9th with three points, so their position in the table is quite irrelevant at the moment and the goals they have conceded have been against Chelsea, Arsenal and Utd, in games where I actually thought Norwich looked a good side.
Particularly against Chelsea I thought Norwich were going to win the game at times, they passed it well in the Chelsea half and were trying to get the ball in the box at every opportunity, they work hard and look an all round good unit.

Having covered my bases in relation to Norwich being able to cause us problems, which I honestly believe they are capable of, I still think we will comfortably beat them. We are on a good run of form at the moment, we have won four of our last five games and when we did get beat by Chelsea it was undeserved considering the way we performed.

It is important that we keep this good form going, if we drop anymore silly points we could end up trailing the league leaders by 8 or 9 points in the blink of an eye and at such an early stage in the season that would leave us playing catch up for a while.

Man City Team News:
We are likely to be missing Stevan Jovetic who suffered a calf injury against Newcastle, Vincent Kompany is expected to miss out again having not fully recovered from a thigh strain.

Norwich City Team News:
Robert Snodgrass suffered concussion against Utd and Nathan Redmond picked up a hip injury in the same game, both are expected to under go late fitness tests. Alexander Tettey is definitely missing for Norwich with a knee ligament injury and Ricky Van Wolfswinkel (foot) and Elliot Bennett (knee) are also expected to miss out.

Possible Man City Line Up: Hart, Zabaleta, Demichelis, Nastasic, Kolarov, Toure, Fernandinho, Nasri, Silva, Aguero, Negredo.

Possible Norwich City Line Up: Ruddy, Martin, Turner, Bassong, Olsson, Howson, Fer, Johnson, Snodgrass, Hooper, Elmander.

My Prediction: Man City 4 - 0 Norwich City.

Worth A Bet: Fernandinho scores the first goal in a 4 - 0 Man City win @ 125/1.

Man City 3 - 1 Everton - Goals and highlights

We had to come from behind against a very good Everton team today, goals from Alvaro Negredo and Sergio Aguero helped to secure all three points.

City and Everton both contributed to a good a game of football today, as I thought Everton came to win and were very positive in their style of play, we played well though and were just too strong for them in the end.

I just want to get something out of the way, I am seeing a lot of comments online about the referee handing us the game, whilst I do not dispute the ref was shocking, both teams were on the receiving end of his poor decisions. In the case of the penalty that was awarded, Zabaleta bought it there is no denying that but it was there to be bought and I don't think Everton fans would mind if their player were to do the same.

Six changes were made to the starting line up today and rightly so, the likes of Milner and Negredo add a much more hard working, competitive edge to the team. These are the kind of decisions I like to see from a manager, Pellegrini wasn't scared to drop certain big names and make a statement that if you don't play well then you don't play, I haven't quite warmed to Manuel yet but fair play to him on this one.

The first half of today's game was quite an even affair, we were playing reasonably well and so were Everton. The visitors took the lead when Lescott made a mistake to let Lukaku through on goal, we didn't deserve to be behind and fortunately for us it was only 90 seconds before Negredo equalised. As the half wore on we could of quite easily been out of sight, Aguero the main culprit for missing a host of chances, our little Argentine did put things right though and scored right before half time to send us in at the break 2 - 1 up.

The second half of the game was totally different to the first, we were playing very well and dominating the game, our third goal came on the 69th minute from a Sergio Aguero penalty and that was the game pretty much sown up. Throughout the second half we dominated the game for long periods and were running a very good, unbeaten Everton side ragged at times, we looked confident and well assured.

There were some good individual performances on show today and I just want to highlight a few of them. Kolarov who normally gets a lot of negative press was influential up until the point where he had to go off with an injury, Negredo was working very hard up top and was a handful for the Everton defence and Fernandinho had probably his best game for us, he was weighing in with tackles, his distribution was good, he was filling the gaps and tidying up in midfield.

On a constructive note, I did think that the midfield was still a little bit slack at times today and yet again it had to be put down to Yaya. He is to lazy and constantly frustrates me because with a bit more effort we all know what he is capable of. He doesn't work hard enough to get back and impose himself on the game, Fernandinho was mopping up for him all day today and made him look better than he was, it is almost like he is the senior player out of the two so he has the right to let Fernandinho do all the dirty work. He has been found out a lot recently and it is time he started pulling his weight more, of course it is great when he threads a quality pass like he did today for Negredo or bangs a free kick in but these are just bare minimum contributions from such a talented player who has a lot more to offer.

To sum up we were good today and had to be against a good Everton side, saying that I believe we can be much better. As a team and individually we can certainly improve, I think it is just a matter of Pellegrini working out his best team and helping certain players understand what he wants from them, if he can do that then we should have a good season, there isn't many teams better than Everton in the league, so if we can beat them with six changes then with some tweaks the possibilities are endless.

Goals and highlights.