retired_amyslack

Or Are You Just Pleased To See Me?

July 2004

You don’t see many giant inflatable bananas at the City of Manchester Stadium these days (for the full story of that particular craze see here) - but then again you don’t see Kevin Keegan there either, not after he quit and I took his place. And who are you, you’re probably asking. Well I’ll tell you – I’m MARIOORA KEEGAN, a distant relative of the great man himself and I’d love it, just love it if I could take Manchester City back to the big time. It would be no easy task however – the club was saddled with a £40M bank loan and an overdraft of over £7M. I had been allocated a transfer budget of £1.4M but I felt that I would probably hold on to that until the winter transfer window.

Like any new manager the first thing I did was to meet the backroom staff and get to know the playing squad. A series of pre-season games had already been established, the first of which at Tranmere, took place on my first day in charge. I left the team selection entirely to my Assistant Manager Derek Fazackerley, limiting my contribution to a few words on the general shape that I wanted to introduce. As everyone knows, the jewel in the Man City crown was livewire winger Shaun Wright-Phillips and as luck would have it he was injured half an hour into the game. Fortunately it was nothing too serious, a wrist injury that would probably sideline him for a week. The result was a satisfactory 4-0 win during which Steve McManaman and Trevor Sinclair looked particularly impressive.

Our next warm-up match took place in Germany at non-league Braunschweig and not only did we suffer a humiliating 2-1 defeat we also lost left winger Kizito Musampa. He suffered a torn groin muscle and as we had the 26-year-old Dutchman in on loan for the season from Atletico Madrid we contacted the club to discuss his situation. They asked him to return to Spain to have the club doctor examine him and a decision was taken that surgery would be required to rectify the problem. With a layoff of some 4 to 5 months required both clubs agreed to a mutual termination of his loan contract so that he could have his treatment and rehabilitation back in Spain. This was pretty unfortunate as I had quite liked the look of the lad and I had him pencilled in for a place in the first eleven.

Our pre-season preparations continued with a trip to the MK Dons where we scraped a 1-1 draw but at least we didn’t get any players injured. Our only home warm-up came with a visit from Croatian side NK Dinamo and a sparse crowd witnessed a poor 2-1 defeat with David Sommeil, Trevor Sinclair and Robbie Fowler all picking up minor knocks. Our uninspiring pre-season continued with a terrible 2-0 defeat at Scunthorpe, Jon Macken ending in the treatment room and keeper David “Calamity” James not impressing. Believing that I needed some cover in the centre of defence I invested a modest £85K to bring Lorenzo Amoruso from Blackburn on a one-year deal. I don’t know how much playing time the big man will get but he could well prove to be useful.

For our final warm-up match at Darlington I set the team up in the formation that I wanted to use for the season and with the starting eleven that I believed to be our strongest based on what I had seen thus far. The only exception was the absence of Robbie Fowler up front as he was still recovering from his injury. I wanted to employ a variant on a 4-5-1 formation, partly through preference and partly because I was very light on strikers. I had a standard back four guarded by a withdrawn midfielder in an anchor role. Then there were two central midfielders with two wide men playing ahead of them and a single striker. If you saw it on paper it would look like a 4-1-2-2-1 to be accurate. My preferred starting eleven was as follows

GK – David James (only because both Nicky Weaver and Geert De Vlieger were both out with long-term injuries)
DR – Danny Mills
DL – Ben Thatcher
DC – Richard Dunne
DC – Sylvain Distin
DMC – Joey Barton
MC – Steve McManaman
MD – Claudio Reyna
AMR – Shaun Wright-Phillips
AML – Antoine Sibierski
SC – Jon Macken (Fowler when he is fit)

Apart from losing Reyna for three weeks with a back injury it worked out fairly well and we won 2-0. The back four all looked solid and Macca had a pretty decent game.

shannon2007

Just pleased to see you really ......

Must be great being so old and having all this time to write :p

retired_amyslack

It's great PM and I'm not even retired yet. Just imagine how much time I'll have then - you'll never get rid of me

August 2004

As August arrived the bookmakers published their odds for the Premiership title. Man Utd were 6-4 favourites with Arsenal and Chelsea both 7-4 and Liverpool 3-1. At 300-1 we were clearly seen as relegation candidates and I was immediately quizzed by the press, asking if we had a strong enough squad to stay up. I responded positively saying that I was sure that our players were good enough.

There was one very interesting development before we got into competitive action when Reading contacted us with an offer we couldn’t refuse and The Goat was back. Yes, City legend Shaun Goater returned in exchange for a nominal fee to have one last tilt at glory. After six glorious seasons at Maine Road the Bermudan international had moved on but now he was coming home. I was somewhat surprised when there was some criticism of the singing from the fans as he was supposed to be a cult figure amongst them. Despite this I rather hoped that he would be a decent backup to the unfit Fowler as I couldn’t see Robbie playing week in and week out.

The season opener was a televised encounter at Newcastle and Fowler was able to start so the only change to my first choice selection was the inclusion of Paul Bosvelt for the injured Reyna. Just for the heck of it I put Goater on the bench – knowing Fowler’s lack of fitness I could see him getting a run out. It was our much-maligned keeper David James who impressed most in the 1-1 draw, some excellent saves gaining him a MOM award. This was despite gifting Nicky Butt with the opening goal on the stroke of half time, a comedy clearance falling at the feet of the unmarked midfielder. With 15 minutes remaining we were still behind so I threw on Sinclair and Goater in place of Macca and Fowler. It paid off big time with Wright-Phillips setting Sinclair free to outpace the Newcastle defence and finish neatly past Shay Given.

For the midweek visit of West Brom I decided to go with the same starting eleven and I emphasised to the players that this was the sort of game that we really had to win. If we failed to beat the so-called weaker teams then we would certainly be drawn into the relegation struggle. A penalty, won and converted by Fowler, put us ahead with just two minutes showing on the clock. We threatened intermittently for the remainder of the half without doing any further damage. With Macca tiring late on I once again brought Sinclair off the bench and he repeated his trick of scoring minutes after his introduction. The visitors pulled a goal back near the end but we were able to hold on for a very satisfactory 2-1 win.

The weekend trip to Norwich fell into the same category as our last match and I wanted to se a good result. I resisted the temptation to bring Sinclair off the bench but I did give Fowler a rest, Jon Macken getting his first start of the season. Macca rewarded me with a great display in midfield and the MOM bubbly. We recovered from a poor start after conceding an early goal, equalising quickly through Macken, Macca laying on the goal. It was honours even at half time but we went ahead on 58 when Wright-Phillips fired home after a neat corner routine. But with less than 15 minutes remaining James flapped at a cross allowing a free header and we ended with a 2-2 draw.

It was a midweek visit by Bolton next and Fowler came back in up front but there were no further changes to the team. A very uneventful first half was enlivened with a goal from Fowler shortly before the interval, Macca setting up his former Liverpool teammate for a neat finish. The visitors enjoyed a greater share of possession in the second period but some woeful finishing and a few smart stops by James kept our lead intact. Fowler had to be withdrawn with an arm injury 15 minutes from time and on came The Goat. The stadium erupted when he made the game safe in stoppage time when a diving header connected with a Wright-Phillips cross.

The final game of the month involved a trip to Everton and with Fowler injured Macken returned to the starting eleven. Claudio Reyna was now fully fit and I decided that he would come into midfield instead of the ageing Bosvelt. The home side lined up with a pretty defensive formation and with chances few and far between the first half ended in a goalless stalemate. The game opened up a little after the interval and as the players tired I brought off a flagging Macca and threw on Sinclair. For the 3rd time this month Frank came off the bench and scored within minutes, this time heading home a cross from Antoine Sibierski for what proved to be the winning goal. I was impressed by the contribution of Sylvain Distin in defence and he has established a pretty solid partnership with Richard Dunne in the centre.

We had surprised a lot of people by remaining unbeaten in our opening month and sat in a very respectable 3rd place in the table.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Arsenal | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 1 | +14 | 13 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Newcastle | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 3 | +5 | 11 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | MAN CITY | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 4 | +4 | 11 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | Charlton | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 2 | +5 | 10 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | Man Utd | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | +5 | 10 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

retired_jessicabraden

Like the style, will keep my eyes are on this one. :thup:

retired_amyslack

Thanks Leo

September 2004

We had a few players involved in World Cup qualifiers but for most of the squad the international break meant a fortnight without any football so most of them were well rested for the televised match at home to Aston Villa. But we did have some casualties after the qualifiers with Richard Dunne and Claudio Reyna nursing knocks and not fit to play whilst Trevor Sinclair had twisted a knee in training. It turned out to be a great match for the Sky TV audience but not so great for my nerves. Juan Pablo Angel got the visitors off to a great start, scoring after just three minutes after he caught our defence on the turn. Paul Bosvelt, in for Reyna, found an equaliser on 16 minutes after great work by Sibierski on the left and we reached the break all square. Within five minutes of the restart Bosvelt scored his second, firing home a shot across the advancing keeper and into the far corner after a delightful flick from Sibierski. But it took Angel less than five minutes to score his second, firing through a crowd of players from a corner. I replaced a clearly out of sorts Fowler with The Goat hoping to offer more attacking threat but with less than 15 minutes remaining substitute Luke Moore fired Villa ahead minutes after coming on to the pitch. The youngster outpaced a static defence to take the ball around a stranded David James. Then with time running out The Goat proved his worth by grabbing a late equaliser, Macca the player who provided the telling pass that split the visiting defence. The Man of the Match plaudits went to Sibierski for his sterling performance on the left side of midfield.

The next weekend we faced our stiffest challenge of the season so far, a trip to league leaders Arsenal. I restored Richard Dunne to central defence and brought Jon Macken into attack but with Bosvelt in good form there was no place in the starting eleven for a fit-again Reyna. I’m still not quite sure how we did it but in one of the biggest smash-and-grab raids in history we came home with a 2-1 win. The Gunners were all over us for most of the match but, credit where credit’s due, David James was just awesome. He made save after save to deny the home side after Gilberto fired them ahead on 20 minutes. We were hanging on for dear life for most of the match but on a rare excursion upfield Wright-Phillips scored a wonderful equaliser to shock the Gunners. They were even more shocked when substitute Reyna, on for a tiring Macca, scored the unlikeliest of winners three minutes from time. He was set up by The Goat, who had replaced Macken in a double substitution. I love it when substitutions turn the game and so far this season I seem to have had some success in this area.

A goal after just 15 seconds got us off to a flyer in our League Cup tie at Tranmere, Trevor Sinclair scoring straight from the kickoff. Robbie Fowler doubled our advantage on 25 minutes and I was pleased at how the team was playing. I made some changes to the starting eleven to give some of the fringe players some action and they were responding well. But injuries to Fowler, Reyna and young midfielder Lee Croft interrupted our rhythm and the home side reduced the deficit with seven minutes remaining. By the end of the game we were holding on for the win and by that time The Goat was a virtual spectator as he too was struggling with a knock. Fowler was diagnosed with a fractured wrist and would be out for a month – the others should all be fit within a week.

I reverted back to my preferred eleven for the visit of Chelsea, with the exception of the injured players of course, meaning that Jon Macken started up front, Bradley Wright-Phillips took a seat on the bench and Willo Flood kept his place in midfield after impressing in midweek. The game was lost in the first quarter of an hour with £30M signing Ronaldo and full back Paulo Ferreira both scoring. We tightened up at the back after that but it was too late and although we made a few chances we failed to get an effort on target all afternoon. Our first defeat of the season dropped us down to 5th place but it was still all very tight and we were just a point off the lead.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Arsenal | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 19 | 8 | +11 | 16 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Charlton | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 6 | +9 | 16 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Chelsea | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 16 | 6 | +10 | 15 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | Newcastle | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 4 | +7 | 15 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | MAN CITY | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 13 | 10 | +3 | 15 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

retired_amyslack

October 2004

With Antoine Sibierski out for a few weeks with strained knee ligaments Trevor Sinclair started on the left at home to Middlesbrough and Paul Bosvelt came back into central midfield. The game started cagily with both sides probing but not over-committing to attack. When Danny Mills got his second booking of the game on 25 minutes our game plan had to change and I decided to remain positive by going three at the back and take off an attacker. The game was still goalless at the break but we took the lead just after the restart, Macken having a simple finish after great work from Wright-Phillips on the right. With 20 minutes remaining I decided to try to close the game down so Macken came off and I put on an extra defender. It did the trick as we withstood increasing Middlesbrough pressure to hold on to the 1-0 win.

Like ourselves, Charlton had made a good start to the season and when we travelled to the Valley in midweek I expected a hard match. Sun Jihai replaced the suspended Mills but that apart I named an unchanged side. As might be expected the home side saw a bit more of the ball in the first half but we had our moments and both keepers made some impressive stops. We made most of the running in the second half though and Sinclair broke the deadlock five minutes after the restart. We had chances to build on our lead but failed to take them and Charlton grabbed an equaliser against the run of play with quarter of an hour remaining. I decided to introduce fresh legs and I threw on all three subs, looking for the win. It did the trick as Willo Flood scored our second with less than five minutes to play. He latched on to a ball over the top from Barton and showed neat control and no little composure to round Dean Kiely and tuck the ball away.

World Cup qualifiers gave most of the lads a weekend off although Dunne, James and Wright-Phillips were all in action as well as some of our younger players in the Under-21s. Reyna returned to the lineup for the visit of Blackburn with Bosvelt moving to the bench to make room and Mills returned from suspension.. Some poor marking at a corner gave the visitors an early lead in what proved to be their only scoring attempt. We never got any attacking momentum going and the disappointing 1-0 defeat lost us a chance to move up to second place.

I sent the same eleven to Southampton and I was much happier with the level of our performance. Macken scored two excellent goals in the first half and Reyna was also on target after the interval to give us a comfortable 3-0 win. We hosted Wrexham in midweek in the 3rd round of the League Cup and once again I selected many of our fringe players to give them some competitive action. The lads came up trumps with an excellent performance and were never troubled in the 5-0 victory. By the end of the month we had Sibierski and Fowler back in full training although neither was fit enough to make the team for the visit of Portsmouth. Macca was also absent, out for a few weeks with a calf strain. It was a frustrating game as we failed to find a way past an inspired Shaka Hislop and conceded a breakaway goal to lose 1-0. Despite the defeat we entered November holding second place and feeling pretty pleased with our good start to the season.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Arsenal | 13 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 36 | 9 | +27 | 29 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | MAN CITY | 13 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 19 | 13 | +6 | 24 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Newcastle | 12 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 20 | 9 | +11 | 23 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | Chelsea | 13 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 23 | 14 | +9 | 22 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | Portsmouth | 13 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 16 | 16 | 0 | 20 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

retired_amyslack

November 2004

We travelled to Liverpool with both Fowler and Sibierski named amongst the substitutes. Antoine was probably fit enough to start but Trevor Sinclair had been playing so well in his absence that he kept his place on merit. Macken was forced to miss the match after picking up a knock in training so The Goat was given the nod up front. The Reds had been having a very poor season thus far and sat down in 13th place but Anfield is always a tough place to get a result. Three times Claudio Reyna put us in the lead and three times the home side equalised – talk about a thriller. But the worst of it all was that they went ahead for the first time in the game with the stadium clock reading 91 minutes and 56 seconds – heartbreaking, especially for Man of the Match Reyna.

I used our midweek Carling Cup match at home to Norwich as a vehicle to give some players returning from injury a run out and also to give some fringe players some action. And anyway, all the big teams treat the competition with contempt so I thought that I would do the same. Paul Bosvelt impressed, scoring our opener ten minutes into the second half and also striking the woodwork. Antoine Sibierski made the tie safe with a goal in stoppage time to give us a 2-0 win and send us into the Quarter Finals.

It was back to our first eleven for the visit of Birmingham and there may have been 12 places separating the teams in the Premiership table but on the day there was little to choose between them. Possession, chances and goals were all shared, Jon Macken firing us ahead after 8 minutes and Clinton Morrison equalising five minutes later.

Macken was on target again in our final league game of the month at Tottenham in another evenly contested match, scoring what proved to be the winning goal after 20 minutes. Once more there was little to split the teams in terms of chances and both keepers were in sparkling form with Paul Robinson edging out David James for Man of the Match honours.

On the final day of the month we played our League Cup Quarter Final at Fulham on a Tuesday evening and I decided to play the side that got us there. It was another very even contest and we lost by a narrow 1-0 margin, Luis Boa Morte scoring the only goal of the game midway through the first half.

An up and down month saw us slip down a couple of places but if we can hold on to 4th place at the end of the season then everyone at the club will be delighted.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Arsenal | 15 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 43 | 10 | +33 | 35 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Newcastle | 14 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 25 | 9 | +16 | 29 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Chelsea | 16 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 28 | 17 | +11 | 29 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | MAN CITY | 16 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 24 | 18 | +6 | 28 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | Charlton | 16 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 26 | 18 | +8 | 25 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

Mike..

That league table looks all wrong, I think you've got a spelling mistake, surely it's U-N-I-T-E-D ? :eek: :cool:

retired_puly1364

Absolutely amazing start, following this story with interest.

retired_amyslack

Thanks for the support chaps.

December 2004

We had an opportunity for immediate revenge as Fulham came to the City of Manchester Stadium but both Joey Barton and Shaun Wright-Phillips were absent through injury. An early Paul Bosvelt goal got us off to a flying start but by half time we were behind as “Andrew” Cole (he’ll always be plain Andy to me) scored twice in ten minutes. Reyna spared our blushes with a swerving shot from the edge of the area with 15 minutes remaining to save a point.

The first Manchester derby of the season took place at Old Trafford and I felt that it could a pivotal game for us. We went into the match high on confidence and needed all of our team spirit as the home side were dominant for most of the game. We defended stoutly with David James making some fine saves to keep the match scoreless. We took the lead against the run of play ten minutes into the second half after some great work by Sinclair set up Bosvelt for a simple finish. Then in the 82nd minute Danny Mills was booked for the second time and I was forced into a defensive re-shuffle, switching to a three-man midfield in an effort to hold on to the lead. But it was not to be and Phil Neville squared the game a few minutes later with an unstoppable cross-shot that left James helpless. Despite the disappointment of losing the lead so late on I was still satisfied with the point and it kept us above our neighbours in the table.

The visit of Crystal Palace saw Sinclair suspended and Sibierski injured so I had to ask Jon Macken to play on the left of midfield and put Fowler up front. Mills was also suspended so I brought David Sommeil in at right back. Reyna and Bosvelt bossed the midfield with the American scoring twice in our excellent 4-1 win with Macken and Fowler getting our other goals.

Newcastle were our next visitors and a win would move us above him in the table. Both Mills and Sinclair returned to the starting eleven as we looked to keep our good run of form going. Once again the midfield were instrumental in fashioning another fine win, Reyna scoring his 9th goal of the season early on and Sinclair getting his 7th in the second half. Jon Macken’s 27th minute goal provided the meat in the sandwich between those two strikes as we outplayed a subdued Newcastle side to move up to 3rd in the Premiership.

Boxing Day saw us travel to West Brom and the relegation strugglers enjoyed a good first half, going into the break a goal ahead and also having hit the woodwork. Bosvelt conjured up an equaliser on the hour after some magic from Wright-Phillips but four minutes from the end the poor man’s Ronaldo, Rob Earnshaw, made the winner for Jason Koumas. Given our rich vein of form this was a disappointing defeat and left us one of four teams all on 36 points chasing the leading two.

Just two days later we entertained 19th place Norwich and I had to make several changes to the lineup to rest some tired players. Despite enjoying most of the possession and creating all of the chances, we failed to penetrate the Canaries rearguard. Keeper Robert Green took the Man of the Match plaudits in the goalless draw and we reached the New Year hanging on to a top-5 position.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Arsenal | 22 | 15 | 3 | 4 | 58 | 17 | +41 | 48 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Chelsea | 22 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 44 | 25 | +19 | 42 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Newcastle | 21 | 11 | 6 | 4 | 32 | 19 | +13 | 39 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | Everton | 22 | 12 | 3 | 7 | 34 | 24 | +10 | 39 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | MAN CITY | 22 | 10 | 7 | 5 | 35 | 24 | +11 | 37 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | Man Utd | 22 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 26 | 20 | +6 | 36 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>