The Manchester City Update
Welcome back to another edition of my regular update, where I will try to keep you all well informed of all the events here at the City of Manchester Stadium. With the league season due to get under way in a few weeks it has been a busy time here, with transfers, staff ins and outs, friendlies and of course my tactical tweaks.
The Ins and Outs
Well first of all we have some personell changes here at the stadium. I believe it is very important to have top coaches to go with our top facilities and I have been busy securing the services of such people. A number of new faces have been added to the staff to help with the youth encouragemnt. I am hoping this will lead to an increase in the number of top quality players we will develop here.
As for playing staff, bad news from the Home Office,
Lebohang Mokoena has been denied a work permit for playing in England. This is a great shame as all involved with Man City were excited about the prospect of having him here, he has the potential to be a star in the Premiere League. I have decided however to bring him to the club, in the hope that I can persuade the home office to issue a work permit. In the meantime I am looking for a loan club with no work permit regulations where he can perhaps get some experience.
New Feeder Clubs
With the arrival of Lebohang with no work permit I have been trying to persuade the board to sort out a link with another club perhaps in Belgium where he can play with no permit. Over the past month or so they have come up with a number of possibilities, however none of them are particularly exciting. In all, 2 clubs have signed a link with us. Firstly is Spanish league B2 side
Badalona, who would be able to play Lebohang without a permit, however as expected he has no desire to play for such a team.
A second attempt for a bigger team resulted in the addition of
Greenock Morton to our list of affiliates. Another low league team, with work permit regulations. So looks like Lebohang may be left to rot, a great shame.
The final friendly preparations
at
Colchester won 1-0. Goal scorer was Joey Barton with Micah Richards picking up the man of the match award.
at
Oldham won 2-0. Goals from Samaras and Stephen Ireland were enough to see off Oldham, with Samaras getting the man of the match award.
And thats that, the friendlies are over, the players are in, the new season is closing in. With the opening game fast approaching the bookies have announced their odds for the title. Understandably we have been ranked at
100-1. Despite having the belief that we will do well this year, I seriously doubt we have what it takes to challenge the big boys of Man U, Chelsea and Arsenal for the title. So 100-1 seems right to me.
The board have also decided to let me know what they think of my chances for success, and they too have no doubt we will struggle in this league, telling me that they
Expect me to battle bravely against relegation. The fans however have a little more optimism and have told me that they
Expect a safe mid-table finish.
So there we have it, pre-season is officially over and its time for the real deal, starting with a trip to Watford.
The English Premier League: Season 2006/2007
First on the agenda in this new season is a trip to a team I expect us to beat if we really do aim to stay in the EPL. Watford were the hosts and here is how it went down.
Watford 1 - 2 Man City 1 HT 1 Watford - goal (4) Man City - own goal (39),Samaras (64)
A poor start to the game with Watford going ahead after only 4 minutes with a goal from a set-piece. We did fight back however and forced the Watford defence into a rushed back-pass which bounced over the keepers foot and into the net. So the game was level at half time, despite City being the better team. It only took 20 minutes of the second half for City to grab the win they deserved, with Samaras getting his goal tally off the mark. City saw out the rest of the game with no trouble, a comfortable win.
Attendance - 19464 MotM - Samaras
Our first win of the season and I am delighted it came in our first game. We looked good and deserved the win. The downside to the game was the injuries to
Joey Barton who is out for 3 to 4 weeks with a fractured jaw, and
Michael Silberbauer who gashed his head and will require 2 to 3 weeks to recover.
After that win we sit 8th in the league but will now face 2 tricky home ties against Rob's Spurs and Sandy's Villa.
Man City 2 - 2 Tottenham Hotspurs 2 HT 0 Man City - Samaras (6,39) Tottenham - Jenas (58),Lennon (65)
Spurs conceded 2 early goals in their last game and I went out with an aim to doing the same again. After only 3 minutes Robbie Fowler was denied by the post. But 3 minutes later Samaras found the back of the net. He added a second 5 minutes before half time. So at half time it looked like the game was over, but anyone who watched Spurs' last game would know not to count on that. They came out of the gate with an aim to turn the game around. And after 58 minutes Jenas pulled 1 back. Only 7 minutes later Aaron Lennon grabbed the equaliser. The City fans were gutted. Another comeback for Spurs and more sloppy defending from City.
Attendance - 47988 MotM - Lennon
Dissapointing to lose the lead in the last game, but I am happy that we are scoring goals. We were by far the better team in the first half, and I think the players lost their concentration for the second and that allowed spurs back in. After that draw we move up to 6th place.
Man City 0 - 1 Aston Villa 0 HT 0 Aston Villa - Agbonlahor (73)
Another home game and the hopes were high for another win. But it wasn't to be in what can only be described as a **** poor game. The first half was pretty even with both teams doing very little. Possession 50-50 and shots on target a grand total of 1 for villa. The second half wasn't much better with City not getting a single shot on target. Villa finally found the target after 73 minutes and that was enough for the win. 'nuff said.
Attendance - 47975 MotM - Boume
So a dissapointing performance to end the session and we now sit 7th in the league. And it won't be easy to improve on that any time soon, with games against Wigan(A), Liverpool(H) and Chelsea (A) coming up.
The draw for the league cup 2nd round was also made recently and we will be facing a trip to Championship side
Luton. A game I hope to win as I aim to progress as far as possible in the cups.
So thats it for this edition. I'm David Johnston and you stay classy FMO forum readers.
) and Lyon. This was followed by a disappointing 1-0 away defeat to Club Brugge and then a very exciting, high scoring, but ultimately losing away trip to Heerenveen which finished 3-4. The final game was a 3-2 warm up win against the reserves at Upton Park :thup:
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