Blog landmark.

A notable landmark for the blog occurred this week in that it passed the 10,000 'hit' mark. It has also experienced new 'highs' for daily and weekly hits over the last week and seems to be gaining in popularity (in terms of hits at least!) in recent times.
Thanks to everyone who has visited over the last few months since I started it and hopefully you'll keep on visiting.

Not too much news elsewhere today. Mixed fortunes on the injury front in that Claudio Reyna is expected back in the squad at least for Sunday's game at Charlton, but Trevor Sinclair has suffered a setback in training after feeling tightness in his groin.
Nothing further on the Robbie Fowler situation today, either from his agent, the club or Fowler himself which is only adding to the rumour mill going round. One possibility mentioned on the comments section on yesterdays article suggested it may be because he is lined up to play on Sunday. Doubtful I think - and I would have imagined that the club may have commented on this if it was true. If he indeed he doesn't feature at the weekend it will surely add to the Fower 'on his way' theory.

Fowler ; the fans view.

Is Fowler Finished ?
	Yes - Finished
	No - will be back for city
	Will be Transferred
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Fowler - The End?

The future of Robbie Fowler has again come under scrutiny after he was left out of tonights reserve fixture against Bolton, with the club offering no explanation for his omission after it was initially reported that he would be playing.
Fowler has featured in recent reserve games in a bid to regain fitness and challenge Cole, Vassell and Wright-Phillips for a first team berth. Fowlers advisor George Scott was initially quoted as saying 'there are no problems'. However, teamtalk.com report him as saying "Robbie has been fighting his way back to fitness after a back injury and I don't think City would bother to play him in the reserves at this stage."



To me, if he was 'fighting his way' back to fitness it is exactly the kind of game both he and the club would looking at him playing in, particularly if Fowler was being lined for a first team spot, with Cole and Vassell cooling off from their impressive start and Bradley Wright-Phillips still largely untested.
As I've mentioned before, I expected Fowler to be on fire this season with the way he ended last season and (finally) seemed to be igniting his City career. One thing is for sure is that he won't be loaned out to a Championship side as has been mooted at various times.
With his contract up in the summer and a further £500,000 payment to Leeds due in just two games time I honestly feel that his City career (and possibly in football) is all but over as there is no chance of a new contract being offered to him when his current deal expires in the summer.
It is sad to say as I've been one of his strongest supporters but for the best interests of all parties, it has surely come to the stage that when Pearce adds reinforcements in at the January window, that the club is considering an arrangement to terminate Fowler's contract, with the all sides cutting their losses on what has been a disastrous move for all concerned.

City 0 Liverpool 1.

A defeat on Saturday led to a slightly despondant attitude from many Blues post-game. Not from the fact that we took a hammering and were completely outplayed but because for the second home game running we were held without a goal and unable to penetrate a side who either come with a plan to defend the 0-0 or sit back and force us to take the initiative in the game.
Stuart Pearce suggested as much in his post-game comments, where he praised the defence and endeavour of the side but admitted that "perhaps (we) need to be a bit cuter when going forward and we need to play better to get the best out of Coley and Vassell".
It is apparant that a midfielder (or two) who is capable of unlocking the more resolute defences is a must come the transfer window. I'll be interested to see Tuomas Haapala performs now we have apparantly signed him to a long term deal. The weekend also saw us linked with Fulham pair Steed Malbranque and Papa Diop and Real Betis midfielder Arzu.
Whoever Pearce does bring in (and I believe he does have definite targets in place) must be capable of bringing something extra to the side which at times we are lacking. As talented as Ireland is, as a young player he is not going to be able to sustain a high level of consistency week in week out.
We weren't dominated though and I don't think Liverpool could have had too many complaints if the game had finished 0-0, and it is now twenty-three games since we lost by more than one goal but looking at the fixture list there are three very important games leading upto Christmas starting with Charlton away on Sunday, West Brom away the following week and then Birmingham at home.
Certainly I don't think it is time for pessimism to take hold though as looking at these games they are all very winable and it maybe more beneficial that the next two games are away from home against sides who need three points to end a poor run of form (Charlton) or to haul themselves away from the relegation positions (West Brom). Rather than face sides coming to Eastlands happy with a point, it probably will suit us having teams making more of an effort to come at us and not have us try and force something to happen - something we are clearly struggling with at the moment.
We are still in a healthy position in the table but with three defeats in the last four games we are in danger of slipping from the teams jockeying for the European positions to the mid-table bunch of sides if we take a poor return from the next three games.

Match reports:
Sky Sports
The Times
Manchester Online

New issue of City 'til I Cry.

Just a quick plug for City fanzine City 'til I Cry which has the new issue out in time for todays game.
Should be plenty of sellers around the ground to pick one up or alternatively email tomcitytilicry@aol.com to buy a copy.

Match day preview.

Liverpool arrive at Eastlands tomorrow on the back of a fairly impressive run of late - unbeaten in five games without having conceded a goal, to possibly begin a run of consistency in the league which Rafael Benitez has been searching for since taking over at the beginning of last season. They do so having now qualified for the knock-out stages of the Champions League and can now concetrate on making an impression in the league.

Defensively, we steadied the ship a little with the clean sheet against Blackburn last week and will be looking to repeat last seasons 1-0 victory which could take us back into the top four. Team wise, Joey Barton returns to strengthen the midfield but Claudio Reyna and Antoine Sibierski could miss out whilst Spanish duo Xabi Alonso and Luis Garcia are set to miss out for Liverpool. The much lamented Peter Crouch is expected to start up front, but hopefully our generous tradition of helping out of form strikers will not surface tomorrow.

For want of sounding like a stuck record, I do expect another tight game and cannot see many goals. In fact, we have now gone twenty four games without suffering a defeat by more than one goal and haven't conceded more than one goal at home in the last twelve, whilst Liverpool bring with them the impressive stat that they have only fallen behind twice in Premiership games this season.

I don't expect either attacks to get much change of their opposing defenders - Hyppia and the vastly improved Carragher have been impressive this season whilst Liverpool haven't really found a combination from Morientes, Cisse, Crouch and Luis Garcia that has really clicked.

History shows that we haven't shared many goal-less draws over the last few seasons so my prediction for tomorrow is City 1 Liverpool 1 - with a feeling Vassell may get the first goal.

A Mark of Respect ?

The tributes have flowed in from pretty much all the football and celebrity world following the death of George Best.

Anybody who saw the pictures of him in the News of The World last weekend, which he bravely asked to be published as a warning, will have seen the desperate state a once supremely balanced and gifted athlete had inflicted upon himself.
It must have been terrible for his family too watch, and they have my sympathy.

Many have described him as the greatest ever. Hand on heart I haven’t seen enough footage of him to say if he belonged in the Pele & Maradona class.

What I have seen of Best does not lend itself to the greatness been bestowed upon him
The drunken ramblings on Wogan, the convictions for drink driving and the utter contempt he showed for the liver he was donated are not outweighed by an ability on the pitch , that he ultimately wasted.

That is why I am opposed to a minutes silence at every fixture tomorrow; I can understand it at United, Fulham even Stockport where he played but I do not believe he ‘earned’ the right to be shown this much respect.
Before the ABU brigade strike up, this is not an anti-united thing, one player who I do believe will have earned the right is Sir Bobby Charlton, both as a member of the world cup winning team and his ongoing to commitment to English football.

I hope that tomorrows silence is observed, mainly for the sake of the club. I know there are a lot of blues out there who also feel there shouldn’t be a minutes silence at COMS tomorrow. For the sake of the clubs reputation: simply do not take your seat until it’s over.

Stay in the bar and make your protest that way rather than dragging the club through the dirt.

Bring on the scouser’s !!!!!

Reserves lose derby.

Last night saw the City reserve side crash 4-2 to United in the mini-derby at mini-Eastlands. City - featuring Fowler, Sibierski, Onouha and Sinclair in the line-up did jump out into a 2-0 lead, but collapsed in the second-half with Rossi grabbing a hat-trick. Steve Wigley's thoughts on the defeat are at the following link.
Which brings me nicely onto a recent addition to the City blogroll link (on the right hand side of the site). MCFC reserves-academy is a blog which provides pretty in-depth match reports and commentary on the reserves and all academy sides. The most recent post being a match report from last nights derby.

There could be a blow to to the chances of City adding to the squad in the January transfer window with Ajax qualifying for the knock-out stages of the Champions League thanks to their 2-1 win over Sparta Prague last night. The agent of believed target Steve Pienaar has speculated that the Dutch side may now not cash in on the midfielder in January and prefer to risk leaving it until the summer to chance re-signing him in order to keep him for the remainder of their Champions League campaign.
The same could also apply to midfielder Thomas Galasek as Ajax may feel that extra revenue generated from an extended run could outweigh the transferr fee either player could command.

Europe or bust?

Not much in the news today, but the MEN carried an interview with Richard Dunne in which he says "anything but Europe this year would be a failure for us."
Elsewhere in the interview he admits that despite the last season push, it would have perhaps been a year too early but this season given the start we have had it is definitely expected.
I don't think it is just the players who are expecting it either, as a poll of supporters would surely reveal the same expectations.
Despite a brief flirtation with relegation a couple of seasons ago, the club is now in a stable position within the Premiership and it would take a truly monumental performance (even by City standards) to even come close to relegation now.
I think there has also been a realisation that the standard throughout the Premiership is not as high as it once was (or thought) and we can certainly hold our own with any side in the league. The consistency and resilience that we have added has also instilled a belief in the side and that we are not prone to throwing stupid games away, although disappointments like the Fulham game show we have not quite eliminated the frustrating ability to let opportunities slip.
Looking at the table currently - despite taking only eleven points from the last nine games after the hot start we had, a look around sees teams such as Bolton and Wigan riding high whilst some of the supposed bigger sides are struggling for consistency.
To move onto the next level, we do now need to be reaching European competition and attracting players who are looking to play in Europe, and in that process you can then kick on even further and be aiming for a Champions League spot (if Everton can do it?).
I think it is a measure of how far the club has rebounded over the last few years though in that the expectation now is that the team should achieve at least a UEFA place from this season and anything less would be viewed as a failure and should lead to answers as to why it has not been achieved.

Comments to the site.

Regarding some of the comments that have appeared over the last couple of days.
I've always been one to encourage comments and opinions on any of the posts that appear on the site, and in no way do I want to get in a situation where I end up having to censor any comments or withdraw the ability to post comments anonymously.
Equally, I'm all for a bit of piss-taking but I know there are some sites out there that a lot of people no longer bother with due to some of the stuff that ends up being posted, and in no way do I want to get in that situation with this site (and to be honest I don't think I will do).

Ok, lecture over.

Keane - the final word.

One thing that interested me when reading the comments to Mr Banks recent post and on the various message boards that are knocking around was the number of fans who admit they would not be opposed to City signing Roy Keane providing he turned in performances worthy of 'the shirt' and helped us gain some success (specifically silverware) along the way.
I imagined there to be a torrent of anti-Keane and anti-United comments (and don't get me wrong, most do subscribe to this view) but there some of you are out there who would clearly be able to forgive and forget.
So I thought about writing a piece in the role of devils advocate and attempt to justify how signing Keane could be both a positive and beneficial move for the club - and I couldn't.
Not because of the obvious reasons that City fans could never stomach the sight of him in a Blue shirt - namely that he represents everything that City fans abhor and find distasteful and repulsive about United, but for the plain, simple fact is that he isn't good enough to warrant signing.
As any United will openly admit to, both this season and last Keane has been a fading force at United and has need other defensive players such as Neville and Fletcher to be 'his legs'. A particular thing that has bothered me over the past couple of days is the way the press have been fawning over Keane, hailing him as one of the worlds great players. Zidane he certainly isn't. In his pomp (or should be pompous?) it was the inner-drive and intimidation that made him stand out above other players, not any technical proficiency. He was never a devastating passer of the ball, possesses no great pace or touch and was not a prolific goalscorer from midifeld.
He is now 34 years old and whilst the drive and will to win may still be in his heart and his head, they are certainly no longer in his legs. It says a great deal when Celtic fans are not convinced he would even make their first choice midfield. Remember the home derby last season? A big game, one of the games which Keane would expect teammates to be up for. He was completely anonymous for the ninety minutes and had no effect whatsoever.
Also putting aside the likely disruptive influence he would bring to the club, I would not give him a starting place currently ahead of Ireland, Barton or Reyna in the midfield. Coupled with rumoured targets such Malbranque, Pienaar and Galasek I would not for one minute even consider signing him if I was Stuart Pearce.

In all honesty, I think it is an academic argument anyway as I don't see it happening from either side. I listened to an interview with Stuart Pearce on GMR earlier and at no stage did he confirm any interest in signing him and any answers he gave around the topic were very non-commital. Pearce appears to be quite shrewd (possibly cautious?) in the transfer market and I think he must realise that a player whose chief assets are very much on the wane is of no benefit to the side, how we are progressing and where we are heading.
I think the majority of other Premiership managers who have expressed an interest are also merely doing so to appear ambitious and that they are in the market for big name players (step forward Bolton and Wigan please).
I also don't think Keane would contemplate the move anyway. The fallout of his departure has ensured his place in martyrdom for United fans, and surely he wouldn't want to end up risking that.
Perhaps the best way to seal his sainthood would be sign up for FC United?

City 0 Blackburn 0

In the interests of maintaining this site I tend to end up scanning most of the online newspapers and other news sources for City news and related information.
The one common theme that ran through all the reports I read yesterday and today was that the only thing worth talking about was Pearce and his habit of running onto the pitch to 'hurry up' opponents who are supposedly time wasting. One quick question - what would Pearce do if an opponent pushed him out the way? Push him back, punch him or back off and look a t**t? Stuart, please stop it. You have a technical area. Stay in it.
A 0-0 draw at home to Blackburn. A point earned? Two points dropped? I guess it's the half-full, half-empty analogy. Disappointing if we harbour serious Champions League aspirations, but a good point earned considering our recent dip in form (coupled with Blackburns improvement)and a less than full strength side.
A plus point is keeping a clean sheet, but the worry is being unable to break sides down who come with the intention of 'earning' a 0-0.
A dominant, attacking and creative midfielder must be top of Pearce's xmas list.

A bridge too far.

In the name of god Stuart , and with everything that is within me , please please, No.

So a true united legend engineers his move away from the swamp and hopefully to the delights of Glasgow , where they revel in the kind of hatred he shows to everyone and everything.

Walking away from your country just when they needed you the most is bad enough , but when you add the alleged women and child beating to his CV. His outbursts of physical and verbal violence on the pitch. His disregard for his fellow professional, the outcome is simple.

The best player to grace the premiership = possibly
The biggest twat to grace the premiership = probably

I for one would not be cheering him in a blue shirt.

Match day preview.

Blackburn come to town today in a game which I expect to be a tight, physical affair. Both sides will be missing players from their full strength line-ups, with Blackburn not featuring Brett Emerton or Lucas Neill - who played in Australia in midweek, whilst City see their midfielder decimated with Claudio Reyna and Kiki Musampa injured and Joey Barton missing through suspension.
Blackburn come to City on the back of their most impressive form of the season, winning four of their last six matches whilst City have dropped two of the last three games. However, Rovers have only won one of their away games this season, failing to score in their last three and conceding a second worst ten away goals.
Until last week, City had not conceded more than one goal in a game all season, and on a positive note we are joint level with Chelsea in points gained after falling behind in a game.
There is no doubt Blackburn will try and play a physical game and pressuring City players on the ball. The midfield areas will be key and it is this area in which we could struggle today without the graft and more physical presence of a Barton or Reyna as a midfield quartet of Croft, Ireland, Sun Jihai and Sibierski would not have led Robbie Savage to have too much of a troublesome nights sleep. A danger for me is Morten Gamst Pedersen who looks to be the real creative spark in the Blackburn midfield and I imagine most of the possession and attacks will come through him. Ireland could be a key player for us today if he is able to get into advanced forward positions and plays as a link between the midfield and attack.
Hopefully though, if we can come out on top in the midfield battle then I think the game could be ours for the taking as for me we dominate all other areas. Certainly I think Vassell and Cole should have too much pace and quality for the likes of Ryan Nelsen and Andy Todd in the Blackburn defence, whilst Distin and a hopefully fitter Dunne should control any of Dickov, Kuqi and Bellamy.
For once when he returns to City, I don't expect Dickov to score today after slotting penalties for both Blackburn and Leicester in previous visits - the Leicester one on the back of him 'earning' the penalty shall we say, which led to him being booed by a section of the crowd.
I wouldn't go as far as booing him as I don't believe he has done anything to particularly deserve such treatment. However, I fail to see why a large majority of City fans fete him as some kind of all-time hero. Yes, I accept that the goal he scored in the play-off effectively re-launched the club and rescued us from the cesspit of division 2, but is that one goal deserving of the praise that is heaped upon him? The playoff goal even earned the 'best ever City goal title', most important (of recent years) perhaps, but best EVER?
Dickov has surprised me at Blackburn with the number of goals he has scored (although hardly prolific) as his time at City showed only that he made up for his obvious deficencies with a strong desire and work ethic - all of which is commendable but still doesn't mask the fact Keegan was right to get rid of him when you consider the likes of Anelka, Huckerby and even Macken and Goater were also at the club.

Match day predicition:
City 2 Blackburn 1.

A KK comeback?

Several bookmakers are believed to have closed the book on Kevin Keegan being named as the new manager of the Republic of Ireland thanks to a spate of bets on the former City boss to fill the position vacated by the FAI decision not to renew Brian Kerr's contact.
Unlike the more publicity friendly Terry Venables who has openly courted the position, Keegan has yet to confirm of deny his interest.
Whether it was an 'inside word' on Keegan being appointed that led to him being heavily backed or not is anyone's guess but would he actually be interested in the position?
It is an arguable point as to whether he is interested in a return to football in any capacity - and so far he has not even returned as a TV pundit since leaving City and has maintained a Lord Lucan-esque profile over the past six months or so.
People talked about how broken he looked at the end of his England reign and wondered whether he had the passion and fire to return then, but did so and reinvigorated both himself and City during his spell at the club. However, it was clear by the end of his time with City that the fire had burnt out and the last month saw him a shell of the man who bounded into the club only a couple of years earlier.
In fact, he admitted that the City job would be his last in football and there has been nothing since to indicate he wants to return from the golf course in Malaga or wherever he heads off to during his normal sojourns away from the game.
However, Keegan has always struck me as being similar to a heavyweight boxer who can't resist the lure of 'one last shot' at the title, and that was undoubtedly the case when he decided to come to City. A lot has been made of his honesty when admitting he was good enough for the job of an international manager, and that tactically 'Kevin Keegan was not upto it'. It would be an amazing u-turn for him to now take on an international position bearing all of this is in mind and I would be extremely surprised if he was unveiled as the next Republic of Ireland manager.
But, and with Kevin Keegan there will always be a 'but' involved maybe he does fancy 'one last shot' to silence the doubters and critics and to prove the naysayers wrong?
I would be extremely surprised, but not shocked.

Media round-up.

Even more rumours in the press today as City continue to be linked with more players in the January transfer window. Todays MEN first of all reports that Pearce will be handed a transfer kitty in the region of £10million, with Pearce admitting he has specific targets he will be making bids for come January; "We've certainly got a list of people that we're very interested in."In January we will be making offers for certain people. If we're fruitful and they fit into our financial structure fine. If they don't, we'll carry on looking."
The MEN again links us with previous midfield targets Steed Malbranque and Steven Pienaar, whilst Sky Sports states we are one of the clubs who 'officially' watched Marseille winger Franck Ribery in Tuesday's under 21 match for France versus England (who featured Nedum Onouha in the side). I caught most of this game and Ribery looked far more advanced than any other player on the pitch and has also been rumoured as a potential World Cup squad member for the full French side. He would be a fantastic signing but the other clubs rumoured to be watching him include Chelsea, Arsenal, Juventus and Milan.
One former Blue possibly headed back to the Premiership could be Paulo Wanchope, who is reportedly keen on returning from his move to the Middle East to link up with under-fire Portsmouth manager Alain Perrin.

Elsewhere, the MEN had a profile today of Daniel Sturridge, who is now making his mark on the reserve team following his first start earlier this week. The piece features heady praise from reserve/academy chief Steve Wigley but also reports on the threat of Sturridge being poached by one of the 'big London clubs' as he is yet unable to sign a professional contract as he has not turned seventeen. Wigley urged Sturridge to eschew the lure of Chelsea and to sign on at City, citing the opportunities that players such as Steven Ireland have had this season. Having not seen Sturridge play as yet, all I can go off is reports from people who have, but by all accounts he is a top talent who is only a year or so away from the first team. The laughable thing will be if he does decide not to sign on at City, then the compensation we will receive would be nominal considering the potential he has. A recent example involving Chelsea signing three teenage players from lower league clubs resulted in them paying less than £1 million in compensation for all three players. It is ridiculous as the compensation package does not seem to be weighted in any way towards a potential career a player may have with the club who are signing them, in so far as taking into account total appearances made, England caps and so on. A one-off fee hardly appears adequate compensation figure given the fact that the player has shown enough promise to warrant being signed in the first place.

Rumour round-up.

After taking Tuomas Haapala on trial in recent days, City have been linked with further reinforcements today in the shape of Thomas Galasek and Stefan Kiessling.
Galasek, the 32 year old Ajax midfielder is believed to be ready to quit the Dutch side should they fail to progress beyond the group stages and reports suggest we could be ready to offer £2 million for the Czech international.
Kiessling meanwhile is a striker who was watched by Pearce in action for the German under 21 side. The 6' 5" Nuremberg striker has been previously linked with a move to Arsenal.
I feel Galasek, although on the wrong side of 30 could be a decent signing as he is in a similair vain to other City target Steed Malbranque in that he would offer a more attacking threat than the current midfielders.
I've not heard anything about Kiessling previously, although he has believed to have impressed for the under 21 side and is currently stalling on a new contract.
As we move into December and the transfer window draws near, expect even more rumours of new arrivals. Still, it would be nice to know exactly what transfer kitty is going to be available for Pearce though.

Finn on trial.

City have moved to bring recent Finnish debutant Tuomas Haapala on trial to the club. The 26 year-old is a midfielder who currently plays for Finnish outfit MyPa and recently made his international debut against Estonia.
I don't know anything about this guy to be honest (a quick look on Championship Manager may be required later) but it is slightly worrying that we seem to be looking at bringing trialists into the club as it does indicate there may not be a great deal of funds available for Stuart Pearce come the January transfer window.
One firm target who may not be moving to City is Steed Malbranque. According to the Sun, the Frenchman is ready to sign a new contract with Fulham, ending any hopes that City have of bringing him to the club. I've said before that I think Malbranque will be an ideal complement to the midfield that we already have and surely any efforts should be made to sign him if he is interested in a move to City. Let's hope it may not be a lack of funds which scuppers any move for him.

On line petition.

One other bit you might be interested in is a post I found on one of the City forums. It appears that West Yorkshire police are refusing to allow any Hull fans to travel to the upcoming game at elland Road unless they travel as part of an official supporters coach. (Quite rightly) the Hull chairman has refused to take up their ticket allocation for this game. It is a worrying development if this is something that is introduced nationwide by other police forces - imagine being effectively barred from travelling to an away game under your own steam. Effectively, being under control in travelling to and from an away match with no freedom to plan a trip whatsoever? Anyway, click on to the link sign the petition if you so wish.

A popular national pastime.

A little bit in the News of the World serialisation of Patrick Vieira's book yesterday was an attack on our very own David James with Vieira joining in the popular pastime of David James-bashing. As well as sharing his thoughts about how Arsenal made no effort to keep him over the summer which effectively ended his Arsenal career despite him 'never wanting to leave Arsenal', he claims England will never win anything with David James in goal (personally I don't see them winning anything without him either) and laying the blame for Englands European Championship defeat against France squarely at James feet. This, all of course despite the England captain missing a penalty which would have surely put the game beyond reach, Zidane striking an unstoppable free-kick for the equaliser and Gerrard's suicidal back pass which resulted in the conceding ofthe winning penalty.
But no, of course James is the weak link in the side preventing the sure-fire World Cup win next year.
The way in which James has conducted himself when faced with abuse he has received from the media and England supporters should be commended. Never once has he responded with an attack to the criticism (although he would be well justified to do so) and fortunately he has always come back stronger with his performances for City. Perhaps it has something to do with the support he has always received from the club, as opposed to the spineless way in which Sven-Goran Erikkson has discarded him whenever a scapegoat is conveniently needed to deflect from his own inadequacies.
I'm not sure why Vieira felt the need to include an opinion of James, but as the book conveniently forgets his flirtation withMadrid for the best part of the summer over the past few years, it maybe wise to not hold too much truck with M. Vieira's opinions on footballing matters.

Saint Robbie?

There were reports today in some sections of the media that Southampton may be interested in taking Robbie Fowler on a temporary loan deal, with Stuart Pearce being keen to get Fowler some regular first team action to get him back to full fitness.
Fowler has looked bright at the end of last season, arguably playing the best football of stuttering City career before he suffered another injury which has restricted his appearances so far this campaign.
This season has seen the development of a blossoming partnership between Cole and Vassell, but with the injury to Bradley Wright-Phillips as well we have seen a couple of games with Sibierski being forced to fill in alongside Vassell, which has seen rumours that we are looking to bring in a striker rather than allowing one to leave.
Let alone whether Pearce would actually be considering loaning Fowler out (I can't see for one minute that he would even contemplate it), it is surely out of the question that Fowler would sanction such a move anyway.
He has already gone on record as saying he won't end up as a footballer who drifts down the divisions to prolong their career - and considering his rumoured property portfolio it's not as if he will need to keep playing to feed his family.
I have always been a strong supporter of Fowler during his time as City and felt he is still a player of some talent and backed him to score twenty league goals this season. However, I think time is running out for him to make a fist of it now with City and the development of the Cole-Vassell partnership, with players such as Wright-Phillips and other Academy stars coming it is conceivable that we could be drawing to a close on the career of Robbie Fowler.
I feel that if the remainder of the season is as frustrating as the start of this one has been he will quit and walk away at the end of the season (something which he has already seen his good friend Steve McManaman do) to avoid clouding even further what is becoming a disappointing and frustrating final chapter to a once illustrious career.

Stat attack.

Compared to American sports, the publication of stats for various things in football has been a relatively recent one. I've looked at the Actim Index a couple of times in the blog previously (where we do fairly well to be honest) but I've not taken much of a look at the more well know Opta stats before.
Cue a(nother) dull international break with not much news in the world of City apart from a 'bonding' trip to the Peak District - what happened to good old fashioned all dayers at the races like in days of yore? so I thought I'd take a look at the Opta stats to see if there was anything glaring that stood out (good or bad).

Team wise, it shows that our strikers dominate the goals scored whilst we concede as many from opposition midfielders as we do from strikers, although we have yet to concede from outside the area so far.
Goals scored are spread evenly across the whole ninety minutes with neither for or against showing any trends as regards getting quick off the mark or a penchance for conceding in the last minute.
There is also an even spread as far as how we concede - equal measure for left foot, right foot and headers, wheras we have scored over two-thirds right-footed and are yet to score a header (although unconfirmed stats show Sibierski has now attemted 107 headers without success).
Before you cry 'shoot' when we are next fannying around with the ball on the edge of the box, remember that we rank second in the Premiership with 134 shots and first with a cross success rate of 30%.
We also top the yellow card table with twenty-two so far, second in tackles made (403) and sixth in fouls committed (167) so it appears that we are following a mantra of 'getting stuck in'.

For individual players, it does tell one main story here in that they show how much of an influence Joey Barton is having this season. Barton leads the team both with fouls for (18) and against (23) with somewhat suprisingly Darius Vassell and Andrew Cole slightly behind in the fouls conceded chart. Interestingly, Danny Mills has had almost as many fouls against him (13) than conceded (15) - must be something in this winding up the opposition lark! Barton has also completed the most passes, crosses and leads the team by some distance in tackles made, with Claudio Reyna second in the passes and tackling categories.
Cole and Vassell unsuprisingly lead the way in shots on goal, and perhaps even more unsuprising is Musampa's woeful 33% shot accuracy total.

The one thing that stood out for me was the impact that Barton is having on the team this season following his summer troubles. There have been rumours he may feature in the England set-up at some stage but I think the World Cup 2006 could come a year or two early for him.
Anyway, if they did nothing else at least you can turn to the person sat next to you when Musampa next blazes one over and moan 'that's 30.7888%' shot accuracy for that **** now'.

Yawn...it's international time.

Another quiet time on the horizon as we head to the 246th international break of the season and probably not going to be much news about over the next few days. I don't know, maybe we'll sack Pearce or sign back SWP to liven things up a little?
Two of our younger players Jonathan D'Laryea and Danny Warrender have had their loan spells extended by a further month with Mansfield and Blackpool respectively. Both players have seemingly impressed thus far with Pearce commenting "we are watching them and the feedback, as players and individuals, from their clubs has been fantastic."
David James has also speaking about his and the clubs future in the new edition of City Magazine.
"The direction the team is going is encouraging and I want to be part of it. It gives me a good foundation to work on and we will see what happens after that" said James in respect of his new contract which takes him upto 2007, and also joined in the praise of Pearce and improvement to the club since he took over from Kevin Keegan. "Firstly, there has been a vast improvement in my time here especially since Stuart Pearce took over, and secondly with Stuart being such a young manager he is still learning. He will improve with experience and so, as a consequence, should the team and the club. The future is bright."
James again has been one of our most consistent performers so far this season and deservedly earned his recall to the England squad for the Argentina friendly as there is no question he is a better and more experienced goalkeeper than either Robert Green or Chris Kirkland as an alternative to Paul Robinson - who has made a couple of glaring errors for Spurs this season without the media bashing that James has received.

Weaver gets extended run.

Good to see Nicky Weaver getting a chance to put a sustained run of first team games together with his six week loan spell at Sheffield Wedensday which began last Saturday in their 2-1 victory against Derby. Weaver joined the team at short notice following injuries to their first choice keepers and by all accounts performed creditably as well.
Since coming back from his serious injury problems, he has been limited to reserve team outings with the exception of his cameo against Middlesbrough on the final day of last season so it is a good move for both Weaver - and one he is keen on, and the club in that he can be seriously tested by playing a number of games in the Championship until Christmas.
No word on whether there is potential to extend the deal (correct me if I'm wrong) but I think with de Vliiger in reserve to David James (does he ever get injured?) it is the ideal opportunity to get Weaver out on loan for the season to a club where he can play regularly and build up his confidence and fitness over a sustained period in a more competitive environment than reserve team football.

Fulham 2 City 1.

Another disappointing outcome from a trip down to the capital which sees us lose some ground on our bid to get a stranglehold on a top six berth.
I've not managed to catch any of the action but from the match reports and speaking to those who went down to the game, there isn't much cause for complaint although it was a game that we really should be expected to be picking points up from.
The GMR commentary seemed to suggest that Cole wasn't completely fit, whilst it seems that Dunne was rushed back a little early after only a 45 minute reserve outing due to the injury sustained by Sommeil against Villa last Monday.
All the focus was probably on Steed Malbranque, following Pearce's pre-season flirtation in trying to prise him away from Fulham, and with him yet to put pen to paper on new deal, he seems to have very much passed his audition if Pearce is still keen on him. How much will Saturday's display put on a potential transfer fee though?
No game this weekend with international week, before we face Blackburn and Liverpool at home in consecutive weeks.

Match reports:
Sky Sports, Manchester Online, BBC sport, The Times

Anelka named in French squad.

Proving that playing for City really does damage your international prospects, the latest French squad sees a shock return for Fenerbahce and former-City striker Nicolas Anelka. Despite being frozen out by various managers over the past three seasons (ie. during his time at City) which resulted in several outbursts by Nico, France coach Raymond Domenech has called him up for the forthcoming friendlies against Costa Rica and Germany.
I've only seen Anelka once this season - away at Milan in the Champions League where he performed superbly as a lone striker, and a look at the Fenerbahce website shows he has scored five times in nine games this season.
However, it has caused shockwaves in France with L'equipe labelling it a 'sensation', and running a vote to see if the return of Anelka is a good one for Les Bleus (currently 61% saying yes).
A lot of people mocked his choice of clubs when he moved to Turkey and expected him to fall completely off the football radar, but he got his desire to play in the Champions League, and ultimately has made a return to the National side, so whatever your views you cannot argue against the fact that it has turned out superbly for him.

There was a time...

Being outplayed by supposed 'inferior sides', players on inflated wages playing with no pride or heart, tactical naivety, a manager under fire, half the side blatantly not upto scratch, disillusioned supporters complaining about anything and everything, the season over by Christmas, the club saddled under a horrendous debt, and most of all - a lack of hope for the future.
Didn't we once have the copyright on all of that?

Pearce in nationality shock.

City boss Stuart Pearce has stunned the football world by announcing that he was not in fact qualified to play for England in his international career, but in fact should have turned out for Holland, on account of his true nationality - that of a Dutchman.
Well, not exactly true but it seems Psycho displayed a touch of the 'Kevin Keegans' when discussing the international merits of Sylvain Distin.
"If he is not an international player I am a Dutchman," Pearce told BBC GMR.
"He has got a bit of everything. He is unbelievable. He's got pace, he's got power, he can jump 16 feet".
Hang on, how high can he jump? Maybe the excellent form he has shown may not be down to just hard work on the training ground after all.
Still, Pearce has got it spot on as regards Distin being international class and I'm amazed that Distin hasn't featured in a French squad so far and worryingly, if he does miss out on a World Cup place with 'Les Bleus' could this force him to look to move to a 'bigger stage' bearing in mind his current contract expires summer 2007 and there has been interest in him previously from Everton, Newcastle and Villa - although I'm certain that none of those sides would appeal to Distin if he looks at the position he is currently in. A definite concern though, and as good as it has been to sign up the youngsters on medium and long term deals (with BWP the latest to sign on), surely all the stops should be pulled to retain Distin's services.
Another player whose deal runs out the summer after next is Joey Barton, and he has been in the press today dismissing rumours linking him with a move away from the club.
Barton has really knuckled down since the summer Thailand incident and off-field family problems and looks as if he is beginning to mature into the midfield player that many thought capable. Another one that it is crucial that we can get signed on for the next four or five years.

City 3 Villa 1.

The Vassell and Cole show was re-united last night and paid dividends as Villa were swept aside at Eastlands as we moved back into the top four with a comfortable 3-1 victory.
Despite probably not being fully fit, the return of Cole to me was the key and there was a definite air of confidence about our play which had lacked a little in the previous defeat at Arsenal.
In some ways Villa gifted us the game with an awful mix-up between JLloyd Samuel and Stuart Taylor which left Vassell to slot home with the game hardly five minutes in. The second was a beauty, with a deft cross from Mills (an oxymoron if I came across one) being beautifully controlled by Cole before he switched to his left foot to play in Vassell who struck a controlled and measured volley into the far corner for a 2-0 lead.
The strike pair again earned praise from Pearce following the game in which bizzarely he likened them to Laurel & Hardy; "They are a Laurel and Hardy partnership - they were made for each other. If you look at them individually, Darius gives us pace up front, which we were lacking last season, and Cole is clever in the hole."
I've seen certain Laurel & Hardy combinations in a Blue shirt down the years and it is perhaps somewhat harsh of Pearce to compare them to the erstwhile comedians but his sentiment is no doubt sound.
Pearce however was disappointed (perhaps a Laurel & hardy box-set to brighten his mood?) in the manner in which we let Villa get a foothold back in the game when Ridgewell bundled home to reduce the deficit; "I do understand that that happens in The Premier League at this standard, teams do get back into the game but we gave the ball away too cheaply but credit to the players, fantastic, well done, but we can get better."
Perhaps a better side than Villa may have been able to capitalise on this, especially when we looked a little rocky when Sommeill went off and Mills moved across into the centre with substitute Patrik Berger taking a hold of the game, but credit to City and we regained some composure and were unlucky not to be awarded a penalty when Barton went down under a challenge from Mellberg, but Cole (with a helping deflection) killed the game to make it 3-1 late on.
Although Cole and Vassell will rightly steal the show thanks to their performance, I thought Croft looked sprightly and full of attacking invention in a rare start for him, Distin was again magnificent at the back - earning plaudits from David O'Leary, and bailed the team out on a couple of occasions with superb interceptions durings Villa's attacking spell, whilst Stephen Ireland surely produced the moment of the game (or season?) when Ronaldinho-esque he dragged back then flicked the ball into the path of Cole who dragged the shot just wide, where a chip finish would have been a candidate for goal of the season.
The views of Villa blogs on the game can be found at the following link.
Onwards to Fulham on Saturday then with all looking pretty rosy in the City garden at the moment. Meanwhile across town......