Dabo move off?

Seems that despite both the club and player being keen on each other, the proposed signing of Ousmane Dabo appears dead in the water.

According to Dabo's agent - a certain Willie McKay;

"We are speaking to three clubs apart from City and Bolton, Ousmane is one of the best Bosman signings available in Europe this summer and he has expressed his intention to play in The Premiership.
He did admit he fancied playing at City, but now we are looking at other options and hopefully something will be sorted out in the next couple of weeks or so."

Dabo appeared keen on the club, so could it be solely down to money? Surely the club must have known of his wage demands when he rebuffed the contract offer from Lazio so it is a little strange that negotiations would breakdown over money.

According to McKay he is now set for negotiations with other clubs, yet call me a cynic but I can't help thinking it may be part of a negotiation tactic on the part of Dabo (and McKay) to up the wage offer from the club.

The home for unwanted Blues

A week after snapping up David Sommeil on a free transfer following his release from the club, it has emerged that Sheffield United could be one of the clubs interested in Danny Mills, amongst others including Aston Villa, Wigan and Middlesbrough.

Mills himself has said:

"I am open-minded about my future. You never close any doors in football.
The club has given me permission to talk to other clubs. I will look at any offer but ultimately, the ball is in my court."

One club hoping Mills does make a move must surely be Leeds United, who should he go elsewhere will presumably be off the hook for the portion of his wages that they are still believed to be paying.

Mills hit out (again...)

After being told he has now future at the club and is available on a free transfer, Danny Mills hit out at Stuart Pearce;

"I'm disappointed the way things have turned out. I don't think the manager liked me asking questions or making suggestions.
Of course I was frustrated at not being in the team but my opinions were an effort to improve the team, whether I was in it or not."

If you remember, Mills also hit out at Kevin Keegan over his training methods following his departure from the club and actually praised the effect Stuart Pearce had.

To be honest, I don't remember any of his opinions being reported so whether they were an effort to improve the team or not I have no idea.

I do think Mills will attract some interest and on a free transfer I'm sure he will be snapped up - maybe not by a Premiership side though.

If not, he clearly won't be playing any part in the first team at all throughout the rest of his career.

Dickov returns home.

As expected, Paul Dickov has returned to the club, signing a two year deal and speaking in gushing terms about the club.

"Blackburn offered me a great deal to stay there, two years, and they were going into Europe, but I just felt that the chance of coming back here was too big a pull for me. Financially, I could have gone elsewhere but this is the club I support and it's one where I want to be successful."

Yes he will be a trier and give us all for the cause but I just can't see how he will offer an upgrade over anyone already at the club apart from as a 'role' player to come off from the bench and try and provide a spark to the team - and given the way we finished the season maybe that will be a vital role come next season.

Soccer Shout World Cup Group C preview

Click the Soccer Shout link for the World Cup Group C preview...featuring The Treble podcast, The Beautiful Game podcast, the Bitter and Blue blog, the Soccer Thoughts Blog, stalwarts Tony and Bob from New Jersey and (deep breath) analysis provided by Matt in London so Phil didn't have to!

Reyna out of World Cup?

In an echo of his City season, USA captain Claudio Reyna was forced out of the friendly defeat against Morrocco with a hamstring injury.

Reyna is hopeful that is a pull rather than a tear but the concern is with just over two weeks to the opening of the tournament Reyna could be forced out of the group stages at least;

"Hopefully, I've gotten away with something very minor. I don't think it's going to be long term, but tomorrow we'll know better."

Several thousand City fans simultaneously go "hmmmm....."

Dabo leaves Lazio.

It looks increasingly likely that Ousmane Dabo will be on his way to City after rejecting a final contract offer from Lazio - who Dabo confirmed increased their initial offer of £320,000.

Dabo would upgrade the midfield area and provide further numbers to an area which needs reinforcements following the release of Riera and Musampa and although he turned down the offer from Lazio, any potential salary shouldn't be cause too much of a dent in the clubs budget.

James gets start for England 'B' game.

David James has beaten out Robert Green to get the start for the England 'B' friendly against Belarus as the fringe players get a run out as part of England's World Cup preparations, which also features those players who are on the comeback trail from injury.

The team in full:

James (Man City), Hargreaves (Bayern Munich), A Cole (Arsenal), Carrick (Tottenham), Carragher (Liverpool), Campbell (Arsenal), Lennon (Tottenham), Jenas (Tottenham), Crouch (Liverpool), Owen (Newcastle), Downing (Middlesbrough).

Au revoir David.

As predicted, David Sommeil has completed his free transfer move to Premiership newcomers Sheffield United.

"Sommeil was signed for £3.4m from Bordeaux by former City boss Kevin Keegan in January 2003 but played only 17 games for the club last season".

Great work Kev.

Soccer Shout Group B preview.

Click on the following link to download the World Cup Group B preview from Soccer Shout (show date May 23rd), which features a contribution from yours truly.

They are putting out a show every couple of days or so at the moment but will be going daily throughout the World Cup.

Speaking of which, after a bit of deliberation I've decided to post about the World Cup on here rather than over at Fox Sports. I'll still be posting up anything City related of course, but as of next week (after a couple of days break) I'll also be posting about the World Cup right throughout the tournament.

Hart stopper.

The club announced the signing of England under 19 keeper Joe Hart from Shrewsbury yesterday in a deal worth an initial £600,000 (potentially rising to £1.5 million dependent on a string of conditions).

We had been tracking the keeper for some time and a move was suggested back in the January transfer window, but the move came as a little bit of a surprise due to the rumours of other bigger signings (ahem) such as Dickov, Traore and Fortune.

Shrewsbury manager Gary Peters stated that Hart will 'play for England one day' and it seems that he is line to become heir apparant to David James.

One interesting point is the potential log jam in the reserve side next season as both Hart and Kaspar Schmeichel are too old for the youth side so will be battling Nicky Weaver for playing time. Expect to see Schmeichel - and possibly Hart spending time elsewhere next season.

Sturridge puts pen to paper.

Despite the rumours and suggestions in the press in recent months, young striker Daniel Sturridge has put pen to paper on a three-year committing himself to the club until 2009.

From the few times I have seen Sturridge play he looks to be be a little way off the first team at the moment, but a three year deal (initially) should hopefully see him progress and breakthrough into the first team during that time.

You wonder how true the rumours of Chelsea or Arsenal sniffing around and trying to lure him away actually were - and whether he did come close to departing. Or alternatively whether the experience of Shaun Wright-Phillips and the emergence of his peers Onouha and Richards swayed him and swayed him into signing.

Whatever the reasons, good news nonetheless.

City board speaks out.

John Wardle and David Makin used the MEN yesterday to 'send a message' to City fans to 'stick with them and help the club march forward'.

Reading the interview, it doesn't come across as all doom and gloom but there isn't a great deal of optimism to take with us over the summer into next season.

I've picked out some of the more pertinent comments from the pair and added a little analysis of my own:

"This is the longest spell we have had in the Premier League...although by the managers own standards the season just gone wasn't a particularly good one. I think a lot of lessons have been learned and we hope next season those lessons will come to fruition".

There was a lot of negativity around the fan base towards the end of last season about where the club is at, but it is a valid point that the club now has a degree of stability and hasn't yo-yo'd between divisions as evidenced in recent times. It would be interesting to know what lessons have been learned (and by whom). If he is referring to Pearce (and the management team) what will happen if the lessons don't come to fruition as invariably it would mean we would be struggling at the wrong end of the table.

"This football club is moving on and on".

I don't think too many fans would concur with this as last season appeared to be a big step back after the positive finish to the 04/05 season and there appears less and less money to bring in players of quality than there was under Kevin Keegan.

"Stuart has got a little bit of money available and he is looking in his market place - at Bosmans, loans and small fees...he is speaking to all kinds of people about bringing the right players in."

Pretty conclusive that there will be not much cash available to bring in players of real quality but more the likes of the players we saw arrive over last summer and those linked so far this offseason. Judging by comments I've seen on message boards, this won't excite too many fans.

"Some of the Wright-Phillips money was spent before we got it because we were running behind. People forget that a couple of seasons ago we made a £15 million loss".

At the time of the Wright-Phillips sale, the noises coming out of the club were that we didn't have to sell him and that it was his Wright-Phillips decision to leave. Maybe Wright-Phillips did instigate the move but it appears as though the board may not have exactly fought tooth and nail to keep him. And if they had have done, would there have been any guarantee he wouldn't have had to have been sold this summer? And is there any guarantee more players won't have to depart?
The £15 million loss - who was responsible for that? We were in the Premier League (and had been for a couple of years) so decent money from TV and sponsorship must have been coming in so clearly there were some 'budgeting' issues that the board are ultimately responsibile for, so whilst it is feasible we had to sell Shaun Wright-Phillips perhaps the board should have been more honest about the financial position.

"...to a certain extent, paid for missing out on the early days of the Premiership. While we were yo-yo'ing around the divisions we were essentially in the wrong place at the wrong time".

"The first important thing is stability. If any investment comes forward it has to be substantial because for a relatively small amount somebody could destabilise the club again".

There is no doubt that we missed out on the big boom of the Sky TV money, but looking at the last five years and especially under Keegan we may have tried too hard to play catch up and there is no doubt that Keegan was given too much leeway in the transfer market and not only that, wasted a lot of that money. Yet, looking at the levels of debt would a few extra seasons have wiped that out (considering the parachute payments that must have been received whilst we were out of the Premiership).

It also seems the club are still pursuing the 'sugar daddy' figure that Alastair Mackintosh has been chasing the past couple of seasons despite the false hopes of Sheikhs, Russians, Norwegians and god knows who else. It is a long shot that we would attract and Abramovich type figure and if small investment is not being encouraged (I guess that rules out Ricky Hatton then) then the financial state of the club is not going to change too much.


The tone of the piece was clearly meant to be a an answer to the critics of the board, but the article didn't really provide too many answers to the questions that have been posed over the last season. To give them some credit though at least they have come and put something out in the open - despite it not being exactly what most wanted to hear.

Dickov leaves Blackburn.

Paul Dickov and Blackburn parted company yesterday, fuelling speculation that the striker could be making a return back to City with it likely that Dickov is one of the 'six or seven' players Stuart Pearce has stated he is talking to.

Dickov is reported as have being offered a two year deal by Blackburn but was not happy at the terms offered, given his reduced playing time last season and the fact that the second year of the deal was apparantly linked to appearances during the first season.

You can understand him rejecting that deal at this latter stage of his career (now being 33 years old) but surely he won't get a more favourable deal at City? If he signs then he will be vying with current incumbents Cole, Vassell and Samaras in addition to Sibierski, Wright-Phillips and any other young striker we might sign (MK Dons Izael McLeod linked with us yesterday).

Maybe though he feels he still has some unfinished business at City as Keegan bombed him out when he didn't really want to leave, and wants to come back and prove a point to certain people but to me I can't see him filling a different role than he did at Blackburn.

Sheffield United and Everton are also rumoured to be interested in signing Dickov.

Devotion.

Would you go this far?

Bitter and Blue hits the airwaves.

Check out my first contribution (show date 19.05.06) for the guys over at Soccer Shout, a daily podcast which has recently been launched, looking at news, scores and events from around Europe.

Their focus has now switched to the World Cup and I will be featuring regularly throughout the tournament in addition to my contributions over at Fox Sports.

Let the rumours begin...

I thought that it would be a relatively quiet time club wise at the moment with focus switching to the World Cup, but the past day has seen a few rumours flying about.

First up is one from Aston Villa blog which suggests that we could make a move for Juan-Pablo Angel to re-unite his partnership with Darius Vassell. First I've heard of this and I don't see Pearce making this move as money would be better spent elsewhere.

Following on from his omission from the England squad, it was to be expected that the return of SWP would be bandied about, and Stuart Pearce has not hidden a desire to take him back if the circumstances are right. There is no way we can afford to sign him on a permanent basis, and I don't see Chelsea benefitting from a loan deal so again a long shot for me. Added to this is the quote from Peter Kenyon which says three players will leave Chelsea over the summer but 'Wright-Phillips won't be one of them'.

As equally unsurprising as the SWP link was the City back in for Malbranque rumour once Malbranque was placed on the transfer list. Could we afford him though? I think he will be eyeing a move to a Champions League side and I've heard Celtic may be tempted to make a move, but perhaps Fulham would be tempted into a swap deal for Sylvain Distin as has been suggested. Personally I would be against this and would much prefer us to through Joey Barton into any swap deal (even if we had to stump up some cash on top as well).

And finally, if this is true and not merely 'newspaper spin' on a throwaway comment then I cannot believe that Pearce would admit to it.

2005/06 Player reviews.

Check out my contribution over at Blue Watch which analysed how the squad performed during the 2005/06 season.

Fazackerley edged out in reshuffle.

As part of his end of season analysis, Stuart Pearce has reshuffled his backroom staff with Derek Fazackerley being moved to a new scouting role. Fazackerley's new job description is somewhat confusing, with his responsibilities being 'dealing with agents, scouting potential targets and player co-ordination'.

Steve Wigley - who joined last summer with the responsibility for the reserves and academy, moves up to become first team coach with Frank Bunn assuming the post Wigley has vacated.

Although his time in charge at Southampton didn't go succesfully for him, he joined the club with a great reputation for developing young talent. Pearce obviously trusts him and he seems to have been his 'eyes in the stand' for most of the games last season whilst Pearce was down on the touchline.

Personally I think it is a good move as Fazackerley is clearly a Keegan holdover and didn't appear to contribute much to the team last season, something I imagine Wigley will correct. Also Wigley will bring a good knowledge of some of the younger players coming through which may be vital as it is likely they will be seeing increased playing time next season.

Bitter and Blue end of season awards.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the inaugral Bitter and Blue end of season awards. Without further ado, we move onto the first category...

Bitter and Blue player of the season:

As I've mentioned previously, this was a very tight call with what came down to three contenders - David James, Richard Dunne and Sylvain Distin who turned in the most consistent performances throughout the season. Personally, I thought Dunne had a mid-season blip which ruled him out of contention and I just felt that Distin had turned in more high-level performances than James over the course of the season.

Winner: David James.


Bitter and Blue readers player of the season:

Thanks to all who took the time to comment and email on this one.
Throughout the time I had the vote posted up the lead changed a couple of times. Darius Vassell got off to a storming start but fell away towards the end (parallels with his season anyone?) and James, Distin and Dunne were all in running.
In the end though we had a tie.

Winner(s): Richard Dunne and David James.


Breakthrough player of the season:

No contest with this one. I was impressed last season with the way Nedum Onouha forced his way into the team and looked very much at home but that was nothing compared to Micah Richards impact. I first saw him in one of the early youth team Cup games and he looked a dominant player. However, the way he imposed himself with the first team - playing in three different positions as well was astounding.

Winner: Micah Richards.


Overachiever of the season:

This was a bit of a difficult one as I wouldn't say the winner had altogether overachieved as he has been a consistent performer at the top level, but there was a lot of scepticism when he arrived in the summer and I'm sure there were fans who were hoping that he would fail. He quickly settled in though and linked up well with Darius Vassell, also adding goals himself in the process. Hit by injuries late in the season, on reflection this definitely hurt the team and had he been fit would have helped Samaras and Vassell turn in more consistent performances.

Winner: Andrew Cole.


Underachiever of the season:

You may think this one to be abit of a surprise as you may not have expected him to actually turn in decent performances throughout the season, but he did a lot of talking over the summer how he was going to win his place in the team back. In all reality with a full-strength line-up he is now realistically third or even fourth choice and it shows how far he has fallen given that he was an ever present during the last World Cup.

Winner: Danny Mills.


Performance of the season:

It certainly wasn't going to be any from the latter part of the season was it? I thought the Charlton (away) and Newcastle (home) performances were definitely up there and in with a shout but realistically there was only going to be one winner for this award.

Winner: United (home 3-1).


Goal of the season:

I narrowed this down to three goals, and they are very much contrasting ones. One being a genuine 'goal of the season' contender and the other two more because of the enjoyment/celebration factor. Sorry Robbie and Micah, but you're missing out on this one as I decided to go for a real run and finish effort.

Winner: Danny Mills (versus Everton)


Incident of the season:

There was one incident which although it settled down towards the end of the season is still ongoing and looks set to dominate much of the off-season news. It came out of the blue and in truth divided the fans at the time with some in support but most against what happened. As time has gone on since January and his performances have not been anywhere near earlier in the season and have made his demands at the time look a little fanciful.

Winner: The Joey Barton transfer request.


Well, that draws a close to the 2005/06 season. Feel free to post any comments or awards of your own in response.

I'll still be posting up anything City related over the next couple of months between now and pre-season but as it's World Cup year I'll also be on international duty contributing some articles over at Fox Sports and regularly to the podcasts being put by the guys at Soccer Shout.

Ten released.

The club today announced that ten players are to be released this summer.

There was not too much surprise with the majority of those players released, perhaps only Sommeil, Musampa and Riera warranting new deals.

Mikkel Bischoff will go down in the annals as another 'could have been' who never fulfilled the potential promised when he signed, whilst de Vlieger, Haapala and the youngsters have not come close to the first team.

Sommeil has played well at times and made a few starts this season but in reality is only a reserve and we now have the likes of Richards, Onouha and Matt Mills who have moved ahead of him in the pecking order.

Musampa looked comfortable when he moved into the centre but by all accounts has not impressed Pearce on a couple of occasions with his attitude so this may have put Pearce off finally making his transfer permanent.

Riera is a surprise as he impressed me on a number of occasions and offered something different to other players on the books. I imagine though that the transfer fee to sign him was too steep in Pearce's opinion to provide value, but it is a concern as it does leave the midfield light and makes it imperative that two or three midfielders are now brought in - not even accounting for the possible departure of Joey Barton.

So that's why we signed him!

The club announced that they will take part in a pre-season tournament in China, alongside Shanghai Shenhua, Kashima Antlers and Atletico Madrid.

Perhaps the appearance fee we will receive may pay for Sun Jihai's new contract.

Predictions review.

Way back at the start of the 2005/06 season I posted up my season predictions on who would finish where come the end of the season.

How did I do? Well, my predictions were as follows, with their actual final finishing positions in brackets:

1 Chelsea (1)
2 Arsenal (4)
3 United (2)
4 Liverpool (3)
5 Tottenham (5)
6 Middlesbrough (14)
7 Newcastle (7)
8 Everton (11)
9 CITY (15)
10 Bolton (8)
11 Birmingham (18)
12 Villa (16)
13 Charlton (13)
14 Blackburn (6)
15 Portsmouth (17)
16 West Brom (19)
17 West Ham (9)
18 Fulham (12)
19 Wigan (10)
20 Sunderland (20)

Overall, four (correction - sorry, five)correct positions but two of those were Chelsea and Sunderland! What do I know anyway.....

Wright all wrong?

Ian Wright vented his anger on SWP's exclusion from the World Cup squad in todays edition of The Sun, labelling the England manager as 'incompetent'.

Wright believes it maybe that Eriksson has made his decision to 'get back' at Wright who has been openly critical of him in the past;

"I really wonder if Eriksson has dropped Shaun just to get back at me. I’ve slaughtered him in the past because I’m a passionate England fan who has never been convinced by this man. Eriksson has had England’s finest players for the best part of their careers and has achieved nothing."

I still cannot fathom SWP's exclusion as his lack of games cannot count against him as he has played more than Downing, Lennon and Walcott combined this season and fail to see an argument that Lennon is a better player currently out of the two.

Whilst I think that Wright is some way off the mark with his ascertion it is a personal vendetta rom Eriksson - and believe him to be a poor choice of pundit from the BBC for England games, behind all of his histrionics he makes an extremely valid point;

"For five years Eriksson has been the most cautious and negative manager in history.
Now, right at the end of his England reign, he has suddenly turned into a reckless Las Vegas gambler. It’s all very well for him to chance his arm. But it’s the whole nation who will have to pick up the tab".

The squad was a complete surprise to me as I imagined the final twenty-three would be pretty much nailed on (something Erikson alluded to in the past also) and I can't help thinking that the inclusion of Walcott is merely a gimmick to take the media heat off the Rooney injury and likelihood that he will miss the tournament.

Click here for a Chelsea view on the Wright-Phillips ommission.

End of Season Review.

From time to time over the season I've been asked to do a City game preview or match review for The Observer. For the last weekend of the season, I was asked to put together a season in review piece for them.

From the other club contributors, City did not feature at all in the top five players of the season category or in the best/worst fan section. Myself and the other City contributors also did not vote any players to the Team of the year (picked by average ratings given) but elected two players - Ben Thatcher and Albert Riera to the Worst XI of the season. Thatcher I'll happily take credit for but Riera? The couple of match reviews I did averaged him at 6.5, but he made the line-up with an overall rating of 3.5! What were you thinking?


Here is the review as it appeared last Sunday:

How was your season?

It threatened to be promising at one stage – on the fringes of UEFA Cup qualification and the prospect of a deep run in the FA Cup. However, our inconsistent away form and small squad caught up with us which brought a run of defeats and meant the season has ended very much on a negative note.

How do you feel about the gaffer?

Clearly Pearce still has a lot to learn and looking back, the talk of him as a possible England candidate was way off the mark. At times his tactics and substitutions have been debatable but I am confident he is the right man to take us forward over the next few years. An important next season coming up for him though.

Who were your stars and who flopped?

David James, Richard Dunne and Sylvain Distin have been the only truly consistent performers throughout the campaign. Special mention for Micah Richards though who came into a struggling side and looked totally at ease – definitely a big star in the making.Lost of culprits but Danny Mills and Ben Thatcher were poor at best and both have no real future at the club.

Who were the best, and worst, away fans?

Sunderland were doomed when we played them but they packed their end and kept the noise going throughout, unlike United – they were quiet throughout and made you wonder why they bothered coming.

Top hate figure at another club?

After Roy Keane departed, that mantle has been well and truly taken over by Gary Neville.

Please name your top five opposition players. The Premiership's best five players, not including players from your own club.

The usual suspects - Henry, Terry, Lampard, Gerrard and Rooney.

SWP pays the ultimate price.

Although not on the scale of the Theo Walcott surprise inclusion, fellow teenager Aaron Lennon has earned a place in the England squad for this summers World Cup.

Erikson cited the form of Lennon over the past three months, when he has been a regular for Tottenham and burst onto the Premiership scene with great success.

'He has pace, can beat people and can cross the ball' said Erikson. Remind you of anyone?

Of course the inclusion of Lennon has meant that Shaun Wright-Phillips has been ommitted from the squad - not even making the standby list.

'The reason Shaun Wright-Phillips has not made the squad is simple - Aaron Lennon' was the explanation offered. But if only it were that simple. A year ago he was the darling of the City fans, media and even Erikson himself with suggestions that David Beckham should be moved centrally (or even dropped) to accomodate SWP.

Twelve months on he may have a Premiership medal and a bulging bank account to show for his move to Chelsea, but ultimately it has cost him his World Cup place. It is not necessarily the fact that he has been merely a squad player at Chelsea - there are plenty of players who have not been regulars at their club for a variety of reasons, but he is a confidence player who needs the ball, needs to play and needs the freedom to play. When he has featured for Chelsea this season he has played without confidence and without freedom - the very things that Aaron Lennon has shown over the past couple of months.

Saying that though, regardless of what SWP has (or hasn't) achieved this season I am still extremely surprised that Lennon has beaten him to a squad place as he is still largely untested at Premiership level, let alone on the international stage wheras SWP has by and large impressed when featuring for England.

But today, as his World Cup hopes lay in tatters he must surely look back on the events of last summer and wonder whether the choice he made was really worth it.

Blackburn 2 City 0.

And so it ends.

A collective sigh of relief must have been emitted from everyone concerned with the club when the final whistle sounded at Ewood Park yesterday to draw a close on a season which ended on as depressing note as any in recent times.

Stupidly, I actually fancied us to get something out of yesterdays game and it speaks volumes about our recent woes that we slumped to another defeat against a side who had already sealed their place in Europe and were without four of their best players.

But no, a disappointing 2-0 reversal which saw an error from David James to gift Rovers the opening goal and David Sommeil embroiled in a spitting row.

Pearce has begun his review of the season already, with a series of face-to-face meetings with the squad, in which it is believed several players will be shown the door.

We actually only finished nine points above the relegation places and it is perhaps fortunate that we got to the 40 point 'safety mark' as early as we did. Pearce now faces a big task over the summer, and perhaps the biggest will be ensuring that the low confidence and poor performances seen over the final quarter of the season are not carried over to the start of next season.

Match reports:

Telegraph
MEN
A Town Called Malice

Bitter and Blue Player of The Year Award.

UPDATE: Last chance to vote as lines close shortly ahead of all the season review stuff I'll be posting up this coming week.....

A post game discussion on Sunday failed to produce a clear winner, and in fact left most stumped for an answer to the question 'Who will be player of the season?'.

In seasons gone by it has generally been a foregone conclusion and I think the absence of a true 'star' this season - a Bernarbia, Anelka or SWP for instance makes it a difficult decision.

With just six games left there is not much time left for any contenders to make a last push and given recent performances a few maybe doing their chances a degree of harm.

For me it probably comes down to one of five - David James, Richard Dunne, Sylvain Distin, Joey Barton or Trevor Sinclair with Distin probably edging it due the consistency he has shown throughout the whole season.

My own final choice will be revealed in the inaugral 'Bitter and Blue' end of season awards sometime soon after the Blackburn game but I thought it may be interesting to see what the 'Bitter and Blue' visitors choice is.

Feel free to post your choice and any comments and I'll re-publish the post every week between now and the end of the season to the current leader.

Farewell The Goat.

Football bids farewell to Shaun Goater who plays his final game today for Southend against Bristol City and I believe that around 200 City fans are attending the game today.

To be honest I was never his biggest fan but he is certainly an example to some of those who didn't make the most of their greater ability, but undoubtedly he has carved his name into City folklore for his exploits during his time at the club.

Anyway, I'll end this post with what was surely his best City moment?

Look what you've started...

Following on from my post about a possible explanation behind SWP's move to Chelsea, it seems that the 'source' for the story aroused some reaction from the Arsenal visitors to the site.

Looking a bit deeper into Myles Palmer's background it does seem that there is divided opinion amongst most fans about him.

If anyone is remotely interested, I searched around a little and found some info here, here, here and here.

City 1 Arsenal 3.

The final home game of the season ended with an unsurprising end result but left fans frustrated as the side continued the shocking run of results that has led to most people counting down the days until the end of the season and thankful there is a World Cup to take the focus off a horrible last couple of months.

Arsenal fielded pretty much a full strength line-up which saw Ashley Cole make his first team comeback and only Fabregas and possibly Pires and Reyes who will start in the Champions League final.

Following the game, Pearce alluded to a 'lack of belief' which he believes cost us from taking anything from the game. As much as a lack of belief, I thought there was a lack of energy - particularly from the midfield. The teams who have had success against Arsenal in recent times have been those who have got in their face and hustled them out of ther stride. There were too many times when our midfield and defence stood off them which allowed them too much space to cause damage - as was the case for their first goal when Henry had space to play Ljunberg through to score what was his first Premiership goal of the season (although I personally thought Ljunberg was in an offside position).

To our credit, I thought we showed some fight in getting back into the game with a goal through David Sommeil - albeit a scrambled effort following a corner. However, we again failed to create any real clear cut chances with Samaras and Vassell not making the best of rare opportunities that were created.

Defensively I thought we were fairly sound, with Sommeil looking effective at right back (is Danny Mills now fifth choice?) and Richards again impressing. The concern (as it has been for some time) is in midfield and up front where Samaras and Vassell looks poles apart from each other in terms of wavelength and link-up play. It is midfield where the biggest worry lies though. Out wide Sinclair and Riera (who I am a fan of) were ineffective wheras Reyna and Barton hardly created a thing all night.

Barton looks a shadow of the player he was over the first half of the season in terms of quality and commitment and all signs are appearing to lead to his exit over the summer. Whatever your opinion of him and his actions from January onwards it cannot be denied that the level of play he brought has been sorely missed.

Once Arsenal got their noses back in front there was no way we were getting a foot back in the game and it was a great and both goals were neat finishes from substitute Reyes. The comparative benches illustrate greatly the difference between the sides and compare Reyes's influence on the game to that of Willo Flood.

As good as the likes of Jordan, Richards and Onouha have been when they have stepped in we could do with Steven Ireland really kicking on over the next season to add some much needed creativity to the side. One thing we are sorely lacking is someone to 'pull the strings' in the way that SWP, Bernarbia, Berkovic and Kinkladze have done in recent times.

Reaction:

"I feel it was a spirited performance from Man City and they made it very difficult for us. We needed to dig deep to win the game but I always felt that we were ready to fight until the last minute to make the difference. But at 1-1, the game could have gone maybe both sides because Man City had one or two good chances as well and we needed the fresh players that came on. Maybe Reyes came on and made the difference but we had a few chances before as well." - Arsene Wenger.

I thought we stuck to our task quite well," our corners, set plays and crosses flashed in quite well and we looked like scoring goals."I thought we afforded Arsenal a touch too much respect when they got nearer our goal. In that last 30 metres we should have got in their faces a bit more." - Stuart Pearce.

Match reports:

Gooner Boy
Sky Sports

Reyna named in USA squad.

City midfielder Claudio Reyna has been named in the USA squad ahead of the World Cup. Reyna will be appearing in his fourth consecutive finals, and commented;

"It´s extremely special for me because, I think, growing up in America, I would have just been pleased with playing in one World Cup and now to enter my fourth World Cup is something that I can´t really get my head around that it´s happened."

Fourth consecutive World Cup? Has he played four consecutive games for us this season?

SWP - the real story?

Credit to Arsenal news review for the following piece regarding SWP ahead of our game against them tomorrow night when the other half of North London will be wearing Blue as the battle for fourth place continues.

To paraphrase the key points of the article:

'Ian Wright told his stepson, "Arsene can't sign you this summer, but he can sign you next summer, so sit tight for one more season at City."
Allegedly, at a time when Stuart Pearce was confident of keeping Shaun for 2005-2006, the winger's attitude changed overnight following a call from Sven, who told him, "I want you at a bigger club."
Allegedly, it was Peter Kenyon who then signed Shaun, not Mourinho - who told Kenyon, "I won't play him."
CLEARLY, SWP is at the wrong club'.

I don't know the 'source' of the article but it may explain the sudden about-turn that SWP performed prior to the season.

Vassell to miss World Cup.

The club have announced that Darius Vassell will likely undergo a hernia op at the end of the season, ruling out any chance of a late call up to the England World Cup squad.

Vassell, who has not had a sniff of the England squad all season had been touted for a possible call up should Wayne Rooney definitely miss the tournament, and given Michael Owen's ongoing fitness concerns.

It seems that Sven is set upon taking Rooney no matter what but assuming Owen is fit, Vassell will still find himself behind the Newcastle striker, Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe and Darren Bent in the pecking order with most observers believing only four strikers will be named in the final twenty-three.

Personally, I always thought Vassell had acquitted himself well when called upon at international level but has fallen out of favour and suffered from the loss of Andrew Cole for the latter part of the season when it was a last chance to stake his claim.

The hernia injury has also been a factor in some of his inconsistent form so hopefully he will undergo the op and come back fully fit for the start of next season.

Sun signs new deal.

He is reported to have verbally agreed a two-year deal.

Not totally convinced by this move, but I guess his 'versatility' is always going to do him favours when Pearce was looking at squad options for next season.

Signing imminent?

Some positive news at last!

Lazio midfielder Ousmane Dabo has given a clear indication that he could be on his way to the club after announcing he has been in his talks over a free transfer move in the summer;

"One thing is for sure - Lazio's proposition still doesn't suit me. The club from Roma offers me a six-year prolongation. Today, staying seems difficult to me. If I leave I will choose another league. It has been in my head for several years now. The present thought is about my future destination. Today, our position with Lazio is far away.
I am in talks with Manchester City. As I am close to the end of my contract, my managers are talking with several teams. We have not talked about wages with Manchester City yet. I don't want to make a bad choice, as I did in the past. The Manchester City challenge is really exciting. So today, I say: 'Why not?’

The midfield is definitely an area that has universally been identified as needing strengthening and Dabo is a good player and certainly an upgrade over the likes of Reyna, Musampa and Sibierski who have been used in that position this season.

Also, coming in on a free transfer and (presumably) fitting in with the club wage structure it will definitely be good business by Pearce if he manages to pull this signing off.