Corradi exits

No official confirmation from the club - which probably sums up the value of his City career perfectly, but Bernardo Corradi has officially joined Reggina on a one-year deal.

Despite returning to the club following his loan spell at Parma (and accompanying the side on their German 'boot camp' and trip to the Faroes), given Hughes's enthusiasm over both Ched Evans and Daniel Sturridge, Corradi was never going to be in with a realistic shot of the first team squad this season and had expressed a wish to remain in Serie A.

Another one of the trio of signings that Stuart Pearce made (along with Dickov and Mpenza) that showed what little budget and ambition the club had a couple of seasons, but I didn't envisage quite what a disaster his time at the club would turn out to be.

I had visions of Corradi becoming a version of Luca Toni - although his best days at Chievo were well behind him when he arrived, but his size was the only asset comparable to Toni, but one thing in defence of him was that we never really played to his strengths.

One thing his departure does do is suggest that both Evans and Sturridge (who featured at Hamburg at the weekend) could definitely see some action during the forthcoming season - particularly over the first month of the season when Benjani and Jo will be absent.

Corradi looking for long term Parma stay

Bernardo Corradi is overjoyed to be back in Serie A and
begs Manchester City to let him stay at Parma on a permanent basis.
“I know
everyone here, so it’s like returning to my family home and I am so happy to be
here again,” said the striker in his presentation Press Conference.
“When I arrived at Parma two years ago I knew it was a
one-season affair on loan and dreamed of winning back my place in the Italy
squad for the World Cup. Now my ambition today is to do so well that at the end
of the season I can ask Manchester City to leave me here
permanently.

-channel4.com

Transfer deadline

The transfer deadline nearly passed with only a couple of deals in the last hours - Danny Mills to Charlton and Bernardo Corradi to Parma, both only on loan deals as well rather than permanent moves.

Then a fairly late deal was made with Paul Dickov another loanee, joining Crystal Palace until the end of December - all moves which at the very least shave a bit off the payroll which has increased a great amount with the recent signings.

Talk of a renewed bid for Darius Vassell by Derby appeared to end when they grabbed Kenny Miller, and likewise with Wign with their signing of Marcus Bent on loan for the season. Likewise, stories of a move for Giorgios Samaras amounted to little more than hope for most fans.

No players of note brought in (not counting the deal for Thai player trialist Suree Sukha) despite it seeming that we need another quality striker (at least on a temporary basis) to cover for the absence of Valri Bojinov. Eriksson was fairly guarded and almost politican-esque with his comments about potential arrivals at Friday's press conference so it is unknown at this point whether he is happy with the players at his disposal or couldn't find the right deal, and one thing I have given him credit for is not appearing to be rushed or pressured into making a deal that he doesn't think is right for the club.

I do have a concern that we are light up front, and as well as Mpenza and particularly Bianchi played on Wednesday, if either player were to go down then we would be far too light up front to maintain the promising start we have made to the season - but if the right player wasn't available then at least we haven't panic bought anyone as some teams are wont to do at this time.

Perhaps this will see more of the 4-5-1 formation that has been employed so far this season?

Corradi heading for the exit

Manchester City flop Bernardo Corradi is almost certain to
be playing in Italy next season, his agent has revealed.“I’m 90 per cent certain
that Corradi will return to Serie A,” noted Moreno Roggi on Monday evening.The
Italian international only joined the Premiership outfit last summer, but has
struggled to settle and he looks to be peninsula bound yet again.“He would be of
real use to sides like Sampdoria, Parma and Torino – teams who all need a target
man.”

Channel4.co.uk

Corradi set to return home

Jettisoned from the side in recent weeks as one of the culprits behind the woeful 'goals for' column this season, Bernardo Corradi has hardly done his chances of forcing his way back into the side with a critique of both manager Stuart Pearce and captain Richard Dunne:

"Pearce is a pure English coach. He never knows how the
opposition plays because they do not sit here and study their next opponents.
"If that was not enough, the morning before the Cup quarterfinals I read in
a newspaper that (Richard) Dunne, the captain, had attacked the foreign players
here."

The MEN described Corradi this week as the 'Italian hitman' - something which alone should have seen them subject to libel action, and it has been apparant that Corradi has struggled to adapt to the Premiership this season after enjoying a (relatively) succesful Serie A career and appears likely that he may return back to Italy (with former club Lazio reportedly keen) just one season into a (at least a season too long) three year deal.

Whilst it may be dismissed as ramblings of a failing 'johnny foreigner', his comments regarding Pearce perhaps expose a worrying lack of preparation by Pearce and the coaching staff when it comes to analysing and assessing forthcoming opponents.

In Italy, this is an area that is still ahead of the Premiership in general terms (although Benitez and Mourinho are probably on par), but added to critcisms of the training methods at the club it does paint a worrying picture of what goes on at the club when preparing for games, and, is perhaps easy to see why some of the foreign players are somewhat disillusioned.

Now it makes sense !

Following on from transfer deadline striker debate, a possible explanation for Martin Jol 11.30 change of heart was revealed in yesterdays Mail on Sunday.

Jol apparently locked out the Manchester City club doctor to tell Mido he wasn't going anywhere after his goal Vs. Arsenal, but more importantly Jol revealed that Spurs were going to take Bernado Corradi as part of the deal.

Maybe we have been a bit harsh on Pearce and the board if they came within 15 minutes of pulling that one off.

Lucky Corradi

From today's 'Said & Done' section of The Observer Sport:

"Corradi has me....I've never met a man quite like him.
He's sweet, well educated and knows how to treat a lady right. And heaven knows,
that's not so usual for a footballer".

So says Italian model Elena Santarelli. And for those not familiar with Elena, check here, here, here or here.

Lucky Corradi indeed.

Corradi unhappy with Pearce?

Joey Baton has jumped to the defence of Bernardo Corradi following his second yellow card which resulted in his sending off at United last weekend.

Corradi's attempt to win a penalty earned him condemnation from the media - which were unsuprisingly quick to jump all over him, as if Corradi was the only played to have dived in the Premiership this season. In fact, the Drogba and Lehmann incident the following day seemed to attract only humour when both players blatantly dived in an attempt to get the other booked (or even sent off).

Pearce himself was quick to bring out his typical 'honesty' and said that he would be 'having words' with Corradi, although he has sinced toned this down to say he would be more educational than anything else.

Barton himself has said:

"Bernardo is an honest pro, and the one thing he isn't is a
cheat but there's got to be that consistency".

I tend to agree with Barton, and feel it was more an act of desperation to get back into the game than a blatant attempt at cheating, and Corradi himself spoke to the Italian press in which he defended himself and felt that Pearce could have done more to back him - and comes amidst rumours that his former side Chievo (struggling at the foot of Serie A) are interested in taking him back to the club:

"I have fallen after having overcome two rivals' legs which
have clipped me...the referee interpreted it in his way [seeing it as a dive]
but I do not understand Pearce's reaction."

Pearce's honesty is something that has been debated in the past, and many fans do feel that whilst it is in general an admirable trait, his tendency to 'call it as he sees it' does not always endear him to those same fans - and to his squad it seems.

Taking time to settle in

In view of Stuart Pearce's comments about foreign players needing time to settle in, I thought it worth taking a quick look at some of the problems Pearce has faced with the players he brought in during the off-season .

Pearce said (with particular emphasis on Corradi after his double at the weekend):

"There is an arrogance with the British way that `the rest of the world fits in
with us' and whenever the rest of the world come to our shores they've got to
fit in straight away, it doesn't always work like that on a cultural or a
football basis.
"Let's be honest, how many English players do you see playing
abroad? Historically, how many have gone abroad and not made it? That is
something you've got to look at." Sky Sports

It is easy to forget that it does take players from abroad longer to settle in both on and off the pitch, and perhaps expectations are sometimes a little high - something my brother said about Samaras in that if he was a home grown player he would be given far more time and leeway from fans who are critical of his performances.

It is fair to say though that the players brought in by Pearce over the summer have not quite hit the heights expected of them.

Whilst Corradi has taken time to settle in, and has reportedly been putting in extra training sessions on his day off, DeMarcus Beasley, Hatem Trabelsi and Andreas Isaksson have all had stuttering starts to their City careers, experiencing injury problems virtually since the day they joined the club whilst Didi Hamman who arrived from Liverpool (via Bolton) had also struggled for both fitness and form.

Hopefully Saturday will now kick-start a run of form for Corradi and with some of the previously injured players now back in contention (or not far away) we should see a more consistent and settled line-up which will hopefully translate into a more consistent return points wise.