Carling Cup: Manchester United V Manchester City highlights video

Here is the highlights package of last nights match and it has some brilliant moments including some super goals especially the Tevez flick to level things up and than the Rooney winner followed by his unusually acrobatic celebration.  The video takes a little while to load so have patience cos it's worth a watch ...

Carling Cup: United beat City in a cracker. To play Villa in the finals.

I missed the match last night cos my DTH service did not have the channel that aired it live. From what I have seen and read I believe I missed a cracker. Of course it had to be a cracker after the drama of the first leg and all the chatter that followed.

All I can now do is try and watch the videos and see as many pics on the web. For all the poor souls like me, I would try and post some of the good one's as and when I lay my hands on them. Below are just a few from

http://www.guardian.co.uk/ and http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport

Tevez calls Neville a "boot-licking moron" :)

Carlos Tevez's response on the pitch was spectacular when he scored both goals to secure a famous win for City but alas he slipped up on his promise of "responding on the pitch". Tevez launched a severe counter salvo on Neville by calling him a "boot licking moron" and the one who just "sucks up to the manager".

Picture taken from http://www.guardian.co.uk/

I am not sure whats coming next but whatever Neville says would pale in front of the "moron" line. Neville needs to get really creative now to salvage anything from this duel which Tevez seems to have sealed as of now.

News Source:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jan/21/carlos-tevez-gary-neville-boot-licker

Neville fingers Tevez

Tevez was out to prove a point in the Manchester Derby and he did quite spectacularly. He scored both goals to secure a remarkable win over United. City are now one match away from their first Final appearance since 1981. 

Tevez was quite incensed with the way Gary Neville had written about him recently but decided to respond on the pitch. "I just think Gary was very disrespectful which, to be fair, is out of character, but he didn't know the whole story of why I left Manchester United and I believe I deserved his respect," Tevez said last night. "We achieved a lot together at United, I was the second top scorer there in my first season at the club and I deserve respect from my fellow professionals."

Tevez's reaction after scoring the first of his two goals on the night.

Picture taken from http://www.guardian.co.uk/

This was Neville's resposne from the bench.

Picture taken from http://www.guardian.co.uk/

Full story at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jan/20/carlos-tevez-gary-neville

Manchester City replace United in partnership with Sporting Lisbon

I personally had no idea about an agreement between United and Sporting Lisbon that allowed United first shot at their players. Sporting has a history of producing some outstanding players including CR7, Figo, Nani, Quesresma, and Moutinho amongst others. Just the fact that Ronaldo arrived at Old Trafford in 2003 is courtesy of this agreement where Sporting were required to inform United of any bids and allow them first refusal.

That agreement between United and Sporting is now kaput which has allowed city rivals Manchester City to take lead. Mancini's City has now signed a similar agreement which would allow them first shot at any exceptional talent from Lisbon.

Read the complete story at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jan/11/manchester-city-partnership-sporting-lisbon

I am back and so is Patrick Vieira!!!

I am back after a brief hiatus and though I have not been blogging for more than a week, rest assured I was catching up on most of the International sports on the tube. What a wonderful couple of weeks these have been with loads of drama in football as well as cricket. Ah, so that reminds me to why I am here writing today and not tomorrow or a day after.

Looks like the first big January move has been wrapped up in Manchester and sorry but there are no prizes for guessing the Clubs name. Sir Alex still appear to be as uncertain about who he wants to bring to United as he is about the depth of his pocket. Quite contrary to how most English clubs are positioned financially, City seems to have the most supply even after the club reported £92.6 million loss in the year to 31 May 2009. Mancini appears to be a man possessed- with all the money- after a fine start at City and there is little doubt his bosses in Abu Dhabi would let him run amok if he wishes to- if not immediately than surely next summer.

It must therefore come as no surprise that Mancini has made the first big scalp as City has confirmed the arrival of Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira at £100,000-a-week. At 33, age is not on his side but with French International recall for the World Cup in sights, Vieira might have enough fire to power City to a Champs League birth ahead of Liverpool and Villa. Mancini would like to believe Vieira is still the same player as he was when they were together at Inter and it looks like a great move for City.

Read more about the Vieira story at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jan/07/patrick-vieria-manchester-city-internazionale


PS: I have made some amount of interesting observations while watching sport over the last couple of weeks and I would soon be back with some interesting thoughts. Stay tuned…

City sacks Mark Hughes. Mancini to take over.

Mark Hughes was handed the sack by City bosses soon after his team won against Sunderland. I had mentioned earlier that Guss Hiddink was touted to take over at City but for now it is the Italian- Mancini.

"A return of two wins in 11 Premier League games is clearly not in line with the targets that were agreed and set," read a City statement. "Sheikh Mansour and the board felt that there was no evidence that the situation would fundamentally change.

"This is a particularly difficult announcement given the personal investment over the past 15 months on all sides and we would like to put on record our respect for and thanks to Mark Hughes and we wish him the best in his future career."

City is currently sixth in the Premier League, having lost only twice in the league all season, and are through to the semi-finals of the Carling Cup. They beat league leaders Chelsea a fortnight ago, ending a run of seven successive draws in the top flight, but suffered a crushing 3-0 defeat at Tottenham in midweek.

The 46-year-old Welshman enjoyed a glittering playing career as a striker with Manchester United, Barcelona and Chelsea before moving into coaching by taking charge of Wales and narrowly missing out on qualification for the Euro 2004 finals.

The 45-year-old Italian- Mancini won 36 caps for Italy and spent the majority of his playing career at Sampdoria before a brief stint with Leicester City in 2001 just before he retired.
He has managed Fiorentina and Inter Milan, where he won three successive Italian League titles and two Italian Cups, before being dismissed in May 2008. Since then, he has regularly been linked with managerial vacancies in England.

Sunderland boss and former mate of Hughes at United said "You can't build a football club in 18 months and one transfer window. You need a bit of time,"

Arsene Wenger also said he was "sad" to see Hughes leave City, adding: "We all believe in patience on the technical side but on the other side it's not always the same."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/man_city/8422676.stm

Hiddink for City ?

City look set for a change with Guus Hiddink being linked for a summer move to City. Pressure on Mark Hughes to convince his bosses has rightly increased after 3-0 drubbing by fellow championship hopefuls-Spurs. Of the last 10 games, City has won one, lost one and drawn a whopping 8 games. They find themselves languishing at 8th in the league and somehow it appears that all of £170m+ spent this year has not been enough.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/dec/18/mark-hughes-manchester-city

Who will win Barclays Premier League ?

Few weeks back I had mentioned Chelsea as the front runners with ManU and Arsenal close behind. Over the last two weeks things have not changed too much apart from the fact that Chelsea has left the door open for those chasing them. It would be difficult for most teams barring United to catch them but the way top teams are tumbling nothing can be taken for granted.

Look at the traditional top 4 and none of them look as strong as previous years. They all look fragile and prone to a shock. As the table stands right now, Chelsea are still upfront but they do not look as invincible as few weeks back when they had threatened to run away with the title. United had the opportunity but they failed to punish the Blues after City had shocked them. While Gunners have also failed to close in with a mid week draw with Burnley, Liverpool’s season is still waiting for a fillip which I guess will have to wait until next year and by that time it would be all too little too late for them. If the reds finish in the top 4 it would be a huge surprise for me looking at the way things stand right now.

Let's look at some of the outsiders who could upset the applecart. Villa and Spurs look threatening while City and Liverpool cannot be taken for granted at any stage. Then there are Birmingham and Fulham both capable of untimely surprises for any of the top runners. The closeness of teams this season has meant a wonderfully entertaining and competitive league- especially for an outsider.

Wenger has summed it up quite nicely by stating this years’ as the most open title race -
"Yes [this is the most competitive I have known the Premier League since joining Arsenal]. It is, why? Because nobody looks to run away early in the season and there are six, seven, eight teams that can create a surprise any weekend and it is certainly the most open race," Wenger said in his pre-match press conference. "I think yes, that many [eight] can mount a title challenge."

While Wenger is upbeat about his teams title chances, Harry Redknapp has proclaimed the end of the Premier League's big four by declaring that only Chelsea and Manchester United are certainties to finish in the Champions League places this season and that the other pair of prized berths for Europe's elite tournament could be filled by any two of several teams – including Tottenham Hotspur.

Redknapp said "I've said since the start of the season that the champions will come from Chelsea or Manchester United but after that it's up for grabs," he said. "Anything is possible this season. Look at Arsenal, you would have expected them to go up and win at Burnley after beating Liverpool, but they didn't so that shows you how hard it's going to be."

Read more at:

http://goal.com/en/news/9/england/2009/12/15/1689097/arsene-wenger-highlights-most-open-premier-league-title-race

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/dec/17/harry-redknapp-tottenham-manchester-city

City brings smiles in Manchester!!!

Holders Manchester United's thrashing of West Ham was followed by City's brilliant come from behind victory against the leaders –Chelsea. It capped a brilliant day for both Manchester sides. City desperately needed a win to put their season back on track and they were excellent all around barring last few minutes where they threatened to let the advantage slip away - once again.

City was good all through as they out played Chelsea for most part. They however came really close of getting another draw when Frank Lampard stepped up to take the penalty in the 81st. Shay Given saved the day for City after brilliant Tevez free kick had put City ahead. Chelsea's lead at the top has now been reduced to only 2 points but more importantly City have also showed that Chelsea is not unbeatable.

Detailed match report at:
http://www.premierleague.com/page/MatchReports/0,,12306~48535,00.html