The Manchester City Project

Manchester City and Manchester United Starting line-ups. Tevez has shrugged off his knee injury and starts in the Manchester City line up. Bellamy also plays and will be on the left flank, leaving Petrov back on the bench. Berbatov and Rooney start up front for United.

See the Match Stream link in the top navigation bar to see live.

Come On!

Man City: Given, Richards, Lescott, Toure, Bridge, Wright-Phillips, Barry, De Jong, Ireland, Bellamy, Tevez. Subs: Taylor, Zabaleta, Garrido, Petrov, Weiss, Ball, Sylvinho.

Man Utd: Foster, O'Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Park, Anderson, Fletcher, Giggs, Berbatov, Rooney. Subs: Kuszczak, Neville, Owen, Carrick, Nani, Jonathan Evans, Valencia.

The above picture of Alex Ferguson is a collage of dog turds, creating an image that is truly full of shit. Over 500 pieces of dog shit were pain stakingly copied and pasted to make the portrait. To obtain a full sensory appreciation of the picture it is recommended that you take a sip of lumpy sour milk before viewing.

The portrait of the Manchester United manager is currently on show at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. UK art lover's will be able to see the painting this month when it travels to the National Gallery in London after a brief stop at The Louvre in Paris.

Full of Crap: Alex Ferguson on show in New York

Ed Chapman and his coin creations of managers

The Manchester Derby is eagerly anticipated despite Alex Ferguson claiming that he considers Man Utd vs Liverpool as the real derby for United. Manchester United face Manchester City on Sunday 20th September at Old Trafford, K.O. 13:30.

Poor old bacon face is showing his advancing years as he attempts some kind of poor mind games ahead of the Manchester Derby. The aging red faced scot has claimed that the Manchester City match is nothing compared with the games against Liverpool:

"To me Liverpool will always be the derby game. It is just because of the history. When I came down here they were the king-pins of England. They had won four European Cups and quite a few league titles.”

Ferguson has still not managed to get the Carlos Tevez “Welcome to Manchester” poster from under his skin. He said in an interview prior to this weekend’s clash:

"That stupid poster upset us. It showed an arrogance. It was naughty. It showed a cockiness that wasn't required at the time because they hadn't done anything. The season hadn't even started."


Ferguson does not seemed concerned at all at losing Tevez who was an integral part of United winning two championships and getting to two Champions League finals. Even though he publically stated he wanted to keep the player – United had even released a statement claiming they had reached the player’s valuation to make him a permanent player.

"It doesn't bother me one bit whether Tevez is playing or not," said Ferguson.

"I know their best player won't be. Emmanuel Adebayor has been their star player. There is no question about that. He has scored in every game. That is their loss."

"People talk about trying to get into the top four. That is not the question. The question is who is number one.”

Mark Hughes has responded to Ferguson’s comments, laughing at his former manager and claiming that United have been below par so far this season:

"It does seem to have really upset Sir Alex for some reason," Hughes smiled at his press conference in Manchester today.

"But I don't know, we'll just take it as a little bit of flattery, because obviously in recent years, and for a number of years, City haven't really affected the thinking of Manchester United to any great extent. Possibly that's changed now.

"I've watched a number of their games. I don't think they're playing as well as they did last year. They played well against Tottenham [Hotspur] – I think that's their stand-out performance. Prior to that, I think they've been below par."

You can see the previous posts on the Carlos Tevez poster campaign here, who photo’s of the poster and the mock posters created by both sets of fans in retaliation:

http://mancityproject.blogspot.com/2009/07/fan-releases-funny-welcome-to-stretford.html
http://mancityproject.blogspot.com/2009/07/billboard-war-continues.html

You can also see the Manchester United Cadbury Advert too that was released during the billboard wars:

http://mancityproject.blogspot.com/2009/07/billboard-wars-man-united-cadbury.html

United will obviously be without Ronaldo who left for Real Madrid in the summer. Ronaldo was key in all of the games where Manchester United managed success against City in the past.

City will not be worried by Fergusons comments in the slightest. If anything I really hope that Ferguson believes what he says and that filter’s down to his squad – then they will be likely to give yet another lacklustre team display in a Manchester Derby.

Let’s just have a look back at the 2002 Derby – the last at Maine Road. I still can’t help p*ssing myself when Garry Neville feeds the Goat for City’s second goal in the 3-1 victory. You have to feel sorry for Neville though who is clearly quite embarrassed, there’s nothing worse than being embarrassed and then doing something more embarrassing like spitting on yourself and then wiping it on your ear – 2 minutes 10 seconds:

Manchester City have announced that they will be contesting the FA charge of improper conduct regarding Adebayor’s goal celebration against Arsenal. Emmanuel Adebayor and Mark Hughes have both spoken out about the charge.

Adebayor is currently serving a three match ban for the heinous way in which he attempted to avoid Van Persie’s innocuous two footed lunge during the Arsenal match last week.

In addition to Adebayor’s charge of violent conduct the FA also served up a charge of improper conduct following Ade’s goal celebration. Mark Hughes has stated that City will contest the charge:

“It’s important you do not take emotion out of the game. He laid on his knees. It was his normal celebration... ...The circumstances of the game and the amount of criticism and vitriol that Ade had to take wasn’t nice.”

Adebayor himself has spoken out about the incident in an interview published in the sun newspaper. It would probably have been best for City to have silenced the out spoken Adebayor – at least until things have settled and the media have moved on – he will just be giving people more ammunition to fire at him, even though what he say’s is quite true:

"I was running on pure emotion and when you take emotion out of football we are going to have a big problem. People say I had time to think because I ran the length of the pitch but that is not true. I was abused all match and scored a goal I knew would win the game for us. Ten seconds is nothing. Your emotion is going to last a lot longer than that."

"I know a steward got hurt and I really do want to say sorry for that because he didn't ask for any of this - he was just a man doing his job. Emotions were running high for me and it is obvious they were for Arsenal fans as well. They had just seen me score the goal that meant they had lost the game and that was very hard for them to take.

Pride of Arsenal : Arsenal fan who protests like he's from Middle East

"The steward was just doing his job but if things hadn't been thrown and people had stayed in their seats then that wouldn't have happened.

"Players should feel like they can celebrate a goal without the fear of being hit by things.

"I think, in terms of class on the pitch, we have overtaken Arsenal and that was a reason for some of the hostility."

In respect to the Van Persie incident Adebayor added:

"Anybody who knows me knows I would not set out to hurt anybody and I would especially not mean to hurt an old team-mate.

"I really am glad Robin was OK because I know my stud was close to his eye but there was really nothing I could have done - there was no way I could have got out of the way in time."

Adebayor also explained that behind the scenes was some deep rooted animosity towards him from some of his old team mates before and during the game:

"There were players from Arsenal who refused to shake my hand before the match. I don't want to give you their names - that is not my style - but there's more than one of them.

"My friends, like Eboue, were fine with me. They are decent people. But I could not understand some of the Arsenal players being disrespectful towards me. These are people I have spent a lot of time with and people I thought were my friends.

"I can just about understand the fans' reaction because they don't know the full story.

"However the way some of the players behaved is just crazy. When a man offers you his hand, you shake it. For them to act like that was a disgrace."

Adebayor also wanted to clear the air regarding his summer transfer move to Manchester City claiming that the Arsenal fans do not have the full and correct facts:

"I'm not sure if the fans understand what happened during the end of my time at Arsenal but I have done nothing wrong.

"An offer came in for me and, as I understand it, Arsene and the club accepted the offer the same day. It was not my fault I left; it was Arsene who wanted to accept the offer for me.

"I wasn't making any comments in the Press about wanting to leave or being unhappy, it was the club who wanted to sell me yet I am being abused by the fans who once cheered me.

"It makes no sense. Arsenal fans just don't have the full picture. I have said many times I enjoyed my time at the club and I scored a lot of goals.

"If they were unhappy with me leaving they need to take it up with their manager and their board because I had nothing to do with the sale.

"Arsene has said many things in the Press but I only take notice of those who matter to me. I read his comments but, as the tattoo on my arm says, 'Only God can judge me' not Arsene Wenger."

Now are you going to believe us? (See the match goals and incidents in the video below). Manchester City sent a further shot across the bows of the top four with a 4-2 win against Arsenal. Robinho and Tevez were both missing through injury – however City have such a strong squad that they insured they kept a 100% start to the season.

Arsenal started the game brightly and should have gone ahead when Gallas missed a header from a corner. City took the lead after 20 minutes when Richards headed a Gareth Barry free kick towards goal, the ball struck the upright and bounced into the net off the head of Almunia.

In the second half Arsenal stepped up to the plate and pressured City’s goal. The end result was a goal from Van Persie on 62 minutes. Lescott making his home debut made his only mistake of the match when he slid in to win the ball but missed, leaving Van Persie to turn and shoot low to Given’s right. Van Persie then ran over to the City fans shouting “F*** Off”.

City regained the lead moments later when Richards did well to cut inside the box and slide the ball into Bellamy with pace. Bellamy struck first time with power to beat Almunia.

Shaun Wright-Phillips rode a heavy challenge to cross the ball into Adebayor who headed in City’s third goal on 80 minutes. I was really pleased for Adebayor to score against his former club, especially considering all of the abuse he has received from the Arsenal fans – which was on a par to a Spur’s welcome to a former player. Unfortunately my heart sunk when I watched him cross the half way to run the full length of the pitch to celebrate infront of the Arsenal fans. I was now witnessing a three match ban for inciting the crowd, not a goal celebration.


However Gary Neville did the same when celebrating a goal for Manchester United against Liverpool and he recieved a £500k fine and no match ban - see the video here on my previous post.

City scored a forth goal when the very impressive Craig Bellamy won the ball deep in his own half and then headed a counter attack with Petrov, Adebayor and Wright-Phillips all running at pace towards the Arsenal goal. Bellamy released Wright-Phillips who deftly chipped the ball over the advancing Almunia. Wright-Phillips will have been pleased to score after missing a sitter from six yards minutes earlier. Adebayor had dribbled past four Arsenal players before cutting the ball back to Wright-Phillips who miss hit the ball wide.

Rosicky scored late in the game after a fine Arsenal move, however it was too late to influence the final result.

The other clear talking point during the game was the Adebayor “stamp” on Van Persie. Slow motion replays show Adebayor making contact with Van Persie’s head after a rash challenge. Van Persie has released a statement about the incident on the Arsenal website and the FA have already started to review the match footage.

With City’s injury list increasing Adebayor will be sorely missed when he is undoubtedly handed a ban from the FA. The ban may even be in place by the time City face Manchester United in the derby at Old Trafford next week.

For the Van Persie Statement in full and video of the stamp incident then please see the previous post: click here.

Match Facts:
Manchester City 4 (Almunia o.g. Bellamy, Adebayor, Wright-Phillips)
Arsenal 2 (Van Persie, Rosicky)
Saturday 12 September 2009, 3:00PM
Att: 47339

Manchester City: Given; Richards, Toure, Lescott, Bridge; Wright-Phillips, De Jong, Ireland Petrov, 72), Barry; Adebayor, Bellamy. Unused subs: Onuoha, Zabaleta, Taylor, Sylvinho, Vidal, Weiss.

Bookings: Lescott (14) Adebayor (81) De Jong (90)

Arsenal: Almunia; Sagna (Eboue, 76), Gallas, Vermaelen, Clichy; Diaby, Song Eduardo, 76), Denilson (Rosicky 52), Fabregas, Diaby; Bendtner, Van Persie. Unused subs: Ramsey, Silvestre, Mannone, Gibbs.

Bookings: Sagna (18) Song (72)

City face their toughest test yet in the Premier League this season when they face Arsenal today. City will be hoping to continue their run of clean sheets against a high scoring Arsenal side.

Kolo Toure will face his old club as captain of City today after the sale of Richard Dunne to Aston Villa. Adebayor also looks certain to start against his former club and will look to build upon his three goals and fine early form. City will be without Carlos Tevez today and Robinho faces a late fitness test after both players picked up injuries in the midweek international match between Brazil and Argentina. City welcome back Vincent Kompany to the squad for the game after his return from injury this week.

Arsenal are not without their injury worries with Arshavin out and Johan Djourou will miss the next six months after undergoing knee surgery. Arsene Wenger will be sat in the stands today after being sent off late in the game against United. Arsenal will get a boost from the return of influential midfielder Cesc Fabregas. Tomas Rosicky is also expected to feature for Arsenal. Theo Walcott is continuing his recovery from a back problem but has resumed full training.

Mark Hughes is expecting a tough game today and rates Arsenal highly, especially after their good start to the season despite losing to United last time out: "They are a very good side, I went to game at Old Trafford and was very impressed with them. I thought they were the best team on the day, and they should have won. I'm sure a lot of Arsenal people must have been scratching their heads after the game, wondering how they lost it, but that can happen in the Premier League."

Manager Mark Hughes is confident that City can continue their own excellent form in the league this season against Arsenal so long as City can manage to hit top form, which he admits they have not done so far: “They have great individual talents within a way of playing that lets them create chances, and if they get it right on the day, they can do a lot of damage. We feel we have that capability as well, but we have not yet showed it this season.”

Manchester City vs Arsenal
City of Manchester Stadium
12/09/2009
15:00 kick off

Probable Line Ups:

Manchester City: Given, Richards, Toure, Lescott, Bridge, Wright-Phillips, Ireland, Barry, Bellamy, Adebayor, Robinho.

Arsenal: Almunia, Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, Clichy, Denilson, Song, Bendtner, Diaby, Eboue, Van Persie.

Ireland is Superman – The Animation... Stephen Ireland tackles “Abramowitch” who is persuading a young lad to come and join Chelsea. The satirical cartoon advances from Chelsea’s Hansel and Gretel transfer policies to Sepp Blatter’s witch hunt of top Premier League clubs. A small script of the cartoon can be found before the article on Chelsea’s ban and Sepp Blatter’s latest crusade...





Ireland is Superman Cartoon Script:

Abramowitch: That’s it my child, go to sleep... ...and tomorrow you will be Chelsea!
Ireland: Kiss my Blarney Bone
Abramowitch: You will never defeat me!
Ireland: Ya Idiot!
Abramowitch: I’m Melting! Who would have thought a girl like you would destroy my beautiful wickedness
Blatter: Damn You! I will turn all your Premier Manager’s into witches! The Premier League will fall! Next time Ireland... Next Time!

In the wake of Chelsea’s ban from any activity during transfer windows until 2011, Sepp Blatter – the FIFA president has vowed that clubs other than Chelsea will be punished if found guilty of poaching young players from abroad. A move designed to protect the rights of very young players who may find themselves in limbo if their potential or enthusiasm for the game changes. Blatter said: "They are taken at 14 or 15 years old with clubs saying that their parents are going too. But they get put into another family, and what happens to them? One out of say 20 has a chance to go on in their career. The others are left, and they need to be protected."

Regarding the case with Chelsea - the ban and fine is well over due. Chelsea have gone lower and lower in their transfer dealings despite lesser fines and warnings. Their poaching of Gael Kakuta is an example littered with evidence. Francois Callado, the former president of Lens summed up the arrogance of Chelsea – as they continued to behave as if they were above the law: "The contract [signed between Lens and Kakuta when he was 14] was rubber-stamped by the French league and French football federation. But Chelsea took him and played in a tournament with all their reserves, even without international clearance. When I met with Kenyon and Arnesen at Chelsea I took the contract. I told Kenyon, 'You're risking a fine and a transfer ban'. I explained the Fifa rules to him. Kenyon spoke with Arnesen and he said they were sure of their intentions. We said this is what we want and they said no way. They proposed a ridiculous fee. I said I'll leave you and if you're sure then I'll go to Fifa and we'll see if you're not sanctioned. They said there would be no need for another meeting."

They couldn’t say they weren’t warned... Chelsea were alleged to have poached Arnesen from Tottenham, fueled by photographs taken of him on Abramovich’s yacht when he was still employed by Spurs. Chelsea however issued a statement to refute the allegations claiming that: "Mr Abramovich and Mr Arnesen know each other, were holidaying in the same location and Roman and his wife invited Frank and his wife to join them for lunch. It was purely a social occasion."

In a similar case to Kakuta - Sergio Aguero retired from Athletico Madrid instead of seeing out his contract – however he signed for Chelsea a month later as he was a “free agent”. There was also the well publicised “tapping up” of Ashley Cole from Arsenal for which Cole and then manager Mourinho suffered fines.

It is right that children are protected, however that’s not to say that all transfers should be banned and that all young players should be tied to a single “home” football club. A lot can change during the early years of a player’s career. Blatter insisted: "Our aim is to protect both young players and older ones The only people who are against this are the rich clubs. Even the English FA supports it. But if you talk to the representatives of the Premier League, they'll tell you it's a stupid idea. They are making lots of money."

Some clubs have claimed that their young players are not contractually bound to them and therefore they should not be punished, however Blatter stated that this was not good enough: "There are clubs now who are looking at their books, some have even announced that a certain player has no contract with them and he is an amateur. They have done this to try to make sure that the player does not come under the jurisdiction of congress,"

There have now been a number of clubs that have been put under the spot light since the Chelsea ban. Manchester United’s transfer of Michael Fornasier who moved from Italian club Fiorentina is under FIFA investigation. Manchester City have also been reported by Rennes over youngster Jeremy Helan; however City are confident that they have now case to answer. City went through a third party for Helan and did not go to the Clairefontaine academy directly.

Sepp Blatter however, in his usual controversial way, has set about targeting the Premier League. Together with Platini’s continued attacks on Premier League clubs (which are far stronger than those levied at foreign giants such as Real Madrid) Premier Chiefs have a right to be aggrieved at the perceived witch hunt.

It could be said however that the increased attention has been brought about by the Premier Leagues arrogant and ridiculous suggestions to play Premier League matches on foreign soil.

Manchester City continued to gel against Portsmouth despite not driving in full gear. City’s 1-0 win makes it three out of three in the league. City look solid at the back with new arrival Lescott and they look frightening going forward... ...there is certainly more to come.

Adebayor scored his third goal in as many games from a Gareth Barry corner after he lost his marker, the new Portsmouth captain Aaron Mokoena. City should have been 2-0 up minutes later when Bellamy crossed for Richards to slide in at the far post. However the goal was ruled offside due to Barry arriving in the six yard box, despite Barry not interfering with play.

Portsmouth put up a fight after the goal with David Nugent missing a glorious chance after scuffing his shot into the ground and Given stood tall and strong to chest the ball clear.

City could well have had a penalty in the closing moments when Belhadj brought down the impressive Wright-Phillips in the box, but replays show that Belhadj won the ball before making contact with Wright-Phillips.

Robinho was left on the bench for the game, with Bellamy taking his place on the left wing. Robinho was carrying a knock on his ankle and was not risked, especially as he will be featuring for Brazil in the important World Cup qualifier against Argentina in the next few days.

Match Facts:
Sunday 30 August 2009, 1:30PM
Fratton Park Att: 17826 Barclays Premier League

Portsmouth: Begovic,Kaboul,Vanden Borre,Belhadj,Mokoena,Mullins,Brown,Kranjcar,Hughes (Nugent 86),Smith (Utaka 68),Piquionne (Kanu 73) Unused subs: Ashdown, Hreidarsson,Ward, Basinas, Bookings: Hughes and Mokoena

Manchester City: Given,Richards (Zabaleta 60),Toure,Lescott,Bridge,Wright-Phillips,Ireland (De Jong 76),Barry,Bellamy,Adebayor,Tevez Unused subs: Taylor, Onuoha, Petrov, Weiss, Robinho Bookings: Zabaleta