Given – The Irishman didn’t have a great deal to do, and his best save struck him on the shoulder, but who can argue with another clean sheet. Must feel invincible. 7
Richards - Showed no ill effects from Thursday night and had his best game of the season. An excellent poacher’s finish for the disallowed goal. Let’s hope the injury isn’t serious. 8
Toure – The season’s best defensive performance had the new skipper at it’s heart. His influence seemed to …
Goals: Adebayor 30 mins for City.
Emmanuel Adebayor scored in his third successive Premier League game for the Blues to secure a narrow, but deserved, victory over a limited Pompey side.
The big surprise in the line-up was the absence of Robinho. Let’s hope there’s nothing serious amiss with our Brazilian superstar, who had been the subject of a 40 million euro bid from Barcelona according to Marca. There has been nothing in the English press to substantiate this, and hopefully we …
Mark Hughes will be looking to complete a hat-trick of Premier League victories and continue City’s impressive start to the season on the South coast.
The City boss appears to have settled on his preferred starting line-up for the moment, so with no injury worries it would be a surprise to see any changes to the side that beat Crystal Palace on Thursday night.
The only possible changes might be to bring in Zabaleta for Richards, or to tweak the formation …
Northern Ireland international, Ryan McGivern, has joined Leicester City on loan until January.
The 19 year-old looked promising in pre-season and might have been considered as back-up to Wayne Bridge if Javier Garrido left the club. However the signing of Sylvinho put paid to that, and instead he heads out of Eastlands once again, following a spell at Morecombe last season.
The Championship should provide Ryan with a good standard of first team experience, and he might make his Leicester debut against …
City have been drawn against fellow Premier League side Fulham in the third round of the Carling Cup. The tie is due to take place in the week beginning 21 September. This lies between the Old Trafford derby on Sunday 18 September and the home game against West Ham on Monday 28 September.
Whilst not the easiest draw we could have hoped for, at least we are at home. Fulham are also competing in the group stages of the Europa League, …
Given – If Ireland is Superman what does that make Shay? Once again superb in handling, positioning and shot stopping. 9
Richards – Given a tough test by Moses. Micah didn’t come through with flying colours. His additional height and strength is probably all that’s keeping Zabaleta on the bench at the moment. 5
Toure – His leadership qualities as captain are going to be essential in organising that defence. A decent showing on the night, but not at the same level …
Goals: Wright-Phillips 50 mins and Tevez 70 mins for City.
City came through a difficult away tie in the Carling Cup thanks to second half goals from Shaun Wright-Phillips and Carlos Tevez.
Mark Hughes surprised everyone by naming a full strength team. The only change from the game against Wolves was Joleon Lescott making his debut in place of Richard Dunne. Despite this, Palace caused the Blues plenty of problems, particularly through the pacy teenage duo of Freddie Sears and Victor …
City embark on their Carling Cup campaign against Neil Warnock’s Crystal Palace. The Yorkshireman’s sides are usually competitive and City will need to put up a stronger showing than last season when we went out to Brighton and Nottingham Forest at the first hurdle of the domestic cups.
The good news is that our squad is far stronger than last season and ought to be more focused due to the absence of European fixtures. We could really do with good …
Mark Hughes has stated that the incredible turnover of players in the last two transfer windows isn’t going to be repeated in the future.
These are fascinating statements that appear to confirm how Sheikh Mansour has invested heavily in the short team, with a view to having City compete for the Champions League positions.
Mark Hughes:
“In the future we won’t be going into the market to this extent again. We have gone very quickly into the market and brought in big numbers …
With the arrival of Joleon Lescott, speculation has increased that Richard Dunne may be leaving the club, while Ben Haim is being linked with a season-long loan to Portsmouth.
The Daily Mail earlier claimed that Aston Villa have agreed a £6m fee for Dunne, and this has since appeared in The Guardian. As of today Kolo Toure and Joleon Lescott look set to be our first choice centre back pairing and it’s doubtful if Dunne will be happy with a …
