Questt
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Aren't U happy????????????? I am..............
The Manchester City (The Citizens) | Special Thread
The Manchester City (The Citizens) | Special Thread
- Thread starter Ab-Titchaz
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Aren't U happy????????????? I am..............
Abdulhalim
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Mi sijapenda.
Questt
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Why?????......Sheikh Abdul usiniangushe bana....Pole sana basi...Sikudhamiria kukukera...Nisamehe.....
Wacha1
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Wacha1
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Abdulhalim
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Waarabu naona pesa yao ya majini inawawasha..wanasemekana wamemchukua Edin Dzeko kwa pauni milioni 27.
Sasa sielewi ma-straika wote hawa ni wa kazi gani wakati Mancini anchezesha striker mmoja na defensive midfielders 3!
Manake hawa wote itabidi wagombee kucheza nafasi hiyo moja..lolz
-Dzeko
-Santa Cruz
-Adebayor
-Tevez
-Jo
Sasa sielewi ma-straika wote hawa ni wa kazi gani wakati Mancini anchezesha striker mmoja na defensive midfielders 3!
Manake hawa wote itabidi wagombee kucheza nafasi hiyo moja..lolz
-Dzeko
-Santa Cruz
-Adebayor
-Tevez
-Jo
Mbu
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Haya bana .... ..naona mko kileleni ....
...hii thread haina mshiko au team hii haina washabiki? :clock: ha ha ha!
Ab-Titchaz
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Rutashubanyuma
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Manchester City seal fourth place as Peter Crouch own goal sinks Spurs
Premier League
Manchester City 1
Premier League
Manchester City 1
- Crouch 30
- Kevin McCarra at City of Manchester Stadium
- guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 10 May 2011 21.52 BST <li class="history">Article history Tottenham Hotspur's Peter Crouch contemplates his own goal, which gave Manchester City the three points. Photograph: Tim Hales/AP
Manchester City ground their way to glamour. The Champions League lies before them although they will have to negotiate a qualifying round unless they can overtake Arsenal and come third on the domestic front. This is a landmark for the club but City did not have the sheen of an elite side, regardless of the fortunes spent on assembling the squad.
The fixture will be remembered for an agonising coincidence as Peter Crouch settled the outcome with an own goal. A year ago the forward had notched a conventional winner for Spurs that sent the club towards the Champions League at City's expense.
It is as well that there was such an irony to consider because this match was dreary. The Eastlands crowd were understandably indifferent to the low quality of a contest that had delivered such a reward, but a moment should be found to appreciate a Tottenham side so full of endeavour.
There is still no avoiding the truth that there are inadequacies in attack that will continue to hinder them unless Harry Redknapp discovers an adept and affordable striker. City's means in that area were expanded when Carlos Tevez came on in the 83rd minute, suggesting he is over his hamstring trouble and will have a part of some kind in Saturday's FA Cup final with Stoke City.
Roberto Mancini is delivering an impact of sorts at Eastlands and the audience had no interest in nit-picking. Even so, there will come a day when a more expansive style is demanded not just for aesthetic reasons but also because a club will not make their mark at Champions League level unless they have the slickness presently missing at City.
he club will not necessarily have to be content with fourth spot in the Premier League. Should Arsenal waver, as is their habit,, Mancini's men could yet overtake them and so advance directly to the Champions League proper. The mereexistence of such issues does show that the Italian's methods are working. He ought, at least, to have an opportunity to show City can eventuallybe allowed to develop a more stylish approach. For the time being, their goals total in the league is barely superior to that of Tottenham despite all the outlay.
City might have given the score a more emphatic tone towards the end when Tevez set up a fellow substitute but Patrick Vieira's shot was cleared by William Gallas. Mancini's line-up had not looked masters of their own fate and shortly before they took the lead Luka Modric ought to have put the visitors ahead after a run and pass from Aaron Lennon, but instead shot wide.
Spurs were lax in a different fashion almost immediately. James Milner not only played a short corner to Adam Johnson in the 30th minute, but was able to receive the return pass well inside the penalty area. The midfielder drilled the ball across the six-yard line and Crouch could not avoid turning it into his own net.
There is little gleam to City despite all the outlay. That, indeed, seems to be the purpose of the exercise for Mancini. While the expenditure points towards lush football, the manager's constant aim might as well be to eradicate any self-indulgence. His attitude is understandable up to a point, considering how decadent the whole operation could become if it became saturated solely with affluence.
There is, however, a problem. Owners of such means as Sheikh Mansour surely do not commit remarkable sums simply to create a team known for little more than competence. It is, after all, 35 years since they collected their last major honour, the League Cup. The notion of the present line-up taking English football by storm is absurd and the bid to increase firepower faltered since the £27m January signing Edin Dzeko has one league goal to his name.
In the absence of Tevez, he can at least be fielded in the middle of the attack but that means there are no mitigating factors when he still falters while in his preferred role. Everything has been put in place to make conditions ideal for the City squad. The club has even had its employee Lee Jackson declared Premier League groundsman of the Year. In this fixture City did not put the surface to the accomplished use it deserves.
Spurs are to be praised for that. There was nothing desultory about them even though Wilson Palacios had be taken off with an injury in the 32nd minute. The visitors could easily have been on level terms at the beginning of the second half. In the 47th minute, the City goalkeeper, Joe Hart, showed extraordinary reactions when moving to his left and blocking the header from the substitute Steven Pienaar that followed a cross from Lennon. City endured as much as thrived to clinch the win.
Rutashubanyuma
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Manchester City v Tottenham Hotspur - as it happened
Premier League
This man helped Spurs pip City to fourth place a year ago. It won't happen again this year will it? Photograph: Tom Jenkins
Premier League
This man helped Spurs pip City to fourth place a year ago. It won't happen again this year will it? Photograph: Tom Jenkins
Preamble:
Manchester City failing to reach the Champions League would register 10 on the Flopometer but their defeat at Everton at the weekend, and the fact that they are Manchester City, means we can't rule it out. Whether Spurs would be the beneficiaries of a City collapse is doubtful, since Liverpool look more equipped to take advantage, what with actually having a top-class striker.
Spurs' lack of a striker is something they should have addressed in the January, and not via last-minute scattergun blitz of bids for anyone with a fancy name. But they didn't, and so the odd paradox persists: Spurs have a swashbuckling gung-ho mentality but humdrum forwards, while City have a plethora of forwards and spend-crazy but all the offensive audacity of a miserly hedgehog. What's more, not only is Gareth Bale missing through injury, but we will also be deprived of the comic book capers of Heurleho Gomes: Harry's only gone and dropped the Brazilian prankster. We can only hope that Carlo Cudicini is rusty enough to prove a worthy stand-in. And as if Gomes's absence isn't disappointing enough, Mario Balotelli won't be in action either, at least not from the start. Happily there is always the chance that he'll enliven proceedings off the bench, or indeed by starting a fight with the bench.
Stoke City fans, meanwhile, may be hoping that Carlos Tevez doesn't get a run out, since Roberto Mancini said that was a precondition of him being picked for the FA Cup final. Or maybe they'll be hoping that he does get a run-out, and then gets sent off for headbutting, say, Joe Hart, Vincent Kompany and Nigel De Jong.
Teams:
Man City: Hart, Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Zabaleta, Milner,
De Jong, Toure Yaya, Adam Johnson, Silva, Dzeko.
Subs: Given, Wright-Phillips, Kolarov, Vieira, Tevez, Boyata, Balotelli.
Tottenham: Cudicini, Corluka, Dawson, Gallas, Rose, Lennon,
Palacios, Sandro, Modric, Van der Vaart, Crouch.
Subs: Pletikosa, Kaboul, Pavlyuchenko, Defoe, Bassong, Kranjcar,
Pienaar.
Referee: Mike Dean (Male)
7:30pm: "Woe betide saying the Fiver got something right for once but surely it's the fact Spurs have only won one game since the middle of Feb that's the problem, not cash?" warbles Graeme Neill in reference to this. "Can you imagine the press reaction an actual Champions League team like Manchester United or Arsenal would get if they had that run? Still, cheeky chappie, gives good quotes, he's down to bare bones, they were practically relegated when he took over, etc etc." As I said in the preamble, it was the failure to land a decent striker that's cost them.
7:35pm: Mancini on Tevez: "If Carlos can play 20-25 minutes we can understand if he's fit enough [for the FA Cup final]."
7:37pm: Harry Redknapp on the transient nature of life and form: "It doesn't seem like a year ago that we came here and won 1-0. Where has the time gone? It's frightening, Geoff."
7:39pm: Aha! Redknapp is saying that he only left Gomes out because the Brazilian has a back injury. So it's not the dodgy fingers and the barmy streak?
7:40pm: "Another reason Spurs need a quality striker, bar to SCORE SOME GOALS, is that without one Rafa Van der Vaart is pretty much a spare part," bellows
Steve Waterhouse, who feels it pertinent to point out that he's from Bristol. Anyone like to suggest how that could be relevant? His main point, in fairness, is bang on.
7:42pm: "Harry hasn't used Kranjcar and Pienaar and rested Modric as a top manager would - that's another reason for Spurs' decline: he doesn't know what squat rotation means," shrieks Glynn John or John Glynn, whose explanation of the benefits of "squat rotation" I'd be intrigued to hear.
1 min: Spurs begin with the mandatory kick-off, then work it back to their defenders, who stroke the ball around a bit before Dawson lamps it forward and Kompany retrieves it.
3 min: A lull. Already. "Crouch up front!" gulps Dave Hill. "Has Harry used his 'bare bones' speech lately or is he just using visual aids instead?" In fairness, Pavlyruchenko was pungent on Saturday and Defoe wasn't much better, even if he did bang in a fine goal at the end (indeed, here's a little-known fact: Defoe has scored more goals from outside the box than anyone else in the league this season).
5 min: Foraging run down the left by Lennon, but his attempt to thread the ball through to Modric in the box founders on a rock called Kompany. "Re: squat rotation [7:42pm] I guess if you haven't got squat, then squat rotation would be the process of rotaing all that squat you have," jabbers Linda Howard. "Which just may apply."
7 min: City get behind the Spurs' defence for the first time courtesy of a canny ball from Johnson, but Dawson cuts out Richards' cross. "Spurs play Liverpool at the weekend and I, as a Liverpool fan, am currently lighting candles in front of a makeshift shrine, with a crumpled photo of Gomes at full backward flail taped just above the altar," brays Ed Brickell.
8 min: Dzeko clears van der Vaart's corner at the near post.
9 min: Yaya Touré blazes wide from 20 yards. "If Harry Rednapp doesn't know what squat rotation means, all he has to do is Google it, and Kristina Beck will briskly and cheerfully demonstrate for him," discloses Julian Gough. "I've a horrible suspicion there may be other videos out there, demonstrating even more innovative forms of squat rotation that would mean even more exercise for your legs and core, but I've got Safe Search on."
11 min: Fine play by City, followed by a fine save by Gomes's deputy! Lescott chipped a ball forward, Dzeko nodded on to Silva and then went for the return. Silva duly pulled it back to the striker, who let fly first-time from 12 yards but too close to Cudicini, who displayed sharp reflexes to push it to safety.
13 min: Milner barges his way down the right wing but, with Rose harrassing him, he sends his cross behind the goal.
14 min: Silva picks out Richards with lovely pass over the top, but Richards had mis-timed his run and was correctly pulledc back for offside. City are enjoying most of the possession so far, however, and are pulling Spurs hither and thither.
16 min: City fans bay for a penalty as Milner collapses under a tackle from Dawson! Without having seen a replay, I'm saying that was a fair shoulder challeng from the defender. "While lighting his shrine to Gomes, just curious if Ed Brickell or other Liverpool fans have noticed any resemblance between Gomes and their former hero Bruce Grobbelaar?" blurts Ollie Benn. "Both have/had moments of goalkeeping brilliance and giddiness in equal measure."
18 min: A bout of possession from Spurs culminates with Lennon lofting a long cross in from left towards Crouch. Richards leaps well to nut clear.
20 min: Spurs are working up a head of steam: Crouch nods down a cross from the right to Lennon, whose shot is blocked by Kompany and rebounds to Modric, who thumps it wide from 22 yards. Meanwhile, replays confirm I, and more importanatly the ref, was right about Dawson's challenge on Milner a moment ago.
22 min: There is a nice vibe to this game. It's charged with high energy and both teams are having spells of probing with menace. "Have Spurs really got worse?" wonders Tom Harrisson. "They'll probably end up with 60-odd points this season, about ten worse than last season, which isn't bad considering they've had to play additional Champions League matches. Surely the problem is that Man City have not quite got their act together, but are chucking enough cash at the problem that they don't need to?
24 min: Hart completes a textbook goal kick. Not, strictly speaking, a highlight but nothing else notable happened in the last two minutes. "When you list the players for each side and the referee for the match, you put the gender identification next to the ref's name: Is there a reason?" bawls Patrick Pilch. Nope. The official team sheet said Mike Dean (Wirral) and I just thought I'd replace one piece of irrelevant information with another.
27 min: A quickly taken long throw-in by Rose finds Crouch in space in the City box, but the striker has neither the speed nor cunning to make the most of the opening, so instead works it back to Modric for a pot-shot from distance. Wide.
28 min: Bad miss by Modric! Lennon hared down the right and then cut it across to Modric, who was arriving at great speed. With no one around him the Croatian attempts to place the ball into the bottom corner from 16 yards but sends it wide!
GOAL! City 1-0 Spurs (Crouch og 30') Oh Crouchy! His goal helped Spurs get to the Champions League last year and his decline this season can be summed up by the fact that he may have just scored the goal that prevents them from getting there this term. Johnson took a short corner to Milner, who drew the defender and then slipped it back to Johnson, who hammered the ball low and hard acorss the face of goal. Crouch tried to clear but instead diverted the ball into the net from four yards.
32 min: Spurs substitution: Palacios off, Pienaar on. The Honduran, who has been out for a long time with injury, clearly hasn't regained full fitness.
35 min: City fizzed the ball around nicely to create a crossing opportunity for Johnson. Fine cross, expertly cleared by Gallas. City quickly regain it - their dander is well and truly up - and Silva goeas close with a powerful drive from distance. now, "A lot's made of Stoke's supposedly bad style of play and Spurs supposedly brilliant attacking style, but they don't seem that different to me," storms Geroge. "Both teams main tactic is to get their two quick wingers down to the by-line and send crosses in for a big man to get flick-ons and knock downs. Gareth Bale even has a penchant for taking Delap style long throws. Is this just another example of the medias bias towards 'Arry or am I missing something?" It's not an absurd point, George, but I would suggest that what you are missing is Luka Modric: Stoke are certainly not as crude as the caricature claims, but Pulis is not especially eager to have a conjurer in central midfield.
37 min: Corluka makes an uncharacteristic breaks behind the City defence and clips in a decent cross. Crouch goes down in the vicinity of Milner for no apparent reason.
39 min: As City show more vigour and incision, Redknapp is looking decidedly glum on the bench. "Looks like Redknapp doesn't want European football unless it is the Champions League, pathetic really," harrumphs Alistair Reece. "One season in the CL and they think that only that is good enough?"
41 min: Good tackle by Lescott to halt Lennon's scurrying.
43 min: Nice zigzagging run by Lennon, but Kompany cut out his subsequent cross. "If this score stays like this, then the Spurs-Liverpool game at the weekend should be a stormer," thunders Robin Hazlehurst. "Loser get to focus on the League next season, winner has to faff about in the Europa League. I'm predicting a 48-47 final scoreline, all own goals. Should be great fun." So Gomes will be recalled, then?
45 min: Gallas rages forward, swaps snappy passes with Lennon before his shot is blocked. Ball eventually worked back to Van der Vaart, who hasn't done much so far, but reminds us of his presence with a reasonable long shot that Hart catches comfortably.
45+2 min: Several of you have written to say you can't see my description of the goal. Please press refresh and all should be revealed.
Half-time: This is a good game. Be sure to come back for the second half. "Spurs over-achieved last year in finishing fourth, they lack the moral fibre to be a consistent challenger for anything other than the odd cup run," hollers Tom Shaw. "Some clubs are like that, there's just something missing in their make up that means they'll always diasppoint after briefly raising hopes." There is no such thing as over-achieving.
Brain excretions: "Ed Bricknell's Liverpool shrine doesn't seem to be working. Perhaps it's time to go to the dark side and sacrifice either Joe Cole or Christian Poulsen inside a Wickerman." - Ian Burch
"So Arsenal get 4 points from Villa and Fulham while City win tonight and
against Stoke & Bolton. Then they're level on 71 points. At 1-0 tonight City are -8 in goal difference and -14 in goals scored. Would it unravel the very fabric of the space time continuum to watch City going all out for goals at The Reebok?" - Andy Waddington
46 min: Because Spurs kicked-oof in the first half, City do so in the second period. No chicanery here.
47 min: Fine piercing run by Lennon, then a clipped cross towards the penalty spot. Pienaar gets up well to send a powerful header downward. Hart plunges to his left to save superbly with one hand.
49 min: Modric, of all people, curtails a City break with a crunching tackle on Richards.
51 min: Lennon has been Spurs' most dangerous player tonight and he continues to look a threat whenever he gets the ball.
53 min: Touré sweeps the ball out wide tp Richards, who's stopped by a splendid sliding tackle by Rose. Zabaleta, meanwhile, is off the pitch receiving treatment for a cut.
55 min: Zabaleta is still off with a bloody nose. "Harry's right," yelps Peter Barnes. "The Europa tourney is a long slog for a little bitty reward. Better to add a striker, get healthy and knock Arsenal out of the top four." All very well, but this notion that Harry doesn't care about the Europa League is not being supported by the fact that Spurs have played pretty well over the last 10 minutes (and worked wretched in the first half) and appear to be really trying to get back into this.
57 min: After a super tackle by Kompany on Van der Vaart, City finally accept that Zabaleta can't continue and introduce Kolarov.
59 min: Incessant pressure from Spurs, helped by the fact that Maninci, that lovable old dear-devil, appears to have instructed his men to sit deep and attempt to cling on for 1-0. Van der Vaart aids the cause with a wild shot from the edge of the area. Ah, I stand corrected, the camera has just panned to Mancini on the sideline and he seems very exasperated, frantically trying to convincce his players to push up ...
62 min: Freekick to Spurs about 25 yards out following a foul by Dzeko on Modric. That Dzeko was making tackles back there tells you how this match is going. I too am trying to tell you how this match is going, of course. "Seeing as Spurs couldn't knock out Arsenal of the Top 4 when they had perhaps their worst season in five years, Peter Barnes shouldn't be offended when I say I consider Liverpool more of a threat to Arsenal's champions league status than Spurs," squawks Aidan Gibson.
63 min: Corluka is allowed to take the freekick and wallops it into the wall.
65 min: Cheers of relief, and perhaps surprise, as City are given a chance to relieve the pressure when Modric is punished for a foul on De Jong.
66 min: Well, if Mancini really does want his team to show more initiative rather than simply try to cling on, this substitution is not proof: Johnson off, Vieira on. "So what happens if City end up in fourth place and win the FA cup?" Richard Armitage. " Does that free up a Europa cup place? How many places are there anyway, one or two?" Three: one for Birmingham City, one for Stoke if City finish fourth, and one for the team that finishes fifth.
68 min: City launch their first attack of the half, Touré bounding down the right and then setting up Silva ... who falls over.
69 min: From 25 yards out Lennon sends a shot into the Irish Sea.
70 min: A break in play as Gallas receives treatment. If Tevez is to get the 20 minutes that Mancini says he needs to be ready for Saturday's final, he needs to enter the fray soon. Then again, he probably wouldn't get a touch as City are showing no inclination to attack.
73 min: Now it's Rose who needs attention from the physio after hurting his arm following a fall. In other news and a propos of nothing, Opta stats say Benoit Assou-Ekotto has a higher percentage of successful dribbles than any other Premier League players this season. Praise the Premier League's Messi.
75 min: Milner has a chance to lift the tedium from City after a dash down the right. But his attempted pull-back to Touré goes awry and Spurs clear. "I could see 'arry ending up at City next year," trills Tom Shaw. "They can't be thrilled with Mancini and what an opportunity for Redknapp, big club and all that ..."
77 min: Dzeko's lack of pace exposed as Dawson easily closes him down after Silva had set him running free Iron Maiden-style.
78 min: Spurs change: Crouch off, Defoe on.
79 min: Milner booked for pruning Rose. Meanwhile, here's some intrigue, courtesy of Robin Hazlehurst: "You're not necessarily right about the number of Europa League places up for grabs," snarls Robin. "There could be an extra one through the fair play league. Chelsea currently top that, but they're already in the Champions League, so Fulham could go through from second. But lookee here who's third. Wouldn't it be amusing if Arry steered Spurs carefully into sixth, then Fulham approached their last game all studs and handbags and dropped a place in that table."
81 min: Corner to Spurs after a Rose shot from distance is deflected behind by Silva. Modric picks out Van der Vaart about 25 yards out and then the Dutchman - for the severalth time tonight - books it high and wide.
83 min: Spurs' fair play prowess takes a dent as Pienaar is booked for a late foul.
84 min: Tevez is on.
86 min: Gallas is struggling with a knock of some sort. Kaboul is set to come on. "Major squad rebuilding, a new manager, chuck in a couple Abramovich-driven Torres-style Hail Marys in the transfer market and I can easily see Chelsea struggling with CL qualification next year," chirps Mark Elliott.
88 min: Magnificent header off the line by Gallas, who appears to have aggravated his knock in the process. It was Vieira's clip over the keeper that needed clearing, and Tevez who had put Vieira thorugh. Shockingly, City are finishing on the front foot.
89 min: Freekick to City abiout 28 yards out after Dzeko is felled. "When you've got an ancient Mac, the only solution is to Skype the folks in sunny Manchester and get them to stick Five Live next to the computer microphone and otherwise read the MBM updates," croaks Mel Cregg from Norway. "I feel like I'm working for the French Resistance in 'Allo 'Allo, trying to tune in to the latest intelligence updates. The things a fan has to do for City!"
90 min: Lennon slips in Corluka, who fires the ball across the face of goal but Richards beats Defoe to it at the near post and puts it out for a corner. There will be five minutes added on.
90+2 min: Pienaar threads it through to Sandro, who, deep inside the box, sends his cross behind the goal.
90+4 min: Dawson stabs clear a Touré cross at the near post.
Full-time: Manchester City have qualified for the Champions League for the first time, thanks to Peter Crouch's own goal. Tevez nearly got a second right at the end but Cudicini saved well one-on-one. City fans greet the final whistle with rapturous cheers. City's achievement means Stoke have reached the Europa League.
Ab-Titchaz
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The Famous Walk: Fans make their way down Wembley way before the kick off:
