Bits ‘n’ bobs.

Good result between Chelsea & Manyoo – neither team moved 3 points further away from us and Manyoo have used up a home game by dropping 2 points.

Negative or job done?

Some may criticise Mourinho for playing with no true recognised striker in an almost 4-6-0 formation; indeed I’ve already passed a (never goes) red in the street who did just that. But a point at Cold Trafford by ANY team is still an achievement and he should be given praise for sharing the points with Moyes’ men. Beat your rivals at home and draw with them away and you’re setting yourself up with really good chance of winning the title.

It’s all gonna be about the defence over the next few days…

Nastasic – Was on the bench against Cardiff and so I’m hopeful that he’ll be partnering Lescott for the home game against Hull City (early KO of 12:45pm BST).

Zabaleta – Has been a bit critical since the defeat in Wales of a change in defence tactics, which he said contributed to the 2-3 reverse result last Sunday. He said,

"Two goals from set pieces for us is hard," adding, "It has changed for us as last season we were marking zonally and now it is individual marking and sometimes it is hard”.

It’s a bloody good job Mancini has gone or Zaba would be in the dog house now…

Martin Demichelis - Despite negotiations on-going about a fee, it looks more and more likely that it’ll be the (33-year old in December) Argentinean joining us by 2^nd September. Having said that, the name Adil Rami has cropped up again today. Not for the first time have we been linked with the French centre back from Valencia. Another previously linked – albeit not this summer but rather further back under Mancini’s reign – is PSG central defender Mamadou Sakho. Seems like a talent and for something in the region of £8M, it would appear he is attracting interest of many both in the UK and further afield in Europe.

Left-back link! – Although I can’t get too excited about a Kolarov replacement just yet, it is heartening to see us at least being linked with a supposed talented 17-year old, Brazilian left-sided defender. Abner is his (shorter) name (Abner Felipe Souza de Almeida) from a Club called Coritiba. We shall see…

With Kompany now seeming to have at least 2 injury spells per season lasting anywhere from a month to 12 weeks – along with the nickname Mancini gave Richards of “crystal” due to his fragile nature – as long as we get SOME quality defensive cover in before the window slams shut then we’ll all breath a little more easily I’m sure.

Sniping from some quarters…

Hart has been taking some hits yesterday and yet again this morning. Indeed some sources are suggesting that it’s not just a defender that we’ll bring in before Monday’s deadline; a highly unlikely link with Real Madrid’s, Spanish international Iker Casillas has broken in the press.

David Platt is the worst sniping offender - coming out with very bitter-sounding words suggesting that he & Roberto were planning on moving our Joe out of the Club; going for Stoke City’s Asmir Begovic as his replacement.

Even ex-Blue goalie Nicky Weaver was interviewed and the headline was that Weaver thinks Joe should be dropped for a while. However, I’ve listened to the interview and Nicky isn’t suggesting anything like this! I think it’s more like talkSPORT who are taking the cheap shots with their headlining here…

What a good idea!

It transpires that Manchester City have signed their EDS up to the UEFA Youth League, which comprises of all 32 Clubs who qualify for the Champions League. Whatever the draw for the first team will be the draw for the reserves too. Following the abandonment of the NextGen Series due to lack of funding, what a crackin’ idea!

This’ll be great experience for the lads (and, indeed, for every youth player at each of the Clubs involved)!

Thank you, as always, for reading and of course…KEEP THE FAITH!