Nastasic regaining his fitness after a lay-off (and should
be okay for Stoke). Micah
about to start training some time this week (and doubtful for a start at the Britannia Stadium if required). Demichelis out for at least 6 weeks and rumours that
it might be October before we see Captain Kompany
again!
With games away at
Stoke & Villa,
along with a certain Manyoo at home and Champions League games fast approaching…
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger
When the fixtures
first came out most Manchester
City
Now look at the
situation – with our main central defenders falling like dominos in an earthquake,
the trip to Stoke looks terribly daunting; Manyoo at home leaves us vulnerable
to van Persie and Co. and a trip to Benteke’s Villa has its dangers too. Chuck in a
Champions League game or two before Kompany and Demichelis are fit and the
once-considered “easy’ish start”
looked much more mountainous.
Fortunately the
injury to Demichelis comes during an international break and, therefore, we
have time to plan. Nastasic too, hopefully, is over his injury and is getting
his match fitness back (although my idea of a
full, behind-closed-doors game to get Demichelis used to his teammates and match-fit etc.
backfired somewhat didn't it?)
So if we can get
through Stoke City (A), Viktoria Plzen (A),
Manyoo (H), Wigan Athletic (League Cup - H), Aston Villa (A), Bayern Munich (H) and Everton
(H) relatively unscathed then the rest of the season is a piece of cake,
right? Well you know what I mean; if we
can come through that relatively unscathed then we’ll come out of it a much stronger
force still in a very good position in all 3 competitions.
So what would be
seen as “relatively unscathed”? Well considering the injuries at the
back and the compact time-period of fixtures ahead, I’d say realistically…
- Stoke City – Win
- Viktoria Plzen - Win
- Manyoo – Draw
- Aston Villa – Draw
- Bayern Munich – Draw
- Everton – Win
If we can ‘better’ the
result away at Villa and at home to Manyoo, that would be great! But all things
considered, those set of results have got to be seen as pretty good until we’re
back up to full strength at the back.
More cover?!
It’s being suggested
that we may now be signing 36-year old cover for the 32-½ year-old cover. William Gallas has been mentioned as a possibility on
a short-term contract until Martin recovers from his knee problem. It’s like Russian dolls at the moment!
Whatever next; Gallas gets injured and so we bring out of retirement Richard Jobson to cover?
If there IS anything to this Gallas link, Dedryck Boyata must be well peeved…
Moaning, whinging B*******!
I’ve not been too
well this week; some kind of weird water / kidney infection it felt like. I’ve
been pretty lethargic and out of sorts for most of the week and so, firstly, apologies
for not ‘posting’ since Tuesday 3rd September.
Secondly, due to feeling
somewhat vague most of the week, I sort of only half-caught the rumblings about
the lack of English players (again) in the Premier League. Greg Dyke has been spouting off and here are some
stats that have been banded around…
The
next major leagues with the lowest proportions of native players are the Primeira Liga with 45% and Serie A also with 45%. The Championship even has less
home-grown players (54%) than the Bundesliga (55%). Most impressively of all, 60% of footballers in La Liga are Spanish.
When
played in this context, 30% of Premier League footballers being English is
embarrassing. This figure has fallen 2% in just one summer as well from the 32%
that Dyke referred to in his keynote speech. In fact, if we go back to the
1998-99 season that number was 48% meaning that in just 14 years there has been
an 18% drop in the percentage of English players.
Shocking statistics?
Perhaps. But what really got my blood pressure up was a TV piece that I (again only
half caught) when the dinosaur Glenn Hoddle and
should-know-better Jamie Redknapp jumped on the
Greg bandwagon; and were calling for a law to be brought in forcing the Premier
League to enforce participating Clubs to field an “X” amount of English players!
What the F***!
Now I’m all for the situation
improving drastically in terms of the development of home-grown, English
players and, indeed, I’m absolutely delighted that my own Club is soon to
improve those chances; with the development across the road from our very own ground. If most Premier League Clubs were to
follow our example, this would, in time, hopefully improve our woeful National
side too; who go into every competition just hoping (if we’re being honest) that
they can keep their heads held reasonably
high by making the quarter finals at least…but
most likely no further.
Unless I missed it
in the same TV debate that I only half watched, what NEEDS to happen is that the
quality of coaching in this country has to improve TEN-FOLD!. We are LIGHT years
behind the coaches in Italy ,
Spain , Holland ,
Germany and South America to name just a few (and apologies to those countries that I have missed who have a fine
tradition of producing good coaches).
Just look at the
quality of English coaches a-la Glenn Hoddle, as was, and Roy Hodgson. Steve McClaren
anyone? Stuart Pearce and Gareth Southgate
Blaming the Premier
League and their participating Clubs for the lack of top-draw, English players in our country's top division? P***
OFF! Do these people truly believe that if a Manager had a really-really
good, free, English player on their books who had come through their ranks that
they would want to go out and spend money on a foreign player instead? Do they honestly
believe that if a team had a exciting, talented, home-grown lad already in place that
most Chairman would sanction the signing of a costly player from overseas to
stand in his way of first team football?
Get real or shut up, so-called
football pundits and Mr Chairman of the F.A!
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