Boring!

I don’t like international breaks. You don’t have to push me hard at all to give you the answer that I’m a ‘club’ over ‘country’ man every time. Of course you need international football and as well as having some interest in how England fairs in competition-qualifying games; I of course throw myself into actual Euro & World Cup finals with considerable enthusiasm. But it’s the week in / week out stuff of Manchester City and domestic football in general where my heart truly lies.

 

Twiddling my thumbs and picking up scraps

Okay, so I’ve not exactly been completely idle since our 3-1 win over Everton – I’ve mowed the lawn (hopefully for the last time this year), I’ve done the weekly shop, I’ve walked the dog several times and have even cleaned the oven and outside PVC frames to some degree. But in between all of that terribly boring but necessary work, what is there to keep a football fan entertained? Well it’s usually no more than various pundits an’ the like talking about the same few, revolving subjects.

• Sunderland’s new Manager – Yet another, untried Premier League Italian (ooops...update - Uruguayan). What are they doing?! Yes he did really well at Brighton & Hove Albion before leaving under very strange circumstances but c’mon! This is a whole different level! Good luck to the man of course.

 

• A new star is born at Manyoo. And, apparently, he now wants to accept a rumoured £50,000 per week contract; seemingly being watched by several, top European teams including City in case he doesn't. Good luck to him too.

 

• A troubled, ex-Manyoo football player had a good game and is now being talked about as though he too is the next best thing since someone realised you could cut baked bread into smaller pieces. Apparently he too is being offered a new contract, despite not-long-since signing one following his move from Manyoo to West Ham United; removing his current £19M buy-out clause. And the man with the biggest (literally) head in football has done what we English do best, which is to TOTALLY overstate what a good, English player “we” have; already using the word “genius” to describe his goal against Spurs last Sunday. Way to make a young soul with a troubled past think he’s a world beater after just 7 Premier League games for West Ham, Sam. Again…good luck to the youngster.

 

• Ex-Blue Craig Bellamy retires from international football. Good news for Cardiff City I suppose.

 

• Erm…what else. Aguero states once again that he’s really happy at City while Real Madrid now want to sign David Silva for £50M.

Real stories

I suppose what I’ve been concentrating on are just these little snippets to keep the footballing fire going:

Joe Hart…

…is still, and quite bloody rightly too, being backed by Roy Hodgson, John Ruddy and a whole host of other footballers both past and present. It’s all about opinions of course and I was recently asked by a fellow blue why should Kolarov be dropped (he knew about my dislike for the pretender left-back) for poor performances and not Joe likewise? It seemed a fair question for a few seconds but, as I then pointed out, even when struggling for form; at worse Joe has about 2 really bad games in 10 whereas Kolarov only has about 2 half-decent games in the same amount of time.

Even Soccer AM’s presenters last Saturday gave Hart the big ‘thumbs up’; calling him the best keeper in the country. Look any City fan in the eye and ask them if they’re NOT confident with the England Number 1 behind our defence…and then come back and tell me of anyone who answers “No” and looks absolutely genuine in their conviction.

Demichelis…

…should be back in training on Monday 14^th October according to Pellegrini. Of course there’s still match fitness to get back but all being well, we should have more cover by early to mid-November; perhaps in time for CSKA Moscow at home or Sunderland away.

Milner…

…states that City haven’t hit anywhere near top gear yet. Obvious statement aside, it was good to read in detail his words of confidence that players are still getting used to our new Manager’s training routine and intensity as well as his playing style. If that’s the case – and with Demichelis, Richards, Rodwell, Jovetic and Navas all to get a good run in the team (as well as Kompany in many respects), then it truly is ‘watch out’ the rest!

Kompany...

 ...is on the mend quicker than most of us, I'm sure, feared. The way he hobbled off against Everton it appeared as though his old, groin / hip injury had returned. But apparently not; it would appear to be a thigh strain and our Captain could be back in contention to face Chelsea away on 27th October. As long as they're not rushing him back too soon for that difficult fixture, that's great news!

 

That’s about all I can stretch out into any kind of Blog posting. Apologies if this one has hardly lit your fire. And this is my point; during the international break I feel like football – the PROPER one that is – has been put on a low, back-burning light to be almost forgotten about while it simmers quietly in the background.

C’mon England…