Arsenal - City, preview.

After our good result against Liverpool, we’re now being rushed to London to face Arsenal in the League Cup. I very much doubt we’re going to see the likes of Silva, van Persie and Aguero tonight, but it will be a chance for arguably the two best youth teams in the country to show off their budding youngsters.

I think it’s going to be a tight one. In fact, this may even go to extra time. Mancini has promised 11 changes from the side that started against Liverpool, but those comments were made during a rant at the Premier League fixture schedule, however, I don’t think Mancini is a man to go back on his word unless he is forced to.

Hart, Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy, Barry, Balotelli, Aguero and Silva will either be on the bench or not feature at all because we’ve got a big Premier League game on Saturday at home to Norwich (and before you start, every game is a big game), and we’ll need to have our strongest team available to make sure our unbeaten Premier League record doesn’t come to an end.

We haven’t won at Arsenal in 36 years, so maybe it’s time to end that jinx. Clichy sounds desperate to do so as well (of course he would, returning to the place he used to call home), but whether he’ll be playing is another matter altogether.

Pantilimon, Onuoha, Zabaleta, Savic, Kolarov, de Jong, Nasri and Dzeko should start. And I predict they’ll be joined by a couple of youngsters: the returning Abdul Razak has impressed on the south coast at Portsmouth, so I imagine he’ll partner de Jong in midfield if Mancini is truly serious about this competition. And “Boy with the Nice Hair” Denis Suarez may be an additional creative option up front behind Edin Dzeko.

Prediction – Arsenal 1-3 Manchester City, AET.

Liverpool 1-1 Manchester City, thoughts.

I’m pretty shocked at how devoid of ideas we looked on Sunday. I think the extra games each week are finally beginning to have an impact on the squad, and yesterday in a game where we were up against a fully rested Liverpool side it was displayed for all to see. Liverpool had much more fight and urgency about them throughout the game and danced around as our tired legs stumbled on the Anfield surface.

Thinking about it, I suppose we could have come away with three points if Lescott hadn’t been where he was, but it’s a mistake and we can move on. Joleon’s finally getting to the top of his game, so getting on his back won’t help.  I think we all know that Lescott is one of England’s best centre-backs, and this mistake doesn’t make him any less of a defender than he was last week.

I thought Joe Hart was our Man of the Match. Some of his saves in the dying seconds were outstanding. In fact, that save from Andy Carroll could be one of the saves of the season. It was incredibly similar to his save from Tottenham’s Steven Pienaar last season: as Joe fell to his right, he managed to thrust out an arm and throw his body weight back in the other direction to make the save. Who says we don’t have a world-class shot shopper between the sticks?

Outfield, our best option was probably Clichy. Normally I’d expect to be lauding Silva, Aguero or Yaya, but they were almost non-existent in the second half. Clichy did brilliantly to get forward and swing balls over. Some of his crosses reminded me of Kolarov’s “crossing”, but when Gael connects with a cross you’re almost certain that a chance will come at the end of it.

Now – the sending off. How? Just how? How, when he’s been so wonderfully well behaved, does Balotelli go from hero to zero in 18 minutes? I guess he’s the only person in the world that can do that. Some could argue that his reputation precedes him, but you can’t jump into someone with your arm up and expect to stay on the field afterwards if you’re already on a yellow? I’m not exactly getting sick of Balotelli (I love him), but I fear that Mancini may be losing patience with him. Thankfully Balotelli, along with Barry, will only miss the League Cup quarter-final against Arsenal on Tuesday but it’s a selection headache Mancini would rather not have.

Even though that was our worst performance of the season so far, you have to just look at the Premier League table and raise a smile; we’re still five points clear, we’re still far ahead of everyone else and we’re still unbeaten. Our form in all competitions has taken a tiny bit of a dent, but regular services should resume on Tuesday – and if not then, at home to Norwich next Saturday. Norwich have only won once away this season, while we sit on a 100% record at home.

Cheers.

Napoli 2-1 City, thoughts

I thought I’d wait until the morning after the night before to express my views on what was effectively our Champions’ League exit. I’ve found that over the past couple of years my knee-jerk reactions have lost me a lot of friends on football forums and in real life, so I took the advice I gave to someone a few months ago, and gave myself a night’s rest and a chance to calm down.

I thought were unlucky last night, looking at the stats and the direction of the play. I can’t remember Napoli causing that much of a threat when they weren’t scoring goals, and both of our goals were slightly down to our own errors – errors that can be corrected with slightly better organisation. We had 60% of the possession away from home in the Champions’ League and we had 18 shots away from home in the Champions’ League; we just couldn’t finish our chances. I don’t think it was Balotelli’s night, and I think we could all see how frustrated he was getting with his missed chances.

We’re not totally out of the Champions’ League, but we’ll need a near miracle to progress. We’ll need to beat one of the best sides in the world (currently) in Bayern Munich, and we’ll need one of the worst teams left in the competition (Villarreal) to beat Napoli. It’s not looking likely, is it? We’re in a difficult position, though; do we just accept that we’re out and rest our players against Bayern so that they’re fresh for the Chelsea game at the weekend, or do we go out all guns blazing with nothing to lose and play a slightly weaker team against one of our biggest title challengers and potentially surrender our unbeaten domestic record for nothing?

I have to stress, though, that if Mancini leaves both Richards and Clichy on the bench together once more, I may have to throttle him. Zabaleta and Kolarov offered very little attacking threat last night, and it’s not the first time this season that they’ve failed to impress when played together. Kolarov did give us a wide option in Naples but when he did cross the ball or look to cut it back, every pass seemed to be a guess (added to that, Kolarov was even getting the basics wrong in the same way Wright-Phillips did during the 09-10 season; balls were slipping under his feet, and his confidence was shot), and none of Zabaleta’s crosses were successful. In all honesty, as much as I love him, he was very poor last night.

Which leads me on to my final point, and the biggest problem about last night’s game... Mancini hasn’t used Zabaleta properly this season. This season he’s played in less than half of our Premier League games (4), but he seems to be first choice right-back for our Champions’ League games. Is that the right thing to do? Mancini seems to be throwing Zabaleta into our biggest games without a shield or any big match practise. I guess it’s just unfortunate.

I can point the finger at specific players and blame them for our poor showing in the Champions’ League this season, but this is just the start. I have to focus on our rivals, Manchester United, to fully get my point across: United were running away with the Premier League in 1994, but they exited the Champions’ League before reaching the group stages of the competition, losing to Galatasary on aggregate. Six seasons later they won the competition.

In other words, it takes time to establish yourself in European football, no matter how good you are domestically. We may have players like Aguero, Nasri, Silva, Dzeko and Kompany but they’ve only been playing together for three months. We’re running away with the league and the team we have is one of the best in the world, but European football is an ugly beast that shows no mercy to a new group of people.

Let’s just batter Liverpool.

Hart 7; Zabaleta 5, Kompany 6, Lescott 6, Kolarov 5; de Jong 5, Yaya 7, Milner 8, Silva 6; Dzeko 6, Balotelli 7.

Napoli - City preview.

If we win this, we’re through. If we draw we have to face Bayern Munich and win in the last group games, and if we lose we’re basically out.

Tonight is a big moment in the history of Manchester City Football Club, and if we progress to the knockout phases of the Champions’ League with a game to spare (in a group as difficult as this one) will surely make the eyes of the giants focus on Manchester for another week. We’re making shockwaves around the UK, but we’ve merely started a tremor in Europe. Could tonight be the night?

After his fantastic performance on Saturday, Micah Richards gave Mancini something to think about ahead of his team selection before tonight’s game. Pablo Zabaleta has featured in the Champions’ League quite a lot this season, and he’s signed a new deal this week, but Richards’ recent form may be enough to get him a starting place tonight. I imagine Zabaleta will start at the weekend against Liverpool if he doesn’t start.

And because he didn’t start on Saturday in the 3-1 win over Newcastle, Gareth Barry will start tonight in midfield alongside (I think) Yaya Toure. I’d argue that we have the strongest midfield in Europe in terms of quality available, and I hope I’m still saying that at 10pm this evening.

Silva and Adam Johnson may be our link between the strikers and the midfield tonight because they both started from the bench against Newcastle – but our depth does not stop there!

Edin Dzeko should start tonight because he didn’t feature on Saturday, and I reckon he’ll be joined by Balotelli over Aguero. Balotelli is on top form at the moment, and being back in Napoli he now has a chance to prove a point to the Italian fans that dislike him because of his antics when he was an Inter Milan player.

I think we’re good enough to win this comfortably, but Napoli’s defensive discipline may shut us out once again. Being in such a hostile arena is not the most ideal situation to be in when trying to progress ahead of the team that calls the hostile arena “home”. But we’ve got players used to this sort of game, and this is where their true quality needs to be on display.

Final prediction: Napoli 1-2 Manchester City.

Manchester City 3-1 Newcastle - thoughts on the game.

Barcodes priced out by brilliant billionaires City
As a team, I don't think we've been at our absolute best since we hammered United in October, but we've still managed to bag nine goals in three games, close teams down and come away with maximum points. We're now the in-form team in the Premier League, with six wins from six, and everything is looking perfect for us.

We seem to be putting to bed the theory that we can't win when Silva doesn't start. Nasri and Aguero were causing Newcastle's previously rock-solid defence lots of problems, and when a combination of the two stars found Yaya Toure via a deflection, the African's volley was blocked by a hand. Man of the moment Mario Balotelli converted another penalty spectacularly to keep up his 100% spot-kick record.

Micah Richards is City's other main man at the moment. He was bombing forward, tackling back, supporting Milner and even helping out Kompany and Nasri - he was all over the pitch, but rarely out of position! Capello and England are missing out on Micah, but if he keeps his head up Richards will sooner or later work his way into the England team.

David Silva once again proved how special he is. He came on as a substitute for Balotelli, and within thirty seconds of his arrival to the field of play, a lovely reverse ball to Micah Richards drew Ben Arfa and forced another penalty. Aguero converted - game over.

Joe Hart's distribution is still slightly subject, but some of his goalkeeping was tremendous: denying Demba Ba and superbly flicking away a low cross-cum-shot at his near post. The signs are encouraging from him, but his kicking needs a bit of work!

Roll on Napoli.

Manchester City - Newcastle, preview.

Once again I'm sat here worried about the nxt game. Newcastle have the best defensive record in the league and they're looking like more than just a solid unit under Alan Pardew; Demba Ba is firing on all cylinders, and Cabaye and Tiote have been like Elano and Johnson were for us under Sven. But they face City today, a City team that are - like Newcastle - unbeaten in the Premier League.

Aguero, Silva, Dzeko, Balotelli, Nasri, Yaya Toure, Kompany, de Jong, Richards, Hart, Milner... the list goes on and on. Newcastle have started the season well but they haven't faced any of the so called "big boys" as of yet. City, United and Chelsea greet them before 2011 is through, so let's see where they stand in the table by the turn of the new year.

I think we're going to win this game, but we need to expect a performance like the one we faced against Everton. Will Newcastle park the bus, or will they go all out attack? We have the flair players that can break tough defences down, and should the Goerdies go on the offensive, we 're going to rip them apart if Silva and Aguero are at 50%. And Newcastle look like they're going to be stuck with Gosling - Guthrie in midfield (which hasn't gone down too well with the Newcastle fans: "If we don't have Tiote or Cabaye back for this we are honestly f****d") becayse Tiote is struggling to prove his fitness, which may cause Newcastle to take a more defensive approach.

Manchester City 2-0 Newcastle.

QPR 2-3 City, thoughts.

Tough test passed again.
I don't think ESPN's commentators are happy with that result. I don't think it's because they hate City, I just think it's because, like any neutral, you want the smaller teams to do one on the big teams. Some comments were annoying from Champion and Waddle but I guess none of their words matter when we win in the end.

QPR are a spirited bunch and they did play well, but eventually our quality in the final third did produce the goods when QPR fell asleep at the back. QPR have a lot of gusto, but they've not got a lot of quality - which is something we have in abundance. They were disciplined, organised for large parts of the game and never, ever let us settle and get fully into our stride but when we possess players such as Silva, Aguero and Yaya Toure you can't let your guard down for a split second because, as we did today, we will make other teams regret it.

It was a match that the media will love, because QPR were slightly the better team. In fact it's only the second time this season that a team has been willing to get at us, the only other time being Fulham away.

Luckily, Kompany is only out for one game because Savic isn't quite ready for the delights of the Premier League yet. He's getting there, but on one or two occasions he was turned too easily, and there were a couple of moments when his inexperience was on display, but he's slowly getting there.

I thought Aguero deserved a goal today but his time will come again. He was actually one of our better players today, I thought, and he'll be a little disappointed in coming off so early, but he conducted himself well in a hostile ground and got his head down and worked hard.

Silva wasn't his usual self, but he can create moments of absolute genius from nowhere, and that's why he's so important to us. That touch and finish for his goal was world class and pretty much something only he could have done in that position. Like the rest of the team, he found it difficult to discover space in between QPR's midfield and defence, but he knows his way around a pitch. So much so, that you can't keep control of him forever.

I'm glad nobody supported Kolarov on that left wing, because that cross never would have come in for Yaya's header, and what a header it was! Rising high, heading in, scoring goals; that's what we like to see from Yaya!

A dogged performance, but we can't have played that badly if we managed to score three. Dzeko took his goal brilliantly, Silva finished beautifully, and Yaya powered home and filled us with relief. It was a shock to the system this afternoon, but thankfully it was a winning one.

QPR - Manchester City preview.

THE Rs
After the comfortable trip to Spain, I expect us to pick a slightly different team and continue with our rotation policy. I feel Nasri or Adam Johnson will start this afternoon with Aguero, Dzeko and Silva up front, with Barry and Yaya toure behind in midfield. We're missing Kompany this afternoon, but after his performance on Wednesday I feel Savic deserves a starting place.

We're good enough to win this afternoon, and if QPR struggled to deal with Spurs' midfield last weekend I don't see how they're going to cope that well with ours. On their day, Barry and Yaya can be the best midfield pairing in the league, and are probably (on paper) the type of players Chelsea and Manchester United are missing.

QPR's home form has been a tad mixed this season, but their win against Chelsea will give them a huge boost in confidence going into this game. We're likely not to get as annoyed as Chelsea did but QPR will be wanting to make a "we're here to stay" statement this afternoon.

Old City favourites Shaun Wright-Phillips and Joey Barton will be wanting to show Roberto Mancini and Manchester City how much they've progressed as players since their departures, so expect a lively showing from those two.

I think we'll win 3-0. We're due another cleansheet and away to a side that took a little bit of a knock in confidence after their loss to Spurs, this could be the ideal game to continue our fine start to the season.

Possible 11:
Hart; Richards, Savic, Lescott, Clichy; Barry, Yaya Toure; Silva, A Johnson, Aguero, Dzeko.

Bench:Pantilimon; Kolarov, Zabaleta; Milner, de Jong, Nasri; Balotelli

Villareal 0 - 3 City, thoughts.

YELLOWS TOO MELLOW
Well, there we have it. Two weeks after our first win in the Champions League we have another one, and this time it was away from home at a ground where no other English team has won before. Admittedly, Villareal were stripped to the bare bones without their key players (something ITV made sure we didn't forget) but it was up to us not to fall flat on our faces.

There were some excellent performances tonight from players including Nigel de Jong and Samir Nasri, but James Milner was my Man of the Match. He was excellent in the middle, going forward and tackling back. He covered for de Jong, Nasri, Silva and even Balotelli at points tonight, all to geat effect. Considering that was his first ever appearance in the Champions League, he looked at home.

Villareal's fans tried their best to make it a hostile environment, by throwing paper planes and balls at Nasri and Toure, but that was never going to shake us, considering Villareal barely looked bothered tonight. Joe Hart was a spectator for large parts of the game, only being forced into one difficult save.

I thought we were calm, controlled, effective and untroubled for most of the night. We were brilliant all over, but our impressiveness was definitely aided by a desperate, weak Villareal side.

Next we face QPR. Dzeko, Aguero, Richards, Lescott and Barry were all either dropped or on the bench tonight so expect them to start in London on Saturday. Remember folks, it's a lake kick-off, with the game starting at 5:30pm.

Ratings:Hart, 7 - Had nothing to do for the most part, but when asked to produce the goods he did to great effect.

Zabaleta, 6 - Wasn't required to do anything tonight, but did well enough at what he did.

Kompany, 7 - Like Zabaleta and Hart, he was pretty much able to watch our boys up front do the business.

Savic, 7 - Incredibly assured and looked much calmer than he did against Wolves.

Clichy, 8 - Got forward well and kept Perez in his back pocket.

de Jong, 8 - Controlled our defence and attack in his usual manner.

Milner, 9 - He continued his excellent run of performances with a very gutsy, hard-working display.

Yaya Toure, 8 - Took his goals brilliantly, did well enough to break down what little Villareal offered.

Nasri, 8 - Best game in a Blue shirt since his debut

Silva, 7 - Took a while to get going but played well when he was comfortable. Let's hope his back isn't too bad.

Balotelli, 7 - Amazing penalty, usual relaxed self for most part.

Villareal - City, preview.



Sergio Aguero is grabbed by Edin Dzeko
after his goal secured victory against Villareal
in last month's meeting.

VILLAREAL - MANCHESTER CITY, PREVIEW.





__________________________________________________________________
October was a fantastic month for us, so it's a shame to say goodbye. We played some of our best football against some of the league's trickier sides, progressed in the League Cup and we thumped Manchester United in one of the most eagerly anticipated Manchester derbies of recent times. We head into November, and our first opponents this month are Spanish strugglers Villareal.

Villareal sit bottom of Group A, and if they lose tonight they're out of the competition. They're missing Rossi, Cani, Zapata, Senna and Nilmar, which is like City losing Aguero, Silva, de Jong, Yaya Toure and Samir Nasri. Their squad is down to the bare bones currently, and just when everything seemed to be going against them, things got a little worse when they looked down the fixture list and saw us.

No matter what happens in the game between Bayern and Napoli tonight, we need this win more than ever if we want to progress to the next round. What gives me hope, is that whenever Villareal came forward in their 2-1 loss at City everything seemed to be created through Rossi, but tonight he won't be playing, so I don't see where their attacking threat is going to come from.

Vincent Kompany is eligible to play as his suspension only applies in English league and League Cup games, so I expect him to start at the back alongside either Joleon Lescott or Kolo Toure. And after being given a rest on Saturday, I expect Clichy and Milner to start ahead of Nasri and Kolarov to increase workrate.

Despite their injuries, I'm not expecting Villareal to roll over and say "alright, you can hav six goals" because we all know football does not work like that. El Madrigal is horrid place to visit because of its hostilityand intimidating nature, so Villareal will be using those strengths against us in a bid to take the three points.

If we lose tonight, we're probably going out. Napoli win and they head on to 8 points, while we'd be stuck on 4 and in desperate need of a Villareal win in Munich in two weeks time. A win is a must tonight if we are to progress, and here is the team I'm trusting to get us just that:

Hart; Zabaleta, Kompany, Lescott(or Kolo Toure), Clichy; Milner, de Jong, Yaya Toure; Silva, Dzeko, Balotelli.