Musings Of A Manchester City Fan

You saw it right: the Sky Blues, the Citizens, Blue Moon Rising, City Till I Die.

Why side with the less glamorous, always underachieving blue half of Manchester then? I have always been the non-conformist, pro-minority, underdog loving type so when I first got into football (as rest of the world calls it) i.e. the English Premier League, I just wanted to dissociate myself from the typical Malaysian who set Manchester United as their default team hence I became a fan of their local rivals. In a way, I would jump in joy & have that smile of satisfaction when United got beaten by City in a local derby especially two seasons ago when we did the double over them (thank you Sven-Goran Eriksson!).

Fast forward to the summer of 2009, Manchester City under the managerial team of Mark Hughes and Garry Cook bankrolled by the Middle Eastern oil money of Sheikh Mansour Zayed Al-Nahyan are on a project to make this Eastland club one of the big guns in the league. With four new players in the bag & two on the way, here is my opinion on City's transfer dealings:

1. Striker Diversity - the acquisition of Carlos Tevez and Roque Santa Cruz added to the incumbents Robinho, Craig Bellamy & Valeri Bojinov has shown that a variety of strikers are needed to deal against different types of team. This was glaring last season whereby the tiny Robinho was spectacular at home but struggled away especially against "tough" teams that like to stifle their opponents. By having a strong target man ala Santa Cruz or the incoming Adebayor will increase the chances of getting more points on the road.
2. Strength At The Center Of The Park - Adding Gareth Barry, the England international and former captain of Aston Villa, to the likes of Vincent Kompany, Nigel de Jong & Michael Johnson is a smart move by Hughes to have a strong core in central midfield, thus giving the licence and confidence for attack-minded players to roam forward. This is important as exemplified in the Champions League final whereby United's midfield was overrun by Barcelona's maestros, Xavi & Iniesta, costing them the title.
3. What's Going On At The Back? - The defence is already a-okay with adequate cover for the full-backs and center-backs but we still need a commanding central defender since Richard Dunne's self-implosion and Micah Richard's loss of form last season, with John Terry mooted as the prime choice by Hughes followed by Joleon Lescott although I prefer the latter over the former.
   
4. Guardians Of The Goal - The winter transfer of Shay Given is a masterstroke and buying Stuart Taylor while loaning Joe Hart to Birmingham City has given City a balanced mix of goalies from the early 20's to the mid-30's. Hopefully we can keep Hart as he has a huge potential and is earmarked into the future England national team.

One thing I noticed is that all of Mark Hughes' acquisition are all established EPL players (except Samuel Eto'o). I believe that his first summer transfer window is used to get these kind of players who know the league in-and-out so that they don't need a certain period of time acclimatizing to the footballing atmosphere in England. Furthermore, the weaking of the Great Britain Pound vs. Euro has made it costlier to buy players from other major European leagues. I think Hughes will start venturing into mainland Europe next summer when he has current squad settled and his culture and work ethic ingrained into the minds of the current crop of players.

Here's to an optimistic season at City!

Literally Taking It To The Streets

There it was. Penn State's corner back Lydell Sargeant intercepted Tyrell Pryor's long pass with seconds to spare and it was game over. We let the clock wind down & game, set and match! We finally beat Ohio State 13-6 at their own stadium, breaking the 7 year duck of not winning there. My friend, Brendan & I went out to see if anyone went mental but we ended up at a street party on Shortlidge Rd in front of McLanahans. Upon exiting the dorms, we saw people running towards downtown so we blindly followed them. For all you know, there already was a group of people jumping and singing along Penn State songs!

As more and more people joined in the fun, we managed to block the whole junction singing, shouting and jigging until the mean ol' police asked us to move. So, we did a mini-parade to the junction of Locust Lane and saw another bunch of revelers at the apartments on Beaver Ave & what the heck, we decided to join in! People we banging cymbals, playing the trombone, throwing paper towels and shouted WE ARE...PENN STATE!!! countless times. The police with full riot gear had to control the streets and I even got maced which was very sickening to my nose and mouth but managed to get away quickly.

After hanging out around there while trying to find my snow cap (I think some punk grabbed it from my head) and aborting my decision to party at the Beaver Stadium I finally decided to head home. This event shows that we are pretty feckin' passionate in our alma mater and nothing beats winning against Ohio State at their homeground and storming up the ranks in the National Standings. LET'S GO PSU!