Not Ready
Hate to say it but Wednesday’s defeat to Everton was a clear indication that the blues are not yet ready for the Champions League.
I can imagine the abuse that I will come in for in saying this but it is a simple matter of pressure handling and right now, City are not up to the task.
On Wednesday, we had a glorious chance to move into fourth yet blew it. Yes Everton are a decent side but if we can’t take an opportunity when it is presented to us, how could we possibly expect to stay there for the remainder of the season?
If we had won against Everton, how long would we have been able to hold onto fourth place until we cracked under the pressure? And if we do qualify for the Champions League, how will the team handle the pressure of the extra games?
There is still the possibility that we will finish fourth but a huge amount of pressure has now moved from us and passed onto Spurs and it is now up to them to stay there. The focus has shifted on to them now and if they lose their nerve, City, Liverpool and Villa will be in the wings waiting to pounce on any slip.
Roberto Mancini is still moulding his side and, should he remain at Eastlands next season, will build a squad that can handle pressure in the way a trophy winning team should be assembled.
Advantage Spurs as City Lose Home Record
Spurs still have a two point lead over City as the blues crashed to defeat for the first time at home this season.
Goals from Tim Cahill and Mikel Arteta meant the points went to Merseyside for the third season in succession as the blues squandered the chance to overtake Spurs in fourth place. To add insult to the scoreline, City manager Roberto Mancini was sent off, along with his Everton counter-part David Moyes for a touchline scramble.
After resisting early City pressure, Everton took the lead on 33 minutes. Arteta played a short free kick to Leighton Baines, who crossed for Cahill to guide his header beyond Shay Given in the City goal.
The blues then lost Stephen Ireland to injury, Shaun Wright-Phillips coming on to replace him, meaning a shift to the left side for Adam Johnson.
City pressed in the second half but the visitors looked like they could comfortably repel any City attack all night. Roque Santa Cruz replaced Johnson and drove a shot over the bar when in a good position.
With the blues pressing forward for an equaliser, it was inevitable that Everton would have a chance to grab a second and it came with five minutes remaining. Jack Rodwell got away down the right and cut inside before squaring for Cahill, who dummied to leave Arteta free to kill the game.
In the final minutes Mancini, clearly frustrated by what was about to be City’s first home defeat of the season, seemed to interpret Moyes’ picking up of the ball as an indication of time wasting and angrily tried to take it back. Referee Peter Walton was not impressed and sent them both to the stands.
So, a first defeat for the blues at home but remain two points clear of Liverpool in sixth place with a game in hand. Perhaps the saving grace of the night was Aston Villa’s home draw with Sunderland. A win for Villa would have seen them jump ahead of City on goal difference.
This defeat is not the end of the world and we still have a chance of qualifying for Europe but with Spurs at home to Portsmouth and Liverpool at home to Sunderland at the weekend, it makes Monday’s game against Wigan a must win game if we are to qualify for Europe.
Two Reason Why City Need to Beat Everton
Beating Everton is always good but winning this evening’s game is so important for two reasons.
The first being the fact that we will move into fourth in the league, a point clear of Spurs and a step closer to European football next season. To have the chance to play Champions League football would not only justify the investment in the team from ADUG, but also be a fitting reward for the loyal support which have followed the team home and away this season.
Of course, we would have all preferred to have won a trophy to qualify for Europe but that will have to wait until next season.
The second reason is just so we can shove David Moyes criticism of the blues back down his throat. The Everton boss has been an outspoken critic of the blues and his gloating following his side’s 2-0 win over City at Goodison in January, together with his recent comments should be enough incentive for City to go out tonight and show them exactly why we are in the position we are.
Moyes’ problem is the fact that he cannot accept that his side, who have often been tipped to break the top four on a regular basis, have been usurped by the blues, who not only now stand a decent chance of being regular qualifiers for Europe but possible title contenders in a couple of years, something which Moyes knows he will never achieve at Everton.
We don’t only need a win tonight; we need a good win with a good solid performance that is going to show the rest of the Premiership that we are fourth and we intend to stay there.
Until next season when we finish higher.
Team News: City v Everton
City take on Everton at Eastlands with the prospect of going fourth in the league should they win.
The blues sit two points behind Spurs but will overtake the London club with a win while also preventing a league double by the Toffees.
City will be missing Joleon Lescott through injury while Emmanuel Adebayor completes his four match suspension following his sending off during the FA Cup defeat at Stoke.
Wayne Bridge is out with a hernia while Michael Johnson and Martin Petrov both have knee injuries. Adam Johnson could retain his place at the expense of Shaun Wright-Phillips while Roque Santa Cruz may retain his place in the starting line-up following his goal at Fulham.
Victor Anichebe could make the game for Everton after being a doubt with a kidney problem but Phillippe Senderos and Marouane Fellaini are definitely out through injury.
Danger Man: Louis Saha
The United reject has scored 16 goals this season, 13 of them in the Premier League.
Over the Blue Moon Prediction: City 3-1 Everton
City into third with a hard fought win.
Everton’s Double Act Have Pre Match Pop At Blues
Everton boss David Moyes and his old mucker Phil Neville have launched another attack on City, with Moyes claiming that the players do not know what it means to play for the club while Neville claims we need continuity, just like Everton.
Speaking ahead of tonight’s game between the two at Eastlands, Moyes risked the wrath of the City fans by saying the clubs stars do not ‘have their hearts attached to the club.’
“City have bought players who have got undoubted talent,” admits the Everton boss before adding “Given time they might have a team like Everton.”
The two clubs were embroiled in a bitter summer battle over England defender Joleon Lescott, who eventually moved to Eastlands and City’s pursuit of the defender was labelled ‘disgusting’ by Moyes.
Meanwhile United reject Phil Neville says City need continuity, like they do at Goodison. “Continuity is our strength at Everton. The manager has brought in players over a four-year period, not overnight, and he has got a nucleus of English players sprinkled with foreign talent.”
Tim Howard, Steven Piennar, Louis Saha, Mikel Arteta, Sylvain Distin, Johnny Heitinga, Ayegbeni Yakubu, Victor Anichebe, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov and Tim Cahill are all foreign but all featured in Saturday’s game against Bolton.
So much for an English nucleus.
Classic Match – City 5-1 Everton
The 2003-04 season was a poor one as far as City fans were concerned. It had been a long, hard battle against relegation which had included a 13 match winless run.
But by the time Everton had arrived at Eastlands, the blues were safe and two points behind the visitors in 17th place. Robbie Fowler had been left on the bench and replaced by Paolo Wanchope and the Costa Rican repaid his manager’s faith after 16 minutes.
Nicolas Anelka’s free kick was deflected into Wanchope’s path and he made no mistake from just 6 yards out. City were dominant and Shaun Wright-Phillips almost got a second but for the heroics of Nigel Martyn in the Everton goal.
But City weren’t to be denied and when Claudio Reyna was allowed space on the left, it was only going to end one way. His cross was missed by Anelka but Wanchope was on hand to seep the ball home for his fourth goal in three games.
Ten minutes later and it was game over and again it was Wanchope who was involved. His ball forward released Anelka and the French striker beat Martyn from 18 yards out and send City into the break three goals to the good.
Half Time: City 3-0 Everton
Kevin Campbell came on for the ineffective James McFadden for Everton at half time and it took him 15 minutes to get on the scoresheet. Wayne Rooney’s corner was met by the head of Campbell to reduce the deficit.
But City continued their dominance of the game and Martyn had to be at his best to twice deny Wanchope his hat-trick with a superb display of goalkeeping.
Joey Barton, who had previously been booked, was replaced by Antoine Sibierski with five minutes remaining and the Frenchman took three minutes to score and in a grandstand finish, Wright-Phillips scored the fifth and ended a miserable season with a fine won that took the blues above the visitors and finished in 16th place.
Final Score: City 5-1 Everton
Teams:
Man City: James, Jihai, Distin, Dunne, Tarnat, Wright-Phillips, Barton (Sibierski 85), Bosvelt, Reyna (Jordan 82), Anelka, Wanchope (Macken 79).
Subs Not Used: Arason, Fowler.
Everton: Martyn, Watson (Chadwick 71), Stubbs, Weir, Hibbert, Carsley, McFadden (Campbell 45), Yobo, Osman, Rooney, Radzinski (Linderoth 86).
Subs Not Used: Wright, Clarke.
Lescott Escapes Everton Supporters Wrath Again
Joleon Lescott has again managed to avoid the wrath of the Everton supporters after he was ruled out for four to six weeks through injury, meaning the Everton fans will have to wait until next season to give him some verbal abuse.
The City defender was the subject of a summer long chase by former manager Mark Hughes, a pursuit that David Moyes wasn’t happy with and labelled ‘disgusting.’ The Everton manager also took the opportunity to show his anger at the deal in his program notes before City’s 2-0 defeat in January.
Lescott also missed that game as he had been ruled out through injury and is yet to face his former club and their supporters. Moyes later stated that the victory was made ‘sweeter’ because of the transfer saga.
But with that reprieve comes the possibility that Lescott could miss out on a place with England’s provisional World Cup Squad, which is named on 16th May and if the defender takes the full six weeks to recover, it will mean a race against time to get fit and match experience prior to Capello naming his squad.
Big Match Statistics – City v Everton
City go into the 13th Premiership meeting at home to Everton with a slight win advantage over the Merseysiders.
From the previous twelve meetings, City have won seven to Everton’s five at home but have scored ten more goals that the Toffees, 24 to Everton’s 14.
The majority of meetings between the two came in the old first division, when a total of 64 games were played with City winning 35 to Everton’s twelve. In total, City have won 42 from the 76 league games played at City, while Everton have just 17 wins. Goal wise, the blues have scored 110 times, whereas Everton have breached the City defence on just 60 occasions.
In all competitions, City have 52 wins from 94 games while Everton have just 22. 14 of those games were played during the war years.
The two teams first met at Hyde Road in December 1899 and ended in a 2-1 win for the visitors. City’s first win against Everton was 1-0 at Hyde Road in October 1900, and our last home win was on New Year’s Day in 2007 when a brace by Georgios Samaras won the points for City in a 2-1 win.
City’s home record against Everton
| PL | W | D | L | GF | GA | |
| Premier League | 12 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 24 | 14 |
| First Division (Old) | 64 | 35 | 17 | 12 | 110 | 60 |
| Second Division (Old) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| First Division (New) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Second Division (New) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| League Total | 76 | 42 | 17 | 17 | 134 | 74 |
| FA Cup | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 |
| League Cup | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Europe | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Others | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| War | 14 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 33 | 26 |
| Overall Totals | 94 | 52 | 20 | 22 | 174 | 102 |
Rather Meaningless Facts
City and Everton have never played out a draw in the Premiership at City.
City’s biggest win over the Toffees came in December 1942 when the blues triumphed 7-1.
But the blues heaviest defeat at home was more recent as they were beaten 5-2 in May 1993 in the final game of the Premiership’s inaugural season.
City’s highest home attendance was for an FA Cup tie in 1956 when 76,129 witnessed the blues progress with a 2-1 win.
In comparison, only 2,500 saw Everton win 4-3 at Maine Road in 1942
City and Everton have never met in the league outside the top flight.
Stats courtesy of www.mcfcstats.com
The Opposition – Everton
Everton arrive at Eastlands with two ambitions: To derail City’s bid for fourth and become the first team to win at Eastlands this season.
The Toffee’s inflicted Roberto Mancini’s first defeat as City manager in January and have steadily moved up the table since that win. Since beating City, Everton have won six of their nine games played and lost two. Amongst the wins were a 3-1 victory over and a 2-1 win over Chelsea.
But they suffered defeat at the hands of Liverpool and Spurs (both away) while also being knocked out of the Europa League by Sporting and have an outside chance of qualifying for the competition again.
The Toffees lie in eighth place with 45 points, three places and eight points behind the blues and have only won three times on their travels this season while losing seven.
Manager – David Moyes
David Moyes is now in his eighth full season at Goodison after moving to Merseyside form Preston and remains the only manager of a non-top four side to break into the top four.
Former City and Everton Players You Might Know
Joelon Lescott and Jo (obviously), Richard Dunne, Joe Royle, Peter Beardsley, Peter Beagrie, Andrei Kanchelskis, Andy Hinchcliffe, Sylvain Distin
And Some You Wanted To Forget About
Wayne Clarke, Alan Harper, Adrian Heath, Bobby Mimms, Mike Stowell
Point Of No Return
Sunday’s win at Fulham means the blues have reached the point where there is no going back. From hereon in, it’s all or nothing as City make their final push to be the first team since Everton in 2004 to crack the monopoly of the top four.
All season, City have been around the top seven in the Premier League, regularly swapping places with Spurs, Villa and Liverpool in what has become a huge battle for fourth place and now they have an opportunity to show a return for the heavy investment made in the team and we are in a very good position to qualify for Europe by either one of two routes.
A win on Wednesday will put us firmly in pole position to take the final place in the Champions League but any slip between now and the final game against West Ham could end our dreams and instead settle for the Europa League.
Some may argue that Spurs are still favourites to take fourth spot regardless of our game in hand and it was even suggested this morning that the current league standings have an end-of-season look. But they still have to play the top three in successive games as well as visit Eastlands in the penultimate game of the season.
But regardless of what happens between now and the end of the season, City have showed exactly what they can do. They have showed they can compete with the best and maintain a home form that has yet to see us beaten in front of our own fans. They have set out their stall to be one of the best in the league and that they are ready to compete for major honours.
Gone are the days of looking over our shoulder at the teams below us. Gone are the times when we have had to calculate how many points we need to be safe from relegation. Instead we are looking up and clawing our way up the table and now we are in a good position we have got to stay here permanently.
Now, there is no going back.
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