CitizenBlue

Mancini's English is funny.

Count the number of times he's says 'eez eemportant' when asked a stupid question.

Interviewer: How important is it that you won today?

Mancini: Eh? *quizzical look* Is important we won today.

A brand new account on a piss poor wind up. Ain't that cute.

**** off back to your own forum if you don't like it.

9/11 you are being a tool though to be fair.

He's not a Villa fan, mate. Been caught once and banned for winding up our forum and now he's moved on to yours.

A brand new account on a piss poor wind up. Ain't that cute.

Just from what I saw today and against Liverpool, it's mostly the players.

Yes, the manager is important and the buck stops with him. I usually agree with that. But the AVFC players didn't even look arsed today. The manager can scream all he wants, but if the players don't care, there's nothing he can do. He can't give them a winning desire, they're supposed to possess that by wearing the shirt.

Villa fans deserve better than that.

Wow, an increase of 5,000. That's great proof.

We put 30,000 a match in the seats when we were in Division 3 before any money!

City fans = glory hunters.

But they were shit for years and still mainitained a decent sized fan base. I seriously doubt they got their fans as a result of glory. But then again aren't all fan glory hunters? I don't watch Spurs in the hope we don't win any trophies (though we hardly ever do). I want glory, as do fans of all teams.

Well said, mate.

Get rid of this manager. Haven't seen this little fight from a Villa side in a while.

City fan in peace.

We play poorly at home and have a hard time getting 3 points lately. Recent form doesn't seem to matter at Eastlands. It will be hard-fought and any outcome is just as likely as another.

Enjoy yourself, traveling Villans.

Ugh. Apparently Balotelli had a disagreement with Mancini in the tunnel. The traveling fans saw it.

How Mancini manages this circus is beyond me.

I think we will be fortunate to take all 3 points from you at Eastlands, where we have been pathetic at times.

You looked like West Ham out there today. One of the most impotent displays against ten men I've seen in a while.

It'll be just our bloody luck that you'll put in a full shift against us at Eastlands after rolling over for Tottenham, probably take 2-3 points from us.

Did you even watch the game? We did the opposite of roll over. We tried and tried but we just can't score.

Well Citizen Blue is pretty spot on there. Was abject second half.

Abject at trying to score but we didn't roll over. Unless rolling over means not being good at scoring.

You had a man advantage. That was the reason the lack of effort did not look more apparent.

Of course you will pound away at a goal when the other team is a man down. This would have been 0-4 with 11 men.

It's like once Tottenham went down a man, the Villa players thought they were entitled to half-ass it. How many 50-50 balls did Villa lose despite having one more man? Shocking.

You looked like West Ham out there today. One of the most impotent displays against ten men I've seen in a while.

It'll be just our bloody luck that you'll put in a full shift against us at Eastlands after rolling over for Tottenham, probably take 2-3 points from us.

Did you even watch the game? We did the opposite of roll over. We tried and tried but we just can't score.

I did. The first goal was shocking defending. The second a pure mental lapse of not getting back and not marking. How can 11 men get broken against by 10 and leave men unmarked? That means that no one's picking up the man on the ball OR the second guy! You started trying before a lucky cross that confused Gomez, but that was past the **** 80th minute.

You looked like West Ham out there today. One of the most impotent displays against ten men I've seen in a while.

It'll be just our bloody luck that you'll put in a full shift against us at Eastlands after rolling over for Tottenham, probably take 2-3 points from us.

Fans starting to boo?

These useless bastards can't even score against 10 men.

Christmas came late for Houllier with that gift red card, Spuds somehow taking the piss at Villa Park. You can't make it up. FFS!

\

Delfounso looks lively. I fancy him scoring.

He needs some support when space opens up

The forward players are an absolute joke. There's no excuse getting the ball taken from them by 10 bloody men!

Ahahahahahaha! **** you, Spuds. Dirty tossers.

God damn, those defenders are wank.

Don't let these tossers take all 3 points.

Dammit, get in!

Come on, Villans! Do these bastards!

I think CB is right, his main motivation is ££££, especially considering he's suing City even though he flagged them off as soon as he joined hence the confidentiality agreement payment was held back, and now he's suing! I'd rather him do talking on the pitch rather than off it!

It's not like he asked to leave, is it? He wanted the pay-off because he was basically being forced out of City, and was agreeing to join a club on lower wages. As I say, I'm pretty sure he'd have been earning at least as much just staying at City. The boy wanted to play. He's not SWP.

He was forced out of City because he half-assed it on the pitch and complained when he didn't get playing time, thus disrupting the team.

Mancini has embraced hard workers like Gareth Barry and Nigel De Jong even if they're not the most skillful players. If Ireland had half of De Jong's motivation, he'd be his country's captain.

Stephen Ireland has taken a tough stance in talks with Aston Villa and vowed not to be bullied around again.

Midfielder Ireland, 24, regrets being forced out at Man City to Villa in the summer as part of James Milner’s transfer.

And the Irish star wants to now determine his own future as he intends to quit Villa, where he earns £62,000-a-week.

Both Ireland and Villa accept a January exit is inevitable after the midfielder failed to settle.

He got on well with Villa caretaker Kevin MacDonald, who he knows from the Republic of Ireland set-up under Steve Staunton.

But Ireland has clashed with successor Gerard Houllier and their relationship has broken down irrevocably.

The final straw was when Ireland pulled out of Manchester United’s visit last month with illness only to be seen out in a late night bar that night after David Haye’s boxing win over Audley Harrison.

Now Ireland has Everton, Celtic and Fulham chasing his signature.

He will have to take a pay-cut to leave and is insisting Villa make up the difference.

Otherwise Ireland has told team-mates he will just “sit it out” picking up his cash and obeying Houllier’s orders to report to the training ground at various times.

Mirror

I think it's bull myself, but I thought since I read it, I'll post it.

All this guy cares about is money. He did this to us and now he's doing it to you. What a cancer he has become.

Our deficiencies were once again exposed and it's no surprise to me that we again lost to Everton. We always bottle it against Everton.

Value aside, Iniesta is Barca’s debt solution

Martin Rogers

By Martin Rogers, Yahoo! Sports Dec 14, 10:07 pm EST

Andres Iniesta likely is just weeks away from being crowned the world’s greatest soccer player, but his days at Barcelona may be numbered, a club source told Yahoo! Sports on Tuesday.

Iniesta’s spectacular year included the winning goal for Spain in the World Cup final, and the 26-year-old is a strong favorite to win the FIFA Ballon D’Or award for player of the year on Jan. 10.

However, Barca’s hierarchy has not ruled out offloading him for a huge transfer fee, either during the January window or next summer, in a bid to cut into the club’s enormous debt of around $575 million. That huge sum was revealed by club officials three months ago following the end of former club president Joan Lapporta’s controversial reign. While big-club debt is not uncommon, the number is staggering.

Barcelona's Andres Iniesta was one of 2010's top players, but that only makes him more appealing as a way out of debt.

“[iniesta’s] stock will never be higher,” said the source. “He has had an amazing year and he is part of the fabric of [barcelona], but that doesn’t mean the right offer won’t be considered and possibly accepted.”

The 5-foot-7 midfielder has spent his entire career at the Camp Nou and has helped the team win the La Liga title the past two seasons. The combination of Iniesta with Xavi Hernandez and Lionel Messi – the other two finalists for the Ballon D’Or – is a major reason why Barca is considered not only the best, but also the most attractive club in the world.

In normal circumstances, Barca would not entertain selling a player who has become so popular and valuable. However, deep financial uncertainty has the powers-that-be considering drastic measures to combat the debt.

Last week Barcelona announced the first shirt sponsorship deal in its history, accepting $200 million over five years from the Qatar Foundation in exchange for pride of place on the famous blue and red jersey.

Iniesta would be valued at around $85 million, a figure that only one club could realistically pay. English Premier League side Manchester City, bankrolled by the unlimited resources of Arabian billionaire Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan, has shown willingness to splash obscene amounts of cash in order to boost its chance of success.

City’s progress this season – it currently sits third in the Premier League table, just two points back from leaders Manchester United – could convince Sheikh Mansour that one spectacular January signing may be enough to tip them over the edge and clinch an unexpected Premier League crown. It also should be noted that no signings would make more waves than anything involving Iniesta.

Stay tuned.

http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=ro-iniesta121410

Maybe you'll get Milner back after all.

Edin Dzeko alerts Manchester City of willingness to leave Wolfsburg

• Wolfsburg striker gives City green light to sign him

• Tevez to miss Thursday's trip to Juventus

Edin Dzeko, Manchester City's principal target in next month's transfer window, has written to the club to say he wants to make the move happen and effectively ask if they will sign him, increasing the possibility that he will arrive as either a replacement or a new partner for Carlos Tevez.

The prolific Wolfsburg striker sent his letter to a senior executive at Eastlands earlier in the season, expressing his admiration for the club and his gratitude for their efforts to buy him in the August window. Talks broke down at that stage because Wolfsburg would not lower their asking price, in the region of £45m, whereas City valued him closer to £30m. However, City have maintained their interest in the Bosnia international and their information is that Dzeko still feels the same about the possibility of becoming the club's latest big-money transfer.

City are now hoping to reach a compromise fee with Wolfsburg to resurrect the deal. It may still need some prolonged negotiating, with the German club having obvious misgivings about losing such an important player in the middle of the Bundesliga season, but City are increasingly optimistic after inviting some of Dzeko's representatives to watch the Manchester derby last month and showing them round their training ground.

Dzeko's arrival would allow the club to move on Emmanuel Adebayor, who is regarded as a disruptive influence as well as not making the grade, in the manager Roberto Mancini's opinion, in terms of what is needed for a potential title-winning side.

Dzeko, at 6ft 3in, would provide City's front line with an aerial threat that has been lacking this season, Mancini's team being the only side in the top division not to score a headed goal. He will be seen as a potential replacement for Tevez but ideally Mancini wants to put the two players together.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/dec/15/edin-dzeko-manchester-city

Dear City, come and get me...love, Edin! - The headline from Daily Mail on the same story . 8)

I really want this player.

Assulin looks like a fair chance. We're not expecting him to be a superstar, but he's free so why not.

He had injury problems which hampered his career at Barca. When he recovered, it became apparent he wouldn't ever have a chance of breaking into Barca's first team.