F365 congratulate City and praise De Jong, Kompany, Silva
Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 11:56 pmReally nice article from the guys at my favourite footy website. I'll give the link and the text.
http://football365.com/story/0,17033,13320_6926203,00.html
City Trio Rise Above The Money...
There will be no shortage of snobbishness about Manchester City's spending capacity and tut-tutting about their defensive tactics in the wake of their qualification for the Champions League. There will be little originality displayed by those who suggest that fourth is the very, very least they should achieve and bemoan the methods that make 1-0 their most popular scoreline.
They have a foreign manager in charge of an expensive team bought with foreign money - they would have to play ridiculously good football to avoid negativity from a jingoistic English media highly suspicious of anything that costs an awful lot of money. That negativity will only increase with summer spending that will "blow your brains out," according to the bombastic Harry Redknapp.
Bucking the trend somewhat, I would like to pay tribute to a trio of City players whose attitude, endeavour and performance has been exemplary this season. While the likes of Joe Hart, Yaya Toure and Carlos Tevez have also excelled in parts, the triumvirate of Vincent Kompany, Nigel de Jong and David Silva has been near-faultless. Forget the money for a second, those players deserve Champions League football.
The imperious Kompany has been the equal of Nemanja Vidic in the Premier League this season - all the more impressive because he has been forced to endure the oft-clownish deliberations of Kolo Toure and Joleon Lescott. He is combative without resorting to rough-house tactics and no-nonsense without resorting to agricultural Christopher Samba-style, erm, stylings.
De Jong will always have his detractors but this season he has been in a class of his own in terms of destructive midfield play. Chasing the ball down like a rabid dog, he almost always gains possession and almost never loses it. With Javier Mascherano departed from these shores, De Jong has become the Premier League's master destroyer - every week he shows Gareth Barry at close quarters exactly what we wish he could do for England.
In utterly different style, Silva has been a wonderful addition to the Premier League - a pint-sized bundle of energy, creativity and vision as glorious to watch as Luka Modric at his best. And like Modric, Silva has never moaned about the physicality of the English league, the rough handling of flair players or even the weather. He has arrived from Spain, adapted to the lifestyle, adapted to the football, and simply provided entertainment.
It is because of these players - and long-term servants like Pablo Zabaleta - that I will not be joining the bloated ranks of those who will moan about City's arrival at the top table of European football. Welcome to the big league, fellas.
Sarah Winterburn
http://football365.com/story/0,17033,13320_6926203,00.html
City Trio Rise Above The Money...
There will be no shortage of snobbishness about Manchester City's spending capacity and tut-tutting about their defensive tactics in the wake of their qualification for the Champions League. There will be little originality displayed by those who suggest that fourth is the very, very least they should achieve and bemoan the methods that make 1-0 their most popular scoreline.
They have a foreign manager in charge of an expensive team bought with foreign money - they would have to play ridiculously good football to avoid negativity from a jingoistic English media highly suspicious of anything that costs an awful lot of money. That negativity will only increase with summer spending that will "blow your brains out," according to the bombastic Harry Redknapp.
Bucking the trend somewhat, I would like to pay tribute to a trio of City players whose attitude, endeavour and performance has been exemplary this season. While the likes of Joe Hart, Yaya Toure and Carlos Tevez have also excelled in parts, the triumvirate of Vincent Kompany, Nigel de Jong and David Silva has been near-faultless. Forget the money for a second, those players deserve Champions League football.
The imperious Kompany has been the equal of Nemanja Vidic in the Premier League this season - all the more impressive because he has been forced to endure the oft-clownish deliberations of Kolo Toure and Joleon Lescott. He is combative without resorting to rough-house tactics and no-nonsense without resorting to agricultural Christopher Samba-style, erm, stylings.
De Jong will always have his detractors but this season he has been in a class of his own in terms of destructive midfield play. Chasing the ball down like a rabid dog, he almost always gains possession and almost never loses it. With Javier Mascherano departed from these shores, De Jong has become the Premier League's master destroyer - every week he shows Gareth Barry at close quarters exactly what we wish he could do for England.
In utterly different style, Silva has been a wonderful addition to the Premier League - a pint-sized bundle of energy, creativity and vision as glorious to watch as Luka Modric at his best. And like Modric, Silva has never moaned about the physicality of the English league, the rough handling of flair players or even the weather. He has arrived from Spain, adapted to the lifestyle, adapted to the football, and simply provided entertainment.
It is because of these players - and long-term servants like Pablo Zabaleta - that I will not be joining the bloated ranks of those who will moan about City's arrival at the top table of European football. Welcome to the big league, fellas.
Sarah Winterburn