... the day when the press really start to spout .....
Ski Bollox
9,999 times we've heard this
viewtopic.php?f=121&t=45053&p=500941#p500941
Are you sitting down then because it's part two? .... I think you need to sit down again before reading the first item today ...
Tony Pulis hails "first-class" Manchester City
Tony Pulis has admitted that his Stoke City team were deservedly knocked out of the FA Cup at the hands of Manchester City on Saturday.
A late Pablo Zabaleta goal was enough to beat the Potters at the Brittania Stadium and Pulis claims that a change of approach from his side suited their opponents.
The Potters manager said: "We played more open than we normally do at home.
"In a cup-tie you want to catch them and have a go at them. You have got to give City a lot of credit. Their attitude and approach was first class.
"By playing as open as we did, against the best teams, it always gives them an opportunity to attack and create chances and I thought they did that well."
Stoke turn their attentions back to the Premier League on Tuesday as they play host to Wigan Athletic.
Now it's back to normal ...
TWITCHY BOLLOX
There are too many egos at Manchester City
The QPR boss believes the Premier League champions have too many players "moping about the place" but respects Roberto Mancini for being successful with such a highly-strung squad
QPR boss Harry Redknapp believes Manchester City have too many egos in the dressing room as he prepares his side to face the Premier League champions on Tuesday evening.
The R's are currently bottom of the league with 15 points from 23 games, while Roberto Mancini's team trail leaders Manchester United by five points ahead of the clash at Loftus Road.
However, despite his side's precarious position, Redknapp does not envy Mancini's job of having to keep so many star players in check - and reveals he is glad he didn't sign Mario Balotelli while he was managing Tottenham.
"When I see some of the headlines coming out of Manchester City, I wonder how Roberto Mancini puts up with it all," he wrote in The Sun.
"Hardly a week goes by without some story emerging how this or that manager is being lined up to take over from Mancini in the summer.
"But he deserves a medal for the way he has coped with some of the egos he's got in that dressing room. I don't think I'd have the patience to put up with them."
Redknapp was interested in signing Balotelli while at White Hart Lane, but is relieved he didn't try to push a deal through considering the striker's tumultuous time in England so far.
"If all that nonsense with Carlos Tevez wasn't bad enough last season, he's now got Mario Balotelli sitting on the bench most weeks with a face like thunder," he added.
"There's nothing that winds me up more than having footballers moping about the place looking like they’re not enjoying themselves. Whenever I've had a player acting like that I've looked to get them out of the club as quickly as possible.
"But that's easier said than done with Balotelli because City paid £22 million to sign him from Inter Milan and he's probably on a massive contract that he's not just going to tear up.
"I once tried to sign him for Spurs before he went to City. I spoke with his brother and had a meeting with his agent after he'd had a fall-out with Jose Mourinho at Inter Milan. And that's when I thought: 'If Jose can't handle him, what chance have I got?'"
However, Redknapp thinks egos are a necessary evil in having such a talented team, and still thinks City can push rivals United all the way for the title.
"When you sign as many world-class superstars as City have done, you have to put up with the egos," he continued. "And Mancini deserves a lot of credit for the way he has done that.
"They are a great squad and it looks like the race will go down to the wire again with Manchester United."
GOLDEN BOLLOX 27-1-2012
Michel Platini: why do the English hate me? I'm French
Michel Platini has a problem with the English and he thinks he knows what it is.
It is not his support for Financial Fair Play, which will curb the excesses of the Premier League’s biggest spenders, nor his distaste for foreign owners and players flooding England’s clubs. And it is not his controversial support for Qatar’s 2022 World Cup, and subsequent advocacy of a winter World Cup.
Sitting in a conference room at Uefa’s headquarters in Nyon, a magnificent vista of lake and mountains behind him, Platini says it is more straightforward that that. “No, no, no, It is because I am French,” he smiles, adding a shrug that fulfils every stereotype of Gallic insousance. “It is part of the legendary rivalry between England and France, that is all it is.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footba ... rench.html
[spoiler]Natalie Pike
viewtopic.php?f=119&t=41656[/spoiler]
Ant London's golden POTD bollox
ant london wrote:WAG OF THE DAY
(sorry...I feel slightly dirty for posting this considering her "connection" but what a rearview!)
Zabaleta sends City through
Pablo Zabaleta struck a late winner as Manchester City battled through to a place in the FA Cup fifth round with a 1-0 win over Stoke.
The Argentinian stabbed home from close range with five minutes of a tight contest remaining, securing a first win at the Britannia Stadium in seven visits. Yet victory may still have come at a cost for Roberto Mancini's men after captain Vincent Kompany limped off in the first half.
City had the better chances in the game with David Silva hitting a post and Stoke may have been lucky not to have Glenn Whelan sent off for a bad tackle on Javi Garcia.
The visitors made a bright start as Carlos Tevez found space and fired in a shot from a tight angle but Thomas Sorensen, getting one of his usual cup outings, saved at his near post. City also made a goalkeeping change as Joe Hart was rested and Costel Pantilimon given a chance.
The Romanian had an uncomfortable moment early on when he dwelt too long on the ball and carelessly conceded a throw-in, but he made amends by punching away Ryan Shotton's long delivery. Stoke had their first opportunities when Whelan had a volley blocked and Robert Huth headed over from the resulting corner.
City enjoyed a period of control starting as Tevez broke from deep and beat two challenges to set up Edin Dzeko, whose effort was brilliantly blocked by Ryan Shawcross. James Milner took a quick free-kick after Andy Wilkinson was penalised for handball and Stoke were caught napping as Silva curled a fine shot against the far post from the corner of the area.
Tevez sliced wide after another good City move but Mancini's side did survive a scare when Shawcross struck from a free-kick only to be given offside. Matthew Etherington's cross had found its way to the defender in front of goal but the flag had clearly been raised before he turned the ball past Pantilimon.
City went close after the break when Gareth Barry headed over from a corner but the game became rather scrappy with chances few and far between. Mancini sent on Sergio Aguero in the hope of giving his side more of a cutting edge and Barry did get behind the Stoke defence only to run into Sorensen.
Stoke also freshened up their attack as Cameron Jerome and Peter Crouch entered the fray in search of a late winner. Crouch immediately made his presence felt as he stood above Joleon Lescott to reach a Shotton cross but headed narrowly over.
And Stoke were made to pay as Zabaleta found himself in the right place to snatch the winner five minutes from time. Aguero and Silva combined outside the area and the ball was played in for Dzeko, whose touch may have been unintentional but proved a perfect pass for Zabaleta, who smashed home unchallenged six yards out.
PUT UP OR SHUT UP BOLLOX
Another Italian bid for a City 'star'
Milan set to make £17m offer for Manchester City's Mario Balotelli• The bid is less than City's £24m valuation
Milan wish to pay any fee in six instalments
Milan will this week offer Manchester City €20m (£17m) for Mario Balotelli as the Italian club finally make concrete their desire to bring the striker to San Siro.
The bid is less than City's £24m valuation though the English champions will note that Milan's intent to sign him is serious: the price is same amount Balotelli cost them from Internazionale in the summer of 2010.
Milan may yet be able to increase their offer by around €4m, which would meet City in the middle.
Another potential stumbling block is that Milan wish to pay any fee in six instalments. City, conscious of Uefa's financial fair play regulations, may want a lump sum that can be reinvested swiftly. However, there is hope at the Rossoneri that, given Balotelli's chequered time at City plus the player's desire to move, the transfer can be done.
Milan have already made one attempt to take Balotelli on loan rejected when Mino Raiola, the player's agent, met City's chief executive Ferran Soriano in Manchester earlier this month to suggest a temporary deal until the end of the season.
Milan's initial offer is expected to have been officially lodged no later than Monday. Raiola many fly from Italy to Manchester again with a view to helping Milan in negotiations which are expected to be extended but will have to be finished by Thursday, when the January transfer window closes.
Adriano Galliani, the Milan vice-president, has been in consultation with Raiola regarding the best way to proceed. Two years ago Raiola was pivotal in sealing the deal that took Zlatan Ibrahimovic, another of his players, from Barcelona to Milan.
On Saturday Galliani confirmed that Milan's interest in Real Madrid's Kaká and Didier Drogba, the former Chelsea striker, was over but hinted that a deal to sign Balotelli could yet occur. "Kaka and [Didier] Drogba are 101% not coming to Milan. Balotelli? He is 99.9 percent not coming," he said.
Last week it emerged that Balotelli's Cheshire home, which he rents, has been on the market since 11 January, a sign that the Italian was conscious of the need to keep his options open ahead of any potential move away from City.
Speaking on Friday Roberto Mancini chose his words carefully when asked if Balotelli might leave the club before 31 January. "No it is not true, Mario stays here. We didn't have any requests about Mario or other players," the City manager said.
At that stage Milan were yet to make an official offer, but once City receive their bid they will be keen to begin negotiations in earnest as even Mancini, who has been Balotelli's staunchest supporter at the club, now privately accepts his future lays elsewhere.
Asmir Begovic favours Manchester United over Manchester City?
The £15million-rated keeper has more chance of starting instead of De Gea or Lindegaard at Old Trafford than he does the champions' Joe Hart
Asmir Begovic has set his heart on a summer move to Manchester United.
http://i2.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article ... r+Begovic+
Stoke keeper Begovic has been targeted by both United and Manchester City, while Arsenal and Liverpool have also shown an interest.
Begovic’s preference would be to move to Old Trafford to solve manager Sir Alex Ferguson’s goalkeeping issues, with current keepers David De Gea and Anders Lindegaard on trial until the end of the season.
De Gea could be allowed to move back to Spain to either Real Madrid or Barcelona, with Begovic the top choice to replace him.
City, though, have also shown an interest, wanting the Bosnia international to provide top-class competition for Joe Hart whose form has been questioned at times this season.
Friends of[/spoiler]Begovic claim the 25-year-old is particularly excited by United’s interest, but he would have reservations about agreeing to move to City and starting next season on the subs’ bench under Hart.
Begovic is under contract to Stoke until 2016, and manager Tony Pulis will demand £15million for the goalkeeper he signed from Portsmouth for just £3m.
Kompany ruled out of City's trip to QPR after captain limps off during Stoke victory
A calf injury to captain Vincent Kompany tarnished Manchester City's 1-0 victory.
Kompany limped off after 33 minutes at the Britannia Stadium and assistant manager David Platt said the defender will probably be ruled out for two matches.
The injury limits manager Roberto Mancini's defensive options at a time when Kolo Toure is at the African Cup of Nations. Platt said: 'He has pulled his calf.
'We won't know how bad it is until the morning but there won't be any chance of Tuesday [when City play at QPR].'
It took City seven minutes to replace Kompany, who pulled up and headed straight down the tunnel.
Afterwards, the City captain tweeted: 'On to the next round and a fifth consecutive clean sheet! I hope I won't be out for too long but the team seems to be strong as ever.'
Regarding City's late victory, Platt said: 'We battled hard, defended well and kept another clean sheet.
'It is also pleasing to go through. We knew it was going to be difficult here. You know the ball is going to come in the box and you're going to have to compete for first balls, second balls all day.
'It is the way it is going to be and I thought we did it well.' DSSC
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]MANCHESTER TITLE RACE
PTS +5 GD +1
Former England captain David Beckham, 37, will try to convince at least four big-name England stars, including Steven Gerrard, to join the MLS - once he has sorted out his own future. Ashley Cole and Peter Crouch are also believed to be on the wishlist. Sunday People
Tottenham winger David Bentley, 28, is desperate to go out on loan after returning from a spell with FC Rostov, with Blackburn and Reading interested. DSSC
Premier League teams including Tottenham, Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool are all believed to be interested in signing striker Christian Benteke from struggling Aston Villa. The 22-year-old striker has scored 11 goals already this season. Sunday Mirror
Meanwhile, Villa are set to cut their losses on former England international defender Stephen Warnock and let the 31-year-old join West Ham on a free transfer. Sunday Telegraph
Reading are plotting to hijack Blackpool winger Tom Ince's move to Liverpool with an £8m bid. Sunday People
Stoke City goalkeeper Asmir Begovic has set his heart on a summer move to Manchester United, although Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool have also shown an interest in the 25-year-old, who is rated at £14m. Sunday Mirror
Manchester United are set to offer a new deal to midfielder Michael Carrick with the 31-year-old's current deal due to expire in 2014. Goal.com
Newcastle are in talks to sign Ivory Coast striker Wilfried Bony, 24, from Dutch side Vitesse Arnhem for £12m. Sunday Telegraph
Alex Ferguson took the advice of Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes before signing Robin van Persie because he wanted assurances that the £24m striker's arrival from Arsenal would not lead to any problems in the dressing room. Sunday Mirror
Chelsea interim manager Rafa Benitez has admitted he would love to stay at the Stamford Bridge club and that he would have a better chance of winning the league if the club give him a full season to impose his ideas. DSSC
Charlie Morgan, the ballboy involved in the incident with Chelsea's Eden Hazard last week, has been banned by football chiefs from next month's Wales international against Austria at the Liberty Stadium. Sunday People
TOTALLY UN-RELATED BOLLOX
Judyth Vary Baker
A remarkable woman but who was she and what does she do?
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKbakerJ.htm
GOLDEN WAG BOLLOX 27-1-2011
Tevez and Neville are good friends really, claims Mancini
Roberto Mancini tried to spread peace ahead of tonight's hate-fuelled Carling Cup battle of Manchester by claiming Carlos Tevez and Gary Neville have kissed and made up.
Former team-mates Tevez and Neville clashed in the first leg of the semi-final at Eastlands, when the City striker goaded the United captain into giving him the finger from the touchline.
Tevez was angered by Neville's claim that Sir Alex Ferguson was right not to spend £25million on him last summer and responded by branding the United defender a "boot-licking moron".
The FA stepped in to warn both players about their future conduct and City boss Mancini took on the role of peacemaker by suggesting the feuding pair had settled their differences.
"I think they're good friends," said Mancini. "They played together for two years at United and after a game these things can sometimes happen."
Tevez scored both goals in City's 2-1 first-leg win and will be Public Enemny No.1 at Old Trafford tonight following his vitriolic verbal attack on United crowd favourite Neville.
But Mancini said his star striker has the mental toughness to handle the inevitable hostile reception he will receive when he emerges from the players' tunnel at Old Trafford.
"I don't think there is a problem with Carlos and other players," said Mancini. "Carlos will be fine. Everybody must stay calm and think only about the match.
"I hope Carlos will score again but it's impossible for one player to keep on scoring a goal or two goals in every game.
"I hope that some of our other players can score as well, but if Carlos can score, then that's fine by me."
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]Fat bearded cunt of bollox
Manchester City are all that is wrong with English football...but watching them have a go is so compelling
We hear so much about respect these days that football is in danger of turning into south central Los Angeles. Blue versus red; Crips against Bloods.
Manchester United play Manchester City again tonight at Old Trafford, so you can pretty much guarantee somebody will get dissed; probably Carlos Tevez, whose popularity at Old Trafford is right up there with Malcolm Glazer’s.
Lack of respect explains the feud between Tevez and Gary Neville, the Manchester United captain, apparently. According to Kia Joorabchian, adviser to Tevez, the angry gestures and description of Neville as an idiot and a creep were not even derogatory.
‘A professional footballer has to have respect for his companions and if you don’t have class, then you have to accept that they are entitled to say something back,’ Joorabchian said.
New money can¿t buy you love: Garry Cook (right) unveils new manager Roberto Mancini
Leaving aside exactly who is in a position to lecture on class in football these days - although it hasn’t stopped the most debt-laden Prime Minister in history sermonising on governance and balancing the books - Joorabchian would appear to have rather missed the point.
Modern Manchester City do not have class and they do not have respect; that is what is so appealing about them.
If City now have a purpose it is to tweak the nose of the established order, the Champions League clubs who have been allowed to dominate for too long.
City are here to tick off Arsenal supporters with their goal celebrations, to upset Sir Alex Ferguson with mischievous fly-posting, to annoy Chelsea by targeting their captain, not to mention taking Gareth Barry from beneath the noses of Liverpool without being able to offer European football or all that lovely history.
City’s job is to get on everybody’s wick, precisely because they do not have respect and refuse to apologise for their parvenu presence. Good for them. In the circumstances, however, to expect consideration in return is absurd.
Neville stands accused of rubbishing Tevez in his column for The Times of Malta, published on January 17, but he did not. Neville responded to a reader query in a short section called ‘Over to you’. ‘Was it a mistake to let Carlos Tevez leave Manchester United and do you think United should buy a striker in this transfer window?’ asked John Refalo of Attard.
Neville replied: ‘The manager over the years has made many decisions with regard to players coming and going, and he has almost always been proved correct. Over a period of 20 years he may have got one or two wrong, and I think he has admitted that himself, but he knows exactly what he’s doing and he understands when a player’s time is up. I can’t disagree with his decision on Tevez. He was a good player for us, but if the financial demands are too big then that’s just the way it goes. Other good players have left this club in the past; it’s not the first time it’s happened.’
He then went on to say he did not think Manchester United would sign anyone in January because the manager has never been a big fan of buying in the transfer window. And that was it.
Maybe Tevez, who, judging by his reaction, appears to be under the impression that
Neville said he was useless and United couldn’t wait to ditch him, should have a bigger beef with his club interpreter than his former team-mate.
Maybe that is Manchester City’s dirty secret. They mistranslate every headline containing Tevez’s name as ‘Steaming pillock Carlos Tevez can’t play football’, read it to him before kick-off, attribute it to the opposition captain and watch the goals fly in; after all, something must explain his change in fortune.
If it is respect Tevez craves he has made the wrong move. Nobody will respect Manchester City while Garry Cook, the chief executive, continues to trawl bars crowing that his club will soon be the biggest and best in the world. Peter Kenyon was mocked for suggesting this of Chelsea when they were league champions; Manchester City have not won a trophy of significance since 1976. Then there was the dismissal of Mark Hughes, the former manager, without even a full season to make the new money work: hardly the action of a club courting popularity.
Indeed, there is so much that is gauche and grasping about City - the widely broadcast bid for Kaka, the petulant outburst from Cook when it did not succeed - that it would be easy to dislike them, and many do.
To the detractors, City’s players are money-motivated, because they either left or spurned bigger teams, while the management is disdained for buying victory, as if it were the first to do so (and as if this is not precisely what the Football Association are attempting by employing Fabio Capello as England manager).
Yet these weaknesses are also City’s strengths. How are a club meant to break into the top four? Politely? Regretfully? What players are they meant to go for, if not the finest? And how are they meant to attract them, if not financially?
City had to blow Liverpool away financially for Barry, or what possible reason would he have to go there? If they need a centre half, why not start with the best, John Terry, and lower their sights to Joleon Lescott or Kolo Toure if that audacious move does not come off? And for a club wishing to announce their altered circumstances, has there ever been a more memorable message than the Tevez ‘Welcome to Manchester’ campaign?
The reason so many hate City is the reason others like them: they have made English football more interesting, with chippy players, brash pronouncements, rampant egos and vaulting ambition. They are everything that is wrong with English football, and everything that makes it compelling, rolled up in a ball of spit and directed at the biggest clubs.
They do not command respect because they do not afford any, although [/list]someone needs to translate that to Tevez before tonight, or he is going to spend a lot of the match very angry again. On second thoughts, maybe not.
LAHAD'S LICK BINGO OUT BOLLOX
A perfect place to honour the Fez & Nipple Tassel wearing one ....
So What should go on Bingo's plaque? .... You decide ...
viewtopic.php?f=121&t=45089
So just in case you thought it was a wind-up the first time ....
Manchester City Were ‘First Class’, Admits Stoke Boss
Stoke manager Tony Pulis had high praise for Manchester City after his side’s home FA Cup defeat.
Manchester City finished 1-0 with Zabaleta scoring five minutes from full time and Pulis admitted that Manchester City were ‘first class’.
"We played more open than we normally do at home,” he told Sky Sports. "In a cup-tie you want to catch them and have a go at them. You have got to give City a lot of credit. Their attitude and approach was first class.
"By playing as open as we did, against the best teams, it always gives them an opportunity to attack and create chances and I thought they did that well.
"Although we are disappointed to have lost the game, and lost it in the last few minutes, you have got to give City a lot of credit.
"Unfortunately, when you come up against the best teams, they need to be a little below par, and you need to be right on top of your game and we weren't right on top of our game today."
