F365 congratulate City and praise De Jong, Kompany, Silva

[Alioune DVToure]

Really 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

[KinkyKinkladze]

Winty (ugh) has always been good to us. Being a Huddersfield fan, she remembers us being in the shit and remembers us bringing a shit load of fans to all over the place.

365 can be a venemous place at the best of times, but she always has a certain respect for us that should be reciprocated.

Good article and spoken like somebody who actually knows their game. Shame she looks like my anus.

[Alioune DVToure]

Winty (ugh) has always been good to us. Being a Huddersfield fan, she remembers us being in the shit and remembers us bringing a shit load of fans to all over the place.

[highlight]365 can be a venemous place at the best of times[/highlight], but she always has a certain respect for us that should be reciprocated.

Good article and spoken like somebody who actually knows their game. Shame she looks like my anus.

Agreed, but they're not partial. I know of no other media outlet so ready to criticise Lord Bacon, for example, and mediawatch is the funniest sports column on the net.

[glossopblue]

Really 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

Here, here. Well said.

[KinkyKinkladze]

Winty (ugh) has always been good to us. Being a Huddersfield fan, she remembers us being in the shit and remembers us bringing a shit load of fans to all over the place.

[highlight]365 can be a venemous place at the best of times[/highlight], but she always has a certain respect for us that should be reciprocated.

Good article and spoken like somebody who actually knows their game. Shame she looks like my anus.

Agreed, but they're not partial. I know of no other media outlet so ready to criticise Lord Bacon, for example, and mediawatch is the funniest sports column on the net.

Agree to an extent. Pete Gill (Piotrish) is a horribly bitter Arsenal fan and although he does his best to hide it, it often shines through everything he does on the site. And unfortunately, given he's the prime contributor there, that shines through in a lot of things these days. Thankfully Sarah, Nick Miller and the bloke from Boro contribute. For all their problems, without them that site would be fuck all but an Arsenal fanzine. A far cry from the days of Danny Kelly etc.

[The Original Special One]

It takes a woman
Take that, Paula Hayward!

[Biamp]

Great article, good read.

[Slim]

Long term servant Zabaleta?

Sad when 3 years is considered long term.

[Biamp]

Long term servant Zabaleta?

Sad when 3 years is considered long term.

I guess that's the way football is nowadays.

[bluenoon]

do they have to slag off three of our players. congratulate and praise my arse.