Plats not better says David
Manchester City assistant manager David Platt admits the Premier League champions must improve despite an unbeaten start to the season.
The 3-1 win against QPR at the Etihad gives City seven points from three games but they have been unconvincing.
But Platt said: "We are not overly happy in terms of performance but we are delighted we can balance that out with the fact we are scoring goals.
“I think he is OK, it is just a normal procedure. It is just a minor operation”
City assistant David Platt on Mario Balotelli's eye procedure
"We are maybe paying the price for not killing the games off."
City were in control against QPR and Yaya Toure gave them the lead before the Londoners made their hosts pay for missing chances when Bobby Zamora equalised.
However, strike duo Edin Dzeko and Carlos Tevez each scored to secure City's win.
"It was almost too easy for us to arrive around 30 yards from goal but then there were a lot of bodies," Platt added.
"We weren't ruthless enough and perhaps didn't pick the right pass out."
"I don't think we are playing as well as at this stage last season, when we were blowing teams away and keeping clean sheets. There is an understandable expectation level here and we are not quite up to those levels.
"But we sit there unbeaten with seven points out of nine and we can still improve. If you write those names down on a piece of paper and look at them before you go to bed then you will sleep quite easily because you know they are good players."
Platt also confirmed striker Mario Balotelli will undergo a procedure on his eye to cure a problem with conjunctivitis but does not expect him to be sidelined for a significant length of time.
"I think he is OK, it is just a normal procedure. It is just a minor operation," Platt said.
"The contact lenses are the issue when he gets it, conjunctivitis. He can't get his contact lenses in, so he can't really play."
Plat's your lot! UEFA president to ensure Financial Fair Play rebels are banned from Europe
And this could give Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini an answer on why his club cut back on transfer spending
Roberto Mancini is set to find out why his Manchester City spending was cut back when Michel Platini bans football’s Financial Fair Play rebels from Europe at the end of the month.
Despite City spending £52million on Javi Garcia, Matija Nastasic, Scott Sinclair, Maicon and Jack Rodwell, Mancini was upset the club would not splash out on his top targets Robin van Persie, Eden Hazard, Javi Martinez or Daniele De Rossi.
Having offloaded Emmanuel Adebayor, Nigel de Jong and Adam Johnson, it is clear City were cutting down their expenditure with Platini’s threat in mind.
European champions Chelsea have spent £80m, but have also got the likes of Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou, Jose Bosingwa, Nicolas Anelka and Alex off the wage bill.
UEFA president Platini revealed he has given 27 European clubs a deadline to put their house in order. “They were told to sort their finances out before June 30. Then they had until July 15 to discuss any problems,” he said.
“The next check on September 30 will be vital. For clubs who can’t follow the rules of the Financial Fair Play system, it is over and out of Europe.
“We are protecting clubs who have sold players and struggle to receive payment. A number of clubs have had to chase their money for years.” Mirror
Spurs and Man City ready to fight Real Madrid for 'free agent' Didier Drogbas plaits
Didier Drogba could make a dramatic return to English football with Tottenham or Manchester City, just months after leaving Chelsea for China.
The Blues legend signed for Shanghai Shenhua earlier this summer, but the Asian club is now in the midst of an ownership row.
Didier Drogba could be set for a remarkable return to European football (PA)
It is thought that financial constraints during the fight for power at the club could lead to some of their top players becoming free agents.
The list is likely to be headed by Drogba, who would still be in high demand despite his advancing years.
Marca has claimed that Real Madrid would be the favourites to sign the Ivory Coast hitman, with boss Jose Mourinho keen to reunite himself with the striker he managed at Stamford Bridge.
But Manchester City and Tottenham are also potential destinations, with both sure to be keen on a player of Drogba's calibre, reports Tribal Football.
Spurs are light on strikers and City boss Roberto Mancini is not entirely happy with his summer's work in the transfer market and could beef up his attack by capturing Drogba.
Another club that is likely to show significant interest in bringing the ex-Marseille man back to Europe is big-spending Paris St Germain, who would have no trouble funding Drogba's wage demands
Maureen starts his homework on City
http://www.insidefutbol.com/2012/09/02/ ... rip/68244/
OTHER BOLLOX
Arsenal boss: Man City, Chelsea & Man Utd have more money but we have fighting quality
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes that his side have the fighting quality to succeed.
The Gunners have failed to score in this campaign but have two points after their opening 0-0 draws against Stoke and Sunderland.
“To rebuild is exciting as well. We can click very quickly because we look like a team on the pitch at the moment,” he said.
“I believe that we look a team on the pitch and a team who is ready to fight together.
“We have not scored and have not been completely at our best going forward, but that will happen eventually.
“Of course if you gave me a choice I would have preferred to keep Van Persie.
“But if you lose a player who scores 30 goals, there are not 100 players in the world who can score 30 goals a season at this level.”
Wenger still wants another Premier League title but he accepts it is difficult when they can no longer match the spending power of Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United.
“The aim is always to win the title. If you don’t do it, people are disappointed and I’m the first one to be disappointed,” he said.
“We are today already in a stronger position financially.
“But we face teams who have no limitations in their resources at all.
“So no matter if you have a stadium of 120,000, if some people have no limitation in their resources we will always have the same problem.
“The nature of the job has changed because the financial competition is higher.
“But we always do as well as we can with the resources we have.
“Our club is managed in a good way, we are solid and of course people want us to win.”
Real Madrid will have the first option to buy Tottenham winger Gareth Bale, 23, if Spurs sell the Welsh international. Sunday Mirror
Inter Milan, Juventus and Paris St Germain will join Manchester City and Liverpool in trying to sign Theo Walcott if the winger, 23, does not sign a new contract at Arsenal. Sunday Mirror
Didier Drogba's spokeswoman insists the former Chelsea striker, 34, has not been released by Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua after just two-and-a-half months at the club. talkShiT
Tottenham's transfer business has already caused tensions between new manager Andre Villas-Boas and chairman Daniel Levy. Sunday Express
Spurs missed out on signing Porto midfielder Joao Moutinho, 25, by minutes on Friday despite being granted an extra hour to complete the £24m deal. Sunday Telegraph
Southampton will turn to former manager Harry Redknapp if they decide to replace Nigel Adkins. Daily Star Sunday
Manager Sir Alex Ferguson is adamant that Wayne Rooney, 26, and Robin van Persie, 29, can form a potent partnership at Manchester United. The Sun on Sunday
England manager Roy Hodgson insists he will stick with veterans Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and John Terry. Lampard, 34, Gerrard, 32, and Terry, 31, will not be discarded as they enter their 30s. Daily Star Sunday
Liverpool midfielder Jonjo Shelvey, 20, whose grandmother is from Edinburgh, has held talks with the SFA about potentially representing Scotland. Sunday Mirror
FA unwraps £100m monument to future of football B*ll*x
The words of Sir Bobby Robson deliver one of a series of inspirational messages at the Football Association's new £100m monument to the future of the game in England.
England's players will see the words "Practice Makes Permanent" adorning the wall as they walk through the corridors to their vast dressing room at St. George's Park, the FA's National Football Centre tucked away in the countryside at Burton-upon-Trent.
And when England's senior squad finally take up residence after the realisation of a long-held - and much-delayed - dream at the FA, they will find the perfect environment in which to practice what the great manager Robson was preaching.
The future of English football was in full bloom at Burton on Tuesday. Not simply bricks and mortar but flesh and blood as coach John Peacock's under-17 squad, "the Burton Guinea Pigs" as he affectionately called them, got first use of the national game's breathtaking new facility.
Peacock, experienced and hugely respected in FA circles, was preparing his young charges for a four-team tournament involving Italy, Portugal and Turkey that kicks off on Wednesday night with a meeting against the Italians at Burton Albion's nearby Pirelli Stadium.
As England's young players enjoyed lunch, the Italian squad sat nearby. All four teams are using the facilities, with Roy Hodgson's senior squad expected to sample their new home ahead of the World Cup qualifier against San Marino in October.
Hodgson will address England's youth team during a visit on Wednesday, a sign of his commitment to a project which is seen as one of the cornerstones of the FA's plans to develop the game.
There are plenty of nods to English football's past, images of the greats around every corner. Photo: FA
There are plenty of nods to English football's past, images of the greats around every corner and a picture of victorious captain Billy Wright being hoisted shoulder high by his team mates at Wembley in that main dressing room, but everything at Burton is aimed at the future and rivalling the national centres that have been at the heart of the well-being of the game in superpowers such as France, Spain and the Netherlands.
Suites and rooms are dedicated to England's greats from Paul Gascoigne to Sir Bobby Charlton. There are 12 full-size training pitches and a grass replica of the Wembley surface. An indoor pitch also has a 100m sprint track running alongside should anyone wish to draw inspiration from another message decorating the walls of Burton, this time from the great American Olympian Jesse Owens, who said: "A lifetime of training for just 10 seconds."
Quite simply, Burton contains everything anyone connected with the English game would want in state-of-the-art form. The League Managers' Association and the Professional Footballers' Association are on site and on Tuesday a party of referees - led by Premier League referees' chief Mike Riley and World Cup final official Howard Webb - were on a tour of the facility.
Peacock's young players have beaten the likes of Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard to Burton and the coach makes no effort to downplay the role he sees the National Football Centre playing.
He said: "This is an immensely important facility. It is great credit to the Football Association that we have finally got it over the line. I came back to the FA in 2002 thinking the National Football Centre was going to open a year later and it didn't happen, so I'm glad I'm still around to see it.
"From a development point of view it's fantastic and the facilities are second to none. In terms of the quality of the pitches and the environment it is conducive to learning and education. From a coach education perspective it is the same. We can now run our national courses here, for A and B licences and the age group courses.
"We have now got everything under one roof. It is a really big benefit."
Peacock believes the centre has already had an impact on his squad, saying: "I think when they come down the driveway they will look and think 'wow what a fantastic complex' because there is no doubt facilities back at clubs are fantastic in their own right.
"I think it was imperative that we could replicate something along those lines ourselves as the national body - and in fact be better.
"I think the players need to see a difference from what they get at the club environment to what they get at international level, so this all-encompassing environment of learning, education and an environment where all that can be facilitated is so important."
The cutting edge of sport is everywhere. Including sports science laboratories, altitude chambers and multiple gymnasiums. On a tour on Tuesday it looked every inch as the FA would have imagined it when the idea was first conceived in 2001.
Peacock added: "When you look at the Dutch, French and Spanish they all have their own national centres. It was only right that a country the size of ourselves finally has our own technical base to work from. I see it as a training ground environment. Wembley is fantastic but it wasn't a technical football base where we could get on a training pitch and educate our players. Here we can.
"What is important is that all our stakeholders are working in the same direction. There is a groundswell of opinion that we need to produce better international teams, we need to get our teams playing regularly in the top tournaments to give them the experience, we need to develop better coaches going forward and all our stakeholders are buying into that.
"When you have got the LMA on site and the PFA have got an office here, it is a sign that we're all working together for the common theme of making English football better.
"I personally think English football couldn't have done without this centre. When you think of what the clubs have done individually in raising their standards, with facilities, coaching and general youth development structure, it has been fantastic. As an association we have needed to do something on top of that.
"It is for the game in England generally, it is for the whole country to get the benefit from."
England's youngsters have started that process this week - and the FA hopes it is one that will continue for generations.
more bolox soon ...
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