What a load of codswallap – The bit about De Jong I mean!

Many people think that our rivals on Sunday have a real chance of dislodging the Chavs and Mancs off the top of the Premiership next May. Yes they have money, yes they have a couple of great players in Yaya and Silva but what they don’t have is great team spirit. Bellamy has gone on loan to Cardiff as he was peedΒ off with the atmosphere at Citeh, Tevez has recently suggested he may retire from football all together so he can’t be as happy as some think. Lardybayor has either been out of favour or spouting about moving on to another club and Mark Hughes best signing is nowhere to be seen.

Add to that, there aren’t many days when youΒ read a morning newspaper without seeing a critical comment about the clubs Italian manager….

Last season we got beat at Eastlands twice, tomorrow will not see that statistic become three, I truly believe we will get something form the game. In fact my heart says we will get all three points..

The way City have started the season, they certainly don’t look like potential champions of anything let alone the league but what counts is getting results when playing rubbish and against the Chavs and Dippers they certainly did that. Like us they have had many injuries but with their money they have many good players to call upon so I see that as a poor excuse really.

One thing I did read though about one of their players which I couldn’t believe anyone could have the brass neck to write was this,

I don’t think it’s fair at all the criticism Nigel De Jong has received. There was that one challenge and to my mind it wasn’t that bad a tackle. There wasn’t any intent, it was certainly a very strong and hard tackle but I genuinely don’t think it was that bad. He’s only got two yellow cards this season, which is less than a lot of players in the Premier League. He’s not really that type of player. People remember the World Cup Final and that was a red card offence but that was out of character. I can’t remember him being involved in another bad tackle this season or last season. He’s a firm tackler and a hard tackler but he’s not a dirty player.

Written by Stuart Brennan of the Manchester Evening News!

What tripe!

I wrote a post earlier this month about bad tackles and dirty players. De Jong is a dirty player who makes dirty tackles both for club and country, just ask the management of the Holland side why he’s been dropped.

Tomorrow we need a strong referee, not a referee that goes on the hunt for De Jong but one that is vigilant and fair.

Just as the bad tackles need to be spotted and dealt with, so do the constantΒ nigglyΒ ones. They are not career threatening but are just enough to stop the player time and time again. Β Both Jack Wilshere and Cesc Fabregas are justΒ two players ofΒ  ours who seem to be targeted for this kind of tackle. This happened to Jack all through last weekends game and they went unpunished by the referee.Β No doubt he’d had enough by the time he committed his naughty tackle whichΒ saw him receive a justified red card.Β Had all those committed against him during the game been spotted, maybe he wouldn’t have made that tackle…

We know he won’t be involved tomorrow but Cesc and Theo will be, theyΒ will be theΒ targets for the niggly tackles, no doubt Citeh players will do all they can to stop them.

My only hope is that whoever referees our game does all he can to stop them doing that……

On to the gossip –Β PSV have confirmed that the player nearly all Arsenal fans have wanted to Arsene Wenger to sign will be for sale in January.

A statement on the club’s official websiteΒ read: “PSV and Ibrahim Afellay have jointly concluded that, for several reasons, it is unrealistic to have his contract extended.

“Afellay has pledged to make every effort to ensure he would not leave PSV without a reasonable fee for the club.”

Me, I think the chance of him signing for the club we all love is little to none, in any case, Wenger would wait until the summer and try to get him on a free πŸ˜‰

Finally, The Evening Standard reported yesterdayΒ that Gary Cahill is Arsene Wengers principalΒ  target in January and he will test Bolton with a Β£10 millon bid… See above for my thoughts on this one πŸ˜‰

Have a good day all….