Manchester City - Blackburn Rovers
Premier League
11. januar 2010
Kl 21:00
City of Manchester Stadium

Diskuter kampen her.

NB.
Det er fortsatt store snømengder og dårlig vær i Manchester, så kampen kan bli avlyst.

Ville passe mig fint med en aflysning. Ikke lige en kamp man gider...

Omvendt har de nogle skader. Adebayou er på vej hjem fra Afrika med patroner i røven, og Vieira kan ikke være i gear endnu.

Nån som vet när det blir beslutat om kampen skall spelas??

Plussgrader der idag og skal bli det imorgen også . Så da blir det nok kamp.

Mvh
Vidar Theisen

Supporterintervju Manchester City (B)

En optimistisk Citizen foran mandagens kamp.

Mitt navn er Espen Eithun Langedal, og jeg er den nye supporterintervjuansvarlige i BRSCN.

I mitt første supporterintervju har jeg kontaktet Ric Turner (32), mannen som driver Bluemoon, en uoffisiell MCFC-supporterside med mer enn 18.000 medlemmer. Snart skal han bli pappa.

First of all, tell me about your position in Bluemoon, how many members you have and any other useful information.
- I´m the owner/editor/designer/developer/writer of Bluemoon (take your pick!). The site has been running since 2001, and now has over 18,000 members.

There are many big names in City´s attacking ranks. Bellamy and Santa Cruz are both former Blackburn Rovers players, and were loved by our fans. Are they good enough for the Citizens?
- Bellamy is certainly good enough for City - I´d go as far as to say he´s been our player of the season so far. To keep an established star such as Robinho out of the team shows how highly regarded he is by the club. As for Santa Cruz, the jury is out at the moment, simply because he has barely featured for us yet due to injury. There is no doubting his ability, but question marks remain over his fitness and the wisdom of Mark Hughes spending £17m on such a perenially injured player.

Carlos Tevez has been outstanding since the transfer last summer. Wonderful to have snatched him from your neighbours?
-The signing of Carlos Tevez was a significant coup for City, and whilst United fans now conveniently claim that they never wanted to keep him, they undoubtedly miss him. He had a quiet start to his City career after missing pre-season through injury, but he is starting to show his true class. One of the best strikers in the Premiership.


Bellamy tas av banen i 4-3-kampen mot Sunderland som ble Hughes siste. Bellamy sterkt delaktig i seieren.

Previous meetings with City was the season opening at Ewood Park which ended 0-2 in disfavour Rovers. An early goal by Adebayour before Given showed why a new rich PL-club with enromeous economic muscles just bought him. Blackburn is pushing for an ezuqlazion, but Ireland and punctured the match just minutes before full time. An entertaining match. Do you agree that it was a little undeserved win?
-We rode our luck at times in the opening game of the season, but I wouldn´t say it was an undeserved win. Both teams created few real chances - we took ours, and Blackburn didn´t. that was the key difference between the teams on the day. We just had a little more cutting edge.

Why Manchester City? And how long have you been a supporter?
-Manchester City are the team of my father, and my grandfather before him. I´ve been a supporter all my life (32 years).

How do you follow your team?
-I´m a season ticket holder, but have had to knock the away games on the head a bit since becoming a father.

Do you know Liam Gallagher?
-Haha, not personally. But I know a girl who knew him, um, "intimately".

Is it fair to call your club a buying club?
-Undoubtedly. We are the wealthiest club in world football now.

7-8-2 was the statistics of Hughes before he had to take his hat and go. "The success will come. I am extremely disappointed." - As he himself said. Was it right to fire him?
-The sacking of Hughes drew much condemnation from the media, but many City fans supported the move. We had backed him with unlimited resources, yet the team scarcely improved. He had to go, unfortunately.

What were your expectations before this season? .. and to what extent have they lived up to your expectations? Do you think that the Sky Blues will split the
Big four this season?
-Before the season I expected us to break into the top four, and that hope remains. It will be difficult as we´ve drawn too many games, but in Mancini we trust.

Richard Dunne with the most MCFC Player of the Year Awards, four in a row actually(from 2005-2008), was it a correct decision to sell him? Undoubtedly a solid defender.
-Dunne was a great servant to the club, but I think he needed a new challenge in his career and it was time for him to move on. No City fans have been surprised by his impressive form for Villa, as we know how good he is.

Do you have faith in Mancini?
-He´s only been in the charge for three games, but the early signs have been impressive. We certainly seem more organised than we did under Hughes.

Tevez og Mancini i 3-0 seieren over Wolves. Tevez puttet to.

What relationship do you have to Blackburn?
-There is no real animosity between City and Blackburn, as both are north west clubs steeped in tradition. There is no great love either, however, particularly since Sam Allardyce took over.

.. and to Manchester United?
-We hate them, and they hate us. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Who´ll be in the starting eleven on Monday?
Given

Zabaleta
Richards
Kompany
Garrido

Wright-Phillips
Barry
de Jong
Petrov

Bellamy
Tevez

What will be the score?
-2-0 to City, again.

Does City take any titles this season?
-Hopefully we will win the Carling Cup.

The Premier Champions of the 2009/10 season will be..
-Chelsea

Takk til Rick Turner som tok seg tid til å la seg intervjue.

NB.
City er i scoringshumør og har målforskjellen 9-3 og full pott på de tre siste kampene. Ni scoringer utgjør nesten 50% av Blacburns nettkjenninger hele denne sesongen [20 mål på 20 kamper].

Til sammenligning har Rovers nettet tre, sluppet inn fem og står med 2 poeng på de tre siste.

Ric Turner melder om fortsatt store snømengder i Manchester, og at kampen kanskje blir avlyst.

Kampstart er kl 21:00.

Snø, is og kulde er det eneste som har stått i fokus den siste tiden i England. Fly blir kansellert, skoler blir stengt, men det aller verste og tragiske er at fotballkamper blir avlyst. Sjelden har en Premier League-lørdag vært så kjedelig som den som var i helga. To kamper var alt som overlevde kulden, og hvis du ser bort fra to Championship-kamper, og to League One-kamper, så var det langt mellom kampene i hele divisjonssystemet.

Manchester City har hatt en spesiell sesong. Den startet kjempebra, først med seier over Rovers i åpningskampen, for og så vinne de neste kampene mot Wolves, Crystal Palace (Carling Cup), Portsmouth og Arsenal. Så skulle nedturen komme. Den kom i det utrolige 4-3 tapet mot byrivalen United. Etter å ha slått tilbake med en 3-1 seier mot West Ham, så kom den utrolige rekka med syv uavgjorte kamper på rad i ligaen. Desember måned ble en svært merkelige opplevelse for City-fans. Den startet med å slå Arsenal i Carling Cup, og så Chelsea i Premier League. Før 3-3 mot Bolton, 0-3 mot Tottenham og 4-3 mot Sunderland i Mark Hughes sin siste kamp.


Santa Cruz kan få spilletid i kveldens oppgjør.

Ifølge Chief Executive i Manchester City, Gary Cook, så ventet City til etter Sunderland-kampen med å ansette Roberto Mancini. På denne måten skulle Mancini få en lettere start på sin managerkarriere i England. Dette har funket veldig bra da City har vunnet 2-0 hjemme mot Stoke, og 3-0 borte mot Wolves etter ansettelsen av det Italienske geniet. Det ble følgt opp med et knepent avansement i FA-Cupen, der Middlesbrough ble slått 1-0. Det er med andre ord et lag fullt med selvtillit som møter Rovers i kveld.

Manchester City har et lag som er plaget med mye skader, og noen som er i Afrika med sine respektive landslag. Kolo Toure spiller i Afrikamesterskapet med Elfenbenkysten, i mens Adebayor har reist hjem til familien sin i Togo. Wayne Bridge, Stephen Ireland, Michael Johnson, Joleon Lescott, Nedum Onouah er alle ute med skade. Shaun Wright-Phillips er usikker.

Manchester Citys tropp:
Given, Taylor, Zabaleta, Richards, Sylvinho, Garrido, Trippier, Wright-Phillips, Kompany, Vieira, De Jong, Barry, Bellamy, Robinho, Benjani, Petrov, Ibrahim, Weiss, Tevez, Santa Cruz, Vidal, Boyata, Tutte.

For Rovers mangler bare Vince Grella og El-Hadjii Diouf. Grella er usikker, men vil nok mest sannsynlig ikke spille i denne kampen. Diouf er fortsatt utestengt etter den idiotiske taklingen på Habib Beye. Derfor får Big Sam en spennende oppgave med å sette sammen 11 spillere som skal starte kampen i kveld.

Blackburns tropp:
Robinson, Brown, Chimbonda, Salgado, Jacobsen, Samba, Nelsen, Givet, Jones, Olsson, Dunn, Emerton, Reid, Nzonzi, Andrews, Pedersen, Hoilett, McCarthy, Roberts, Di Santo, Kalinić.


Stephen Nzonzi gleder seg til å møte sitt idol, Patrick Vieira.


Forventet lag City: