EPL Talk » Wayne Bridge

Talk Of Manchester City Making A Top Five Is Premature

Paul Bestall — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:55:02 +0000

If I was an Arsenal fan, I’d be fed up already listening to people saying that Manchester City were obviously going to usurp them as one of the “Big Four” sides. It’s amazing what spending money does to peoples judgement when it comes to football and Manchester City have certainly caught more than their fair share of attention over the summer. To all intents and purposes, Manchester City will easily outstrip Arsenal on the pitch and leapfrog them in the Premiership.

So since last summer City have spent over £160 million pounds, but have they really bought the required players to turn them into a major force in the Premiership. In my honest opinion, no they haven’t. It’s easy to simply look at the figures they’ve spent and it all becomes an addiction to money rather than talent. For some, Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson have suddenly lost the managerial skills they’ve earned over one summer due to players going to Manchester City.

How has Ferguson lost his abilities by not signing Carlos Tevez? Whilst the vocal United fans tried to convince Ferguson to sign him up, Ferguson would not be budged. He was quite right to question how a striker who only scored 5 goals in the Premiership was worth £25 million. He consistently failed to deliver in big games time and again, yet because he ran around like a dog chasing a rabbit, he was “world class”. It is such an over rated term, that is consistently trotted out all the time as to make it almost redundant. Would you honestly say he’s a better striker than Wayne Rooney? Really? Even the most blinkered City fan can surely see the stupidity of that comparison.

Not one of Manchester City’s new signings is World Class, that’s a fact. Not one of them. Honestly, seriously, none of them. With the exception of Gareth Barry, Shay Given and Wayne Bridge, there isn’t one player who would be at Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal or Chelsea. Adebayor, Toure and Tevez have all been let go because they aren’t good enough for a top 4 side. City had clean run at every one of the targets they’ve signed because the clubs that owned the players were happy to see them leave, Barry and Given apart.

Craig Bellamy, over rated, over paid and has never, ever delivered consistently. A temper that causes more problems than he’s worth, I witnessed one of his strops at Norwich. Refused a decision by the referee, little Craig stomped his feet and jumped up and down on the spot for almost a minute. Pathetic. I wonder how long it will be before he starts texting his team mates spiteful messages?

Roque Santa Cruz, so good that when he left Bayern Munich, he joined Blackburn, no offence Rovers fans. If every major club in Europe wasn’t interested, how has he become such a brilliant striker after one good season and then moping around for a year hoping for a move. In 8 years at Bayern, he scored 38 goals playing for one of the biggest sides in Europe and one that consistently challenged for trophies at home and in Europe. That’s a dreadful record for someone allegedly so good.

Robinho joined Manchester City, then forgot who he’d signed for. Chelsea to be fair, wouldn’t pay over £27.5 million for him and by Christmas, they were probably glad they hadn’t. Another one touted as “world class”, laughably so if you’ve watched him regularly at Real Madrid. A good player, almost really good, but wildly inconsistent, prone to having hissy fits and a strike rate that doesn’t match the amount of chances he gets.

As for the two signings from Arsenal, Toure and Adebayor, Wenger must be laughing all the way the bank with his £40 million transfer kitty. He has, thanks to Manchester City, made a fortune from Arsenal’s two biggest troublemakers who were simply not at the races last season. If anything, Arsenal are stronger without spending a penny. The issues that those two caused in the dressing room and on the training ground had caused fractures through out Wengers squad in the last two seasons. Arsenal are better without those two at the Emirates, no question.

Adebayor famously attacked a team mate during a match because he didn’t pass to him, Toure got his gang to ignore William Gallas because he couldn’t be captain. Once again, childish, immature and bringing tons of baggage with them.Good riddance, I don’t know one Arsenal fan who is sad to see them leave. Not one. That tells you everything you need to know about those two.

This rag tag bunch of egotistical, money driven mercenaries are now all nicely tied up on 4 and 5 year contracts, earning more money than they ever believed they possibly could. Do you really think they’ve come to win trophies or count their cash? All this talk of “ being excited by the project” makes me laugh, it’s jibberish. It’s all about the money, nothing more, nothing less. Now somehow this team will be bonded and formed into one the best teams in England within weeks? It’s crazy to expect such results so soon.

How long before the cracks appear at Eastlands and the dressing room becomes a pit of ego clashes and cliques. If they’re not in the top 7 come Christmas, the pressure will be really on Mark Hughes. Rome was not built in a day and Manchester City could end up being more like Sodom and Gomorrah than the Eternal City next season. They will have all to do to keep up with Everton, Tottenham, Villa and Fulham, never mind crack the top 4 and worry Arsenal.

Now Mark Hughes Knows Exactly What’s Required

Paul Bestall — Wed, 20 May 2009 18:38:46 +0000

When Mark Hughes agreed to replace Sven Goran Eriksson last summer, no doubt he knew things would be interesting at Manchester City, it very rarely isn’t in the sky blue half of Manchester, but I doubt he’d have expected anything like the events that ultimately played out. What with the takeover and the crazy final day of the summer transfer window, with City making 10 bids of over £15 million for players, it was probably the maddest 24 hours the City faithful could remember in years.

After that, he’s coped remarkably well with the media speculation, both about transfer targets and his own future at the club, showing a calm and assured exterior throughout the season. Of course there have been hiccups along the way, the F.A. Cup defeat, losing 3-0 at home to Forest probably the lowest point along with the embarrassment of being kicked out of the League Cup at Brighton on penalties. Yet, this is a team still trying to find its feet and he has added some excellent signings along the way.

Shay Given is one of the best goalkeepers in Europe, as hard as that signing was on the promising Joe Hart, Wayne Bridge a consistent and dependable left back. Vincent Kompany has long been touted as one of Europe’s most promising players as is Nigel De Jong and Stephen Ireland has been magnificent all season. Of course, question marks were raised over the signing of Craig Bellamy, but if anyone can get him playing to his full potential, it’s Hughes, their relationship built during his time as Wales and Blackburn manager.

Now the owner has laid down the aim for next season, a top 6 finish, which for a manager who took Blackburn to the UEFA Cup twice and had 3 top 10 finishes in a row, should be a piece of cake with the resources at his disposal. Mubarak’s statement released on Tuesday was a vindication for Hughes and the work in progress that Manchester City should be classed as. It seemed a reasoned and balanced indication of what the owner wants for Manchester City, regardless of the rubbish and speculation that you can read every day about them, such as this nonsense!

City have had some dreadful press this year, with so many lazy journalists writing rubbish about them because it fills space in empty papers. Here in the UK, we have a couple of papers who are renowned for being so far of the mark with transfer stories as to be laughable. Suffice to say, if you see a transfer story printed in either the Daily Express or the Daily Star, chances are it’ll never happen. Last season, they had a success rate of 8% for transfer stories, the lowest in England by some distance.

That’s not to say they’ve not been their own worst enemy at times, Chief Executive Gary Cook has said some eyebrow raising things during his time at Eastlands, the comments about Richard Dunne were especially unkind, “China and India are gagging for football content to watch and we’re going to tell them that City is their content. We need a superstar to get through that door. Richard Dunne doesn’t roll off the tongue in Beijing. Ronaldinho brings access to major sponsors and financial reward.”

Now that may be true but players like Richard Dunne win you titles by allowing the superstars to play and thankfully Cook has calmed his comments down over the last couple of months after the rather choice words used toward Kaka and A.C. Milan. He needs to deliver the players to move City up a level from where they’ve been the last couple of years. A consistent goal scorer is key, as is a fit and skilful left sided midfielder to add to four or five signings to strengthen the squad. Hughes will be looking to shift some dead wood out too as well as tie Stephen Ireland down to a new long term contract.

Hughes now knows his goals, no doubt his list of transfer targets already is on Gary Cooks desk and as soon as the season finishes on Sunday, City will begin the search to add some more quality to the potential they already have on their books. With Tottenham, Everton and Aston Villa all showing flashes this season, we could finally get a season to remember in 2009-2010 and not just the same 4 clubs sharing out the trophies once again.

Are Manchester City Really Destroying Football?

tyduffy — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:16:28 +0000

FC Copenhagen chairman Stale Solbakken suggests that Manchester City’s spending will ruin football.

“The amounts of money that have been mentioned are incredible,” Solbakken told Ekstra-Bladet.

“I think that such incredible sums will take part in destroying football.

“They are creating too big a mental distance between what we call reality and then Manchester City.”

The idea of City’s fiscal force frightens, but its tangible affect has been negligible.

City have not upset the competitive climate in the Premier League. They sit just 9^th in the table, with 31 points from 25 matches, and that represents improvement from winning three of their last five in the league. Before they were flirting with relegation.

Aside from the odd Robinho, City have not fleeced the world’s biggest stars from their clubs. Kaka rejected triple his current salary. David Villa and Gigi Buffon turned down deals as well. The only financial flexing City have done thus far is overpaying for Craig Bellamy and Wayne Bridge.

City’s main hindrance signing players has been their perception as an unsuccessful club. This also seems to be their critics’ point of contention.

Manchester City are not deemed a threat because they distort financial reality. Clubs already do that. Nothing divides the gods from the clods in European football more than the Champions League.

There are also disparate television and merchandising deals on the continent. Barcelona and Real Madrid operate under different financial considerations than the rest of La Liga. Ditto for Bayern Munich in Germany and for AC Milan, Juventus and Inter in Serie A.

Spending obscene money disproportionately doesn’t bother football people. It’s the notion of an upstart Manchester City doing it that is the problem. Criticism of City is not censuring the rich, but the nouveau riche.

Perhaps, it’s not football that’s going to be destroyed, but a complacent aristocracy.

Manchester City Left Broken Hearted By Kaka

Paul Bestall — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 10:56:10 +0000

So it’s all off then, Kaka has shunned the millions on offer to switch the San Siro for Eastlands, turned his back on an alleged £500,000 a week ( A measly take home salary of £260,000 per week after tax) and declared his love for AC Milan. Am I surprised? A little bit, but it’s certainly reaffirmed a bit of faith for me in footballers when someone can turn down astronomical wages to stay where they are. I thought that even a deeply religious man as Kaka is, would have his head turned by Manchester City’s overtures toward him but it was not to be. Manchester City are now beginning to realise the scale of the task ahead of them to attract anyone of any real quality to join them. Sure Wayne Bridge is an accomplished player, but one of the best 10 left backs in the world? No. Is Craig Bellamy, 29 years old and on his 8th club already, a man who could start an argument in a graveyard, one of the top 50 strikers in the world today? No he’s not. If Nigel De Jong was as good as they think he is, he wouldn’t be with SV Hamburg. Apologies to Hamburg fans and your fantastic manager.

It finally proves that to some players money isn’t everything. Whilst I appreciate the fact he’s on a fair whack at Milano, around £150,000 a week, Kaka realises the scale of the job ahead of Manchester City’s owners to attract anyone to join them at Eastlands. Are they going to play European football next season? It looks a major long shot at this point with only two routes open to them, winning the UEFA Cup or applying to join through the Intertoto Cup and at the moment both look well out of City’s reach. We are now beginning to see the calibre of players who will go to City and the ones who will not, Robinho, Bellamy, Bridge, Jo. It’s long way from Kaka, Messi, Aguero and Ribery. The owners will be stunned I suspect that for some people money is not everything, to build the highest building in the world, only for the people to declare how ugly it is.

I think the owners bought the club and assumed that money would bring everyone there. They’re now beginning to realise it’s not the case. City, traditionally one of Britain’s best supported clubs, are not a European household name, haven’t won a trophy in 40 years and were in the third tier of English football as recently as 1999. They cannot offer a history of success, as Manchester United, Liverpool and even Arsenal and Chelsea in recent years can do. When you bring European sides into the mix, the lure of the lush warmer climes of Spain and Italy, history and passion go against them as well. If they can’t match sides in England, what about Barcelona, Internazionale, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Juventus, Bayern Munich, even Lyon. Nationallocation goes against them too as their two successful near neighbours can offer Champions League football, well balanced squads and and a winning ethic. Big players want the chance to win big trophies and Manchester City simply cannot do that, instead of trying to build a Mancunian Barcelona, they should look back in recent history and use Blackburn’s template to try and get to the top in England first. Then perhaps they can look to higher quality signings once they become a top 6 side.

Unfortunately, it seems that to compound the issues with Kaka, Robinho has walked out of the Manchester City training camp in Tenerife, apparently due to a disagreement over being allowed to have his birthday in Brazil. City have not given a reason for him leaving the camp as yet and one of the local English speaking Tenerife Radio station, Oasis FM (now that is ironic) are currently running a “Have you seen Robinho” phone in competition this morning. For Manchester City fans, they hope someone spots him soon.

Manchester United’s Pride Park Night, The Busy Day in Newcastle and Other Various Musings

Johnathan Starling — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 05:11:32 +0000

Congrats to Derby County. On a day where Cricket was the headline in England throughout (thanks ECB), Derby County came up with another dozy…technically being 180 minutes away from European competition.

However that’s where the hyperbole stops for me. Sir Alex Ferguson obviously had a plan in mind for tonight’s game, damage control. While yes the 1-0 scoreline could be considered flattering for the number of chances Derby County had, Derby were unable to really punish Manchester United and the lighthearted nature they took this first leg. When the ninety was up, the scoreline should have read at least 2-0.

But let’s be honest about this game. Manchester United have a big tie Sunday against Chelsea at Old Trafford and they host the return leg to this tie in two weeks time. Sir Alex killed one bird when tonight’s game ended 1-0. He was able to rest key players and with the damage held to a minimal, should be able to turn over a Derby County side that will have the post manager change glow wearing off in a fort night. So let us all not over blow this result. While yes it’s a bit of a shock, let’s put this into perspective first. If Derby manage to hold on at Old Tafford for the Wembley final, then we can wonder about the what ifs of this night.

Busy day at St. James Park. First we find out Shola Ameobi signed a new 3 year deal. Let’s hope he gets healthy to play a large part of those 3 years. Secondly we find out that Obafemi Martins is off to see the hernia guy in Germany. See ya in six weeks. However if I was Martins, I’d tell his agent to shut up about blasting the club and the medical staff saying ‘The Newcastle medical staff is woeful’. Why state the obvious when at any time you can look at their injury list and go ‘is this West Ham from last season’? And finally we find out that Alan Smith looks to be sold from the club. For some odd reason that will probably come to me later, that surprises me.

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Mark Hughes believes in an open door policy. I guess his players just don’t want to take him up on that offer. If players are taking up their grievances in player only meetings and with chairmen, then in my mind the players have either revolted or no longer care about you as a person.

We have a new leader in the club house in the Richest Club Owner Invitational, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan of Manchester City. That’s what happens when you have more money than everyone else. Roman Abramovich falls to third.

Tell me if I’ve got this nightly Jermain Defoe update correct. 1) The story comes out that Defoe made his own deal. 2) Bitter ex agent who is suing Defoe over breech of contract makes claim that Defoe’s mother helped broker the deal. So would that make 3) Bitter ex agent is trying to get both Defoe and Tottenham in trouble? Now I just want this story to end!

So John Terry is disappointed to see Wayne Bridge go. I guess they must have become great friends on the Chelsea medical tables.

Major League Soccer bust Denilson is on trail with Bolton. Hey Gary, you can’t be that desperate for players.

Here’s our daily warning from Middlesbrough saying Stewart Downing isn’t for sale.