Owen Seals Manchester Derby

Quite ironic if you ask me...Man City spend over $100 million on new strikers yet Michael Owen, who was signed on a free transfer by United was the one to score the winning goal in the Manchester Derby! The game finished 4-3, with Owen scoring the winning goal in the 95th minute. This Derby will go down as one of the greatest Derby games of all time, and it will come as no surprise that this game was full of controversy! One of the talking points was the fact that Owen's goal came in the 95th minute, when the 4th official had signalled there would only be 4 minutes added! After the game City coach Mark Hughes was fuming! Alex Ferguson on the other hand, played off the win by saying it was not about beating Man City but rather finishing top at the end of the season!

Speaking of Michael Owen, I have been impressed with how Sir Alex Ferguson has been handling the ex-Liverpool man. One of Owen's big downfalls has been the fact that he seems to consistently pick up injuries. But right now, Owen looks like a man on fire, and finally injuries are on the back foot. Ferguson has not used Owen in all games this season. In fact, Owen has only started one Premier League game! With that, Owen has been influential when brought of the bench, and so was the outcome of Sundays Manchester Derby! England Coach Fabio Capello has continued to leave Owen out of his squads because of Owen's injuries, but if he continues to play how he is right now, I think Capello will have to call him into some squads. And that would suit Owen as we head towards a World Cup year!

Man City to Appeal Adebayor Charge!

Last week, Manchester City accepted the charge handed down by the English FA to Emmanuel Adebayor after his rash challenge on Arsenal's Robin Van Persie in their Premier League encounter. Adebayor and City did not hand in an appeal against the three match ban that the English FA handed out. All well and good as, from my point of view, Adebayor did rake his cleat along Van Persie's face. In light of the game, match official Mark Clattenberg admitted that if he had seen the incident he would have sent Adebayor off. Charge one accepted.
A second improper conduct charge is to be handed out to Adebayor in the coming weeks. Man City today stated that they will be appealing this charge as they believe they have a case against it. After scoring against his old club, Adebayor after he ran the whole length of the field to celebrate scoring in front of the Arsenal fans. The incident caused a huge riot in the stands, and could so easily have got even further out of hand. In fact, one of the stewards had to be rushed to hospital after getting stamped on. I'm not sure why Man City would even think about appealing this one! What Adebayor did was senseless. To score and celebrate in front of the opposing fans on the same end where the goal is scored is somewhat ok. But to sprint (and I mean sprint, no one could catch Adebayor) the length of the field, to the other goal, and slide on your knees in front of the fans to celebrate in kind of brainless! There was a lot of emotion at the game, and Adebayor did have to put up with a lot of slack from the Arsenal fans. On top of that, add the fact that some of his former teammates would not shake his hand before kick off and it raises the level even more. One thing to note on this is that I have played at the top level of soccer, and been at stadiums where fans booed me up and down the field. Yet I never even thought about celebrating like this. The right response is to score the goal and celebrate with your fans and teammates. I think it would have been more effective for Adebayor to celebrate with his new teammates in front of his new fans, and maybe even kiss the City crest to show his loyalty to his new club. Instead he choose to shun them and be an 'individual'!
Lets hope Adebayor enjoys his few weeks of rest, and comes back with a better attitude!

Adebayor Signs for Man City

It is official; Emmanuel Adebayor has made the move from Arsenal to Man City, as manager Mark Hughes continues his huge spending spree before the start of the new season. What a signing! Arsenal were happy to let the Togo striker leave after he made it known that he did not want to stay at the club. And with Russian striker Arshavin showing so much promise at the end of last season, I am sure Arsene Wenger will be happy to have a large transfer fund to use on a few extra players.

My question is this; How spoilt does Man City manager Mark Hughes want to be? And how is he going to select a forward line? With Craig Bellamy and Robinho already in the squad, Hughes has acquired Carlos Tevez, Roque Santa Cruz and now Adebayor....are you kidding me! No other team in the league has ever had a strike force like this. Hughes must be drooling at the prospect of having 5 absolutely world class strikers to choose from. But how is he going to manage having so many big name strikers? Robinho and Adebayor would be starting strikers in any Premier League team, while Santa Cruz and Tevez have shown why they are regarded as some of the best strikers in the Premier League. An, Bellamy to me is one of the hardest working strikers in England when he is fit! Oh my! Now that he has such a strong front line, and a pretty decent midfield, I think Hughes will focus his attention on a new center back. Lets be honest, that's all he needs to have a team to challenge the top 4. I imagine that this will be the week when City place a $25+ million offer for Lescott, or a huge offer for John Terry or Man Utd's Vidic. Once this is sealed, City will be a feared team in the Premier League!