Friday 24 August 2012

A sign of the change

The news that Adam Johnson has completed a reported £15 Million move to Sunderland is an indication of how things have changed at the Etihad.  Before Shiekh Mansour took over losing an England International who is 25 would have seemed a disaster to City fans like the departure of Shaun Wright Phillips (the first time) 


Reading on facebook and twitter this certainly isn't the case everyone wishes Adam well at his new club the very team he supported as a boy.  On arrival at City Johnson earned rave reviews turning in match winning performances on the wing both scoring and setting up goals on a regular basis with his tricks.

Those performances lead to him being a fairly regular pick for the England squad  gaining 11 caps for the 3 lions.  His form seemed to drop off at that point for City and increasingly Johnson found himself on the bench with Roberto Mancini preferring to throw him on if a game needed changing and he did on a few notable occasions but when he started he could vanish for long periods of the game and more often than not would be subbed. It seemed his best form was saved for international duty as if he was caught up in his own hype.

His spell at City can hardly be called a disaster though he earned his England spot and can call him self both a Premier League Champion and FA Cup winner.  If he had upped his work rate there is little doubt he would still be a regular in the starting 11 at City he definitely has the talent.  It could be the loss of form was down to home sickness as rumours of more clubs than just Sunderland being interested but returning home to the North East might just give him the motivation to reignite his club career.  Good Luck AJ!

Wednesday 15 August 2012

Tevez reborn and "Honest Kia" appears AWOL

It would seem the fit goal hungry Carlos that has returned to City this summer and is playing without a care in the world and that could be very bad news for the rest of the Premier League.

It has been reported Tevez returned to City the lightest he has been since his days at Corinthians which is surely an indication he intends to play and judging by his performances pre season he is back to his deadly best linking up well with fellow Argentinian  Sergio Aguero.  Tevez was sensational in the Community Shield causing the Chelsea defence all sorts of problems and scoring a great goal. 
Through out all this one thing has been missing and that has been rent a quote player advisor Kia Joorabchian. I've not minced my words with my opinions on "Honest" Kia in previous posts but his absense from the media regarding Tevez appears to be a good thing.  The very fact he calls himself an "advisor" to dodge FIFA agents rules says a lot,  It would also seem to back up that Tevez being unsettled for the last year or so was down to Joorabchian trying to get him back to Brazil or somewhere that allowed him to own a share of his registration again as was the case until Tevez joined City in the summer of 2009.

It was widely reported Joorabchian was also the advisor to former City manager Mark Hughes and helping him at QPR whilst feeling sorry for QPR this has to be a good thing for City as it means Joorabchian is busy down in London allowing Tevez hassle free to return to the sort of form that had him win the golden boot in 2010-11 and that could indeed be better than any new signing as the squad know Tevez there is no need for a bedding in period.

Time will tell if Tevez will stay long term at The Etihad but whilst he is in a good strong place mentally looking his best for 6 years it also means the other strikers at the club have to step up and equal the form of Tevez and last seasons top scorer Aguero, whom on the basis of their pre season play deserve to be starters for Roberto Mancini as the defence begins of the Premier League. Long may Kia be AWOL it can only benefit Manchester City.