Saturday 13 November 2010

Ask The Opposition: Birmingham City

The fan


Name: Tom Coley

Age: 23


The game


Scoreline Prediction:
Man City 3 - 0 Birmingham. We have an awful record at maine road and eastlands. Ive never known us win at either ground

One to watch:

Its tough to say really. Obviously the big name player for us is Alex Hleb but at the minute he has found it tough to settle down. So im going to go with Barry Ferguson, who has been outstanding since signing from Rangers last summer. This season has been a little tougher for him as teams are more weary of what he can do and have been marking him alot tighter than before. He is integral to our attacking play whilst still be disruptive in the middle of the park. He plays well, we play well.

Last year played a large part in Joe Hart's development, playing his first full season in the top flight whilst on loan at St Andrew's, picking up the PL goalkeeper of the year award and a nomination for PFA young player of the season along the way. You went to Manchester United in search of his replacement, how is Ben Foster settling in?

Joe hart was always going to be hard to replace and when I heard we wouldn't be able to get him permently I was a bit stuck to see where we would go. Foster was an excellent choice in my opinion. he started off excellently especially with his penalty save against Blackburn. He has sort of tailed off since but is still performing very well between the sticks and is rightly Englands number 2 behind Hart. Alot of promise and i think as the season goes on he will get better and better.


You currently sit one place above the drop zone, but just five points behind fifth placed Newcastle. Are you concerned you're experiencing 'second season syndrome' or is it just early days with a very tight table?

Its definately a bit of both. For the past 6 games we have been pretty terrible apart from against Blackpool. We seem to only start playing after the 60th or when we have gone 2 goals down. 3 times this season we have been 2-0 down only to get 2 goals back and get back into the game. The early signs this season are that we are in a real struggle but i firmly believe that it is as tight as ever this season, anyone from 5th or 6th downwards could beat anyone else. Come christmas it will be alot easier to see whats going on, but we need to play better than we have been.


General Birmingham City


What has been your favourite memory/moment from supporting Birmingham City?

Without a doubt the playoff final in 2002. We had tried and failed in the 3 seasons previous in the playoffs but we were in such good form at the end of that season that it was hard to see us losing. Its the only time ive cried at football but ill never be ashamed to admit it.

And the worst -

There has been a couple, losing 4-0 at home to Barnsley in the '99 playoffs is possibly the worst game ive ever witnessed, Losing 5-1 to villa a few seasons ago was also pretty awful. Those are the ones that will always stick out


If you could sign a player from the Manchester City squad (wages etc. irrelevant) , who would you choose ?

Me personally, i'd take David Silva in a heartbeat. He has everything i love in a player. He can beat men easily, he can finish and he can pick a pass. The fact he couldnt get in the Spain team at the world cup shows how strong they are, but for me he should have been in that side.


If you could place a past Birmingham City player into the current team, who would it be?

Not the best player by a long way at all but for the sheer work rate and commitment it would have to be Geoff Horsefield. Scored so many important goals for us without ever being prolific. One of the geniune nice guys in football aswell. I should probably have picked Mauro Zarate or someone else with more of a history but for me Horsefield optimised everything that our club is.

Tuesday 9 November 2010

Ask the opposition: Manchester United

Bumper derby edition.


The fans



Name: Greg

Age: 21


Name: Gareth Price

Age: 23


Name: Fred Thomas

Age: 23


The game


Scoreline Prediction:

Greg - A lot depends on our injuries due to the virus going round but I'm expecting either a tense 2-2 or for us to just pip it with a little green pea.

Gareth - 1-2

Fred - 2-1 United



One to watch:

Greg - For you guys, David Silva. For us? Paul Scholes.

Gareth - Tevez, Hernandez

Fred - Javier Hernandez


Despite signing a new contract, rumours have still circulated over the future of Wayne Rooney, even the potential of a 'gentlemen's agreement', as seemed to be the case with Cristiano Ronaldo, enabling the club to receive a much larger fee and the player to leave without the aggravation of unsettled fans. Do you believe he will still leave or has he genuinely been convinced to stay and can he win back the faith of the fans?

Greg - I think Rooney is a disgrace and gives our club a bad name. For me, winning in the right style comes before victory at any cost and that isn't just limited to how we play on the pitch. Looking at how the majority of our squad behave outside of their football (Giggs, Scholes, Park, Fletcher etc.) Rooney has completely let the side down. Just before the world cup I was praising him for growing up and maturing as a player infield but he seems to have gone backwards, cheating on his pregnant wife and behaving like an all round idiot at every opportunity.

Unfortunately, on his day, he is our best player although I don't think he's reached the heights his potential suggested at in his earlier years. In the last two or three seasons he seems to have lost some of his ability to do the unexpected and turned from being a raw, fantasy player into a far more efficient and effective, if predictable force of nature. His lack of personal discipline in the off season seems to be catching up with him too on the injury and fitness front causing his slow start the season to grow ever longer. He is still one hell of a player but personally, I'd rather we sold him off for a huge sum as soon as possible and invested it back into our youth system. No one is bigger than the club. Having said all that, I think he'll stay but things will never be the same again for some fans, me included.

Gareth - A gentleman's agreement wouldn't make much sense over a five year contract deal, to me it seems that his agent (Stretford) has worked much of this in order to cash in on what would be Rooney's last major contract at any club, a way of him to make the most of his clients income. Whatever the case this has been dealt with poorly and Rooney has alot to make up for, both to his teammates and fans, thus putting pressure upon himself when he returns. If a gentleman's agreement is the case I can only see him moving to Manchester City, due to his North West loyalty to his family, and that Chelsea would probs not need him and I can't see him fitting in at a Madrid or Barcelona. I highly doubt a move is on the cards, if the new transfer policy does take place it may put an end to the high prices of world class players which will no doubt put an end to 70 million plus transfers.

Fred - I think he will leave in January. Us united fans can be quite hard to win back over. I hope he stays but my heart says he will leave



In a recent derby between Schalke and Borrussia Dortmund, terrace ticket prices were raised above €22 for the first time, leading to a boycott of the game by 300 Borrussia Dortmund fan groups, 1500 tickets being returned.
“Even the League took notice, we got worldwide attention and the fans proved they can fight for something. Now it is time for fans of other clubs to continue the protest. This is not a Dortmund protest, but it is of concern to other fan groups as well”.
Rather than boycotting games, yellow and green scarves have become the Manchester United Supporter's Trust weapon of choice in the protests against the Glazer ownership of Manchester United. Firstly do you support the campaign and secondly, would it not be a more effective means of demonstration to have an empty Old Trafford screened across the world?


Greg - I completely agree. Hitting the Glazer's in their pockets is the only way they're going to notice. At the moment the dissenting fans are just irritants to be hijacked for PR spin reasons or for boasting about the OT atmosphere. The issue is though, as much as that is the cold, hard route to results with direct action, many don't want to harm the club they support even to face off arguably the greater threat of the Glazer ownership. So much for the Red Knights.

It was good to see FC United get into the next stage of the FA cup though. Protest club or not, I respect what they stand for and it'd be great to see them rise up through the divisions. Hopefully they won't have to compromise on their principles if success comes calling.

Gareth - To be honest I can't say that I'm fully into the gold and green campaign, alot of it seems fairly half arsed and more like a new fashion statement for many. Personally I don't like the fact that we have a huge debt, but a product the size of united will always keep afloat via its turnover. The Glazer's themselves are business men, hence their selfishness, however they don't interfere in the football side of things like other owners i.e. Abramovich, and probs the new Liverpool owners, so the football side of things is ran the correct way. David Gill is a very capable executive also and I firmly believe there's alot behind the scenes that we don't know about both positive and negative.It wouldn't be fair on the team to stop going to matches, it’s not a campaign against the players or the manager simply the heavy debt the club is now in through the Glazers.

Fred - I think something needs to be done about the Glazers, and our roots are never far from apparent. We are a very proud club and thats is what the scarves are about. A demonstration in the way of a walkout would definatley get the publicity but at the end of the day the club and it's fans are football fans thats why they turn up every week at OT.


General United


What has been your favourite memory/moment from supporting Manchester United?

Greg - I've been lucky to enjoy quite a few being a child of the Fergie years. Either my first ever match at OT when we tanked Ipswich 9-0 in March 1995 or Ole's goal at the Nou Camp. Amazing!


Gareth - Obvious ones include the treble season, and the league/champions league double. For me seeing Eric Cantona & Cristiano Ronaldo perform at the club have been two of my favourites, both in their own way one of a kind very special players.

Fred - Without Doubt The Treble 1999 specifically Solskjaer's goal

And the worst -

Greg - Not so much a memory or moment but the knee-jerk calls for Fergie to retire from some sections of our "fans" every time things don't go our way are probably the most embarrassing aspects of being a Manchester United supporter.

Gareth - Seeing us disappointingly miss out on the league title for several seasons running as we rebuilt, seems a little irrelevant compared to what other clubs have been through (i.e City) but this has been the only low point in my generation of supporting united.

Fred - The Rooney saga


If you could sign a player from the Manchester City squad, who would you choose ?

Greg - Joe Hart. Don't want another post-Schmeichal blight in goal!

Gareth - Tevez, hands down, second would be Silva possibly Joe Hart he's a great prospect, all the rest seem pathetically failing to live up to the smallest of price tags let alone the one's they actually got given. (Lescott, Toure(s), Barry, Adebayor etc)

Fred - Joe Hart


If you could place a past Manchester United player into the current team, who would it be?

Greg - Bryan Robson - the all action, box to box match winner we're missing in our midfield right now

Gareth - Cristiano Ronaldo

Fred - Eric Cantona

Saturday 6 November 2010

Ask The Opposition: West Brom

The fans


Name: Adam Penn

Age: 39 and three quarters.


Name: Alex Adkins

Age: 20


The game


Scoreline Prediction:


Adam - Albion 1 City 2

Alex - 2-1 to Albion, will be tough though, but with all the rumours going around about Mancini and players fighting behind the scenes with your lot, can see it affecting you guys a bit!

One to watch:


Adam - No stars with our lot. However, if pushed I'd say Chris Brunt.

Alex - If he's back from injury it has to be Peter Odemwingie, been immense when hes played this season and tore Arsenal to shreds! If he's still injured though look out for Mulumbu, mans a beast and never stops running in the midfield, one of our best players this season!


General West Brom

Can we expect to see 'the Moston menace' Ishamael Miller featuring much this season?


Adam - No, not much. He's been injured for two years and hasn't made much progress since his loan spell with us.

Alex - More then likely not tbh, only just come back from injury and has Odemwingie, Fortune, Cox and Bednar in front of him and should be sent on loan to a Championship side soon!


Has your season progressed as you had expected so far? The three promoted clubs seem have surprised a lot of neutrals, all sitting in the top half of the table with ten games played. -

Adam - I expected us to be OK this season, but I don't think anyone expected a win at Arsenal and a point at Old Trafford. The football we are playing is arguably the best in a generation.

Alex - None of the fans could have expected this season to go like it has so far tbh, its been beyond our wildest dreams but to lose the way we did to Blackpool was such a bitter blow and mainly down to the ref as to outplay them with 9 men was crazy! But we'll bounce back i think and if you had offererd us 15 points from 10 games we'd have bit your hand off, theres just so much quality in depth in this team, we never give up and they fight like mad for each other, RDM really has put together a quality team here.



What has been your favourite memory/moment from supporting West Brom? -

Adam - Too many to mention; a 3-1 against Villa when 1-0 down with 6 minutes left - the 2002 run-in where we upset Wolves and got 2nd place (ha ha) and winning the Championship in 2008.

Alex - A fair few tbh, The Great Escape, coming from 3-2 down in the 89th minute to beat Colchester 4-3 and near enough guarntee promotion, beating Wolves 3-0 at Molineux in the FA Cup but being there at the Emirates when we beat Arsenal 3-2 will really take some beating now!


And the worst -

Adam - 1991. Relegated to the Third under Bobby Gould

Alex -
Losing the FA Cup Semi Final to Pompey in 2009 to a bloody handball goal....


If you could sign a player from the City squad (wages etc irrelevant), who would you choose -

Adam - Joe Hart

Alex -
Toss up between Adam Johnson and Tevez as love both of them, just quality players.


If you could place a past West Brom player into the current team, who would it be -

Adam - Laurie Cunningham.

Alex - From when ive been watching them i always loved Gera when he was here, so id love to have him back and find a place for him!

Wednesday 3 November 2010

Matchday: Lech Poznań

Jose Maria Bakero has been appointed the new Lech Poznan head coach just one day before our top of group A clash. There appears to have been major upheaval in the Lech camp since our previous encounter, back to back 4-1 wins against Cracovia in the cup and Wisla Krakow in the league before the firing of Jacek Zielinski.

Of course this brings about the possibility of 'new manager syndrome' to a tough game played in front of a sell out 45,000 crowd. The locals will make this an atmosphere to remember, many fans queuing well in advance to purchase tickets






Last Saturday was possibly the worst performance from the Mancini reign, but it's likely that a lot of the players from that team will have to wait a few more days to make amends, with Roberto Mancini confirming that there will be squad rotation. "We will probably change some players for tomorrow because with a game every three days it's impossible to play the same players. So we need to make changes but we have good players and they can put in some good work on Thursday."

One player that didn't feature at Wolves, Aleksandar Kolarov looks set for his return to action since his injury during the opening match of the season. Albeit it is likely to be a cameo from the bench.

Shay Given could also start only his second game of the season according to Mancini's answer from last week's fans' forum. Although the loss to Wolves plus Shay suffering a knock in training on Monday could see Hart retaining his place.

Carlos Tevez remains in Argentina until Friday so Adebayor is likely to keep his starting place. Roque Santa Cruz is not registered for the EL squad, leaving Mario Balotelli and Jo as the remaining strikers fighting for a position. Given Balotelli's recent return from a long term injury plus the 90 minutes he played on Saturday, I believe he is unlikely to start, with a tough trip to the Hawthornes followed by the Manchester derby in the next seven days.


I'd like to thank Michał Zachodny from http://polishscout.blogspot.com/ and Kuba Krzyzostaniak from http://lechinusa.blogspot.com/ for their help this week.


Ask The Opposition: Lech Poznań

The fan

Name: Kuba Krzyzostaniak

Age: 23


The game

Starting with the big news - the club has today parted ways with manager Jacek Zielinski, were you surprised by the decision?

Not too surprised. There had been a lot of speculation last week that there was already a deal made with Bakero to take over, and after our horrid league position so far, something was bound to happen. The only thing that surprised me was that they waited to just 2 days before the huge match against City.

Jose Maria Bakero has been appointed his replacement; most will remember him for his playing career at Barcelona, but more recently he was head coach of Polonia Warsaw. Are you happy with the appointment and what can we expect from his team tomorrow?

I'm glad we will have a foreigner take over. Bakero doesn't have too much of a head coaching history for me to base how I think he will do with us, but he has worked with some great coaches and I thought he overall did well in his time at Polonia Warsaw. The owner there was constantly meddling in tactics, etc. and Bakero was sacked even though he had Polonia at the top of the table at the beginning of the season. Honestly, I have no idea what he expects to do with the team, it could be hard to expect them to learn a whole new system in maximum two training sessions, so I'm expecting we'll play similar to what you saw in Manchester. Probably Rudnevs up front though instead of Tshibamba. If he gets us playing like Barca though you had better watch out.

Scoreline Prediction:

I'm an optimist and I think our crowd will play a big role: Lech 2:1 Man. City

From an outside perspective, Artjoms Rudņevs looks to be the danger man; which players should we keep an eye on?:


Manuel Arboleda, our big Colombian defender always comes forward on set pieces and is also a scoring threat. Slawomir Peszko, our speedy right winger has been in good form the past few weeks and look for him to continue his pacy runs down the flank. In central midfield we're getting back Tomasz Bandrowski from injury, solid defensive midfielder who is very composed with the ball.


General Lech Poznań

What has been your favourite memory/moment from supporting Lech Poznań?

Finally winning the Polish league again after 17 years!

And the worst -

Getting relegated to the second division in 2000 and almost going down to the third the season after that.

If you could sign a player from the Manchester City squad, who would you choose ?

Wow, this one is kind of tough, but I'd probably take David Silva, have him direct our offense.

If you could place a past Lech Poznań player into the current team, who would it be?

Miroslaw Okonski, great player and Lech icon, my dad says he is one of the most technically talented players he ever saw play.


Finally, good luck for tomorrow and the rest of the season.
Good luck to you guys as well, I'm really looking forward to this game.

Friday 29 October 2010

Matchday: Wolves

  • Great news on the defensive front is Kolo Toure returning to fitness. There is no doubting we have missed his partnership with Vincent Kompany - which only shipped 4 goals in 10 games, compared to the 7 goals in the last 3 games without him.

  • The full back choices are again less obvious. Micah Richards was excellent against Arsenal and may well retain his place, possibly with Jerome Boateng filling in at left back. Kolarov is expected to take some part of Thursday's game so we are not far off our first choice defence.

  • Carlos Tevez will miss the game with a dead leg. He has flown to Argentina to spend the weekend with his family before returning to training on Monday. A major doubt for Thursday's game against Lech Poznan, although he probably would be rested anyway.

  • In his absence, it's likely that Emmanuel Adebayor will continue to deputise. Mario Balotelli is pushing for his first start, but I have my doubts whether he would be chosen as the lone striker. Mario is much more of a supporting ST, if he does start tomorrow I suspect it will be up front alongside Adebayor, with David Silva playing behind them at the tip of a diamond midfield. I'm planning on writing a full post on the diamond formation and Mancini's preference towards it later this weekend.

Ask The Opposition: Wolves

The fans

Name: Gerald Early
Age: 67

Name: Sam
Age: 19


The game

Scoreline Prediction:

Gerald - Feeling strangely optimistic, Wolves 1 - 0 Man City

Sam - 1-2. Although I wouldn't be too surprised to see us snatch a draw!

One to watch:

Gerald - Matt Jarvis, surely an England internation in the near future

Sam - Matt Jarvis. Very close to an England call-up for the last batch of internationals. I fear for our chances of holding onto him next summer, whether we are still playing in the Premier League or not.

Do you feel your current league position belies the way the team has been playing as of late:


Gerald - Not really, although we expected another tough season we're playing some decent football. Our main issue is that we're not clinical enough in front of goal, but we're creating the chances.

Sam - Definitely not - it's the same old story for us, we play some pretty good stuff at times and create chances easily, yet we can never stick them away.


General Wolves

What has been your favourite memory/moment from supporting Wolves:

Gerald - Steve Bull's loyalty, which is something that has gone missing in today's game. Of course, when he got his first cap, it was a proud day for the club. I would've said when one of our promotions, but sadly we haven't really pushed on from them as of yet.


Sam - Probably the Play-off final win against Sheffield United back in 2003. Closely followed by the 4-3 comeback victory against Leicester, and the 1-0 win over Man Utd, both in the following season.

And the worst:

Gerald - Relegation to the old 4th Division in 1986 is the one that stands out the most.

Sam - The entire reign under Hoddle. I don't think I've ever seen such an inept idiot in charge of a football team in my life, words can literally not express how awful he is. He had a team strong enough to battle for promotion from the Championship, and almost took us into League 1, almost ruining the club in the process. Thank god Super Mick came along and got us into the play-offs with a team of nobodies the next season!

If you could sign a player from the City squad (wages etc irrelevant), who would you choose:

Gerald - Carlos Tevez, he's workrate is second to none and he's a proven goalscorer.

Sam - David Silva. I love that little genius, and I'm glad he's found his feet quickly in English football, because for some reason not many people seemed to realise just how good he was.

If you could place a past Wolves player into the current team, who would it be:

Gerald - Quite obviously Steve Bull. He's the big man up front we're missing right now

Sam - Being only 19, I can really only pick a player from our days of being in what is now the Championship! So I'm going to have to go with Steve Bull. The way we create chances, all we need is someone to start sticking them in the back of the net, and who better than Bully to do that job? Wolves legend.