Tribute to a true Legend: Argentine Bruiser Zabman Pablo Zabaleta, Blood and Sweat

Tomorrow on 16/05/2017 and after 9 loyal years we see the end of an era for one player who captured our hearts for so many reasons, it's a bitter sweet moment in Manchester City's history. A player who gave his all, blood, sweat and the determination of 11 men in 1, he will forever be remembered as the Argentine Bruiser Zabman.

Step forward Legend Pablo Zabaleta, "maybe I come back in a different role".

Always remembered, never forgotten LEGEND. Pablo Zabaleta.

Bluewatch Forum in Association with This is our City, Come join us and have your say

This is our City are excited to bring our fellow Manchester City fans more content then ever, we've been working hard on the new look blog to make it more user friendly and now we are delighted to announce. We have joined with the BlueWatch Forum because we think it's one of the best forums on the web for Manchester City fans to share their thoughts, a very welcoming place where you're encouraged to have your say. We've just updated the Forum and have given you the option of Themes in your profile, come join us and have your say.

We are also delighted to tell you that we will be going into association with others, so look out in the near future for special offers, competitions and more exciting content.

Too navigate to BlueWatch use the link above on the Navigation Bar, we look forward to welcoming you all.

#City Badge Mosaic, be part of it and upload your Photo, Cityzens Weekend is coming

Sunday the 3rd of July will be the official launch date of our returning too the new Circular badge, Manchester City are giving you the chance to be part of it. With a chance to share your best City fan Photo's to be in a City fan Mosaic.

On Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd July Manchester City FC open up the doors of their City Football Academy for a once in a lifetime chance to see behind the scenes.

On Saturday there will be a football extravaganza with skills activities for fans of all ages and tournaments taking part on the pitches. On Sunday there will be the launch of our new badge and 2016/17 home kit, as well as the official presentation to the fans of our first team manager Pep Guardiola.

Entry will be free but there will be priority access is for Cityzens members, with each member entitled to claim up to 2 tickets per day.

To upload your Photo and for more information click #City BadgeMosaic

Segregation, one reason why England will never win a World Cup or European Championship any time soon

It's depressing watching your fellow countrymen and women round on certain England Internationals at every possible chance they get, we all know it's nothing to do with one bad performance or one mistake. We all know it's about opposing fans wanting their players playing for England, rather than players of clubs they hate. This English football fan mentality is what's wrong with English International football, when you're supporting your country you're supposed to put your differences aside and support whoever it is that represents the Country. But no some, I say some but not all are so bitter and hateful, that they're incapable of understanding that their actions have consequences.

I recently published an article on how Sterling has been treated by England fans since leaving Liverpool and signing for Manchester City. I strongly believe there's a considerable amount of England fans hell bent on causing Raheem Sterling enough grief to negatively affect his game and mental well being. Sterling's still a young lad is vulnerable and these England fans just don't care, so who's going to stand up for the lad aye?

As of yet no ones defended the lad accept a few of us City fans, the British Media have strung him up and lash him at every chance they get. I can only imagine how that feels for the lad, especially after he was lynched by Liverpool fans. I'm a father and I have to say, if anyone threatened my Son like Liverpool fans did his Daughter, I'd be more than upset. For those fans to continue attacking Sterling is just wrong, what's to say the treatment he's getting isn't part of the reason for his performances for England or lack of.

It's all well and good having an opinion but, when it comes to constantly targeting someone. It's no longer an opinion but an obsession and an unhealthy one at that, especially when it's constantly negative and without good reason. I'm not trying to change the world, I'm well aware the world will never be without, hate, racism or prejudice. If I can just make one person see the error of their ways then great.

Every England fan should be behind England no matter who is representing the country, the fact these lost souls chose to attack Raheem Sterling and Joe Hart rather than enjoy the fact England drew one and won one. This proves that there are still deep issues within the English fan base despite wiping out Racism within English Football, segregation is still very much alive and kicking.

England can not succeed without every ones support, when you single out people it only causes problems. Not just for the player being targeted but also for the players around him. Those who witness and wonder whether or not they will the be next to be put on the chopping block or hung from the rafters. Players will claim they don't let it bother or affect them but, that isn't the case as they are human just like us, have feelings and we can only take so much before we say enough is enough

I'm not a huge fan of Roy Hodgson but he has my respect for sticking with Sterling.

HAVE YOUR SAY, New Badge? Final Consultation? Final Design Forced On You?

That's right, I feel Manchester City FC have sold out our history, we were formed in 1880 and not 1894. Yes I am fully aware St Marks aka Ardwick AFC became Manchester City in 1894, 8 years before Newton Heath became Manchester United. Not having 1880 on our badge is an almighty insult and slap in the face to St Marks of West Gorton, it is a disgrace that we do not celebrate their hard work and our history.

I believe it would have been better served if Manchester City FC, FOOTBALL CLUB, but we will deal with this in a moment, if Manchester City FC gave us fans a final consultation or a few badges to vote on instead of forcing an average and poorly designed Club Badge on us.

The Badge just looks like a cheap knock off of New York City's badge, but even NYCFC who are an American SOCCER club have Football Club in front of their Title? Sorry but the designers Manchester City FC employ need sacking, I'm an ex Art student and Artist myself so have plenty of experience to pass judgement not to mention having supported Manchester City since 1970's/1980's. as far as I'm concerned Manchester and City should never have been separated and Football Club should have still been present, it seems pretty clear to me that the minds behind this have a simple way of thinking. Design error No.1 you DON'T curve Manchester and then leave City un-curved, what were you thinking? that it makes some kind of statement or that it makes it stand out more?

I submitted a badge myself and even had a few other ideas like a small outer ring with Superbia in Proelio repeated all the way around within if not the ribbon below it as shown below. Yes I'm aware the three rivers are not present and I meant to add them but it's not something that can't be added so.

The only thing I like about the new badge is the outer ring which could be made a little larger to house Superbia in Proelio and the 3D design to it. Other than that it's an almighty failure as far as I'm concerned, so much so that I find myself compelled to abandon any future purchases of this new badge at the City Store and stick with my old shirts. Too buy anything with this new badge would mean I am ultimately conceding in buying something I do not like. You can say I'm spitting my dummy out and in all honesty I am I guess, but that's my choice but I'm intrigued to know how many other Manchester City fans feel the same.

So thumbs down on this one for me.

Feel free to have your say?

UK COMPETITION: Football Manager 2015 Up For Grabs, Got To Be In It To Win It

[Apologies but this competition is only open to UK Residents]

Brand new PC Windows/Linux Football Manager 2015 game up for grabs, all you have to do is visit the link in this article and send your Name, Email address, UK County of residence and Answer to the question below, too me using the message box to the right here.

Question: Who are the only two players in history to score in two World Cup final matches and go on to win the World Cup twice or more.

Only correct answers will be submitted and I will pick a name at random on the 1st May 2015, all entries after 12am on 30th April 2015 will unfortunately not be included.

New Improved Football Manager 2015 has added more than 2000 new motion captured animations, new lighting, improved player models and ball physics to the 3D engine. Improved Artificial intelligence with individual player shouts, touch line team talks along side other additions make this game the closest simulation to a football match available.

Check out Cash Generator for bargains on Wii Consoles etc

The new user interface makes management easier and more intuitive, A new Scouting Centre integrates all areas of player recruitment, adding the ability to set scouting assignments to find specific levels of player.

Added more realistic player personality gifting player power, Players are more vocal in the press and are quicker to issue ultimatums if they're unhappy. A deeper media experience with tabloid and broadsheet reporters developing more varied stories, also brand new tunnel interviews before and after matches.

Good Luck.

3 Points Against West Ham United Isn't Enough, Going To Take A Lot More Than One Game

That's right as far as I'm concerned if they want to keep their jobs then second place is what's required and nothing less.

A few end of season games where you play out of your skin after heavy criticism is far beyond good enough. It shouldn't have to take anger from us fans suffering, for you to play out your skin week in week out, if it was us fans out there on the pitch we would play our hearts out and as far as I understand very few of our players do play with their hearts for our club half the time if not at all.

Even if we do achieve 2nd place I still believe these players should definitely be moved on: Mangala, Fernando, Sagna, Dzeko, Jovetic, Guidetti, Negredo, Sinclair, Richards, Boyata.

I'd like to see Yaya Toure moved on because I'm tired of his lazy arse performances, but the chances he will actually move on are slim realistically unless some big club come in for him.

I'd also like to see Manuel Pellegrini leave because in my opinion he's let me down and our club down, I'm sick of his inability and unwillingness to adapt his philosophy and style. His inability to give even just one of our youth a good chance in the first team, Lopes or Denayer?

He came from Malaga and had a track record for promoting and believing in youth, when Pellegrini arrived I was excited about seeing our academy produce some first team players. Starved since Boyata it was time we gave them a chance, but no Pellegrini has refused to do so and I believe I understand why. It's not because our youth aren't ready and it's not because we haven't got any youth ready, it's because Pellegrini feels his job is on the line and doesn't have the balls or confidence in our youth players to step up and trust in our kids.

Jason Wilcox recently and rightly pointed out our youth aren't quite ready yet, but he was talking about our academy up to Under 18's level. He wasn't talking about our Under 21 EDS side or our youth out on loan.

I've honestly lost all faith in Manuel Pellegrini, though I fear we will end up with him until the end of his contract as nothing is coming out of City to believe otherwise.

Dynamic Duo: Carlo Ancelotti And Patrick Vieira For Manchester City, Agree Or Not?

Carlo Ancelotti, one of the most decorated European coaches, it really is a no brain decision. Rather than plaster his CV here, if you are unaware of his success then just take a gander at Carlo's Wiki page

Patrick Vieira has worked wonders with our Elite Development Reserve Squad, while undertaking his Uefa Pro Coaching licence which he is due to complete this summer. Why not offer the footballing Legend the chance to Assist Carlos Ancelotti with a view to taking over from him in the future as City Coach, who better to learn under right now than the man that's pretty much won it all in terms of European football?

With all the talk around black coaches not getting a chance, City have the ideal opportunity now to give Patrick Vieira a chance to take the next step in his development as an Elite football coach and he would be insane not to take up the offer under a great like this man.

Right now this is my dream for the coming 2015/16 season, Sheikh Mansour sign them up and take us to another level.

What do you think, can you think of anyone better than these two chaps?

TIOC Heads For The Chop, Time For City And Sheikh Mansour To Wield The Axe

Manuel Pellerini OUT
Yaya Toure OUT
Fernando OUT
Jesus Navas OUT
Bacary Sagna OUT
Aleksandar Kolarov OUT
Edin Dzeko OUT
Stevan Jovetic OUT
Eliaquim Mangala OUT

All dead weight.

Toni Duggan OUT, just for being caught out having photo's taken with LVG on Derby day and then posting it on her Twitter account, stupid little girl.

Couldn't care less about losing the Derby, I stated the same in my last article. In fact I text my aunt yesterday this exact text message 'not bothered with Derby, Clattenburg bound to screw us over'. I also had a pretty good feeling our lads were going to ultimately implode as well so saw fit to miss the game and spend the time with my son. I did however check Skysports score centre after the final whistle and watch a rerun to find out who the biggest culprits were, no shock horror that I found Yaya Toure not turning up. As far as I'm concerned he's just another Balotelli, given us good and bad in equal measure so time to get rid and avoid these type of players in the future.

Manuel Pellegrini? I've said enough and had enough.

Final thought: I hope for our clubs sake that we still finish second or at the least third, but our players should now be told that they are playing for their futures. United are now irrelevant in my life, in fact they don't even exist anymore. I can finally say we no longer have unwanted neighbours, they aren't even in Manchester for crying out loud and haven't been for over 100 years. All they are is some poxy mass entity of ego rotting in Trafford, Manchester City are on the up, unlike Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney and Co, we're not interested in an over priced 60 year old rag wearing prostitute who's proud of her 20 rings, living in a pet vermin infested cardboard box held up by scaffold. We have bigger fish to fry and United are just an after thought, for me the Derby has lost it's wealth. I'd prefer to win the League Title or FA Cup than beat them.

We have an academy that's the envy of Europe, A stadium to be proud of and an owner who doesn't suck our club dry like the £650 million the Glazers took from the rags, We have ZERO DEBT and our club actually does care for the community, unlike some upstarts in Trafford who just pop into a school or hospital for a few minutes as a publicity stunt. What have you done lately, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE LATELY.

As much as I can't tolerate the guy, Rat Face Gary Neville's right. City do need to get rid of the dead weight, but we don't need to go buying loads of players. We have plenty of talent like Marcos Lopes, Jason Denayer and Brandon Barker to name but a few.

Lets hope we're not screwed over next season with the same players and manager, all we can hope for. Even if our players do salvage the season and finish 3rd at the least, I still think the above should leave. Right now I feel bad for players like David Silva, Sergio Aguero, Joe Hart and James Milner, they have been let down by their colleagues.

What happens now in preperation for next season is more important.

Just When You Thought it Couldn't Get Any Worse, Typical City

I honestly thought it couldn't get any worse up until the Palace game, I was stupid enough to think our stars would actually want it bad and up their game but noooooooooooooooo. To be honest a few of our lads are innocent and I'll name them all:

David Silva, rarely ever lets us down
Joe Hart, been let down by our shambles of a defence
Sergio Aguero, he's suffered from niggling injury, but the service he's been getting has been a joke.
James Milner, clearly has more heart and hunger than the majority of our players.
Frank Lampard, had his loan extended only to rot on our bench wtf?

All these lads and those who have not played for City much this season are absolved of any blame, the rest can hang their heads in damned shame and should pay back some of the millions they've earned to our season card holders and travelling away fan base for all the mediocre performances and humiliation.

Lets not ignore and forget these are multi millionaire footballers meant to be at the top of their game and are being made to look average by teams on far less wages and with far less resources. This isn't about winning crap and bragging rights, this isn't about thinking we have a god given right to glory and status. I couldn't give a shit about all that for that's the ignorant and arrogant way of United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs, Everton and Liverpool fans, as a matter of fact I'd rather be back in the 1980's, 1990s right now when our players played out of their skins for the shirt, for the club.

Right now we are not getting that, instead we are getting humiliated for being ignorant and arrogant on the pitch, thinking we can just walk teams off the park with a simple possession game, it's quite frankly embarrassing that we have no plan b or c? As I've said before I can take losing on the chin easily enough so long as the best team wins, but when our fans pay big money to watch our team of multi millionaires perform and get robbed in broad daylight with a pathetic performance time and time again. Sorry but that's just not on in my book.

We've just been humiliated by Palace and pulled into a dog fight for a top four position, if that wasn't bad enough after two title wins and two group of death seasons in the Champions League. Uefa have decided to overhaul the seeding system so in laymans terms, Domestic Champions no longer end up within a group of Domestic Champions. If and I stress IF we end up qualifying, then we can expect another group of death now. We're now in a dog fight with the likes of Trafford United and Arsenal, right now my mind is pretty much made up and not even a Manchester derby win will change it.

It was yet again blatantly obvious our game plan was as it's always been under Pellegrini, the passing and possession game with no plan b or c. Am I the only one that's bored to death of watching us trying to walk the ball into the back of the net? Am I the only one who believes we are missing traditional wingers who can swing a beauty in from a flank?

Everyone of my readers should be aware by now that my support for Pellegrini has gone from 100% to 1% this season, so I don't need to go through it all again. Right now I'm anchoring for Ancelotti if no one better is available and Gareth Bale IN. Dzeko, Jovetic, Demichelis, Navas OUT with Barker, Iheanacho, Denayer and Lopes PROMOTED to our first team.

We don't even have to buy any players in because we already have the youth to step up, but Pellegrini is talking about them not being ready? momentous show of faith and support on his part, everyone's been banging on about how great Pellegrini is for giving youth a chance. Well I'm yet to witness it and before anyone says otherwise, giving a youngster a couple substitutions or a place on the bench doesn't cut it for me.

I'll continue as always to support Manchester City until the end but as far as I'm concerned Mr Pellegrini has lost my faith and support. I've heard from fellow City fans saying keep the faith, well I'm sorry but how can you keep the faith in someone you do not believe is the right man for the club?

#Embarrassment

 Well done to Crystal Palace and Michael Oliver, especially Michael Oliver for a world class performance, not taking the win away from Palace at all, I'm just telling it how I saw it.

Petition Manchester City To Name Stand After The Most Legendary Goalkeeper Ever

If you don't yet know who Bert Trautmann is and you're a freshman Manchester City fan then I suggest this is the first history lesson you learn.

Please lend your signature to honor our fallen legend by asking City to name a stand after him in tribute and memory HERE

Give Pellegrini A Break?, Burnley Match Had It's Positives, Time To Move On

OK last week I was anchoring for Pellegrini's sack but after deeply emotional contemplation, I actually found myself questioning whether or not I was right to want the guy out. Despite the most recent facts and statistics stacked against Pellegrini, I had to remind myself how facts and statistics don't always tell the entire story.

Listening too and reading what other City fans had to say was interesting, I found seasoned fans were almost equally torn between keeping and sacking Pellegrini, interestingly enough though there were quite a few younger generation and newly acquired City fans in support of Pellegrini. So Walter Smith a City fan on BluemoonRising TV answered a few City fan tweets.



Walter makes some interesting and valid points but one thing I disagree with is questioning a fans loyalty and support just because you don't agree with their opinion.

Right now I believe Manuel Pellegrini to be the wrong man for City based on the fact we have been knocked out of the League Cup, FA Cup, Champions League and threw away not one but two great opportunities to catch up, even over take Chelsea and we blew it in Typical City style.

Pellegrini's timing and choice of substitutions have been very questionable this season and his inability to drop certain under performing players has been over whelming. When it was clear Vinny was not quite ready after coming back from injury Pellegrini threw him to the wolves, he even persisted with Edin Dzeko, a player who barely ever tracks back and can't defend to save his own skin. While we had a much better forward in Wilfried Bony unfairly rotting on the bench, Frank Lampards loan extension and all Pellegrini did was leave him on the bench?

OK a lot of our stars were under performing big time but the buck lies with Pellegrini at the end of the day.

Now so why am I questioning myself if I believe Pellegrini's not the man?, well a few factors spring to mind. The first being who could possibly replace him that would be a step up and not step down?

My two choices were Ancelotti and Simeone but both would be very hard to price away from their clubs right now without having to spend a lot of cash to acquire their services.

Then there's our players that have come out in support of Pellegrini, we can't ignore that vote of confidence.

Other factors are that Pellegrini doesn't have long left on his contract and we could be doing a lot worse so with that said, it makes sense to give Pellegrini a chance to right his wrongs and learn from his mistakes. Let him see out his contract and earn himself an extension but ultimately, if we lose the title this season to Chelsea then I probably won't be changing my mind.

Thus saving ourselves from having to pay out huge amounts of cash in compensation and a pay off.

TIOC supports you for now Mr Manuel Pellegrini and wishes you all the best in turning things around for City's sake and your own. Rome wasn't built in a day but then City aren't a day old.

P.s. bring some of our young lads through to the first team please, bring back Denayer, Iheanacho and Lopes and give them a good chance in the first team.

Even If We Do Beat FC Barcelona I Want Pellegrini Out, He Hasn't Learnt From His Mistakes

I don't proclaim to be a qualified coach or an experienced Football manager but I have lived over 30 years of watching City and Football, I know when someone isn't good enough for the club I've loved for so long. I don't pretend to speak for all City fans but I know I'm not alone, I'm not arrogant but just want the best for my club and fellow fans.

Even if Chelsea and Moronho dramatically fall on their own arrogant sword, even if we beat FC Barcelona and progress I now believe I was wrong to support Manuel Pellegrini, I honestly believed he was the right man to take City forward.

I'm sticking to my guns and believe Pellegrini has flattered to deceive, along with him I also believe the over rated, important goal deceiving Edin Dzeko has given all he can.

Pellegrini, signed Frank Lampard and Wilfried Bony but have kept them both benched in favour of a useless Fernando and even more useless Dzeko. Fernando has gone as far as to admit he's struggling and Dzeko can't defend for shit let alone score a goal, He scores a few goals in high profile matches and some of my fellow fans sing his name as if he's a god. Then he goes missing in the 50 other matches.

Pellegrini's choice and timing of substitutions when on the back foot have been shocking which really is an understatement, at 1-0 down at Burnley he took off Silva and replaced him with Jovetic?

It's blatantly clear even Pellegrini was guilty of thinking of FC Barcelona instead of Burnley, ask yourself why were our players walking it at Burnley? I believe Arrogance has infected our team and they believed they could just walk Burnley off the park.

The only positive I can see this season is Sergio Aguero, his consistency and work rate, I actually thought Pellegrini had turned a corner after dropping Dzeko and giving Bony his first start. But no he goes and destroys that hope and drops Bony for Dzeko, only to realise Dzeko yet again offered nothing against Burnley. And who did he send on in place of Dzeko after realising he had just wasted over half a match on the world class super striker Edin, the one and only Wilfried Bony given less than 30 minutes to save Pellegrini's blushes.

Sorry but enough is enough, Pellegrini has to go, he's failed to learn from his mistakes. Both ignorant and arrogant enough to ignore criticism and believe his way is the only way. Just read quotes from Pellegrini recently to see he's incapable of learning from mistakes "I don't agree that we had a problem tactically because we played with two strikers in the first leg" obviously referring to Barcelona. The problem wasn't playing two strikers Mr Pellegrini, the problem was playing a striker who can't defend to save his own life, the problem was playing a useless Fernando instead of James Milner or Frank Lampard who pretty much score and,or create almost every time they come off the bench given enough time.

What the hell, we could end up losing James Milner, why isn't he demanding Milner sign already?, instead he's claiming there's nothing he can do.

Some of our fans will brand me a glory hunter despite supporting City through thick and thin since the 70s, 80's out of mis placed loyalty to Pellegrini and because they don't agree with me. Probably the exact same fans who did the same for Mancini when I called for his sacking, not that our club listened to us fans anyway as they did what they thought best.

But I stand my ground and restate Pellegrini out, I can accept defeat as long as we fought with pride and give our all but that hasn't been the case, instead we have been utterly humiliated up until now and it's only going to get worse. Barcelona are going to utterly humiliate us at this rate, I would prefer we go back to being whipping boys for at least then we had a reason for being shit. On top of that chances are we have to watch as our title challenge fails in humiliation, hell United or Arsenal could even kick us out of second place if we're not lucky.

This City fan wants:

Pellegrini Out
Dzeko Out
Jovetic Out
Fernando Out

Promote Marcos Lopes
Promote Brandon Barker

Bring back Jason Denayer

Get Kelechi Iheanacho's work permit sorted

Get in Diego Simeone or another proven manager who understands defending is also as important as attacking and let them:  Vieira as caretaker maybe?

Replace Frank Lampard with a proven marquee signing

Replace Fernando with another proven signing

I'ts not all about glory and winning titles, it's about Pride in Battle, it's about losing with integrity and pride. Knowing you've been beaten by a better team, having given your all. Like I said I'd rather go back to the 80s and 90s than watch a bunch of over payed players play like they currently do under an under performing manager. Not that I'm ungrateful to our owner, but I'd be livid if I was him.

Wilfried Bony's First Start Was Unlucky, Real Reason Why Kompany Isn't The Kompany We Know

Anyone reading our blog will be well aware I'm not a huge fan of Edin Dzeko and Wilfried Bony's first start and performance for City against Leicester City, his positioning was almost perfection and he was lucky not to score as Schwarzer put in a very strong performance.

I strongly believe starting the match gave him time to settle in finally and find his feet and scoring touch. I'm in no doubt what so ever that given more starts he will get on the score sheet sooner rather than later, he made more goal scoring chances for himself in that one match than Dzeko ever does in five combined matches.

Unlike Dzeko who prefers to run the left channel, Bony runs both left and right channels and patrol the 18 yard area. Here's some statistics comparing both players.

2014/15

Appearances:           Bony 26  Dzeko 28
Minuted played:      Bony 1.462  Dzeko 1.412
Minutes per goal:    Bony 162'  Dzeko 235'
Assists:                    Bony 3  Dzeko 4
Goals:                      Bony 9  Dzeko 6

These statistics clearly show that Wilfried Bony is a better Center Forward than Edin Dzeko without any doubt what so ever. Add to that that Bony achieved these statistics with Swansea City, as opposed to Dzeko being surrounded by the likes of Silva, Aguero, Toure and co. Don't get me wrong Dzeko is a good forward but in my opinion not as good as Bony who also defends better than Dzeko, I just don't believe Dzeko is the right man for City anymore. Compared to Bony, Dzeko is defensively lazy, an opinion shared by many of our City fan readers. I only hope Pellegrini now continues to start Bony and surprise me enough to gain my support back, but that's also only going to happen if he also learns from his mistakes of playing a forward that can't defend against the likes of clubs like Barcelona and Liverpool and instead either play Bony who can defend playing in the hole behind Aguero or an extra man in midfield.

Well done to Leicester City for keeping the score low, they did themselves credit and I hope they can kick on and survive the drop if they keep playing like they did against us. I'm not completely convinced Pellegrini's the man for City, if he continues to refuse to balance attack with defense, continues to play 442 against big clubs and continues to rely on the unreliable Dzeko and continues to fail to come up with a plan B and C then he has to go.

Vincent Kompany, now why exactly is he struggling?

Although I am not a fan of Roberto Mancini anymore, under Bobby we had the best defense in England. I truly believe one reason why Kompany is suffering is because Pellegrini continues to do nothing but attack and play in the opponents half. Now Left Back is our weakest position and it seems every club we play attacks us more down the left than down the right. So Pellegrini has us playing high up the field which exposes Kompany and his defenders to counter attacks, our midfielders are left back tracking all the time against the fast teams like Barcelona and Liverpool.

While Pellegrini insists on sticking to just one style of play, our defenders will continue to struggle and suffer, especially when they only have back up in the form of just one defensive midfielder in favor of two forwards against dangerous opposition. Everyone's figured us out and parks the bus playing counter attacking football and quite frankly, Pellegrini is looking naive, ignorant and arrogant.

Being out injured did Kompany no favors either, so it was inevitable that he would struggle especially by being exposed by his manager. I don't blame Kompany for the situation we find ourselves in, although a lot of our players have under performed, I strongly believe it's because Pellegrini has been running them into the ground by forcing them to play high up the field attacking at pace for 90 odd minutes all the time, the only time our lads get a break and slow down is when we are on the back foot and under pressure.

Some of you will probably see me as a Pellegrini hater but that couldn't be further from the truth. When he arrived I was excited, it's only this season that I've seen a side of him I don't like. His reluctance to get us playing like a world beater, As I said we have no plan B or C, we never play on the counter attack. I find nothing more frustrating than watching us counter attack as slow as we do, allowing even the weaker of teams plenty of time to get back into position and it's quite frankly sad with the players we have.

I would much rather we play a balanced game than attack attack attack, winning trophies and titles is a bonus and should come second. If Pellegrini woke up this morning and said to himself  'I'm going to learn from my mistakes, get my team back on track and create a plan B. Get my players playing a few different styles and make us Champions of Europe' then I'd back him to the hilt and he will have won my support back. Unfortunately I don't see that happening, but it's up to him to prove me wrong.

Right now I'm a big fan of Diego Simeone of Athletico Madrid, what he's done makes that grey haired muppet at Chelsea look average. I've watched and studied him closely over the past 6 odd months and I see no weakness in his armoury. OK his English isn't great to my knowledge but it's not like he can't learn from the best, half of our players speak Spanish, Portuguese or Brazilian anyway.

If Pellegrini does end up messing up completely and find himself sacked, then I sincerely hope Simeone is the man to replace him. Either way I'd be happy with a reformed Pellegrini or Simeone.

One thing I am in know doubt about though is, I'm not a fan of Edin Dzeko.

Drop Dzeko Now, Start Bony Or I'm Calling For Your Head If We Lose Our Title Pellegrini

I'VE HAD ENOUGH Mr Manuel Pellegrini, prior to your arrival we had one Roberto Mancini who failed to do anything but concentrate on defending. Now we have you concentrating on only attacking and quite frankly, I'm sick to death of it and your inept ability to not learn from humiliating lessons and losing. Who suffers more for these pathetic and avoidable losses, we do the fans and I'll be calling for your head if we fail in both the Champions League and fail to retain our title.

 My pro Mancini season card holding aunt was against you joining us because she was against Mancini leaving, but I wasn't so forgiving of Mancini and truly believed you would bring balance to Manchester City. However you have failed to do that and right now I'm more humiliated and depressed than I was when Mancini lost the FA Cup and League title, we haven't even lost anything yet other than a morale sapping humiliation at the hands of Liverpool and an embarrassing performance and loss at the hands of Barcelona.

 I haven't forgotten my roots, our clubs roots and where we were when we were shit, but that should have no impact on my way of thinking right now. Our football club is now one of the biggest in Europe, the world even and we should expect more considering the facts. We have a multi million pound first team squad and we pull in well over 40 thousand fans on match day which is due to rise. It Wouldn't be fair to add our multi million pound academy in to the equation, due to not reaping the rewards as of yet. But City fans have a right to expect more than just humiliation, after all it is us fans that pay the clubs wages along side sponsors, some of who also end up being fans.

 Let me get a few things straight, like many of our fan base I am more than capable of accepting loss. So long as we fought with pride in battle, so long as we gave our all and can hold our heads up high. We don't need titles and trophies, all we need is our pride and dignity preserved, our clubs pride and dignity preserved. It's blatantly obvious that you Mr Pellegrini have failed me and many other City fans by being ignorant and closed minded, you seem to think we can arrogantly stand up to any club in Europe playing nothing but attacking football with two forwards. ARROGANTLY, that is not who Manchester City are, that is not in the blood of us seasoned City fans.

 A few City fans may point to the fact we are still in the title hunt, the Champions League and still have a chance, but I'm not one to ignore our failings based on just optimism and hope. Lets be honest while we are at it, I highly doubt there are many seasoned City fans like me believing we can win the Champions League at this rate, so we honestly only see the Premier League as our last chance saloon. So when you Mr Pellegrini and our multi million pound first team continue to put in pathetic performances like against Barcelona and Liverpool it just makes me soooooooooooooooo frustrated and deflated.

 Playing two forwards against Barcelona, what the bloody hell were you thinking, continuing to play Edin Dzeko who has zero ability to successfully defend and tackle, what were you thinking? I have to blame our fan base partly for this, they constantly sing Dzeko's name like he's some legend, how often does he come up with the goods? This season he has been useless, yes useless and it wasn't until we purchased Wilfried Bony that Dzeko started putting more effort in. Lets face it Dzeko had no worries with the constantly injured Jovetic as competition, there was no pressure to up his game at all. We're sitting on a new £30 odd million striker who scores far more goals than Dzeko and you Mr Pellegrini keep choosing Edin bloody Dzeko. In fact I'll be calling for your sacking Mr Pellegrini and Mr Dzeko's sacking if this continues.

At least in Wilfried Bony, the man can track back and tackle successfully, at least he can slot in to midfield when needed and score more goals than Edin Dzeko. The rot is setting in and too many of our best players are going missing, Vincent Kompany is a shadow of himself ignoring criticism like he's just having a bloody off day when we're losing the title race. Yaya Toure has clearly left himself back in Africa with his trophy, poor display against Liverpool. I can point to so many things wrong at City right now that it's soul destroying, watching the Liverpool game was like watching us back in the Championship 'typical City'. And we thought we got the monkey off our back? My mind is saying Pellegrini out, the first thoughts that come to the forefront are why have we just purchased Wilfried Bony to sit on a bench?', why can't Pellegrini see that playing the likes of Dzeko against strong teams is quite frankly suicidal.

In fact while I'm at it I think Edin Dzeko is far too over rated, he only ever turns up at important moments to score goals and half the time fails to score anyway. Mancini used him as a super sub to great effect, now Pellegrini is using him as a starter to extremely little effect. I'd much rather have a 20 goal striker like Wilfried Bony who can tackle over Edin Dzeko any day. My aunt also says Dzeko deserves slack because he's come up with the goods in the past just like Mancini, sorry but I see the bigger picture and Edin Dzeko doesn't even fit in with our philosophy or style of play.

 If you Mr Pellegrini do not adapt and come up with a plan B and C, if we fail to win the title, well I'm sorry but I'm calling for your sacking and for Edin Dzeko's sacking without a second thought. It may fall on deaf ears but I will be happy for doing so non the less. Right now I'd say Diego Simeone for Manchester City, now he's a man who knows about balance. Proven track record at a big club and stuck it too the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona. He may have just signed a new contract but every man and club has a price, no one is untouchable, not even Lionel Messi.

TIOC's Lineup Vs Liverpool FC, Opinion And Prediction

My thoughts behind this 451 formation is that when we defend, Wilfried Bony and Yaya Toure would slot back in, either side of Fernandinho. Pushing Liverpool out wide, while Nasri, Aguero and Silva roam in front and out wide thus suffocating Liverpool becoming effectively a 433. When we attack we quickly become a 451 or 442, this is how I believe we should play in all matches and this in my opinion is our strongest current line up with the exception of left back. I believe our weakest position is left back and I see no reason to drop Kompany because it would only effect us badly, he will eventually come good and he now realizes he's on the ropes and needs to up his game now before it's too late. The more criticism he gets the more he will push on, criticism should always be used as extra motivation in all walks of life. My prediction for the Liverpool game is Liverpool 1 Manchester City 3, Aguero, Bony and Yaya to score.

Barcelona Loss Was Manuel Pellegrini's Fault Alone, Our Players Did Themselves Credit In Second Half

When we play the likes of Barcelona and Bayern Munich in Europe, we are already on the back foot before matches are even played. European match officials are under immense pressure and 8 out of 10 times favour the established elite. This was clear against Barcelona, Roma and Bayern Munich, when their players commit fouls none of them get booked unless it's impossible not to book them. But the second one of our players commit a foul the cards come flying out. I've always said you need to be able to beat a 12 man team in Europe to succeed, most recently Frank Lampard said it himself. You need luck to win the Champions League and it's pretty clear we have been on the other end of luck for the entire world to see.

Never been a fan of cheating little scumbag Dani Alves, he feigned injury to get Clichy sent off, then got subbed off after even fooling his own club. Then proceeds by throwing a childish liccle baby hissy fit about it.

BUT this most recent game against FC Barcelona was doomed from the start, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to realize that without Yaya Toure we were going to struggle. It is pretty clear that only two Manchester City players were capable of replacing him in Wilfried Bony and Fernandinho, so why was it that Fernando and Dzeko who were useless and totally inconsistent chosen ahead of Bony and Fernandinho?

Instead of crowding out the midfield and playing on the counter attack like Malaga did, Pellegrini decides to play two forwards with Edin Dzeko who can't tackle for shit and Fernando over Fernandinho. The first being a flop (maybe flops a little harsh but still) and the second being a success since they arrived at City?

In Wilfried Bony we have the perfect player to replace Yaya Toure, the fact we played better when Fernandinho and Bony came on in the second half clearly shows I'm right and it is Pellegrini's fault. From day one of Pellegrini being linked with the job at City I was excited, enthusiastic and totally behind the man for the job, but a few years on I'm starting to see flaws in Pellegrini.

He has an unwillingness to adapt, to have a plan B, C and even D, this sticking to one style of play will never bring the Champions League trophy to Manchester City. Again it doesn't take a brain surgeon to realize that, Pellegrini needs to learn to adapt and get City playing 2 or 3 different ways.

If we go out of the Champions League at Camp Nou and lose our Premier League title, I will have no choice but to call for the sacking of Pellegrini in much the same way I lost faith in Roberto Mancini. Pellegrini and Mancini both have my respect for what they can do, but not for what they fail to do.

In the first half we were blatantly caught short in Midfield because of Dzeko and an ineffective Fernando, as soon as Barca cut us open and scored the first, we were a total mess and everyone was panicking. We lost the fight in midfield because of Pellegrini being naive and thinking we could take on Barcelona with Fernando and Dzeko. The media had been screaming for Pellgrini not to play 442, Barcelona themselves were saying they were looking forward to playing City even more after finding out City would attack attack attack. If that wasn't a bloody warning then what is aye.

Luckily for us Pellegrini was forced to see the error and get on Fernandinho and Bony before it was too late, luckily for Pellegrini our lads put in a strong second half display and gave us an outside chance at Camp Nou. We even have Frank Lampard on the bench, where the heck was he on the night other than stuck on the bench?

My  Man of the Match: Joe Hart

Keep the Faith - Pride in Battle

Are The FA And Premier League Interfering? Arsenal Fallout, So Who's To Blame?

Everyone loves a conspiracy right?, So here's mine and you have probably also thought of the same thing many times yourself. Are domestic footballs governing bodies using referee's secret preferences to manipulate the outcome of domestic league football.

The Professional Game Match Officials Ltd, PGMOL for short are the body which appoint match officials for up coming fixtures. Now lets face facts here, referee's just like players and club staff all have their preferences. Each and every one of them have loyalty to one or three football clubs, would they be working in football as a sport if they had no interest or preference in it what so ever?

PGMOL are a separate entity to the Football Association and the Premier League, but with that said PGMOL are also owned by The FA and the Premier League.

Match Official Mike Dean was appointed for the City V Arsenal match recently played out, before the match Arsenal fans in their drones were complaining about Mike Dean being appointed. But why when Mike Dean has over seen Arsenal defeat many an opponent other than Liverpool?  After all Mike Dean is a from the Wirral.

I'm not the only football fan out there thinking the same thing that's for sure, Evidence Of The Manchester United Referee Conspiracy

Now last season Manchester City FC won the Barclay's Premier League title, but who suffered for it the most? Yes that's Mike Dean's Liverpool, sheer coincidence you say?

So far this season Mike Dean has officiated City 1 Chelsea 1, QPR 2 City 2 and most recently City 0 Arsenal 2. In all those matches he has screwed us over with poor officiating, DELIBERATELY poor.

The PGMOL will point to the fact they don't allow referee's to officiate clubs in their county of birth but that proves nothing, we all know a Liverpool, Arsenal, United or Chelsea fan can pretty much be born in Ireland, Cuba, Africa or Japan for instance.

Truth of the matter is since the introduction of Respect for match officials was put in place, we have seen and continue to witness the decline in match official performance. Add to that video evidence to suggest there's a lot more to it than meets the eye.

2014 Matches that Mike Dean has Officiated, Look at the pattern and witness for yourselves. He's over seen 2 convincing Chelsea wins this season, both matches I reran and both he played a huge part in the outcome.

Google 'Mike Dean celebrates'

The truth is Dean has no love for either Manchester City or United, Dean even famously went up against Alex Ferguson, it's clear Mike Dean has no liking for the Manchester and Trafford based clubs. Why would he after both clubs have inflicted misery upon Liverpool FC.

I must point out however that Dean's dislike for City has only recently developed due to the facts, City have up until now never been an issue or real threat to Liverpool, also that City have only just recently added to Liverpool's woes. Up until now Mike Dean had been pretty much unbiased towards us, but the fact remains that the PGMOL have history in trying to dictate the outcome of title fights.

I've always stressed though that to be a historically great club, you need to learn how to put 12 man teams to the sword and beat officials as well as opponents.

However although Mike Dean did manipulate the outcome of the game, I do not blame him for Manchester City losing. I believe the blame should be placed on a few of our players and Manuel Pellegrini and his coaches and one particular Arsenal player who was guilty of diving.

As far as I'm concerned after many many reruns of the incident, Vincent Kompany barely touched Arsenal's Nacho Monreal, Monreal deliberately ran into Kompany with full intention of diving. Monreal had no intention of getting to the ball, even Arsene Wenger eventually admitted that he initially thought it was a penalty, but was then told by someone that Arsenal were very lucky. Wenger stated he would review the incident based on that information. Moving on.

It's clear we had no plan B or C against Arsenal on our own turf, embarrassing in my opinion. To be honest I'm getting sick and tired of us always attacking, putting needless pressure on our defence. It's pretty clear Vincent Kompany is being negatively affected by it all, we still haven't solved our defencive issues yet and our constant attacking style is leaving us open to counter attacks.

When teams turn up and park the bloody bus, why do we go all gung ho, why don't we sit back and allow the enemy to open up and give us space. Why don't we counter attack with a two can play that game aye?

Manuel Pellegrini has always had my full support, in fact I and my City season card aunt (who attends almost every game possible despite serious illness (one of my idols) have on a few occasions disagreed over whether Pellegrini is good enough. Up until now I've seen past his mistakes in the hope he will adapt and improve, I'm just hoping he doesn't take as long as Arsene Wenger to wake up and realise he's just been made to look not so great after all.

One or two of our players need to step up as well, I'm not going to name their names but they know who they are. I'm not a fan of Afcon and quite frankly think it's a waste of time and pointless (Why haven't Africa come together as one nation already?), I'm quite honestly infuriated at losing Yaya Toure all the time to this poxy tournement and City suffering as a result but that's no excuse. Bottom line is with the players we have, we shouldn't be missing Toure's presence so much. Again to Pellegrini once more, why wasn't Lampard played from the start in the absence of Titan Toure instead of Fernando or Fernandinho who are both defencive midfielders?

It's pretty clear in my opinion that Pellegrini and his team need to adapt and adapt super fast if we are too retain our title. Work needs doing on our corners but I see that improving on the eventual arrival of Bony, another player we will suffer with at points due to the pointless Afcon, as well as the inability of whipping balls in from wide area's.

Beyond Stupidity, Are New York City Fans Really That Upset By Lampard Staying?

Or is this really just the idiotic anti Manchester City bandwagon media and amateur writers, creating propaganda to sully Manchester City FC and paint us with the usual colour?

I believe it to be the later considering none of the articles published have shown us any more than a couple of tweets from people who probably aren't even NYCFC fans, their aliases certainly don't suggest they are that's for sure.

Then there are no video's of NYCFC fans in abundance, venting their disgust and anger over Frank Lampard staying. OK I accept there maybe one or two naive and misguided NYCFC fans who are disappointed but that's tough.

It's well documented that it's the City brand that own NYCFC along side the New York Yankees, so you can safely understand that the success of Manchester City FC is an important piece of the puzzle that will spearhead ongoing success for the City brand, but what does that mean for the sister clubs of Manchester City FC?

Well they all have priority access to Manchester City FC's youth academy, right now the biggest and most advanced academies in English football. Our academy has up until now done pretty well considering we were once branded a Yo yo club, only hampered by misfortune pointing too Stephen Ireland and Michael Johnson's falls from grace due to serious injuries. Oh and Chelsea paying £29 million for Shaun Wright-Phillips only to stick him on their bench and ruin his progress and career, I hated the fact we sold him.

But just one look at the players in our ranks now shows exactly what NYCFC and our other sister clubs have to look forward too in the future, with the option to take our kids out on loan. Also having access to Manchester City's scouting system, inside knowledge from the mothership herself, shall I go on?

But back to the success of Manchester City well, it doesn't take a genius to realise that the success of Manchester City FC will fill the City brands coffers to help our sister clubs progress.

It's clear that those NYCFC fans that are upset, need to step back, take a deep breath and admire the bigger picture. After all you will eventually get Mr Frank Lampard back, he clearly wants to help the City brand and understands that success in England means success for NYCFC. As any human being would want, Lampard also wants to go out on a high so who are we to begrudge him one last moment of glory?

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL MY FELLOW CITY FANS!

Manchester City Progress In Uefa Youth League Despite Some Of Our Stand Out Star Youth Being Absent

 Manchester City FC's Elite Development Squad pulled off a fantastic feat in the Uefa Youth Champions League, winning all six of their games and topping their group by finishing off A.S.Roma with four second half goals.

The future looks bright and City have got this far without our new state of the art academy so it's hard not to be overly optimistic.

FW Bersant Celina, MF Brandon Barker, MF Jack Byrne & FW Thierry Ambrose scored the goals to top their group with a 100% win ratio.

Squad:

GK (E)Angus Gunn  
DF: (AG)Sam Tattum, Pablo Maffeo, (AG)(E)Tosin Adarabioyo, (E)Smith-Brown
MF Jack Bryne (76), (AG)Rodney Kongolo, Barker (90+3), (E)Kean Bryan
FW (AG)Bersant Celina (71), Thierry Ambrose (82)

Subs: (GK)(E)Charlie Albinson, (AG)(E)Charlie Oliver, (E)Cameron Humphries, (AG)Manu Garcia, (AG)(E)Aaron Nemane, Javairo Dilrosun, (AG)(E)Isaac Buckley-Ricketts

(AG) Academy Graduates
(E) English

Notable Absentees: Mathias Bossaerts, (E)Denzeil Boadu, Jose Angel Tasende, Seko Fofana, Oliver Ntcham, (E)George Evans, Sinan Bytyqi, Ian Lawlor, Shay Facey & (E)Jordi Hiwula.

Out on loan are: Jason Denayer, (E)Devante Cole, Albert Rusnak & Bismark Boateng.

The extremely exciting Kelechi Iheanacho who's out on loan as City currently apply for a work permit, and Jose Angel Pozo who has now been promoted to Manchester City's first team.

On the night 4 English youth we're on the field and 5 English youth on the bench, add to that the rest I mentioned above and it totals as 12 future England prospects.

Well done lads, keep it up.