Anyway, I have missed a lot of juicy things, from Stephen Ireland’s grandma dying (NOT!) to Sven being linked to Chelsea (which might make sense in about eight months, really, it might).

So all that said, I’m back (for now). City and Castel play in about 10 minutes and I will try to liven up the match with some coments as the game goes on. Here we go.

Pregame: Joe Hart is starting in goal instead of baby Schmeichel. First time that has happend in a Premier League game this year.

3 - Not much has happend. Actually, nothing has. What is bugging me is the field (pitch). The gardner cut it funny or something, it just doesn’t look right. I might just be crazy.

5 - Well, Newcastle goalie Shay Given (who also hasn’t played in awhile) almost handed City a goal when his first touch got away from him and nearly found the foot of Elano and in the net, but Given recovered.

9 - Mark Viduka just forced Hart to make his first save, which was a good one. Hart had to dive to his right, and got this hand on the ball to force it wide.

10 - Mpenza makes a nice run and gets tripped up by Butt about 15 yards from goal, but Petrov kicks the free kick into the wall.

12 - Some nice passing by City opens up Elano at the top of the box which forced Given to make what might turn out to be the save the weekend. It was absolute class (I love saying/typing that). Well, City looks really. So good in fact you would think that they were 3rd in the EPL, oh wait…

16 - Mpenza gets another good chance when Taylor mishandles the ball and Mpenze was through on goal, but Given forced a quick shot, which he smothered. I would say the over\under on Man City scoring is at the 32nd minute.

20 - James Milner embarrasses Javier Garrido as the right mid sprinted around the left back, but his cross in the middle was intercepted. As I type, Milner was causing more trouble as he fell in the box, I missed it, but the commentator said it wasn’t a penalty.

25 - This just in - City is very good at home. They look like Arsenal at times right now.

28 - Elano, Man City’s best player (not counting Richards), is limping around on his ankle. Not good.

29 - GOAL! All that brown nosing about City didn’t pay off. A ball came from the center line and Martins had the ball stick to his foot and his second touch was placed by Hart. 1-0 Newcastle.

33 - Hart almost scored a great own goal! It would have been a classic. He took a pass, and from an angle that would have been tough for Wayne Rooney, he slid the ball towards goal, and then sprinted after it and kicked the ball off the line. I never thought I would say it, but where is baby Schmeichel!

38 - GOAL! The good guys score this time :). Petrov, who scares me (he looks like a vampire), finishes off a great pass across the 6-yard box by Elano, and pounds the ball past Given. So..Man City 1, Newcastle 1.

41 - Stephen “I hate football” Ireland recieves a world-class through ball from Elano, but fellow Irishman Shay Given ran out to challenge and made a nice save off his chest. It should be 2-1.

HALF - I was a little bit worried that I was going to start to fall asleep (this game started 4:45 am PST), but it’s been a roller coaster of a first half. This much I know. Elano is really good. Petrov is fast. Martins is really good. And Hart, well, he is lucky he didn’t score on himself, that goal could have been the end of his career. Seriously, it would have got more hits on YouTube than that girly guy giving the Britany defense under the covers. All in all, it was a great half.

46 - Richard Dunne gets the second half started by headbutting Milner (not on purpose). Both players hit the ground, but get up eventually.

47 - GOAL!!!Like I said, Petrov is fast. He sprints down the left flank, around a defender, then floats a ball to Mpenza which he heads by Given. Man City 2, Newcastle 1.

54 - As City proved last week, they are a little sketchy in the back, so this game is far from over, but the way they are playing offensively, you got to think they will find the net at least one more time. My money is Elano to get a goal.

63 - Had some computer trouble. Sorry, if anyone is reading this :). But, Corluka, who picked up a knock, was subbed for Onuoha at right back.

67 - More computer problems (I have seen two of the last 10 minutes). That said, I did see Martins have a great chance to tie the score, but instead of passing to a wide open Viduka, he took a shot from a sharpe angle that went wide.

72 - Newcastle is putting on some consistant pressure for the first time in the match. A tying goal seems very possible all of a sudden.

77 - More pressure from Newcastle, but no clear chance.

79 - Richards recieves a pass after making a 70 yard run, and gets a clear chance on goal, but his shot looks like one from a center defender.

82 - Mpenza gets two more opportunites to put the game away. First, he gets a cross on the left from Petrov that he misses. Seconds later, from the right, he gets a cross from Ireland, this time he uses his foot, but his shot goes terribly wide. This game should be over.

87 - GOAL!!! Elano with a ridiculous goal. Actualy, ridiculous doesn’t give it justice. Let’s just say, if David Beckham did that, it would be considered the greatest goal in MLS history. It was a 25-yard free kick, that didn’t bend an inch, just a bullet around the wall and into the top corner. Man City 3, Newcastle 1.

FINAL - Man City stays perfect at home. A very strong performance overall. Elano and Petrov in particular looked great. Here is an interesting question. I you had to bet if City was going to finish in the Top 6, what would you say? It’s very close, but I do think they are the sixth best team in the EPL (The top four and Blackburn are ahead). Lastly, I’ll try and post more than once a month for now on. Oh, and please excuse my many grammar errors that I surely have in this post.

Unfortunately I had a “real life” issue come up, so I missed the first 20 minutes, but Mpenza has put Man City up in the 17th minute, so it’s 1-0 City early.

21 - Bianchi had a real chance from just inside the penalty box, but he blasts the ball over the goal.

I should note Man City is using a lot off new players in this Carling Cup match, with six players that haven’t started in the Premiership so far his season.

28 - Yougster Shaleum Logan is one of those players with his first start, playing right midfield. And he has looked very dangerous, with no loess than three shots (two on goal) in the first 10 minutes I have watched.

33 - Man City is dominating the action (looks like Arsenal playing Man City :)), I would be surprised if The Citizens don’t add a second by the break.

38 - Man City continues to dominate in possession, but has not mounted a serious chance on goal in the last five minutes. It is impressive that most of these players have never played a competitive match together, but the passing has been fantastic so far.

43 - Bristol City gets a corner kick and the cross mishandled by goalie Joe Hart (I guess he has a problem with that too), but the ball is cleared away by the defense.

HALFTIME - I did only see the last 25 minutes in the past, but Man City dominated. The Citizens did struggle in the final third, and I have a feeling the second half is going to be more difficult for Man City than the first (anyone see West Ham-Bristol Rovers yesterday). Anyway a very good half for Man City, but they might regret not getting a second goal.

48 - Bianchi with another good opportunity from 12 yards out, but his toepoke goes about a foot wide of goal.

52 - The Citizens continue to dominate the match, but Bristol City is still only a goal down and the longer they still in the match you have to think their level of belief will increase.

58 - Man City dominated possession in the first half, but that hasn’t been the case in the second half, with Bristol City getting more of the ball. Bristol hasn’t had a serious challenge on goal, but you can almost feel it coming.

61 - Joe Hart just made a fantastic save, diving to his left and getting his left paw on the ball. Looking at the replay, you wonder how he kept the ball out. Bristol City is coming…

69 - GOAL!!! Bristol City draws level at 1-1. A free kick from 40 yards out was floated to the far post, then headed into the middle where it fell to the feet of Bradley Orr, and from five yards out he easily slide the ball past Jow Hart. Man City is in a real mess now.

76 - Man City has had the better of the play since the goal, but they don’t look that dangerous in the final third. Extra time is looking like a real possibility.

80 - GOAL!!! Bianchi with a world class strike from 20 yards out that finds the bottom left corner of goal. A big relief for Man City fans.

83 - Lee Trundle, Bristol City’s best striker, has a great chance, but his shot from the right side goes wide.

90 - Bristol City has a free kick from just outside the area, but after a pass Lee Johnson’s shot goes right into the gut of Joe Hart.

93 - Incredible. Bristol City scores, but it is called offside (it was a good call). What an ending.

FULL TIME - Bristol City 1 -Manchester City 2. A great second half, and Bristol City probably deserves a little better. Let me sit down and think about this for a minute and I’ll have one last post.

All in all, City played much better against Arsenal than they did against Manchester United the week before, and although I thought they had no chance at winning, City did show if it got a little more luck they could have pulled off another upset.

To the evaluations…

Goalie: Kasper Schmeichel - Even though he finnaly yielded a goal, I think it was his best match of the young season. Schmeichel made some spectaular saves, and although his penalty save had more to do with Van Persie’s strike than the 20-year-old’s skill, it was a penalty save nonetheless. He can’t be faulted for the goal, and even almost scored a goal himself, so he did a little bit of everything in the match.

Defense: Verdan Corluka, Richard Dunne, Micha Richards, Javier Garrido - As a group, they did not do as good of a job as they had with United, but it wasn’t a terrible outing from the City backline. Corluka (who I am quickly becoming an admirer of) did a really good job on the right flank, and Arsenal’s attack had little success when it went after Corluka.

Dunne also had a solid match, not making any terrible errors and had some timely tackles. After I said good thing after good thing about Richards this past week, he was nothing short of terrible on Saturday. He was always slightly out of position (which he always is), but the difference was the 19-year-old looked tired and that super human speed (pace) wasn’t there to make up for his mistakes. The tackle that led to the penalty was horrendous (how did he not at least get a yellow card for that) and just overall, it was a match that Richards needs to quickly for about. I guess when you play Manchester United, Germany and Arsenal in the same week, you’re bound to have one bad match.

Lastly, Garrido had an “ok” match, he can be faulted for the goal as he let the pass go directly though his legs, but he did run forward and crossed some dangerous passes into the box, which was encouraging.

Midfield: Deitmar Hamann, Stephen Ireland (Ball), Michael Johnson, Elano (Geovanni), Martin Petrov - The midfield probably played better than they had against Man U (they connected with more than four passes), but it still wasn’t a very good showing.

First the positive, and that would be Hamman. He is looking more and more like one of the best defensive midfielders in the EPL, and Saturday was no different. The combination of Dunne, Richards and Hamman, should give the Premiership clubs nightmares for the next eight months or so.

On the wings, Ireland and Petrov caused Arsenal a little trouble, but can someone pleas tell Petrov that it doesn’t matter how much he shoots, unless he gets the shot on goal! Johnson did pretty well, making some good passes (mostly down the wings) and is looking like he might be a player for England down the road. Lastly, Elano, was not good. He had little impact on the match and went completely unnoticable for long periods.

Fordward: Emile Mepenza (Bianchi) - Watching Man City, you can understand why Sven is interested in anoter stricker to add to the club before the transfer deadline. Mpenza had little impact, with just one good oportunity that fired directly into Manuel Almunia.

Arsenal has lost a grand total of one match at the Emirates and there is a reason for that. The Gunners are very good on their new pitch and this overacheiving City team is simply not good enough to beat Arsenal.

For one, if you didn’t see the match, it’s hard to explain just how lucky Man City got to beat thier rivals Manchester United last weekend. To say that City had one chance and took and advantage of it is an overstatement. The Citizens had one half-chance (more like a 1/3 chance), got a defelection and the ball somehow found the net.

Defensively, even with Micah Richards playing a phenomonal match, United had one chance after another, after another, after another. Baby Schemichel did well, but it was more of a combination of United unable to finish and just plain luck.

If they played that match 10 more times, it’s safe to say United would win six, draw three and lose once.

But this match with Arsenal is even more one-sided. Arsenal away is more difficult than Man United at home and the Gunners, unlike United, have played well to begin the new season.

I’m willing to leave open the possibility that City could somehow manage a draw in this match. But City fans shouldn’t count on it. A club can only be so lucky for so long.

Predition: Arsenal 2, City 0 (I hope I’m wrong, I just don’t think I am)

Transfer Rumor Update

So who is Sven going to swoop on next?

This much is clear, Eriksson will get a striker (I think). It seems everyone is interested in Anelka, and he very well could come back to City, but what I think is a more interesting possibility is Julio Baptista.

Sky Sports is reporting that Sven is interested in the Real Madrid striker, and I believe it will be a great move. Yes, Baptista was less than impressive for Arsenal last year but he did show flashes of brillance and I can picture a dangerous attacking duo with Baptista and Elano.

There are also reports that Sven could grab Nuno Gomes from Benfica (clearing space for Adu?), or he could go back to Italy and grab Udinese’s Borja Oubina.

Another interesting rumor, is the possibility of Deco coming to Manchester. The midfield lacks depth, and Deco’s experience and creativity could do wonders for the club.

At keeper, Sven seems to be content with baby Schmeichel (which I think would be a minor mistake) and what seems to be a forgone conclusion is that Darius Vassell’s days in Manchester are about to run out.

Also, just for debate sake (and I know this is very “American” of me), but if everyone in the EPL were to get dropped from their clubs, and the players were then reclaimed in a draft - where would Richards go?

How many defenders would get picked before him? I would say Terry, and then…well, nobody. Remember this isn’t for one season, but forever (being young is an advantage). Anyway, something to think about.

If you guys really want to have fun with it, how about the top-10 picks?

Well…my choice was pretty easy.

First, quickly, a little about myself. I’m a 23-year-old recent journalism graduate from Cal State Long Beach, where I was sports editor of the school newspaper. Last year, I occasionally covered the L.A. Galaxy and Chivas USA for the Torrance Daily Breeze. Reporting is my first love, so I’m going to try and bring some original reporting to this blog (which should be a challenge considering Manchester is about 7,000 miles away, but I’ll see what I can do).

Since I’m not a life long Manchester City finatic, this blog will be a little bit more objective than some of the other blogs on TheOffside, but the goal is to make this blog the go-to-place for Manchester City News. So let’s get to it!

That Game Sunday

Some of you might have heard that Manchester City had a pretty decent result last Sunday. In one of those “how did that happen” matches, Man City got completely outplayed from their neighbor United, except is one very important statistical category - goals.

It was the second most incredible match of the weekend (the Red Bulls-Galaxy match was beyond incredible), and to me, the biggest thing I took away from 1-0 derby win was that Micah Richards is an alien from another planet.

Richards didn’t single handily beat Manchester Untied (Richard Dunne, baby Schmeichel and a Nemanja Vidic deflection helped), but it was the 19-year-old that stole the show stopping one United chance after another.

The win puts City, who many thought were relegation contenders, at the top of the EPL after three matches, with a maximum nine points.

There were some drawbacks in the historic victory, most notably the injury to newly acquired (I guess everyone is newly acquired) striker Valeri Bojinov, who tore up his right knee and will be out five months. Which leads to the next part of this blog…

More Transfers Coming

With the Bulgarian Bojinov out, rumor has it Sven’s spending spree is going to continue, as he tries to fill the hole. His target? Nicolas Anelka.

Bringing Anelka back to City, would bring some much needed EPL experience to the club (although they have done just fine without any experience), and he has the potential to carry Man City if he gets in top form. If he could replicate what he did during the 2003-04 season for City (17 goals in 32 matches), it would be a huge plus to squad.

The other position Sveny is reportedly looking at is keeper. Although baby (aka Kasper) Schmeichel has yet to yield a goal in three matches, I do think it is fair to say that the young lad has got a little lucky. Anybody notice late in the match when he unexplainably fell to the ground, giving Tevez a wide-open goal to head the ball into, but missed?

Anyway, I think it would be a good move to bring in a more proven keeper, Sven seems to agree. From a variety of reports on the internet, the likely target is Livorrno goalie Marco Amelia.

If Man City does bring in a keeper, there will be a real log jam at goalie when everyone is healthy, with Andreas Isaksson, Schmeichel, England under-21 goalie Joe Hart and possibly Amelia. So, although Schmeichel is yet to concede a goal, it’s not out of the question that he could even go out on loan some time this season.

Lastly, Sven is also reportedly interested in beefing up the midfield, with Guti at Real Madrid.

Expectations

No, Manchester City will not win the Premiership this year, and odds of them finishing in the top 4 are about 15/1, which still seems a bit high. But, what was almost unthinkable two weeks ago is that City does have a shot at the top 6 (although, still unlikely), and finishing in the top half, which seems to be City’s goal, is a real possibility. This weekend will be another huge challenge, with a trip to the Emirates to face Arsenal. There is no way City can win that one, right?

More to come

There are too many storylines with this club for me to talk about everything right now, but check back regularly for the latest news and opinion, and suggestions will be welcomed.

I thought I would leave you with this.