This thread is for specialist news on Manchester City of interest to the Fantasy Football fan.

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Links:
Official Site
NewsNow Manchester City

Sun 18 Jul - http://www.mcfc.co.uk/News/American-Pre ... tch-report

Straightforward 3-0 victory against the Portland (Shiver Me) Timbers. By my count 23 different City players graced the field at some stage so impossible to take anything of use from this game.

Team (first half): Hart, Trippier, Boyata, Mee, Cunningham, Ireland, Zabaleta, A Johnson, Vieira, Bellamy, Adebayor.
Second half - Taylor, Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Cunningham (Bridge), Tutte, Kay (Onuoha), Ibrahim, Helan, Guidetti (Tchuimeni-Nimely), Jo

Sat 24 Jul - http://www.mcfc.co.uk/News/American-Pre ... tch-report

A weakened City side - no Tevez, Adebayor, SWP, Barry, either Toure or Given - slipped to a 2-0 defeat to Sporting Lisbon in New York, a side who are only a week away from opening their Europa League campaign and looked fitter than City. As the official site says: "In the end it was merely a decent blow out for many players and it would be preposterous to read too much into formation or form."

CITY: Hart, Richards, Kompany, Lescott (Onuoha 46mins), Cunningham (Bridge 45); Ireland (Boyata 64), Vieira (Tchuimeni-Nimely 64), Zabaleta, A.Johnson, Jo (Tutte 74), Bellamy (Guidetti 74). Subs not used: Taylor.

Interesting to see Jo getting games. I thought we'd sold him but I guess he's back from his tormented spell at Everton. He'll be well down the pecking order when it comes to the season start however. Micah Richards was named captain so that should help quash any rumours of his departure.

Meanwhile... you thought Nedum Onuoha was difficult to spell and pronounce? Meet the academy graduate, our striker from Liberia Mr. Alex Tchuimeni-Nimely! Surely soon to be re-christened Mr. Chumney-Warner? Apparently he came on in the deluge at Turf Moor last season, I must have missed that as I was too busy praying the game wouldn't get postponed at the time.

http://www.mcfc.co.uk/News/Team-news/20 ... ty-success
http://www.mcfc.co.uk/News/Team-news/20 ... v-crackers
http://www.mcfc.co.uk/News/American-Pre ... ur-kolarov

City have signed 24-year old Serbian left-back Aleksandar Kolarov from Lazio. Roberto Mancini said: "His attacking capability is very good. He is fast and can shoot with power and accuracy. He also has the ability to play in numerous positions and is very good in midfield.”

http://www.mcfc.co.uk/News/American-Pre ... v-Red-Bull
http://www.mcfc.co.uk/News/American-Pre ... i-on-bulls

Another defeat for another under-strength City side, this time going down 2-1 to US side Red Bulls. Jo scored for the Blues (!) and Adam Johnson had a bright second half but not much else to cheer apart from a few youngsters getting some pitch time. Mancini has promised to play a stronger side from now on so we might start to learn a bit more about his plans for the new season. That said, the World Cup stars are not on the tour, Weiss excpeted, so we won't get the full picture anyway.

CITY: Hart (Taylor 46), Onuoha, Boyata (Lescott 63), Mee (Toure 63), Bridge (Bellamy 82), Tutte, Kay (Zabaleta 81), Ireland (Cunningham 46), Tchuimeni-Nimely, Jo (A. Johnson 63), Adebayor.

http://www.mcfc.co.uk/News/American-Pre ... ub-America

City beat Mexican side Club America on penalties 4-1 after the game finished 1-1. Yaya Toure made an impressive debut with Adebayor scoring the Blues' solitary goal from the penalty spot while Shay Given saved twice in the resulting shoot-out.

CITY (4-1-2-2-1): Hart (Given 46); Richards (Cunningham 81), Toure Kolo (Lescott 46), Boyata, Bridge; Kompany (Zabaleta 46); Toure Yaya (Ireland 46), Barry (Vieira 46); Wright-Phillips (Weiss 46), A. Johnson (Jo 46); Adebayor.

"City settled, though perhaps that isn’t the correct word, for a 4-1-2-2-1 formation that switched at various times into a 4-3-3, 3-5-2 and a 4-5-1. There was certainly fluidity about the shape even if some of the combatants are still a week or so away from full fitness."

Javier Garrido leaves Man City for Lazio
Lazio have completed the signing of left-back Javier Garrido from Manchester City for an undisclosed fee.
The 25-year-old defender replaces Aleksander Kolarov, who made a £16m move in the opposite direction earlier in the week, at the Serie A club.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 871568.stm

First Team Squad
Goalkeepers
David Gonzales
Shay Given
Joe Hart
Gunnar Nielsen
Stuart Taylor
Defenders
Dedryck Boyata
Greg Cunningham
Javan Vidal
Jerome Boateng
Joleon Lescott
Wayne Bridge
Shaleum Logan
Nedum Onuoha
Micah Richards
Kolo Toure
Pablo Zabaleta
Aleksandar Kolarov
Midfielders
Abdisalam Ibrahim
Adam Johnson
David Silva
Gareth Barry
Patrick Vieira
Yaya Toure
Nigel de Jong
Kelvin Etuhu
Stephen Ireland
Michael Johnson
Vincent Kompany
Vladimir Weiss
Shaun Wright-Phillips
Strikers
Emmanuel Adebayor
Craig Bellamy
Felipe Caicedo
Jô
Alex Tchuimeni-Nimely
Robinho
Roque Santa Cruz
Carlos Tevez

(from Weds) City lost again, this time 3-1 against Borussia Dortmund, with the official site blaming all the subs in the second half for the defeat! Hart played the first half ahead of Given and Kolarov got his debut. From reports I heard he proved very much an attacking full-back and got in some good deliveries from set-pieces; looking at the subs, he may have moved up into left-midfield on 58 minutes when Johnson went off for Bridge. Amazingly Jo got the full 90 minutes.

City: Hart (Given 46), Richards (Zabaleta 46), Kolarov, K Toure, Kompany, Barry (Ireland 58), Wright-Phillips (Bellamy 65), Y Toure (Lescott 58), Jo, Adebayor (Santa Cruz 46), A Johnson (Bridge 58).

(from yesterday) City finally won a pre-season game in regulation time by beating Valencia 2-0 at Eastlands, with goals from Gareth Barry and Jo. Both Tevez and Silver (sp?) only lasted 36 minutes as, according to the official site, they were clearly not match-fit.

CITY: Hart (Given 46), Richards, Boateng (Kolo Toure 46), Kompany (Ibrahim 78), Kolarov (Cunningham 73); De Jong (Vieira 46m), Barry (Weiss 68), Yaya Toure (Lescott 62), Silver (Wright-Phillips 36m), Tevez (Johnson 36m), Adebayor (Jo 73).

Tevez unhappy. Says he looks forward to leaving Europe and he thinks it will be difficult to play football whilst unhappy.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... urope.html

Balotelli jets in for medical & talks after price agreed:

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528, ... 16,00.html

Looks like Milner has joined, Ireland has departed:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010 ... ester-city

Man City striker Mario Balotelli to have knee surgery
Manchester City forward Mario Balotelli is to undergo knee surgery that could keep him out of action for six weeks.
Balotelli injured his lateral meniscus on his scoring debut against Timisoara in the Europa League on 19 August.
And despite undergoing a rest period since in a bid to cure the problem, the club decided to operate after a setback in training this week.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 982392.stm

Tevez to miss Wolves trip
Manchester City captain Carlos Tevez has been ruled out of Saturday's Premier League match at Wolves with a thigh problem.
Tevez suffered a dead leg during the loss to Arsenal at the weekend and was forced off early in the second half.
Manager Roberto Mancini had hoped the striker would be fit for the trip to Molineux but the game will come too soon.
The injury is not thought to be too serious and Tevez is expected to be back in training next week.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528, ... 17,00.html

Allegedly flown to Argentina for a break:

http://www.adifferentleague.co.uk/p6_1_ ... g-mal.html

Somebody has little sympathy: http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/football/ ... le/296611/

Adebayor claims Juve deal
Emmanuel Adebayor claims that Juventus have agreed a deal to take him from Manchester City when the transfer window opens.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528, ... 26,00.html

City's Ben Mee goes out on loan to Leicester for the rest of the season, just as Greg Cunningham returns from there with a broken leg. I hope Ben doesn't suffer the same fate!

City complete Dzeko capture
Manchester City have completed the signing of Edin Dzeko on a four-and-a-half-year contract.
The 24-year-old striker arrives from German outfit Wolfsburg in a reported £27million deal.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528, ... 46,00.html

Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini has confirmed Wayne Bridge is undergoing a medical at West Ham.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12874_6651698,00.html

Balotelli blow hits City
Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli has been ordered to rest his injured knee for the next month and could require further surgery.
..........
City's medical staff have advised Balotelli to rest for four weeks and then resume training, in the belief that will rectify the problem, but Mancini is not happy at the situation.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528, ... 39,00.html

Bridge loaned to the Park

Wayne Bridge's proposed loan to West Ham has been confirmed

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_6659780,00.html

Santa Cruz on his way back to Blackburn

The long list of loanees by Manchester City might be getting longer, with Roberto Mancini confirming that Roque Santa Cruz will be returning back to Blackburn

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_6660790,00.html

in addition, Shaun Wright-Phillips might be on his way out with Birmingham interested and Fulham possibly favourites

Emmanuel Adebayor goes on a season-long loan to Real Madrid

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/SPORT/footb ... index.html

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has named a strong squad for the Europa League match against Aris Salonika in Greece tomorrow.

Leading scorer Carlos Tevez is included even though he has rarely featured in the competition this season, as is Mario Balotelli following a knee problem.

Midfielder Michael Johnson has received a boost after his injury problems by joining the group.

However James Milner is ruled out of the first leg game after being injured in the 2-1 defeat by Manchester United and Nigel de Jong is absent because of an ankle problem

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Ca ... 97329.html

City quartet Gareth Barry Joe Hart, Joleon Lescott and James Milner have joined up with the England squad for Saturday's World Cup qualifier against Wales in Cardiff.

Coach Fabio Capello has not drafted wingers Shaun Wright-Phillips and Adam Johnson this time around, while Micah Richards returns to skippering Stuart Pearce's Under-21s.

But there will be one other City player involved in the tie - Craig Bellamy, on long-term loan at Cardiff, has given up the Welsh captaincy but is recalled to the squad by new manager Gary Speed.

Yaya Toure's injury at Chelsea means he has not travelled to Ivory Coast to face Benin in Friday's qualifier, but Roberto Mancini's squad are scattered far and wide on international duty.

Vincent Kompany's Belgium tackle Austria in Vienna on Friday before hosting Azerbaijan in midweek, while David Silva's Spain have a double-header against Czech Republic and Lithuania.

Aleks Kolarov will be up against Northern Ireland with Serbia in Belgrade before a midweek date with Estonia in Tallinn, and Nigel de Jong's Dutchmen face Hungary twice in five days.

Mario Balotelli has linked up with Italy, who follow their tie in Slovenia with a midweek friendly against Ukraine, while Jo joins Brazil for their weekend friendly against Scotland.

Jerome Boateng is back in Germany for a qualifier with Kazahkstan in Kaiserslautern followed by a midweek friendly against Ausgtralia in Moenchengladbach.

Edin Dzeko has just one appointment for Bosnia and Herzegovina, the home qualifier against Romania, and is expected back at Carrington next Tuesday with most team-mates due on Thursday.

Captain Carlos Tevez has been spared a trip. He is exempted from Argentina's pair of friendlies - they face USA on the east coast followed by Costa Rica in midweek.

http://www.mcfc.co.uk/News/Team-news/20 ... ir-travels