Here is a statistical breakdown of Manchester City's performance for the start of the 2011/12 season.

Manchester City have created more chances than any other team in the Premier League up to 18 games:

via www.barriesview.com

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This is an unashamed plug for my new book - "Thirty Five Years" about Manchester City's 2010/11 season. It is available now on Amazon, link here for more info:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Thirty-Five-Personal-Manchester-2010-2011-ebook/dp/B006IOS950/ref=sr_1_61?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1323201582&sr=1-61#_

(Or, just search for "Thirty Five Years Manchester City")

The book is only available (so far) as an "e-Book" ie it can be downloaded for Kindle and PC-based readers, though it will also be available on the WH Smith and i-Tunes websites soon. Please have a look, it is also possible on the Amazon site to see the first few pages of the book to get a feel for the contents etc. & of course please feel free to pass this on to anyone you know who might be interested!

Thanks!

=Steve Maclean=

'A team of ex-footballers and F1 drivers including Vitaly Petrov, Felipe Massa and Sergio Perez are undone by a UAE XI featuring Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al-Mubarak.' So I guess if Aguero sprains a groin, Balotelli shoots off fireworks or Dzeko decides "screw this reliability thing, I wanna make a name for myself" and they can't go, we've got this guy. Check out the last goal. I gotta say, "A" for effort. 

I can't stop laughing. I've seen some funny fan behavior but this takes the cake for me. I hope the B&B community, especially, enjoys it. If America had more fans like this, I just might attend more sporting events. I may just have to fork over the cash for the flight from Los Angeles to Manchester. And this post has to be 75 words long at a minimum, I suppose I'll just have to keep typing until I finally get to that magical number. 

I'm in America. I don't know how reputable the Daily Mail is. But according to the DM, Tevez was depressed, apparently ate anything and everything that was in front of him and not moving and afterward checked himself into a clinic. 

For your reading pleasure: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2033426/Carlos-Tevez-suffered-eating-disorder.html

My own opinion: yes, athletes are exceedingly well paid. But I have met professional athletes who get traded and find themselves in a strange town, putting up the family in a hotel, getting to know a new organization, etc. It can cause problems. Tevez is not the first nor the last player to go through this. I would add that addictions are awful. He'll get his share of jokes at his expense but he's got sympathy from me. I wish him well. 

As the title suggest I decided to put up a little side post for the FPL.

Most of you I assume are partaking in it.

The scores are a bit inflated due to the recent goal scoring drama's that took place with United and City.

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LIsten up.

Owning a sports team has never, ever been entirely about profit. Economists will tell you that there are two things involved with a purchase--economic benefit ($) and psychic benefit. When you buy an expensive painting, you are not doing so necessarily because of the economic benefit; you are doing so for the psychic benefit. It's what collectors do. Owning a sports team is not all that different from collecting great works of art--sometimes you say damn the expense, I want a trophy. It's why perfectly good businessmen will make horrific decisions in sport; they want a toy, they can buy the toy and the toy (*ahem* Adebayor *ahem*) turns out to be not so great. (h/t for all of this to Malcolm Gladwell's ESPN column). 

The owners of Man City are essentially saying, "damn the profits, let's win." As a fan, I'm fine with that. Other fans are screaming that we're cheating somehow, that if we win it won't be as "pure" as other teams who have won in the past. To that I say, Man City is doing to the Premier League what the big 4 have been doing for years now. For a long time, people have wondered what would happen if Man U was challenged by another team that could match the red menace's resources. We're about to find out. That our resources are coming from sheikh's who love a good toy over profit, who want the psychic benefit over the economic benefit, is not something to be criticized. The same fans who criticize City for spending oodles of money on players are spending oodles of money on red jerseys, tickets, concessions, etc. and I'm not sure these fans are getting an economic benefit for their actions. Well, of course they aren't. They are getting a psychic benefit. 

In short, that any fan can look at City and say, "Not fair! You spending too much!" is just the height of hypocrisy and ignorance. This is the Premiership. Spending money has always made the difference and always will. And if our spending for a psychic benefit is a source of your current psychic pain, all the better. 

Sincerely,

Man City Fans (EPL Champions, 2012)

 

 

Just thought it was worth mentioning that if Arsenal end up moving on tomorrow against udinese... it would then be possible that City would be in a group with the three league champions from the other big three of the four European leagues.  Yes Barcelona, A.C. Milan, City, and Borussia Dourtmund all would then have a small chance at being in the same group.  Make sure you re wearing something lucky on Thursday so this outcome does not become reality....maybe we should have taken Europa league more serious last year now looking back hahaha  

OK so I am a new City fan residing in the states. I chose City because the fans are awesome and because of a pretty obvious Yankees; Mets: United; City parallel. (I'm a Mets fan)  I just finished watching the win over Bolton on an ESPN Deportes stream, so I didn't get an understandable explanation for Tevez' entry into the game. I thought I saw some months ago that City sold Tevez to Corinthians because he wanted to leave, and Aguero was signed to replace him. Last week, I didn't see Tevez at all. I understand soccer has loans but I still don't understand this situation. I know that the explanation is probably scattered through posts here, but going back and forth would probably enhance my confusion. If one of you, way more educated on soccer and Man City than me, could give me and explanation that'd be great.

I grew up an FC Barcelona fan but have recently grown a liking to City. In fact I really really like City now, I know it will take a few more years before I fall in love with the club the way most of you do but I'm really interested in learning more about the Club. So could some one help me learn more about City? What are the most important things i need to remember? I personally am not one to band wagon, there's a lot of hate for City because of the new money, but the reason I really wanna support city is because it's the first Asian owned club that actually has a shot at dethroning the usual Goliaths. Also if there's any fans that deserve a winning team it's city fans because of there loyalty and that's what I wanna latch myself to mostly. I love Barca but, La Liga has been dull the past couple of years hence the interest in the Prem. Thanks for your time guys, appreciate you reading this little post of mine.