Liquidator

Their ground sounds like a horrible place to go ''Manchester City are fearful of a repeat of the violence which has marred Napoli’s games in Europe in recent years. It has forced them to take the unprecedented step of advising fans not to be seen around the Italian city in scarves and club shirts. About 800 fans have purchased tickets for the game in Italy, but Naples has become one of the most notoriously volatile venues in Europe for visiting supporters. Four Bayern Munich fans were slashed outside the Stadio San Paolo last month, amid several vicious assaults on German supporters by knife-wielding thugs on mopeds. Last season, three Liverpool fans required treatment for knife wounds before a Europa Cup tie. City have liaised with the Anfield club and been fully briefed of the dangers. A club statement released on Thursday informed supporters there had been discussions with Greater Manchester Police, the British consulate in Naples and the Italian police in an effort to maximise security around the game. City fans have been informed of several ‘no go areas’ which are especially dangerous, including the city centre and the area around Naples railway station. There is also strong advice to use only designated shuttle buses to and from the ground. Most telling is the call for fans to remain in groups and avoid wearing replica shirts outside the stadium, or anything that will identify them as visiting supporters. “We would advise against wearing club colours away from the game, particularly when taking public transport,” read the statement. Each of the travelling supporters has been sent a letter by City’s operations manager Steve Sayer reiterating this advice. It is the first time City have ever felt compelled to offer such a warning to their travelling supporters, but the Napoli fans have proven to be unwelcoming hosts in the recent past. The anxieties may be increased due to the potentially inflammatory nature of the fixture, as a City victory would effectively end the Italians’ hopes of qualification.''

This will be either one of those games where we make it difficult for ourselves or we can have them for breakfast. You only have to look at the goals which they conceded against Tottenham at home and you realise that their defence is by far the worst in the Premier League. However, we should not underestimate Wigan because they beat us 3-1 at the DW two years back and we struggled to beat them convincingly when we played them at the Bridge in April. They wasted some very good chances towards the end of the game and our goal in all honestly should not have counted in my opinion. With the huge game against Spuds on Thursday we should probably rest a few players, most notably Mata, Sturridge, Romeu and Drogba in my opinion. A front 3 of Malouda-Torres-Kalou should still be enough to beat Wigan IMO. I would not expect too much either and in such a congested period of fixtures we should not be expected several 3-0 wins etc. in a row because it will be difficult to maintain high standards with such little rest time between matches.

Maybe its out of pity I mean look at him! Really unfair and like you say if Andre commented on this the media and FA would turn on him even more

shouldn't really be in this section but tomorrow I am hoping to get 2 tickets (one with my Season Ticket and one with a membership. these are linked) but it says tickets go on sale for members tomorrow? The ST reservation period ended today so shouldn't they get time to purchase a seat other than their own tomorrow at the same time as members? Would I be able to buy 1 ticket with a membership and one with a ST tomorrow?

we should be getting at least 11 points from those games IMO

Barcelona's 2nd goal was very lucky but they were still far better than Madrid. The pressing and putting pressure on the Barca back 4 worked but it was only going to work up to a certain point. Players will tire very quickly chasing down Barca players like that

Its going to absolutely piss it down and be very windy. not good playing conditions

why couldn't it have happened to Rooney?

what a pee take. This happened last season against Ipswich too. At least Portsmouth have only taken 3000 seats

It would be sad if he did go. He is one of my favourite players to have ever put on the blue shirt and on his day he is definitely the best striker in the world. The thing is, we are seeing the best of him less and less as he gets older. If we wanted to keep the idea of using a large target man then we would be putting too much pressure on Lukaku next season to step in and play like Drogba and get 20+ goals per season. We keep saying with Drogba 'one more season' and it has to end at some point though. We may have to go through a 'striker transition' period while Lukaku matures more as a footballer, which could be dangerous because at the moment Sturridge is our only striker who can hit the net who will probably be here next season

There is not enough demand for a stadium at the moment although there may be in 10 or so years time but that is a long way off. Yes we usually sell out pretty quickly but lets not forget that last summer Season Tickets were practically on general sale. Liverpool and Man U have thousands on their waiting lists and they have bigger stadiums than us. Every CL group game went on general sale this season too (although that may be due to the ridiculous price increases) and Swansea, Norwich, Wolves, Fulham (CC and league), Aston Villa have all had tickets go on general sale

http://www.esquire.co.uk/2011/12/how-to-wear-colour-with-david-luiz/ Is there anything this guy can't do?

I love Brazil too Artinho...

I'm not going to lie, this is the most worried I have been for a long time about a home game. Man City are steamrollering their way to the league and did smash 5 past Norwich. Hopefully we do not play the high line because if we do David Silva, Aguero and Nasri will absolutely destroy us on the break. The only positive is that City have been leaking stupid goals recently

Drogba Credit also has to go to Romeu, Ramires, Mata, Sturridge and Ivanovic who all had very good games

He has aged a lot. i saw him on Sky Sports today with a clip from July. Look at him now though

manpe

While i'm sitting down with the family having some shitty casserole

Really harsh on Paulo. Great servant to the club who has never complained when he is not in the team yet you moan at him for still being here. At least he is willing to fight for his place and not hand in a transfer request

I'll miss Kalou in a way. Good servant to the club who always gave 100%

I agree with Sh0n3x because he is right and he is cool

And against Man U, Norwich and Tottenham :/

Really don't think we would stick a 16 year old who has never played a proper game for the first team up against Aguero, Dzeko or Balotelli. Bertrand probably wouldn't go there either. I don't see Alex being completely frozen out and that would be very unfair if we did do that. I would expect him or Ivanovic to start alongside Terry

I'll miss you big 'Al. Your freekicks

Barca 1-0 up against Levante