Petrov surgery blow revealed |
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'Martin Petrov surgery blow for Manchester City'
Mark Hughes, the Manchester City manager, has made no secret of his desire to strengthen his squad in January, but the need for recruits became more pressing yesterday after Martin Petrov, the winger, had knee surgery that will rule him out for up to four months.
Hughes has submitted his list of transfer targets to Sheikh Mansour, the club's owner, and Khaldoon al-Mubarak, the chairman, and will hope that he can get the five or six players he wants as he wrestles with a porous defence and mounting injury list.
Petrov joins Valeri Bojinov, the striker, who is recovering from a snapped Achilles tendon, on the long-term injury list, and with Joe Hart, the goalkeeper, out for up to four weeks with a sprained left ankle and Michael Johnson, the midfield player, well short of match fitness after a groin injury, the transfer window cannot come soon enough for Hughes.
Too many leading players are struggling for form, among them Richard Dunne and Micah Richards, the defenders, and Jô, the striker, who was included in the reserve-team squad for the game at home to Bolton Wanderers last night. With Arsenal and Manchester United up next in the Barclays Premier League, things may get worse before they can get better.
The 2-2 draw away to Hull City on Sunday represented an improvement of sorts, although again City's deficiencies in defence were laid bare. They have conceded 22 goals in 13 league matches this season, 15 of which have been shipped in their past eight league matches.
With many senior players struggling for consistency, Robinho's form since his British-record £34.2 million move from Real Madrid has at least been a source of comfort and the manager intimated yesterday that the Brazil forward could be made captain in the future. Robinho was handed the armband in the absence of the suspended Dunne against Hull City on Sunday.
“The armband was something that he deserved and relished,” Hughes said. “Who knows if he is long-term captain material? He has done his claims no harm with what he did [in the 2-2 draw] at the KC Stadium.”
Today's Daily Star reveals...
'ROBINHO GETS THUMBS UP FROM MAN CITY TEAMMATES'
ROBINHO’S Manchester City team-mates have given him the thumbs up as stand-in skipper.
Boss Mark Hughes believes the £32.5m star has the qualities to be the regular team leader.
And Stephen Ireland said Robinho was a good choice as captain at Hull on Sunday in the absence of suspended Richard Dunne.
Robinho’s English is limited, but Ireland said: “People think he might not be able to communicate, but he does talk and he inspires and leads through what he does on the pitch.
“He is quick to take up positions, to make space for his team-mates and he works so hard for the side.
“It was fair that he was given the armband.”
The Daily Mail tell us...
'Police allow Manchester City and United to play home games on same night'
A rare double bill of football will take place in Manchester next month - with both City and United at home on the same night.
United's Carling Cup quarter-final tie against Blackburn has been put back 24 hours to Wednesday, December 3, the night on which City are taking on Paris St Germain in the UEFA Cup at Eastlands.
United and Blackburn were due to play the previous evening but the two clubs were keen to postpone their tie for 24 hours because they both have fixtures on Sunday, November 30. United have a big derby game against City at Eastlands while Blackburn facing a lengthy trip to Portsmouth on the same day.
With United due to play a Champions League tie against Aalborg the following week before flying to Japan for the World Club Cup, there was little opportunity for the Carling Cup tie to be played at a later date as the semi-finals are due to take place at the beginning on January.
However, following discussions with Greater Manchester Police, the Football League have confirmed that the Carling Cup clash at Old Trafford will now take place on December 3.
And finally, the Sun say...
'£32m ace Robinho catches the bus'
BRITAIN’S most expensive soccer star Robinho stunned fans by snubbing flash motors – to catch a BUS.
The £32million Brazilian superstar has been using the public transport system to take his girlfriend on shopping trips.
Other passengers could not believe it when they saw the pair board a double decker in the centre of Manchester.
Robinho, who earns £140,000 a week, stumped up £6 for two tickets on the five-mile journey to the out-of-town Trafford Shopping Centre.
One traveller said: “He sat downstairs as if it was the most normal thing for a multi-millionaire footballer to do. Word quickly went round about who he was. Nobody quite believed it and some just stared open-mouthed.
“You’d think Robinho would have a fleet of luxury motors like so many other Premier League players.
“At the very least you’d expect him to be driven by a chauffeur or maybe, at a push, pay for a taxi. But a bus? Amazing!”
Robinho has just been appointed Manchester City’s captain by manager Mark Hughes after signing from Real Madrid earlier this year.
He and his girlfriend are thought to have caught another bus later in the day back to the five-star hotel where he is staying.
Kasper the man that can? |
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'Kasper: I'm the Man for City'
KASPER SCHMEICHEL insists he is ready to step in for injured pal Joe Hart and help turn Manchester City’s fortunes around.
Hart had scans yesterday on the ankle injury he suffered at Hull.
While there is no ligament damage, he will still be out for up to four weeks with a sprain.
City boss Mark Hughes may look to bring in an emergency loan keeper as cover with big games against Arsenal and Manchester United to come before the end of the month.
But Schmeichel has no fears about stepping in after making his first league appearance for the club for almost 14 months at the KC Stadium.
Since then he has had temporary stints with Championship clubs Coventry and Cardiff and looked to be heading for the Eastlands exit.
The Dane, 22, said: “Not playing is frustrating but Joe has done well. I’ve been working harder than I ever have. I’m doing a hard regime in the gym.
“I just wanted to be in as good a shape as possible for whenever I got the call. I felt ready when I came on against Hull.”
Hart missed out on the chance to win his second England cap against Germany tomorrow when he collided with Tigers scorer Daniel Cousin.
Schmeichel added: “Joe’s gutted. We all are gutted for him because he’s worked so hard recently.
“It could only happen with an international coming up. It’s so typical. He’s a very good friend and I’m really sorry for him.”
Meanwhile the Daily Telegraph tell us...
'Manchester City hope to sign loan cover for injured England absentee Joe Hart'
Manchester City will look to sign a short-term replacement for the injured Joe Hart after the goalkeeper was ruled out for a month after badly spraining an ankle during the club’s 2-2 draw with Hull City.
Hart, who was named in Fabio Capello’s England squad to face Germany in Berlin this week but was forced to pull out due to the injury, was initially thought to have been even more seriously hurt, before a scan relieved that he had avoided any complicated ligament damage.
Under Premier League rules a club can be granted special permission to arrange a loan outside the normal transfer window if injuries have left them unreasonably exposed.
With Hart expected to miss at least six matches City are confident their request will be granted.
Mark Hughes’ problems arise from a lack of genuine faith in the man who replaced Hart at the KC Stadium, Kasper Schmeichel.
Schmeichel, who was called in to action after Hart collided with Hull City’s Daniel Cousin as the striker scored the hosts’ first goal of the game after Ben Tal Haim had sold Hart short with a poor back pass, has spent much of the last two seasons on loan, most recently at Coventry City.
Although the Dane had a run of games in the City first team at the start of last season, Hughes is believed to have misgivings and his appearance against Hull City was his first for 14 months.
Ideally Hughes would want to borrow Manchester United’s third choice goalkeeper, Ben Foster, though whether Sir Alex Ferguson would allow their city rivals to profit from the player’s talents is debatable.
The issue has come to a head for City after they have managed to restrict the opposition to less than two goals just once in their last eight matches, even with Hart, and a fixture list that contains games against United and Arsenal in the next month.
The same paper praises the great work done by our City in the Community team...
'London 2012 should embrace Manchester City stadium model with community work'
Another day, another award for Manchester City's backroom organisation.
While out on the pitch City's team have not won anything of significance since 1976, behind the scenes their community department has been hoovering up trophies with practised ease. Last night at the North West Football Awards, City's representatives were marching up to the podium once more to pick up the accolade for the best community scheme in the region, an honour shared with Bolton Wanderers.
This was added to the gong received at Wembley last month for running the country's best Kickz programme, the irritatingly spelt but admirably intentioned nationwide Football Foundation-funded operation to engage inner city youngsters in sport.
There are plenty of other clubs involving themselves in their local environs. Everton, Liverpool, West Ham to name but three run well-resourced departments that are making a difference. But Manchester City are a step ahead of the rest. In many ways, they are the Manchester United of community work.
A trip to the City of Manchester Stadium quickly disabuses you of the notion that top flight football is institutionally negligent of its roots. Every day of the week the place hums with activity. There are teenagers in classrooms under the stands doing maths projects, there are children playing basketball in the players' warm-up room, in one of the concourses a gaggle of pensioners has gathered to start their morning health walk.
There are sports taster days and six-a-side football tournaments, performing arts events and senior citizens tea dances (particularly popular in the days when graced by the former manager Sven Goran Eriksson). All this in addition to an outreach programme, with coaches doing everything from running PE lessons in primary schools to encouraging adolescents to take a test for sexually transmitted diseases. Located as City is in one of the most depressed wards in the country, territory mired in poverty and disappointment, it is work that is as necessary as it is well received.
If you want to know why City have become the best in the country, the answer is in the very building in which it is based. When the club moved to the City of Manchester stadium after the Commonwealth Games in 2002, they did so on condition that they made the place totally accessible to the local community. If they were to get use of a magnificent new building, largely funded by council tax-payers' money, the city council insisted on that as a minimum condition. Such a caveat, however, was no problem for a club who already boasted a vibrant community department from their time at Maine Road. And the council were thrilled with their new tenant, appreciating that nobody can approach this sort of work with quite the kudos of a football club. The fact is, being Manchester City can help open doors and minds that remain solidly barred to other health and educational professionals thereabouts. City and the stadium is a union which has had huge knock-on benefit locally.
Odd then, since they are so keen on words like legacy and delivery that the organisers of London 2012 have not heeded Manchester's experience. Unlike Beijing's Bird's Nest, or Athens' Olympic stadium, the City of Manchester is no white elephant. In use every day of the week, every week of the year, it is a vibrant, purposeful place. Even on match days. And it is so because its tenant is a football club.
Lord Coe has ruled out the idea of one of London's teams taking over his main stadium after 2012. "We are not in the business of building football grounds," he has said. Instead, he has promised the IAAF that London will have the athletics stadium that never materialised after the debacle of the cancelled World Championships in 2000. But if he wants his building to live after the Games, if he wants it to become a community hub, if he wants it to be used for more than a fortnight a year for an athletics meet, then the Manchester model would suggest he has to embrace football. It is the best way to deliver the legacy he insists is the purpose of the Games. Even as his building begins to take shape in east London, there is still time to make the call.
And finally, after all going quiet on the real Ronaldo front, the Daily Mirror bring it up again...
'Ronaldo: I'll join Manchester City'
Brazil legend Ronaldo claims he is on course for a move to Manchester City in January.
The 32-year-old star has piled on the flab while battling back from a knee injury. But the former Real Madrid and Barcelona striker said: "I am at 70 per cent. In other words, very close to playing again.
"I know that there's interest from Manchester City - and I am focused on my recovery to explore this." And Ronaldo's father Nelia revealed: "He wants to return to Europe."
His representative Fabiano Farah said: "We want a project that will live up to the history of Ronaldo."
City boss Mark Hughes has already shown interest in Blackburn striker Roque Santa Cruz. But it is a potential role at City for Ronaldo that will create the biggest buzz around Eastlands.
To shed the pounds Ronaldo is training at Rio de Janeiro club Flamengo with top physio Bruno Mazziotti.
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