Living under someone elses shadow is never easy. Just ask Kasper Schmeichel, the 20-year old Danish goalkeeper for Manchester City. Even while in the midst of an amazing start of conceding a single goal in his first four games with City, the first point mentioned out of everyone's mouth is his father.
Kasper happened to be born to one of the - if not the - best goalkeepers in soccer history, Peter Schmeichel. Even I had to fall into the trap by starting my post mentioning the same fact.
Peter was amazing. He accomplished incredible things. Whether Kasper lives up to those kinds of heights is irrelevant at this point. What matters is that Kasper plays well for City now. And in my opinion, he is. With Micah Richards and Richard Dunne in front of him, City has a very solid defense. And, as I metioned in my last post, I really like Vedran Corluka at left back.
An honest look at the Arsenal match on Saturday would reveal that City were lucky to only give up one goal. And I'm not referring to Robin van Persie's penalty attempt in the second half.
The Blues just looked unsettled from the opening whistle. There were periods of nice ball movement from City, but those moments were wedged between large sections of of attacking football from the Gunners.
For the record, van Persie is a classless hack. Anybody who drags their foot to catch a goalkeeper in the face - after the 'keeper clearly has the ball - should be ejected. It was sweet karma that it was van Persie who's penalty Schmeichel saved.
The loss should only be a minor set back. City is still second in the league table, and it's a very long season. I'm also happy that the next match, against Aston Villa, will be available to watch live on American television, as will - I think - Blackburn Match on September 2.
It's nice when there on tv here, otherwise I'm pretty much in the dark on City.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Promising Start for City
Blue Moon! You saw me standing alone, without a dream in my heart, with out a love of my own!
I heard it! I had always been told that the City faithful belted these lyrics in support of the Blues, but in the few years that I have followed the team I had never heard it. Until today. It was a treat for the ears to hear the words loud and clear, even away from the City of Manchester Stadium. Although, the day didn't start as planned.
Rolling over, my sleepy eyes opened to see the digits glowing 7:05. Crap!
I was late.
City would be kicking off against West Ham at Upton Park in less than an hour, and I still needed to lay a line of sprinklers. Well, finish a line.
\By the time I completed my self-imposed task and got to a television, it was already in the 22nd minute and City were already up 1-0. From the highlights I saw that Bianchi did well to get on the end of Petrov's shot that was heading wide, and the Italian tapped in his first in English football.
The first five minutes that I saw looked really good from the Blues. Petrov's strike from distance that required a diving stop from the Hammers goalkeeper Green was exciting, it would have been more so had Bianchi gotten to the rebound before Green. The shot was nice none the less.
Although, Corluca handled Ballamy very well when defending him one-on-one, the repeated charges by West Ham into the City penalty area - heading into half-time - made me nervous. In the end Richards and Dunne were usually there to save the day. Or, West Ham would choke in front of the net. Either way, City kept the lead into the break.
City were lucky that Ashton couldn't put away an open volley for West Ham less than 10 yards out deep in the second half. But the second City goal for Geovanni was a beauty. The real talent coming from Onuoha who barrelled down the sideline and then went back through a pair of West Ham defenders to get Geovanni the ball toward the top of the penalty area.
Such a promising start for a City. I hope to track their success through out the season.
I heard it! I had always been told that the City faithful belted these lyrics in support of the Blues, but in the few years that I have followed the team I had never heard it. Until today. It was a treat for the ears to hear the words loud and clear, even away from the City of Manchester Stadium. Although, the day didn't start as planned.
Rolling over, my sleepy eyes opened to see the digits glowing 7:05. Crap!
I was late.
City would be kicking off against West Ham at Upton Park in less than an hour, and I still needed to lay a line of sprinklers. Well, finish a line.
\By the time I completed my self-imposed task and got to a television, it was already in the 22nd minute and City were already up 1-0. From the highlights I saw that Bianchi did well to get on the end of Petrov's shot that was heading wide, and the Italian tapped in his first in English football.
The first five minutes that I saw looked really good from the Blues. Petrov's strike from distance that required a diving stop from the Hammers goalkeeper Green was exciting, it would have been more so had Bianchi gotten to the rebound before Green. The shot was nice none the less.
Although, Corluca handled Ballamy very well when defending him one-on-one, the repeated charges by West Ham into the City penalty area - heading into half-time - made me nervous. In the end Richards and Dunne were usually there to save the day. Or, West Ham would choke in front of the net. Either way, City kept the lead into the break.
City were lucky that Ashton couldn't put away an open volley for West Ham less than 10 yards out deep in the second half. But the second City goal for Geovanni was a beauty. The real talent coming from Onuoha who barrelled down the sideline and then went back through a pair of West Ham defenders to get Geovanni the ball toward the top of the penalty area.
Such a promising start for a City. I hope to track their success through out the season.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Why City?
Everyone has their own reasons for the clubs that they support. And each one of us relates to our team in our individual way. As an American, I can't fault those from over here who's first thought of a English football club is linked to the other Manchester side. Growing up, I was able to find one game on the television a week, and it almost always involved that other Manchester side.
I was just thrilled to have any soccer (I'm going to be interchanging those terms through out) to watch at all, so I couldn't care less who it was that I was watching.
These days that's the case with pretty of any of the big club brands that are pushing themselves into the market over here. People follow the teams that they can see and identify with, and that is who they see.
As for me, I'll admit, I first started watching City when Claudio Reyna joined the side from Sunderland. With him on the squad our local outlet for the Premiership - Fox Soccer Channel - began picking more Blues matches. As for when they became my club of choice, I'm not exactly sure. But, I'm guessing it was around the time that I plunked down the cash to have a long-sleaved home shirt - with Reyna's name and number 6, of course - shipped over from the MCFC shop.
When Beasley was brought over from PSV on loan I was already a supporter, but it was fun seeing him fly up and down the wing in City Blue...when he was healthy.
With no more American players on the squad this season I wondered whether I would start shifting my allegiances to a side like Fulham or Reading. But, there was no point. I had chosen my club, and that club is Manchester City.
This blog will be my outlet for sharing my view of the Blues from Across the Pond. Thank you to the outlets who keep my up to date on the latest City happenings. Especially thanks to Bitter and Blue as I frequent their blog the most for City info and opinion.
I was just thrilled to have any soccer (I'm going to be interchanging those terms through out) to watch at all, so I couldn't care less who it was that I was watching.
These days that's the case with pretty of any of the big club brands that are pushing themselves into the market over here. People follow the teams that they can see and identify with, and that is who they see.
As for me, I'll admit, I first started watching City when Claudio Reyna joined the side from Sunderland. With him on the squad our local outlet for the Premiership - Fox Soccer Channel - began picking more Blues matches. As for when they became my club of choice, I'm not exactly sure. But, I'm guessing it was around the time that I plunked down the cash to have a long-sleaved home shirt - with Reyna's name and number 6, of course - shipped over from the MCFC shop.
When Beasley was brought over from PSV on loan I was already a supporter, but it was fun seeing him fly up and down the wing in City Blue...when he was healthy.
With no more American players on the squad this season I wondered whether I would start shifting my allegiances to a side like Fulham or Reading. But, there was no point. I had chosen my club, and that club is Manchester City.
This blog will be my outlet for sharing my view of the Blues from Across the Pond. Thank you to the outlets who keep my up to date on the latest City happenings. Especially thanks to Bitter and Blue as I frequent their blog the most for City info and opinion.
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