The 2012/13 Premier League season is over and, to be honest, it wasn't that great. We were definitely spoiled by the dizzying last-minute climax of the 2011/12 season, but watching Manchester United trudge to a 20th title while the rest of the league floundered and groaned had all the excitement of bingo night at Gareth Barry's house.
Aston Villa have announced a loss of £17.7m for the year to 31 May 2012 compared with a £54m loss in 2011.
Since Martin O'Neill left, Villa have been furiously trying to slash expenses, through lower wages and the sale of their best players. Last year Villa reported a profit of £26m from the sale of players.
Manchester City 1-0 Reading Premier League 22nd December 2012
The unlikely figure of Gareth Barry was the goal-hero for Man City on Saturday, after the champions struggled to break down a well-organised Reading side.
Coming to the Etihad on the back of that 5-2 drubbing by Arsenal, the Royals were expected to suffer a right hammering by the Citizens.
Liverpool academy director Frank McParland hopes Reds teenager Marc Pelosi can develop into one of the finest midfielders in the Premier League, and has compared the American to Manchester City star Gareth Barry. Pelosi joined Liverpool a year ago, despite keen interest from Major League clubs in his native USA, and the 17-year-old continues to impress in the Anfield club's youth system.
Michael Carrick has been named in the England squad for the game against Italy next week. Having
told the FA he wasn't interested in being considered for the squad if he wasn't going to play,
Carrick was left out of Roy Hodgson's team that went to Euro 2012.
Despite statistically being the most effective English midfielder in the Premier League last
season, along with Paul Scholes, Hodgson rated Scott Parker, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and
Gareth Barry more highly, meaning that Carrick wasn't asked to come out of 'retirement' and Jordan
Henderson went in his place.
Gareth Bale of Tottenham (Google Creative Commons)
The biggest match of the week saw Chelsea travel north to face Manchester City in a FA Cup semifinal clash between two teams also in the middle of a fight for Champions League qualification in the Premiership standings.
Coming into Sunday's match with home pitch advantage, Manchester City clearly had the upper hand.
Gareth Barry was charged by the FA yesterday for verbally abusing fourth official Mark Clattenburg following City's 3-2 defeat against Manchester United. The result could have been a lot worse for the blues if the linesman didn't incorrectly rule out Ashley Young's goal, which would have put us 3-0, and if the referee didn't miss Kolo Toure fouling Patrice Evra in the box.
Carlos Tevez has been in England for almost seven years but unfortunately still can't manage to string a sentence together in English.
He has been interviewed by The Sun today (which has obviously been translated) about England's problems at major tournaments and for some reason has gone on a strange rant about Gary Neville:
Players like Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney, one of the greatest players I've had the privilege to play alongside, possess those qualities —and they're not alone.
Playing tiki-taka with the interwebs Uber-pundit Gary Neville knows everything. Here's his guide to assassination [YouTube] Carlos Tevez, Gareth Barry, Edin Dzeko and Samir Nasri could all be sold by Manchester City this summer [Guardian] Young Athletic Bilbao fan not pleased by Fernando Llorente's impending move to Juventus [101GG] Brad Friedel inherits his boundless energy [.
Roberto Mancini hits out at his critics - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has insisted that his critics who are claiming his job at the club is under threat don't understand football.
Mancini thinks critics don't understand football
Rivals Manchester United have extended a whacking gap of 12 points with them at the top of the Premier League table after City suffered a humiliating 3-1 defeat at the hands of Southampton in their last match and the pressure is steadily mounting on the Italian's shoulder.
Gareth Barry of Manchester City-Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images
Roberto Mancini will be without two of his stars when Manchester City host Leeds United in the FA Cup fifth round on Sunday.
Vincent Kompany who has not played since City's last FA Cup match against Stoke City on January 26 after picking up a calf injury will again be missing in Mancini's back four.
1. Last season, a beautifully placed finish from Sergio Aguero won the title for Manchester City. It looks like a similarly well-placed finish from Gareth Barry has lost them the title this season. 2. Ryan Giggs is a machine. The man is 40 this year and he's still capable of winning Premier League matches.
Manchester City have thrown away the title - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
It is getting tough and tougher for Manchester City. The reigning Premier League champions are 12 points behind leaders Manchester United and with only 12 games left to play, the chances of retaining the title looks increasingly out of the equation.
Following Mario Ballotelli's departure to AC Milan, his erstwhile Manchester City teammate Gareth Barry has told fans not to pine after the eccentric Italian as he will soon be launching "some of the zaniest sideways passes you'll ever see".
Barry added that supporters "won't know what's hit 'em", though later retracted the statementafter becoming worried that people might think he was violent, or was suggesting that they were too stupid to know that they had been hit.
Gareth Barry's late goal allowed Manchester City to close the gap on city rivals United, while the race for other two Champions League places tightened with four teams all tied on 30 points.
It looked like Roberto Mancini's side were going to drop two valuable points in the title race to United as bottom side Reading looked set to have grabbed an unlikely point at the Etihad.
Man City vs Reading 1-0 Highlights 2012 Gareth Barry Goal Video is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter
Man City vs Reading 1-0 Highlights 2012 Gareth Barry Goal Video is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Man City vs Reading 2012 ( MCFC Reading VIDEO BELOW) Final score and result:- Man City vs Reading 1-0 ( Barry) Etihad Stadium, Manchester- 15.
Manchester City ‘reluctantly' accepts Barry's suspension - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
Manchester City have released a statement where they have ‘reluctantly' accepted Gareth Barry's suspension by the FA for using abusive/insulting words against the match official during the Manchester Derby.
Manchester City ‘reluctantly' accepts Barry's suspension - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
Manchester City have released a statement where they have ‘reluctantly' accepted Gareth Barry's suspension by the FA for using abusive/insulting words against the match official during the Manchester Derby.
Hot on the heels of yesterday's mysteriously out-of-favour Premier League players, here are five players who are being regularly picked for reasons best known to their managers. 1. Gervinho Where do you start? Arsenal splashed out £10.8million on Gervinho and have seen very little return. Arsene Wenger persists with the enigmatic Ivorian, presumably on the [.
West Ham United 0-0 Manchester City Premier League 3rd November 2012
In failing to find the back of the net for the first time since April, Man City could only manage a draw against West Ham on Saturday.
In the first half, the Hammers were the better side, with Sam Allardyce's men playing some decent football while Andy Carroll was his usual imposing self.
Another game and another argument between Roberto Mancini and another manager. The Manchester City managed has had touchline clashes with Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson as well as with Everton coach David Moyes and Mark Hughes when he was Fulham manager. Last night it was Paul Lambert's turn to clash with Mancini.
Roberto Mancini has advised fellow Premier League managers to "shut up" after a touchline squabble with Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert. The pair clashed over a tackle on City's Gareth Barry by Villa youngster Joe Bennett. The prompted Mancini to observe: "There are some managers it is better to shut up.
Like most people, OTP assumed that Gareth Barry's days of scoring goals for Aston Villa were over. The ex-Villans skipper-turned-Judas has been a hate figure at Villa Park since leaving the club to join Manchester City. But he couldn't resist rolling back the years during last night's Capital One Cup clash between the two sides.
Manchester City 2-4 Aston Villa Capital One Cup 25th September 2012
Coming just days after City were pushed all the way by Arsenal at the Etihad, the home side once again struggled against Premier League opposition, this time in the form of Paul Lambert's Aston Villa.
Manchester City are preparing for their biggest test of the season in the league so far against Arsenal on Sunday. I wouldn't say that they are running scared but they are showing signs of concern about Arsenal's excellent form compared to their average start to the season.
England midfielder Gareth Barry has just returned to the City line up following injury and admits that the City defense needs to improve drastically after failing to keep a clean sheet since pre-season.
Five goals in the final 22 minutes of Real Madrid's Champions League opener against Man City turned a scoreless start to the group of death into an unexpected 3-2 win with a 90th-minute Cristiano Ronaldo goal for the hosts. It was the kind of finish that makes you wish the match could go on a bit longer, which is why we must ask: What if it continued?
Nuri Sahin has finally completed his medical at Melwood and signed his one year deal with Liverpool
FC.
He becomes the first Turkish player ever to join LFC and I wish him all the best for the Season
ahead. He is a skilful central mid-fielder with a great range of passing to his game, take note
Charlie Adam.
The Reds begin their first home game of the season against Premier League Champions Manchester
City on Sunday, 26th August 2012. Daniel Agger is on a red card and will not feature against
Manchester City. The good news is full back Jose Enrique could be fit in time to partner with Glen
Johnson at the back.
So a couple of days after Roberto Mancini calls out Manchester City's football administrator
Brian Marwood over the club's failure to sign any new players this summer, City finally sign their
first player: Everton reserve Jack Rodwell for £12m. The 21-year-old midfielder has signed a
five-year deal at City for in excess of £100,000-a-week.
Gareth Barry and Micah Richards are ruled away of Manchester City's Community Shield clash with
Chelsea on Sunday. HTTP://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/image/62185000/jpg/_62185577_micahrichards.jpg
Gerrard and Wilshere deliver new hope for England - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
England started their 2013 journey on high after defeating Brazil 2-1 on Wednesday night at the Wembley Stadium. Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard scored the winner as England ended their 23-year wait for victory over the South American giants.
In the summer, Michael Carrick wasn't called up to the Euro 2012 squad because he had told the FA if he wasn't going to play, there was no point in him going. Even with Frank Lampard and Gareth Barry ruled out through injury, Roy Hodgson opted against asking Carrick to play, and instead went to the tournament with Steven Gerrard, Scott Parker and Jordan Henderson as his midfield options.
Tottenham midfielder Scott Parker is unsure if England players should even listed to suggestions
that they have exceeded what was expected of them in Euro 2012.
The Three Lions unquestionably arrived with very low expectations as new manager Roy Hodgson was
criticized for his squad selection and the absence of injured stars such as Frank Lampard and
Gareth Barry had to be of concern.
Gerrard's gaudy stats against Oleg Blokhin's blokes
Stevie G's all round performance against Ukraine earn universal plaudits. He's been the
forgotten man in the build up to the Euro but this should remind us he can turn a game on its head
when he's in top form. And who misses Frank Lampard and Gareth Barry now?
We've seen robots decapitate themselves in their attempts to play football, so now they are attempting to take control of the game in a different way. By mowing the pitch with minimal help from humans. That sound you just heard is all the Groundskeeper Willies of the world gasping in horror.
Prior t0 the Bundesliga match between Augsburg and Hannover 96, the pitch was mowed by automatic mowing machines created by Augsburg's shirt sponsor Al-Ko.
Not sure quite what Gareth Barry was trying to do here pass it back to Joe Hart, knock it out for a corner? Poor old Barry had already made an error for Southampton's first goal, but this OG after the break is odd to say the least.
I've chosen to write a piece for the people that ask: "What's happened to Aston Villa in recent seasons?" The answer is this, they've lost their entire midfield in the space of two years without replacing them with players anywhere near their quality or playing style.
