It's easy to trot out cliches about yesterday's game - it was a great advert for the premier league, etc. - but the fact of the matter is that we lost. We may have lost heroically, and we can be proud of the performance, but we're still three further behind in terms of the race for Champions League spots.

Please forgive the lateness of the match report at I was out all day and didn't finish watching the game until 1 a.m. Mountain Time.
It was a cold and brisk evening in the United Arab Emirates Manchester where Arsenal would line up with JG's expected squad as mentioned in his preview.

Man City 1 (Silva 53) Arsenal 0
(Premiership)

Rarely do you feel so positive after a defeat. Improved form, a greater sense of team spirit and unity, and perhaps a slight readjustment of fan expectation has mended a lot of the bridges between the club and the supporters since our last trip to Manchester, and despite tasting defeat in the league again there yesterday, none of that will have been sullied thanks to a terrific performance that deserved more than it got.

Manchester City 1 – 0 Arsenal: Match report and player ratings

Since our painful, last visit to Manchester a few months ago, Arsenal have made tremendous progress. In fact, the club achieved such a fantastic transformation since the late arrival of experienced, quality players like Arteta, Mertesacker, and Santos that most of us were confident we could get something out of our game against the other club from Manchester today.

Manchester City 1 – 0 Arsenal: Match report and player ratings

Since our painful, last visit to Manchester a few months ago, Arsenal have made tremendous progress. In fact, the club achieved such a fantastic transformation since the late arrival of experienced, quality players like Arteta, Mertesacker, and Santos that most of us were confident we could get something out of our game against the other club from Manchester today.

Berbatron's Note: Long-time Blues fan Ratna Prashanth tells us what to expect from the big money battle between the two Blues of the premier league.

Stamford bridge is going to be the venue for a great showdown tomorrow. Its Chelsea vs Man City, otherwise titled the battle of the 2 BLUE spenders.

This is a tough one to call. Arsenal are very strong at home in the Carling Cup the last eight games ending in wins with a cumulative score of 23-3. On the other hand, City are probably the only club that can put out a second-string side that would not look far out of place in the Premiership.

For the visitors, Dzeko, Adam Johnson, Nigel De Jong, Kolo Toure, Kolarov, Zabaleta, Savic, and even Hargreaves might get a start.

Squad sheets: Liverpool v Manchester City

It should be harder for Liverpool and virtually every other club in England to keep pace with Manchester City. Nonetheless, Roberto Mancini's side can be in no doubt about the hunger they inspire in the opposition. City, indeed, are in trouble in the Champions League now because Napoli rose to the occasion on Tuesday.

Here is the possible Line-up for the Game against Colombia:
4-4-2 Formation
----------Messi -- Higuain--------
José Sosa -- Mascherano -- Gago Or Brana ? -- Pablo Guiñazú
Pablo Zabaleta -- Fede Fernández -- Nico Burdisso -- Clemente Rodríguez
----------Sergio Romero---------

27.10.2011 - Alejandro Sabella dio a conocer la lista de 21 jugadores que actúan en el exterior, para los partidos ante Bolivia y Colombia (11 y 15 de noviembre 2011), en Buenos Aires y Barranquilla respectivamente, correspondientes a las eliminatorias sudamericanas para Brasil 2014.
Messi, Lionel (Barcelona - España)Mascherano, Javier (Barcelona - España)Di María, Ángel (Real Madrid - España)Higuaín, Gonzalo (Real Madrid - España)Banega, Ever (Valencia - España)Demichelis, Martín (Málaga - España)Romero, Sergio (Sampdoria - Italia)Andújar, Mariano (Catania - Italia)Burdisso, Nicolás (Roma - Italia)Gago, Fernando (Roma - Italia)Fernández, Federico (Nápoli - Italia)Lavezzi, Ezequiel (Nápoli - Italia)Denis, Germán (Atalanta - Italia)Pastore, Javier (Paris S.

Manchester City FC's Champions League hopes seemed to over when Sergio Agüero stepped up and scored the virtually the last kick of the game to give Roberto Mancini's side an unlikey 2-1 victory over Villarreal. City's victory takes them on to four points, one behind second-placed Napoli in Group A, while after a third defeat Villarreal need a miracle when the teams reconvene in Spain on 2 November.

Sabella confirmed the team playing against Chile - It will be a 4-4-2 formation lead by Messi and Higuain.
---------Messi (Barcelona) -- Higuaín (Real Madrid)--------------
Sosa (Metallist) - Braña (Estudiantes) - Banega (Valencia) - Di María (Real Madrid)
Zabaleta (Man.

22.09.2011 - Alejandro Sabella dio a conocer (hoy) la nómina de convocados para los primeros encuentros de las eliminatorias sudamericanas, ante Chile y Venezuela, con miras al Mundial de 2014.
Arqueros
Sergio Romero (Sampdoria, Italia)
Mariano Andújar (Catania, Italia)
DefensoresPablo Zabaleta (Manchester City, Inglaterra)
Nicolás Burdisso (Roma, Italia)
Federico Fernández (Nápoli, Italia)
Martín Demichelis (Málaga, España)
Nicolás Otamendi (Porto, Portugal)
Nicolás Pareja (Spartak Moscú, Rusia)
Marcos Rojo (Spartak Moscú, Rusia)Emiliano Insúa (Sporting, Portugal)
Volantes
Javier Mascherano (Barcelona, España)
Ever Banega (Valencia, España)
Ricardo Alvarez (Inter, Italia)
Jonás Gutiérrez (Newcastle, Inglaterra)
Fabián Rinaudo (Sporting, Portugal)
José Sosa (Mettalist, Ucrania)
Javier Pastore (PSG, Francia)
Angel Di María (Real Madrid, España)
Nicolás Gaitán (Benfica, Portugal)
Delanteros Lionel Messi (Barcelona, España)
Gonzalo Higuaín (Real Madrid, España)
Sergio Agüero (Manchester City, Inglaterra)
Rodrigo Palacio (Genoa, Italia)
Eduardo Salvio (Atl.

Untold Arsenal on Twitter @UntoldArsenal By Ref Reviewer 04 Manchester City went to Tottenham. And with the footballers came ref Phil Dowd. How was his game? Min Type Foul from On C/NC Comment points weight 2 OTHER Zabaleta Vdvaart C Push 1 1 4 OTHER Crouch C Handball 1 1 6 Offside City C 1 [...]

Argentina ha sido una gran dececpción y no solo por sus resultados de empate a 1 con Bolivia y a 0 con Colombia, sino por su desempeño en el terreno de juego, un Messi que por mas es notorio que el equipo no lo quiere, un Tevez luchando por su cuenta y el Kun entrando de relevo tambien peleando lo que puede, inoperante el funcionar de la albiceleste.

01.06.2011 - Con goles de Uche (´9 y ´39), Obinna (´26) y Emenike (´51) Nigeria venció (4-1) a Argentina (sub25)(Boselli ´98 penal) en Abuja.
Amistosos que engordan la billetera, adelgazan el prestigio (y la cotización) de próximos amistosos y manifiestan la desorientación de Sergio Batista (DT) a la hora de definir a qué jugar.

Argentina Vs Nigeria on June 1st, 2011 in Nigeria.
Here is the complete roster:
Belluschi, Fernando (Porto – Portugal)
Bertolo, Fernando (Zaragoza – Spain)
Bolatti, Mario (Internacional – Brasil)
Boselli, Mauro (Genoa – Italy)
Cabral, Alejandro (Legia Varsovia – Poland)
Costa, Alberto (Valencia – Spain)
Cristaldo, Jonathan (Metalit – Ukraine)
Fazio, Federico (Sevilla – Spain)
Formica, Mauro (Blackburn Robert – England)
Gabbarini, Adrián (Independiente – Argentina)
Gaitán, Nicolás (Benfica – Portugal)
Garay, Ezequiel (Benfica – Portugal)
Insúa, Emiliano (Galasataray – Turkey)
Jara, Franco (Benfica, Portugal)
Musacchio, Mateo (Villarreal – Spain)
Perotti, Diego (Sevilla – Spain)
Piatti, Pablo (Almería – Spain)
Ruben, Marco (Villarreal – Spain)
Ustari, Oscar (Getafe – Spain)
Zabaleta, Pablo (Manchester City – England)

The domestic football season has now come to an end across Europe, and also in Mexico. Argentines have been key to the denouements of leagues and cups across western Europe, so here's the rundown of who's won what from ... Continue reading →

This week saw confirmation on Tuesday that two Argentines Carlos Tevez and Pablo Zabaleta will feature in next season's European Cup; at least assuming Tevez stays with Manchester City, who beat Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 to confirm a top ... Continue reading →

Manchester City are on a roll and barring a major collapse, will be playing Champions League football next season. Their club captain and best player, Carlos Tevez, has been sidelined since April 11th with a hamstring injury but returned to ... Continue reading →

3pm ET, live in the US on espn2
Last four head-to-head:
0-3 City (a) 08.23.10
0-0 (a) 02.21.10
2-2 (h) 11.21.09
1-1 (h) 02.22.09
Last three matches:
Liverpool: 1-2 West Brom (a); 2-0 Sunderland (a); 0-0 Braga (h)
City: 5-0 Sunderland (h); 0-2 Chelsea (a); 1-0 Kiev (h)
Goalscorers (league):
Liverpool: Kuyt 8; Meireles 5; Gerrard 4; Maxi 3; Johnson, Kyrgiakos, Ngog, Skrtel, Suarez 2; Cole 1
City: Tevez 19; Balotelli 6; YToure 5; AJohnson, Silva 4; Barry, Vieira 2; Kolarov, Lescott, Richards, KToure, Zabaleta 1
Referee: Mark Halsey
Guess at a line-up:
Reina
Carragher Skrtel Wilson Aurelio
Kuyt Lucas Meireles Maxi
Suarez Carroll
It just gets better and better.

That was a fun one wasn't it?

It didn't even remotely resemble the incredibly boring encounter at the City of Manchester Stadium back in Nov. The first 10 minutes of this game produced more action than the entire 90 minutes of the previous meeting between the two.

Straight to the impressions:

1.

David Silva has been quietly having a very productive season and has brought out the best in Tevez

16:00 City have looked the more dangerous team as they are making the better runs coupled with the crisp penetrative passing. Van de Sar hasn't been challenged though.

14:00 Micah Richards just manhandles Giggs as the Welshman goes of on one of his traedmark mazy runs.

Tweet

Man Shitty and Anti-football go hand-in-hand

In what was deemed to be a top-of-the-table clash between two of English football's current front-runners, it turned out to be a faux pas of sorts. Pundits, punters & general public like you and me, all had huge expectations from the game.

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it. | Subscribe: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

This is our first review of the football in 2011 and after taking a one week break at the end of last year we catch up with some of the big football stories good and bad from the last two weeks.

After enduring the previous home league game against the Middle Eastlands crowd from the comfort of the North Bank I anticipated something slightly different this time around. Surely the array of attacking talent that Citeh had been remorselessly acquiring would mean they would not play like a lot of away teams and sit back for a draw from the outset ?

It was a frustrating game to watch, no doubt. Don't let the scoreline fool you though, we did play well today. It reminded me a bit of last season's game at the Emirates, though we were much more aggressive going forward today. Echoes of Inter and Chelsea parking the bus in front of Barcelona crossed my mind.

Lineups are in:

Arsenal: Starters: Fabianski, Sagna, Koscielny, Djourou, Clichy, Wilshere, Song, Fabregas, Nasri, Walcott, Van Persie Bench: Rosicky, Denilson, Squillaci, Arshavin, Chamakh, Bendtner, Szczesny.,

Manchester City: Starters: Hart, Richards, Kompany, Zabaleta, Milner, Barry, Jo, Kolo, Tevez, De Jong, Yaya Bench: Given, Bridge, Wright-Phillips, A Johnson, Boateng, Lescott, Vieira

We start with the same lineup that won away at Birmingham and at home to Chelsea.

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it. | Subscribe: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

This is our first review of the football in 2011 and after taking a one week break at the end of last year we catch up with some of the big football stories good and bad from the last two weeks.