MARTIN SAMUEL- Manchester City gloom is down to lack of firepower
02 Dec 2009 - 01:02:01
Well, fancy that. It turns out Sir Alex Ferguson does know a bit about football after all.
It was Ferguson who initially reckoned Carlos Tevez was not a goal-scorer worth upwards of £30million; Ferguson whose selections indicated he thought a club with ambition to win the title needed a striker of greater potency; Ferguson who frequently preferred Tevez as a substitute; Ferguson who suffered plenty of lip from Manchester United supporters mistaking Tevez's perspiration for inspiration.
Not a bad judge, though, was he? Not now potentially the most expensive signing in British transfer history with a fee ranging from £32m to £47m, depending whose figures you believe has reached the month of December having scored for Manchester City against a single Premier League team.
Lack of firepower: £30m Carlos Tevez - or £47m, depending on whose figures you believe - has failed to score in the league since his double over West Ham
That was West Ham United, on September 28, 2009. Tevez scored twice ina 3-1 victory: the last league game City won. Beyond it, Tevez hasscored against Crystal Palace and Scunthorpe United in the Carling Cup.It is doubtful this is the competition Sheik Mansour had in mind whenhe sanctioned such a fee on one player, not tomention wages in the region of £145,000 per week.
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Tevez came on for Gareth Barry after 61 minutes and initially turnedthe game in City's favour. He has great worth used in this way, nodoubt about it.
The great match-winners, however, are more discerning in theirconservation of energy. 'You know what I am? I'm like a dog chasingcars,' says The Joker, as played by Heath Ledger in the film The DarkKnight. 'I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it.'
That is how Tevez goes at a game: with an abandon that earns instantadmirers for its selflessness, but is not always the most effective wayto win. Perhaps this is why, to complete the car-chasing analogy, whenTevez does get a chance, everything is often happening so quickly, hedoes not take it.
The game against Hull City was typical, in that Tevez linked the play well and helped create chances, but did not take his own.
This profligacy and Tevez is not alone is now having a seriousimpact on Manchester City's season. Failing to win a league game in twomonths cannot be airily dismissed, even if all matches in that timehave been drawn.
City have taken seven points from the last 21. The purchase of a£32m striker indeed of a strike force costing substantially more than£100m by the time Robinho, Emmanuel Adebayor, Craig Bellamy and RoqueSanta Cruz are included is supposed to insure against such streaks.
Five alive: Adebayor and Bellamy have eached scored five - both more than Tevez
City believed they were buying efficiency, forwards capable ofdeciding matches against inferior opposition, the way Fernando Torresdoes for Liverpool or Didier Drogba for Chelsea.
This recent run has largely pitted City against mediocrity, butTevez is the greatest disappointment. He has failed to score in 90minutes against Fulham, Birmingham City and Hull, 83 minutes against Wigan Athletic and 73 minutes against Burnley.
To complicate matters, the need to keep him happy will weigh heavilyon his manager, Mark Hughes. He left him out at Anfield, but this wasthe sort of treatment Tevez received at United, and those two yearsended in rancour. So Tevez started next time, with Bellamy relegated tothe bench. The irony is that Hughes appeared to have located theperfect use for Tevez against Liverpool, but risks confrontation if heperseveres with it.
Maybe he risks more this way. Manchester City's present malaise ismore complex than a barren run for one forward Adebayor and Bellamyhave only scored five league goals each, and the defence seem unable tomaintain a lead but the fact remains that no team of serious intentcan thrive with a main striker who scores twice before December.
Bench mark: Sir Alex Ferguson was right to use Tevez mainly as an impact sub
Tevez made his greatest impact at West Ham in 2007 because the goalsrequired to make a difference to a team fighting relegation do notcompare in number to those needed at the other end of the table.
During the infamous campaign after which Lord Griffiths surmisedTevez single-handedly saved West Ham, he scored just seven goals. Asthey arrived in a glut, and late, these proved vital, but in number itwas a very ordinary return considering his status as a world-classforward with Argentina.
Tevez wasn't even West Ham's top goalscorer Bobby Zamora got 11 although there were two Premier League clubs where he would have been:Watford and Manchester City.
Joey Barton's six qualified him as something of a hot-shot thatseason. Spend 125 million quid on strikers, however, and you areentitled to think the famine is over.
First question: if Avram Grant is the nice chap that everybodyclaims him to be, how come at just about every club where he isappointed director of football, the manager gets the bullet withinmonths and he gets his job?
Second question: if the job of director of football is so vital, how come Grant is not working with one now?
Pass the sick bag, Gordon...John Junor, the late editor of the Sunday Express, was famous for his acerbic columns.
If he found something particularly unspeakable, he would use the phrase: 'Pass the sick bag, Alice.'
Pass the sick bag: Prime Minister Gordon Brown meets FIFA vice-president Jack Warner to discuss England's 2018 World Cup bid
Funny that I should be reminded of him on seeing this photograph ofGordon Brown making nice with Jack Warner, next to fawning reportsclaiming the Prime Minister had rescued the 2018 World Cup bid.
Takeaway that leaves a bad tasteAs we know, mainly from the mouths of lickspittles such as JacquesRogge, Ken Livingstone and Tessa Jowell, part of the worth of awardingan Olympics to Beijing was that it would open China to the world,bringing years of oppression closer to an end.
So you will no doubt be intrigued to hear what happened to Huang Qi,an activist who publicised the sub-standard construction of schoolproperty, which led to the deaths of 5,335 children when their schoolscollapsed in the Sichuan Province earthquake.
Last week, after a court hearing in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan,Huang Qi was found guilty of possessing state secrets. No specificdetails were given beyond the ownership of 'certain documents from acertain city'. His trial lasted 10 minutes and he was sentenced tothree years in prison. Solitary confinement and torture are notuncommon in such cases.
Still, what about that opening ceremony, eh? What about that Bird'sNest? And good to know it was worthwhile, now they are enjoying so muchfreedom over there. And didn't it run smoothly?
'London will have a hard act to follow,' as Rogge, head of theInternational Olympic Committee, said. One wonders how China pulled itoff.
It was almost as if they had some hold over people.
Despite the disappointment of losing in a penalty shootout, there isstill time for David Beckham, of LA Galaxy, to become only the secondEnglishman to win the title in three countries, having already done sowith Manchester United and then Real Madrid in Spain.
Trevor Steven wasthe first, doing it with Everton, Rangers and Olympique Marseille.
Added time: Beckham will have more opportunities to win three different titles
And some of you may think it preposterous that a Mickey Mouse leagueof poor quality and no significance is taken seriously in this way.
But, to be fair, Steven did win it in England and France, too.
And while we're at it...David Haye's victory over the giant Nikolai Valuev to win the WBAheavyweight championship of the world captured the imagination of theBritish public.
Back to reality: David Haye may be contractually obliged to fight 39-year-old Autralian, Kali Meehan
His mandatory title defence, against John Ruiz next year, is of lessinterest but would still whet the appetite for big-money fights againstthe Klitschko brothers, Wladimir and Vitali.
That was the plan, anyway, until promoter Don King produced Kali Meehan, a 39-year-old Australian who was once stopped in 32 seconds by Danny Williams.
King claims Meehan will fight Ruslan Chagaev, of Uzbekistan, for theright to meet the winner of Haye-Ruiz. As usual, there are claims andcounter-claims from all sides.
And so, as the eyes glaze and the eyelids droop, boxing descends toits standard state of contractual tedium: wake us up when someonethrows a punch, gentlemen.
Keeping the faithFabio Capello take heart. It is not only English football that is bedevilled with doubts over goalkeepers. Edwin van der Sar has been asked to come out of international retirement for Holland at the 2010 World Cup.
Like England, the Dutch fear their team has a substantial weakness.The No 1, Maarten Stekelenburg, lost his place with Ajax last seasonafter a series of erratic performances. His understudy, Michel Vorm,did not start a game for Hollanduntil facing Japan in a friendly in September, while third choice PietVelthuizen, 23, won his first cap as a second-half substitute in thatmatch.
Sending out an SOS: Holland are desperate for Van der Sar to end his retirement
As recently as April last year, coach Bert van Marwijk was forced toturn to Henk Timmer in a World Cup qualifier with Macedonia.
Timmer, 37, was released by Feyenoord at the end of the season and is still without a club.
Hence the entreaties to Van der Sar. Accept, however, and Holland's problemsare solved. If only England's were that simple.
There is a rather arrogant presumption that the Europa Cup is there for Liverpool's taking.
A quick scout around the European groups suggests the champions ofGermany, Russia or maybe even Italy, the league leaders in Turkey, notto mention Valencia, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Ajax and Benfica may havecontradictory opinions on this.
What Liverpool are guaranteed to collect, however, is the lion'sshare of the television revenue because, like the majority of clubsrelegated from the Champions League, they will instantly be a biggerdraw to broadcasters than those that have kept the Europa League going.
No wonder so many do not feel motivated to put out their best players in the early matches.
While the Europa League remains the dumping ground for Champions League failures, it will always be flawed.
The candidate cities are in and now the World Cup team needs to useall its wisdom to move England's bid forward with its choice of 2018venues.
The idea of taking games to backwaters in the West Country is atfirst appealing, but why should Home Park be rewarded with World Cupfootball when fewer than 10,000 can be bothered to watch PlymouthArgyle?
Bristol is one of England's biggest cities but, between them,Bristol City and Bristol Rovers are only marginally better supportedthan Ipswich Town.
Sacrilege: MK Dons, who infamously stole Wimbledon, should not host in 2018
As for Milton Keynes, in the eyes of most fans its fame comes fromthe theft of another club, Wimbledon, so to pick it ahead of a greatfootball city such as Liverpool or Newcastle would be sacrilege.
We need to choose sensibly. England's bid has few enough friends as it is.
My choice: London (Wembley, Emirates Stadium), Nottingham (CityGround), Birmingham (Villa Park), Liverpool (Anfield), Manchester (OldTrafford), Sheffield (Bramall Lane), Leeds, Sunderland, Newcastle.
Arsene Wenger is furious at the way Dutch national team doctors treated Robin van Persie's injured ankle.
Imagine allowing him to go to Serbia to have a barmpot massage horseplacenta into the area, when a proper operation was required. Oh,sorry, that was Arsenal.
READ MARTIN SAMUEL EVERY MONDAY AND WEDNESDAYCONTACT MARTIN AT: m.samuel@dailymail.co.uk Martin Samuel: Sorry Arsene, your Arsenal boys are just roadkillLiverpool are on a roll: 'Lucky' Rafa Benitez admits Reds stole derby win againast EvertonBarcelona 1 Real Madrid 0: Take Zlat - Ronaldo misery as £200m Galacticos are eclipsed by sub Ibrahimovic
Explore more:People:Bobby Zamora, Roque Santa Cruz, John Ruiz, Robinho, FERNANDO TORRES, David Haye, Jacques Rogge, Edwin Van der Sar, Gareth Barry, Ken Livingstone, Joey Barton, MARK HUGHES, Robin van Persie, Carlos Tevez, Emmanuel Adebayor, Alex Ferguson, Don King, David Beckham, CRAIG BELLAMY, Danny Williams, Didier Drogba, Gordon Brown, Jack WarnerPlaces:Bristol, Nottingham, Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle, Birmingham, London, Manchester, Macedonia, Spain, Russia, France, China, Italy, Germany, Japan, Turkey, Argentina, United Kingdom, The NetherlandsOrganisations:International Olympic Committee
