The American captain expected to make his debut for the blue half of Manchester-- but according to info on another thread, and from most of the reports I've already seen with T minus four hours away from kickoff, Reyna will be on the bench for Kevin Keegan's side. http://www.skysports.com/skysports/article/0,,52-1103489,00.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/3194215.stm http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/030912/21/e88dc.html And the eternal question... anyone have a link to a webcast (free, preferably)? TV-wise, Fox Sports 1 is airing the game live over here in Australia, but I don't get that channel on my cable system here in Ballarat, at least not yet (oh, well, at least I can hope, right?)... Not aware of what other TV plans, PPV and otherwise, exist back home in the USA. Kickoff is slated for 6 a.m. PT/9 a.m. ET Sunday morning-- and 11 p.m. Melbourne time here.
Audio webcast at http://www.mcfc.co.uk/ Click on 'live commentary'. You need to register, but it's free.
citeh - 3 4 3 seaman distin jihai sommeil barton Macca sinclair tarnat anelka wanchope wright phillips
Sportinglife.com confirms this, via their "MatchDay Live" window... Man City: 1. David Seaman 17. Sun Jihai 2. David Sommeil 5. Sylvain Distin 18. Michael Tarnat 29. Shaun Wright-Phillips 24. Joey Barton 20. Steve McManaman 28. Trevor Sinclair 39. Nicolas Anelka 9. Paulo Wanchope Subs: 12. Nicky Weaver (GK) 6. Claudio Reyna 8. Robbie Fowler 22. Richard Dunne 10. Antoine Sibierski Aston Villa: 1. Thomas Sorensen 2. Mark Delaney 4. Olof Mellberg 27. Ronny Johnsen 3. Jlloyd Samuel 7. Lee Hendrie 8. Gavin McCann 12. Thomas Hitzlsperger 17. Pete Whittingham 18. Juan Pablo Angel 14. Marcus Allback Subs: 5. Ozalan Alpay 9. Dion Dublin 13. Stefan Postma (GK) 20. Mustapha Hadji 26. Mark Kinsella
Brief article from sportinglife.com on the team news for Man City, with a fleeting mention of Reyna... http://www.sportinglife.com/footbal...ORY_NAME=soccer/03/09/14/SOCCER_Man_City.html
Description from sportinglife.com's version of a matchtracker: Cross by Lee Hendrie (Aston Villa), headed goal by Juan Pablo Angel (Aston Villa) (bottom-right of goal) from right side of penalty area (18 yards).Man City 0-1 Aston Villa. Assist (cross) by Lee Hendrie (Aston Villa) from right side of penalty area. And from the site's "clockwatch" feature: 31 mins: GOAL - ANGEL. Hitzelsperger hits a ball long to Allback. The Swede feeds Hendrie who hits a cross to the far post where Angel takes advantage of terrible marking to head home.
Manchester City is falling apart after the goal. McManaman looks very unfit. I predict Reyna will be in soon.
Somehow, I think that may have been Keegan's plan all along (provided the Reyna comes in at minute #46, of course). Give each McManaman and Reyna a half to play, seeing that they are capable of playing the same position as attacking midfielders, and let the better man win the job.
very different players aren't they?I picture SM as being exclusively a wide player, while Reyna is at his best directing traffic in the middle.I can't imagine the SM will be Reyna's competition for time.
They could probably co-exist in the same lineup in due time as well, as long as Keegan can tinker things accordingly. Perhaps that might be an eventual plan? But of course, giving Reyna 45 minutes, but no less than 30, might be just the tonic that Man City need to get going in this match.
And three years later, I'm sure it's still true. You know what the irony of that quote is (and correct me if I'm wrong)? Mick McCarthy was the Irish manager at the time, and wasn't he the manager at Sunderland who was forced to clean house after the relegation of last season? Interesting stuff... Back to the point, though... get Reyna in there.
oh and i think reyna and macca would make a splendid inside outside MF partnership - they would play off each other well IMO
How the PK was awared? McManaman dribbed around 3 defenders.... one defender handled the ball. Just as I was thinking he sucked. It7s 2-1. what happened?
Close enough. From sportinglife.com's "clockwatch"... 48 mins: GOAL - ANELKA. The Frenchman drives the ball low to Sorensen's left so that although the Dane guesses correctly, he cannot reach the ball and the scores are level. 47 mins: MacManaman plays the ball against Delaney's hand. Halsey seems to deny the penalty appeals only to give the decision after prolonged histrionics from the home side. 46 mins: Angel and Allback kick off the second half.
From my same source... 50 mins: GOAL - TARNAT. Tarnat lines up a free kick on the edge of the box and drives the ball directly from the right-hand corner of the area into Sorensen's top left-hand corner. An impressive strike but questions will be asked of the goalkeeper as he concedes a ball driven right across the face of his goal.