Despite being reduced to 10 men after the unwarranted sending off of Craig Bellamy, Man City drew 3-3 with Bolton at the Reebok.
This after going behind to a clear off-side first goal by Bolton who must be one of the dirtiest team in the whole of the football league. City were behind 3 times but each time showed their true merit by equalising.
+++++++
The mighty Rochdale won 3-1 away at Lincoln and go 4 points clear in Div 2. It sure is looking good.
Up the Dale
Hah! Villa take the win AT Old Trafford! Hanging in third, pending the result of Arsenal’s visit to Anfield. I love it that the view at the top is being a bit dislodged this year. 
I just love it that manure got beat.
Biased? moi?
Never 
Here’s Figuaroa scoring from his own half for Wigan.
Man U-Villa was an odd game in that Villa played quite well in the first half by going forward and taking the game to the hosts, and then defending well in the second half while being absolutely bombarded by Man U, who just could not get through. I think it was just one of those days where nothing went right for us. The possession percentages for the second half must have been at least 75% to Man U.
Oh well, at least Chelsea also dropped points at home. As I said above, it’s still all to play for, Arsenal are looking very much back in it now, today’s result simply confirming that Liverpool are well out of it, indeed struggling for a European spot next season.
Oh, how I loved this past weekend. Arsenal beat Liverpool 2-1 (despite a dire first half which I had me expecting the worst), while everyone around them (other than Villa) drop points.
I especially enjoyed watching Man U and Spurs losing.
It would be nice if we had a fit striker, though. A real goalkeeper would be nice, too.
Well that was a pretty good weekend all round…
Bloomin marvellous…
A good day all round.
Man City beat Sunderland 4-3 in an excellent game. City now climb to 6th place.
Rochdale crushed Shrewsbury 4-0 to go 7 points clear at the top of Div 2
The icing on the cake…Fulham beat manure 3-0
Hughes is sacked according to SSN now.
It’s a goalkeeper’s error that has made it happen though, let’s face it!
Oh, and chowder, hope you have a miserable Xmas! 
No chance of that happening my friend
For starters, it’s my birthday tomorrow, Dec 20th, Cheryl Cole, Lucy Pinder and Michelle Marsh are calling around to wish me all the very best. I expect they’ll probably want my body but ho-hum I’m getting on a bit so they’ll have to draw lots to see who gets me *
Chrimblypoo day I’m off to inflict my presence on my sprog and his beloved, I’ll have a few beers and end up insulting someone.
Yep, it’s safe to say I’ll have a great time 
I can but dream
One one someone? How droll.
Rochdale (am I correct in understanding that the ‘o’ is a short vowel like in “not”, not a long vowel like in “note”?) appear to be an unstoppable force this year. It’s pretty clear they have the team in place to make the climb; what would be exciting for the Spotland crowd would be a double climb, with promotion followed by promotion next season to the Championship. With the strong showing they are making, it’s certainly doable!
While I can’t say I’m sorry to watch United struggle, watching the agonies for the 'Pool is a bit distressing. I’ve never thought of them as particularly “evil” even in the grand scheme of disliking the teams that have become perennial winners. Arsenal, United, Chelsea; a fall from grace by any of them is perfectly fine, even desirable; Liverpool, not so much. Can’t really say why I feel that way, though.
Struggles at Pompey make one wonder if the Premiership can survive in its current form. My guess is no; they are going to have to shrink the Premier League because the ability of marginal clubs (say from 17 to 20) pay out what is necessary to try and stay up is questionable. Watford are still financially in a deep hole after their spell a few years ago in the top flight. Personally, much as I would feel sad for English football, I think it’s high time that they simply took the creme de la creme of the Premiership and combined it with the top teams from the other main nations as a Premier Europa League; then the remaining English teams wouldn’t have to feel obligated spending a fortune keeping up with the Man Us of the world.
Harsh decision that, in my eyes. Still, it’s the Sheik who’s paying his wages.
Not that he needs to watch the pennies. A manager should be entitled to at least 3 seasons before they can be sacked.
Perhaps you didn’t grow up with English football in the 70s. Back then, Liverpool used to win everything, relentlessly, with a workmanlike sort of football played by faceless robots. They continued this style into the 80s, but loosened up a bit with flair players who you could actually remember the names of, like John Barnes and Peter Beardsley. The rest of them remained interchangeable automatons, though.
Anyway, as you may have gathered I still nurture a loathing of all things LFC. My primary concern this season is that they might be so bad that they actually get rid of Benitez and replace him with someone capable of winning the league. I don’t think so, though, because they have fundamental money problems.
“Flair” and “English footie” are two concepts utterly foreign to each other, in the normal course of events.
<d&r>
Hardly a shock IMO and also those of many City fans. Hughes just wasn’t up to the job.
He was a nice enough bloke granted but niceness does not win games and his sacking was inevitable after a run of draws which cost City far to many points.
To answer DSYEsq** Rochdale was founded/built on the banks of the river Roch, pronounced Rowch. Rochdale, the town is pronounced with a short “o”.
Unless you’re a Rochdalian in which case it’s pronounced…Raaaawchdale.
The locals accent is truly a blight on the English language
I am surprised the people are surprised with Hughes being sacked.Hes what you might call a safe pair of hands, keep your team in the premiership and get a few cup runs.
Yes they have only lost 2 games, but the price of all those draws is very evident, they are a long way out of touch, and you really do not see it getting any better.
A better manager will make better use of the talent. Any manager who spends £200 mill on players had better have something to show for it, here we have no silverware though I admit there is a chance of something, but its really all about champions league football, and I never had any sense that Hughes is anything but a league team manager - you look at Benitez and although LFC are not doing well, you have to admit that he knows about European football.
There is little chance that O’Neal will be prised away from Villa this season and he is about the only other manager who would be in scope for this job - actually I think he’d make a pretty good job of it.
He won’t have much trouble getting another post, but I should imagine it will be one where the club does not have European and league title pretensions.