Man City Park The Bus

Manchester City, the most expensive team ever assembled in England came to North London and played 10 men behind the ball against Arsenal. The Gunners enjoyed 2/3 possession, all of the best chances - hitting the woodwork several times - but they couldn't score.

The game ended on a strange note with Bacary Sagna, normally one of the calmest footballers on the planet absolutely losing his mind after a collision with Pablo Zabaleta. Total speculation, but my guess is that Zabaleta said something nasty possibly racist to Sagna when he stood over him. There's no way Sagna reacts that way otherwise. On the weekend Lee Bowyer stamped on Sagna and he acted like nothing had happened. Good timing anyway, as Arsenal can play Eboue for the two cup games and the West Ham game in the league.

Anyway, Roberto Mancini, who should definitely be played by Eric Roberts (see below) in the Man City movie, should be embarassed. If I were a Qatari trillionaire, I'd want more for my money than that.




Frog will probably disagree, but I thought Arsenal played well and were unlucky. One of those close, early efforts goes in and they probably win 3-0 as City would have had to come out from their defensive crouch. The shame is that Manchester United are almost out of sight at this point.

As it stands, they could reasonably expect to get through the rest of January without dropping more points. FA Cup against Leads, the two legs of the Carling Cup Semis against Ipswich, and West Ham and Wigan in the league. Take care of business in those matches, and they'll have a cup final and surely a lofty league position as they approach the business end of the season.

Happy Holidays From Frog & Gooner Football Podcast

Our latest episode is live. It's got everything you would expect:

January transfer window preview
Lots of discussion of Arsenal
Frog making fun of Rafa Benitez
Poor sound quality

Happy Holidays. Enjoy.

You can also find it on iTunes.

Frog & Gooner Football Podcast - Latest Episode Is Live

Gooner here. Just wanted to link to the latest episode of the Frog & Gooner Football Podcast.

You can find the podcast on iTunes as well. We cover the first quarter of the season in the EPL, Ligue 1, Germany and Spain. We make fun of the Scottish Premier League, comparing it unfavorably to the MLS, and discuss Arsenal's goal-keeping situation at length.

Enjoy. And please share your thoughts on the podcast, good, bad or ugly (to borrow Frog's match report format).

Rooney To Stay - Yawn

So now Wayne Rooney is staying in Manchester. I should be more specific, obviously. He's staying in the red-half of Manchester with United and with Sir Alex. I'll be interested to see how long it takes the fans and his teammates to truly welcome him back to the fold.

For me, this is not particularly surprising. Their seemed to be an element of contract negotiation brinksmenship to the whole story (I know that's easy to say in hindsight). But it would have been hard for him to leave United and go anywhere but City, as they're in a financial position to outbid everyone else, and United are in a position of desperately needing cash.

Further, leaving Manchester United, but not leaving Manchester would have made his life miserable.

Also, when you compare Rooney and Tevez on form this year, Rooney doesn't make the starting 11 (City don't play with more than one striker). Tevez has been on-fire, Rooney has been slowed by injuries, and has lost his goal-scoring touch.

And finally, in my opinion, I think Rooney has actually entered the decline phase of his career. Yes, he's only 24. But Michael Owen was on the decline at a similar age, if not earlier. Rooney rose to prominence at an early age with Everton. He has a lot of games under his belt, especially when you think of all his England Caps (67 senior Caps so far). He's rarely had a summer off. And worse, he's had a number of major injuries. Games and injuries add up, especially with the all-action style in which he plays.

Are Manchester United better off with Rooney? Absolutely, for now, though I still think they'll struggle to stay in the Top 4 this year. But check back in years 4 and 5 of the new contract. He might end up being a millstone around their neck.