Tevez and Dzeko in hot water with Mancini

Exit stage right.

 The news coming out of Manchester City's 0-2 loss to Bayern Munich is explosive.  Evidently, Carlos Tevez refused to come on as a substitute. As a result,

Roberto Mancini tells the post-match press conference that Carlos Tevez will "never, never play for City again".

In addition, it's also being reported on Twitter that Dzeko will also be benched.

It won't get as much coverage but Mancini was "furious" with Edin Dzeko too - "he will sit the next game next to me"

This may be the chance for Adebayor Jo Santa Cruz Bellamy Balotelli to grab the starting striker role against Blackburn.

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UPDATE: Evidently, Dzeko had a strop when he was substituted.

Mancini also had strong words for striker Edin Dzeko who also reacted poorly at being a sub.  

“As for Dzeko, if he plays better next time, then maybe he can stay on the pitch.

“If we want to improve to the level of Bayern Munich, some players need to improve their behaviour.

“Dzeko was unhappy but I should be the one who is unhappy after his performance, not Dzeko.

“This is the last time that any player moves his head from side to side like this when they are substituted. You can feel upset inside but keep it inside.”

Video, after the jump.

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UPDATE, Part the Second:

''Manchester City can confirm that striker Carlos Tevez has been suspended until further notice for a maximum period of two weeks,'' read a club statement.

''The player's suspension is pending a full review into his alleged conduct during Tuesday evening's 2-0 defeat to Bayern Munich. The player will not be considered for selection or take part in training whilst the review is under way.''

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The Week Ahead: Part 2 - Player Picks

"Fleet Street says you're shit!" is the new tea cups.

It was interesting reading the reaction to Manchester City's Champions League debut this morning.  My take after reading in a few places was that the media as a group were disappointed by City's results.  I was at work yesterday and didn't get a chance to watch the match live but after spending some time watching the replay, I was struck by the incongruity between the media reaction I'd read and the match I saw.

I saw a City team that played very well and could easily have scored 3 or 4 goals.  They were unlucky to hit the post (flush on one occasion and the inside on another) and not have the ball go in.  I will also say that they could easily have conceded more than the one that did go in - there was a crucial goalline clearance after Hart was beaten.  Still, if you total the chances that were THIS close to going in for each side, City had a decided advantage and if they had all gone in City would have won comfortably.  That this was achieved without the benefit of a true holding midfielder in Nigel de Jong's absence makes it a pretty reasonable Champions League debut against a pretty strong attacking team.

Perhaps the negative reaction in the press was due to the nature of City's impressive early season start in the league.  Perhaps the talent available - many with Champions League experience elsewhere - the expectation was dramatically different than say Spurs similar debut last season.  Maybe it was the fact that Napoli, regardless of the talent currently on their roster, isn't one of the glamour teams in Europe while people are penciling City into that category due to their assembled talent and the depth of their bank account.  Maybe it was concern over the overall quality of City's group.  Whatever the reason, I think City will progress to the knock-out stages and gain momentum as the group stage evolves and they become more and more familiar with their new players.

With that relatively brief rant off my chest, we'll move on to the player picks for this week:

Week 4 Barn Door Team

Here's my mid-week attempt to assemble a squad for the upcoming weekend. The defence is largely unchanged, with David De Gea, the wonderfully mellifluous Angel Rangel, and Matthew Briggs (though John Arne Riise started and played an hour of Norway's 0-2 loss to Denmark yesterday). I have brought in Armand Traore after his move to QPR. Hopefully he's an attacking left-back or even a spot starter in midfield. We'll see.  Traore and Briggs are probably on the bubble.

In midfield I've added Samir Nasri to complement David Silva, who is playing like a season keeper.  Theo Walcott and Yossi Benayoun (cheap and probably starting in place of the still suspended Gervinho) host Swansea, and while the Swans aren't pushovers (see Rangel, Angel above) Arsenal will be looking to put a few past the newly promoted team.

That's why I've made room in my team for Robin van Persie.  He's more expensive, thanks to his consolation goal at Old Trattford but he is likely still value-for-money should things go Arsenal's way this weekend.  Edin Dzeko gets a barn door place after his amazing four goals against Spurs. The final spot was either Sergio Aguero or Juan Mata, but with doubts over Aguero's staring place (flying back from India) and Mata's role in the team I'm leaning towards Fulham's new boy, Bryan Ruiz.  They're playing Blackburn Rovers this weekend, which seems to be the recipe for fantasy success this season.  Well that or playing for a Manchester side.  

10 Things We Learned: Week 3

What an incredible weekend. It started with a forward who scored one goal all of last season scoring a brace and ended with three of the more remarkable fantasy performances we are likely to see all season - one from a forward who himself only scored twice in the league last season (admittedly in limited opportunity over only 15 matches).

[NOTE: Yup, I'm still tweaking the format for this Monday/Matchweek Wrap-up column. If you have any suggestions, I'm happy to hear them. The content is the content but I'm trying to come up with a nice wrapper/theme to pull it all together]

Community Shield "Live" Blog

As I did with the Valerenga/Liverpool pre-season match, I'm going to "live" blog the Community Shield.  Even though it happened this morning, I'm just now getting a chance to watch.  But don't worry, I've been under the Cone of Silence all day so my reactions will be genuine.

And my first reaction is "WTF!?!?!?!" Kolarov starts over Clichy?  I thought the one nailed on spot was going to be Clichy as the starting left-back for Citeh.  If there's going to be rotation there... and it seems like there is now... I'm not so sure I want to gamble on either player starting against Swansea next week.  Looks like I'm going to spend a similar amount of money on the real sure thing - Kompany.

So neither defence is as expected with Smalling lining up at right back. Maybe that's temporary as Rafael was injured but does make the bench.  However, we saw Phil Jones line-up wide right last week and now Smalling.  Is Sir Alex just exploring all his options or does he have Smalling on a short-list for the position?

Further forward, Welbeck lines up with Rooney while Berbatov continues to be a £30 million squad player. It will be interesting to see how Welbeck and Rooney dove-tail.  Is the "Rooney needs to be a lead striker" argument over and replaced with the recently popular "he's more natural and effective playing behind the striker(s)"?

On to kickoff...

Kun You Believe It?

One of the longest running transfer sagas of the last few years is finally over.  Sergio "Kun" Aguero is officially a Manchester City player as of today.  How does "son-in-law-of-Maradona" fit into the Citeh squad and more importantly your fantasy team? Here's the rundown:

Balotelli Back-Heel Earns Substitution, Mancini Ire

Mario Balotelli's attempted back-heel against the Los Angeles Galaxy earns him an early bath, and a few words with the manager.



Has Balotelli finally pushed Mancini too far? Hard to say, but Dzeko is inching closer and closer to a starting spot on my opening day fantasy Premier League team.

As an aside, it's probably worth watching Mike Magee's goal from the match. A blast from distance!

Manchester City Team News

UPDATE: Never mind. Full strength ahead for City, and that doesn't include Kolarov or Dzeko.

Team: Hart, Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Zaba, de Jong, Toure, Milner, A Johnson, D Silva, Tevezless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyManchester City FC
MCFC

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Word is breaking on the Twitter machine.

#mcfc team news for tomorrow. balotelli out with knee, tevez bench. Silva big doubt, knee.less than a minute ago via Twitter for iPad Favorite Retweet ReplyIan Ladyman
Ian_Ladyman_DM

So seemingly we'll get a start for Dzeko with AJohnson and possibly Kolarov in support. What's interesting for "next" week is the further suggestion that Tevez is being rested for the trip to Bolton.

@gideonmradivan yes. Saved for bolton after his shift at wembley.less than a minute ago via Twitter for iPad Favorite Retweet ReplyIan Ladyman
Ian_Ladyman_DM

Bolton... the club that has shipped four to Blackpool, two to Sunderland (of no strikers fame), one to Rovers (might as well not have any strikers), and three to Fulham in their last four matches. Tevez still commands top-tier money north of 17, but maybe it's worth an investment. He'd certainly be a differential if you're looking to stand-out from the crowd.

Dzeko Mocks Balotelli

Edin Dzeko mocks Balotelli's struggles to put on a bib from the previous week.



So he has a sense of humour. That's good. Maybe he can tease me for writing that Manchester City was going to come good with him in the line-up and that he was going to be a fantasy must-have for the second half of the season.

That was some poor, poor prognostication on my part.

Mancini Hedges Against Playing Dzeko

Mancini wary of Wolves pack - Soccerway

New 27 million-pound signing Edin Dzeko from Wolfsburg could be thrown into the fold for the Wolves meeting, but Mancini has doubts over the Bosnian's fitness after just coming back from the German winter break.

"He's a good player, he has a good head and he's worked very well so far," he said.

"I don't know if it's possible he will play against Wolves as he came from a break in Germany. I think that he's in good shape but he needs to work. We must wait today and tomorrow then we'll decide."

Micah Richards joins Balotelli in missing the visit of Wolves, but David Silva returns to the squad after recovering from a knee injury.

However, the next article on this site has him,

...certain to debut for Manchester City when they host Wolverhampton on Saturday in the English Premier League.

The Bosnian striker will likely line up alongside City captain Carlos Tevez as the team look to consolidate their spot in the league's top two with a win over the struggling Wolves.

I'm likely to gamble on his playing, but I won't sleep well with the doubt hanging over it.

Balotelli faces another month out

Balotelli out for at least 3-4 weeks with recurrence of knee injury http://tinyurl.com/6ktdcpnless than a minute ago via webfantasyfootballscout
FFScout

Can we get Dzeko listed in the fantasy game please?

Edin Dzeko Joins Manchester City

Edin Dzeko eyes winning title with Manchester City after £27m move | Football | The Guardian

Dzeko has agreed a 4½-year deal, though the 24-year-old has not signed in time to make his debut in Sunday's FA Cup third-round tie at Leicester City. Instead his first appearance will come next weekend in the Premier League fixture at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers

This is great news for fantasy managers as Dzeko is a world class player that we can grab for incoming transfer money, hopefully 6-something.

It will be fascinating to see how this affects City - and I almost want to convene another blog roundtable. But here are my initial thoughts:

Mancini has been playing possum for the first half of the season just waiting for this. He knew he would get Dzeko in January and has been putting out his teams to get through the first part of the year with the intention of staying in touch with the leaders. Leading the league was probably never in his thoughts, and the fact that they're so close to the top is probably only gravy for him.