Ahead of Sunday’s mouthwatering clash at The Etihad Stadium, City and England’s Joleon Lescott maintains that the rags, rather than our opponents Spurs, are the focus…
Lescott has enjoyed a footballing renaissance at City following a difficult transition from Everton. His form flourished alongside classy City skipper Vincent Kompany and it will be his responsibility in Kompany’s ridiculously imposed absence to lead the defensive line against Harold Redknapp’s dangerous side:
‘No disrespect to Spurs, but we see Manchester United as our main rivals because the are second in the league. We need to focus on the next team behind us and at this moment in time that is United. As much as the points are vital to create a gap between us and Spurs, it’s more important to pull away from United.
‘…maybe the neutrals want Spurs to win it rather than City or United, but we are not getting involved in any of that…We just do our own thing…People say United have been there before but we’ve got the experience and the quality to win games. That’s the most important thing.’
Despite the anti-City brigade’s frustration at the absence of an Etihad implosion, great media strides have been taken on a daily basis to talk up a City crisis. Lescott dismisses this out of hand:
‘We have read a lot about pressure. People have said we were cracking up…None of the boys even thought about us cracking up or that something was going wrong. All of a sudden it’s being said in papers or on TV that things are going wrong. We were like: ‘Wow! We must have arrived if people want us to fail…hold on minute we have just lost two cup games.”
‘You cannot go through the season without having a dip in form. We are aware of that, but the main thing is to pick up results when you are not playing so well. There was a lot made of our recent results. The performances were good but you get judged on results. But those results, no disrespect, were in cup competitions. As much as we want to win those cup competitions, we want to win the league more…Our main goal this season has always been the league – and it still is. It’s our bread and butter and our performances have been great in the league.’
UPCOMING FIXTURES:
all times East Manchester
Su 22 Jan 13:30 Spurs, The Etihad, PL
We 25 Jan 19:45 Liverpool, Anfield, LCSF2
Tu 31 Jan 20:00 Everton, Goodison Park, PL
Sa 04 Feb 17:30 Fulham, The Etihad, PL
Su 12 Feb 16:00 Aston Villa, Villa Park, PL
Th 16 Feb 20:05 Porto, Estádio do Dragão, ELR32
We 22 Feb 20:05 Porto, The Etihad, ELR32
Sa 25 Feb 17:30 Blackburn, The Etihad, PL
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