Champions League destiny remains in Eastlands hands following a handsome win over Aston Villa. City legend Gary Owen agrees that Patrick Vieira was The Blues’ star man…
Gary’s Reaction:
‘I can’t argue with Patrick Vieira winning the Man of The Match vote. I thought he was excellent. The same goes for Nigel De Jong and I thought Pablo Zabaleta was outstanding.
‘But Vieira, give him credit where credit is due. He’s had his knockers and rightly so because he’s at the latter end of his career and Roberto Mancini has brought him here for his experience, his wise head and his knowledge of how to control a game. He hasn’t been able to do what he’s wanted to do fitness wise through injury until now.
‘But he showed on Saturday that even though he may have lost that yard of pace, one thing he doesn’t lack is his knowledge and the know-how to slow a game down when it needs slowing down. He brings experience into the team and that’s exactly why Mancini brought him in. He knows he’s not going to play every game in a season, but he will be important to us at certain times as he showed against Villa.
‘As I’ve been saying for weeks, if we win our last three games it doesn’t matter what anybody else does. We have now knocked Villa out of the equation and the Tottenham game was always going to be the decider.’
The VMC Forum Members Man of The Match versus Arsenal:
24. Patrick Vieira [57.14%]
11. Adam Johnson [28.57%]
5. Pablo Zabaleta [14.29%]
38. Marton Fulop [0%]
28. Kolo Toure [0%]
33. Vincent Kompany [0%]
3. Wayne Bridge [0%]
34. Nigel De Jong [0%]
39. Craig Bellamy [0%]
25. Emmanuel Adebayor [0%]
32. Carlos Tevez [0%]
2. Micah Richards [0%]
8. Shaun Wright-Phillips [0%]
The Story So Far:
FA Premier League unless stated.
Carlos Tévez, 9 (Bolton A, Spurs A, Wolves A, Blackburn H, the rags H, LCSF1, Chelsea A, Fulham A, Everton H, Wigan H)
Nigel de Jong, 5 (Fulham H LC R3, West Ham H, Wigan Athletic A, Liverpool A, Chelsea H)
Craig Bellamy, 4 (Arsenal H, the rags A, Villa A, Sunderland H)
Gareth Barry, 4 (Blackburn A, Portsmouth A, Stoke H, the rags H)
Shaun Wright-Phillips, 3 (C. Palace A LC R2, Burnley H, Arsenal H LC QF)
Wayne Bridge, 3 (Fulham H, Hull A, Stoke H, FAC5)
Patrick Vieira, 2 (Burnley A, Aston Villa H)
Vincent Kompany, 2 (Middlesbrough A FAC3, Arsenal A)
Adam Johnson, 2 (Bolton, H, Sunderland A)
Micah Richards, 2 (the rags A LCSF2, Stoke A)
Emmanuel Adebayor, 2 (Wolves H, Portsmouth H)
Shay Given, 2 (Birmingham A, Everton A)
Nedum Onuoha, 1 (Birmingham H)
Patrick Vieira, 1 (Burnley A)
Pablo Zabaleta, 1 (Liverpool H)
Martin Petrov, 1 (Scunthorpe A FAC4)
Roque Santa Cruz, 1 (Scunthorpe H LC R4)
City’s 1-1 throwaway against Hull City and the FA Cup exit at Stoke registered no winner.
VMC’s Previous Man Of The Season:
2007-2008 Elano Blumer
2008-2009 Stephen Ireland
Very many thanks and respect to Gary Owen for this latest exclusive interview. Stay tuned with VMC for The Spurs Match Preview with Gary tomorrow!
As well as being a widely respected, successful media personality and commentator, Gary is the Managing Director of GTC Management, one of the UKs leading independent utility procurement brokers.
To find out more go to:
GTC Management: ‘Reducing Costs,Saving Time and Providing Peace of Mind’
Interview copyright Vital Manchester City, Gary Owen and The Vital Football Network 2010.
A Play As We Dream Production.
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