EPL News - 24-09-2010: Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United
MANCHESTER CITY
Manchester City’s manager, Roberto Mancini has stated that he has no regrets whatsoever in his side’s third round knockout of the Carling Cup at the hands of West Bromwich. The manager played an under strength side as he aimed to rest the main players for
the weekend’s clash against Chelsea in the premier league. Mancini stuck to his decision of playing 6 youngsters in the starting XI, as owing to the weekend fixture he had no other choice.
"Saturday is more important, the FA Cup is more important. The Europa League is more important. I did not regard this as a necessary sacrifice. We wanted to win. That is why I had four senior players on the bench. But I knew there was a chance we could lose
because we started with six young players. I am happy with these guys. We might have lost the game but they can improve. If they do not play tonight, when will they ever play?" asked Roberto Mancini.
MANCHESTER UNITED
Former Liverpool striker, Michael Owen believes that following his impressive performance in the Carling Cup tie, he would be given more opportunities to prove himself at Manchester United. The player scored a brace against Scunthorpe United in the midweek
fixture and wants more chance to impress in the coming season.
Manchester United thrashed the opposition 5-2, where Owen scored his trade mark goal, thanks to an inch perfect finish. Michael Owen has failed to establish himself as a permanent in Manchester United, having played only 46 minutes so far in the Community
Sheild, which is less than newly signed Javier Hernandez.
Sir Alex Ferguson preferred Federico Macheda to be the one to find the winning goal in United’s 3-2 victory over Liverpool last Sunday. United employed a totally different team to what featured against Liverpool, with Hernandez, Owen and Macheda taking the
front line. The 30-year-old’s future has come under heavy fire recently; with reports stating that the striker is not happy with the amount of opportunities he gets at Old Trafford.
Owen, however, now expects things to change as the season takes its toll and claimed that there have been a lot of players who haven’t featured in the season so far. But with competitions like the UEFA Champions league, league cup and Premier league happening
week after week, there would be a lot of time to play for everyone in the squad.
NEWCASTLE UNITED
Newcastle United’s right back, Ryan Taylor expects that his stunning free kick against Chelsea would be enough to persuade Magpies’ manager, Chris Hughton to hand the player his first debut of the season.
Newcastle United would be hosting Stoke on Sunday and Taylor expects to start in the contest. He played as the replacement of James Perch, who was handed a one match ban owing to his 5 bookings so far, this season. Taylor worked very hard at the back and
his goal against Chelsea in Newcastle’s stunning 4-3 victory at Stamford Bridge would be enough to convince any manager of his undeniable quality.
Yet the player believes that the manager may not want to change a side who managed an impressive performance against the Toffees, last weekend. The player claimed that such thoughts have always been in the mind as the manager always looks for replacements
and doesn’t forgets the top performing players.
The player added that all he can do is to train hard and wait for his time. He believed that James Perch had done extremely well in the Everton game. The player thus believes that not getting his start against Stoke wouldn’t be a shock as it would be unwise
to change things with a side which defeated Everton last weekend.
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