EPL News: Manchester City to appeal against Balotelli’s sending off, Carew and Houllier to talk at Aston Villa
Roberto Mancini’s Manchester City side won against West Bromwich Albion in their last Premier League match but the win was marred by Mario Balotelli’s sending off during the encounter at Hawthorns stadium. Mario’s two goals during the match were sufficient
enough to guarantee a win in the end for the Blues as Manchester City closed up the gap on Chelsea in the Premier League rankings as the Londoners lost to Liverpool on Sunday as well.
City’s latest win came at just the right time for the richest club in the world as Mancini’s job looked to be under focus after City lost their last two matches. Balotelli’s two goals were accompanied by a straight red card which was a result of two incidents,
the two incidents being; a late tackle on Marek Cech an on-field faceoff against Youssouf Mulumbu. Mulumbu himself was later sent off by the referee for a harsh tackle on Carlos Tevez.
Commenting on Mario’s sending off, Roberto Mancini said in his post match interview, "I absolutely do not agree with the referee about this sending-off, a red card for what? He played a fantastic game, he scored two goals, but the sending-off was very strange.
I want to know why it was a direct red card. For me this is not correct and the referee must explain."
Even though Mario Balotelli is widely renowned for his explosive behaviour on and off the field, Mancini dismissed any suggestions that his player had lashed out in the match against Mulumbu. City boss confirmed that the club will be appealing Mario’s red
card so that it may be available for selection for Manchester City’s next match against Manchester United. Nonetheless, Mancini confirmed that he spoke to Mario before the game on his anger issues.
Mancini commented on the whole incident saying, "I am angry because I explained to him before the game - pay attention with the referee, I wanted to change Adam Johnson for Mario, but I didn't have time to make the change."
Before he got sent off, Balotelli caught the eye of the on looking Italian national team manager, Cesare Prandelli as he got his first two goals in the English Premier League. The Italian youngster formed a fantastic partnership with Tevez and David Silva
during the match, something that would have delighted his club manager, Roberto Mancini. The Italian manager said after the game, "We played a fantastic game - we played football very well, all the team. We scored two goals and we could have scored another
two. For us, Carlos is very important up front. I am very happy with the result."
On the other hand, after John Carew accused his new club manager Gerard Houllier of being disrespectful in an interview in Norway, the striker is set to have talks with the Villa manager regarding his future at the club. Houllier confirmed that he will be
speaking to the Norwegian target man soon as he said, “I shall be speaking to him, of course." Houllier previously managed Carew at Lyon before the striker made his move to England in the winter of 2007. Carew has consistently been Villa’s best goal scorer
in the previous three seasons. In the last English Premier League season of 2009-2010, John Carew netted 17 goals.
However, there was some positive news for Villa fans as their manager confirmed that Gabriel Agbonlahor will be back in action sooner rather than later for the Villains as he has returned to training after going through a groin operation about a month ago.
Gerard Houllier concluded his address to the media by saying, "Gabby is a matter of days now. He's getting back to the fitness levels he should be at."
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