Manchester City v Arsenal : Top 10 Conclusions

Manchester City 4-2 Arsenal, at City of Manchester stadium.

Top 10 Conclusions :

1. Arshavin missing due to injury was perhaps a great blow for Arsenal.
2. If Adebayor had played 50% of what he played today for Gunners, he would be living in London and not have giant poster of his face on the floor of Manchester's malls.
3. Rosicky back after 20 months and scoring is a great prospect for Arsenal's ever dwindling squad due to injuries.
4. Adebayor's celebration in front of the Arsenal fans on the opposite end of the field was totally uncalled for. Deserved the yellow.
5. Adebayor's stomp on Van Persie's head went unnoticed and now might go unobserved by the FA. (Video)
6. 47,339 attendance for the game is the most for a Premier League game at Manchester City's home.
7. Despite all what was said about Manchester City spending but lacking the extreme firepower to be part of the elite "Top 4", they've certainly silenced the critics. For now.
8. Arsenal could have equalised late in the second half with the Barry handball in the box not given and Van Persie hitting the bar.
9. Manchester City conceded the first goal of their campaign today.
10. Now despite playing good quality football, Arsenal have two losses to show of it.

10 Footballers on Twitter

Twitter is very common now. Many of the professionals in various arenas of sports tweet. Be it when they're on the road or in practice or even during matches. So much so, USTA (United States Tennis Federation) sent out a warning to all the players to keep from tweeting as it could result in cheating or betting irregularity.

However, we are aware of footballers being on Twitter too. Darrent Bent was transferred to Sunderland from Spurs after his rant on Twitter. This caused a huge furor and forced a rather active (at least on Twitter!) Jonathon Woodgate to shut down his account.

How about we list the football players that exist on Twitter? Some of them are taken from EPL Talk (removed the non existant page of Woodgate) . I cannot guarantee the authenticity of all the accounts so I would leave the judgement up to you. The list is random and no particular order is followed.

1. Peter Crouch (Spurs) - English forward currently playing for Spurs (after a whole merry go around!) has 1007 followers. His last tweet :

just discovering twitter on my laptop, trying to persuade the other lads to join
10:33 PM Apr 1st from web

2. Steven Gerrard (Liverpool) - Liverpool captain Stevie G has a whooping 36,445 followers. I don't think it is a real account and not active, as expected. Here is the last tweet :

Thanks to all that are following, I view twitter as my gateway to the fans.. especially liverpool fans.. cheers everyone..
11:36 PM Jul 16th from web

3. Brad Guzan (Aston Villa) - This is a CONFIRMED account belonging to Aston Villa's number two goalkeeper after Brad Friedel. Despite playing only one game for the Villains he is highly rated by manager Martin O'Neil. He currently has 2459 followers. His last tweet :

busy week
1:53 AM Aug 27th from web

4. Jozy Altidore (Hull City) - Altidore is one of the best strikers ever for United States national team. He plays for Hull City and in a new he announced his loan transfer from Spanish side Villareal to the KC Stadium via Twitter! He currently has 17,389 followers. His last tweet :

Channel.
about 1 hour ago from UberTwitter

5. Freddy Adu (Belenenses) - When young he was regarded as one of the most exciting players and a great proposition to carry American football forward but sadly that failed to happen. He currently plays in Portugal. Currently has 12,133 followers. His last tweet :

matthew 19:26 with men its impossible but with God all things are possible. Game tonight against olhanense.
about 5 hours ago from web

6.Stan Collymore (former Liverpool,Nottingham Forest,Aston Villa and a hoard of other clubs) - This former player and current football talk show host on UTV's talkSport. He currently has 4,861 followers. His last tweet :

callcollymore@live.com on msn instant messenger from 2pm.make your pre match point and predictions whoever you support.then 08717223344 5pm
5:46 PM Aug 29th from web

7. Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) - Once a bad boy of football rejuvenated himself and is currently a big strength for England and Manchester United alike. Talks about football and his personal life too. Nice to see that, if this account is indeed for real. Rooney has 20,938 followers. His last tweet :

@wonder_nat parents ?i really cant wait Colleen looks great but she always does.its great to talk about other things apart from football
about 5 hours ago from web

8. Jacques Faty (Sochaux) - Faty currently plays in the French League for Sochaux. Had a brief stint at Marseille and had nearly joined Juventus. He has 133 followers and tweets in English and French both. His last tweet :

salut a tous, je parle en direct du portugal. Match avec le Senegal contre l Angola
10:51 PM Sep 2nd from web

9. Maurice Edu (Glasgow Rangers) - Maurice is a member of the United States national team and plays his club football in England. He won the Rookie of the year award while playing for Toronto FC. He has 5,728 followers. Its a Twitter confirmed VERIFIED account. His last tweet :

Just linked up with my boys @devobrown n @akataboo on King st. What's next? CNE? Hmm...
about 3 hours ago from UberTwitter

10. Paul Dalglish (former Norwich City, Wigan Athletic and various more) - Son of legendary Liverpool and Celtic player, Kenny Dalglish , had a rather unsuccessful career unlike his father. Right now he is the coach at Houston Dynamo academy. He has 1,292 followers. His last tweet :

I see on the bbc website Fergie backing the Eduardo ban....i wonder if he'd of done that if Ronaldo was still at Utd. Mmmm
about 6 hours ago from TweetDeck

UPDATE:

11. Bojan Krkic (Barcelona) - Barcelona's young forward Bojan Krkic is also there on Twitter! Tweeting in both Spanish and English, he talks mainly about the game and has a Barcelona twibbon too. He currently has 606 followers. His last tweet :

@danepioli too late, I will record it! Not sure: Alves or Messi...
about 8 hours ago from Splitweet in reply to danepioli

(Thanks to Bojan for the tip)

This concludes the list of 10 footballers on Twitter but I would like to know, who would you love to see on Twitter amongst all the leagues? Phil Brown so he can announce his transfer demands? Jose Mourinho so he can rant like he used to when at Chelsea? Someone else.. leave comments. :) I would love to see Phil Brown tweet. No holds barred! :D

By the way, how about adding me on Twitter? Follow me on Twitter

5 conclusions from Community Shield

1. Manchester United don't have the firepower and speed without Ronaldo. Or its too early to say.

2. Luckily Berbatov was off and couldn't take a penalty. Evra made up for him.

3. First game to make the season and bad refereeing has started already.

4. Drogba and Anelka are a lethal duo. It would be hard for Sturridge to make a start. Also, make Anelka part of your Fantasy football team.

5.Manchester United are still the undisputed champions in late goals.

Top 5 : Dirtiest Players

Football is called the "beautiful game" but unfortunately its not applicable in all situations and to all players.

Sometimes the game is marred by idiotic fans who run down the pitch and disrupt the play. On other occasions these fans hurl abuses at the players who give it their best on the field. The worst of the fan trouble is when the fans turn violent and attack other fans or try to harm the players. What they need to understand is that the sport they love so much wouldn't exist if it weren't for those players and the clubs wouldn't exist if it weren't for the fans, so stop with the violence and abuse.

Then there are the players who spoil the image of the game by being utterly aggressive on the pitch which isn't necessary in most cases but go too far.

So how about we list down some of the dirtiest players who have played recently. By dirty I mean a player with bad tackles and rash challenges rather than a player who would dive and cheat.

Let's get on with it then, the five players you wouldn't want to play against or if you do, you hope you play on an entirely different position where they can't touch you.

1. Gennaro Gattuso (AC Milan and Italy)
This feisty Italian has a weird weird sense of motivation. He looks like he's part of the Italian mafia and can be described as made of bricks. Nicknamed as the "Rino" and rightly so. The following video would leave you in no doubt that you better watch out if you see them playing!




2. Roy Keane (Former Manchester United and Republic of Ireland)
Former Manchester United captain famous for his tunnel and then on the pitch fight with then Arsenal captain Patrick Viera in 2006 and his personal duel with Ireland manager Mick McCarthy over in South Korea-Japan during the World Cup showed his on the pitch and off the pitch aggressiveness. The following video is a great watch. (Courtesy : Dirty Tackle)




3. Robbie Savage (Former Derby County and Albion and Wales)
A player with a long career in the Premiership and the accolade of receiving the most number of yellow cards in the premier league(90). Despite that huge number of yellow cards, shockingly he's been only sent off twice. Hated by many for his simulation and antics of getting opposition players booked. A player who was head butted by Dion Dublin after a confrontation between the two players which got the whole team involved. In the funny incident below Savage gets knocked down by the referee's elbow and Shearer shows him a red card!




4. Eric Cantona (Former Manchester United and France)
Eric Cantona, brilliant footballer. Referred to as "King Eric" by Manchester United fans and neutral football fans alike. Magical with the ball and ability to score from anywhere around the box. However, his arrogance and bad temper led him to a hefty ban when he attacked a Crystal Palace fan (pictured above).Amongst the many incidences he attacked his fellow team players and publicly insulted the French national team coach. Catch the video of Cantona's bad tackles and goals below.




5. Joey Barton (Newcastle United and England)

Joey Barton who has been more trouble off the pitch rather than on the pitch for all the teams that he's represented. A player with loads of potential but lack of brains. He attacked his own team mate when he was with Manchester City and has had numerous jail records and court appearances to show off rather than the number of goals scored. Now part of a relegated Newcastle United and history of a red card when he last played against Liverpool won't do him any good for the future. Video of his attack on Sunderland's Etuhu below.



Who do you think is the dirtiest of the five? Or would you rather suggest someone who I missed out..? Leave a comment!