Manchester Derby: Manchester United vs. Manchester City

This past Sunday Manchester City travelled across town to play their old rivals, Manchester United. The game was massively hyped, as currently Manchester City lies in first, and United lies in second. The game was thought to be an incredibly even match, but the results showed exactly the opposite. Manchester City, and their new school, billion dollar squad tore Manchester United apart to the tune of 6-1. The win puts them 5 points clear of United, who will have to take a look in the mirror after this absolute destruction in their home stadium.

For better or worse, it always is Mario Balotelli.

Mario Balotelli, the 21 year old City striker known for his general craziness, had quite the weekend. Saturday, he decided to set off fireworks in his bathroom, perhaps to relieve some stress? Anyway, the idea was not the best he's ever had, and he managed to set his house on fire. To follow that up, he made even more headlines by scoring two goals in the derby, both vital in that they basically ended the possibility of a comeback. Balotelli makes good and bad headlines, but I find myself enjoying not only his style of play, but his general attitude. He seems to be a guy that doesn't take himself too seriously, as evidenced by his first goal celebration (revealing an undershirt that said, "Why Always Me"), and he appears to have a childlike enjoyment of the game.

Not to be outdone by his teammate, the Spaniard David Silva proved once again why he's been the best player in the Premier League this season. He was easily the best player on the field, making highlight pass after highlight pass, and eventually getting a well deserved goal. His assist to Edin Dzeko will probably be the play of the year in my opinion, as he volleyed the ball to himself and then hit a 30 yard gem of a pass to the wide open Dzeko, who was off to the races. If Silva can keep up this form, the Premier League player of the year award is his for the taking in my eyes.

David Silva is showing why the Spanish have the best talent in the world.

Manchester City Go Top

So after another weekend of matches, we find ourselves with Manchester City sitting pretty atop the Premier League table. They routed Aston Villa 4-1, and find themselves ahead of their old crosstown friends, Manchester United. So can Manchester City maintain their run? Certainly I think its possible, as they surely have a massive amount of talent. That of course comes with the territory of attempting to buy every player in the world for way more than they are worth, but they have the money, so why not spend it right?

Sergio Aguero, City's Newest £90 million striker

Manchester City would make the New York Yankees blush as of late, having spent an insane £1 billion since the current management group took over in 2008. Life must be good for The Citizens and their Sheikh owner, who appears willing to throw millions at anyone who can kick a ball further than 10 yards (I'm currently looking to negotiate with the the club). Whether all the egos the Sheikh has collected can survive an entire season without imploding remains to be seen, but for the time being, City look to be in great shape.

Liverpool vs Manchester United Preview

After a 2 week break from league play due to international competitions, the English Premier League gets back underway this weekend. The biggest match of the weekend is Liverpool vs. Manchester United, which will be played at Old Trafford, the famed United stadium. This match is one of the most anticipated games every year, as the two clubs have always been tremendous rivals at or near the top of the league. 

As I said in earlier posts, I'm a Liverpool fan so I obviously want them to win, but this will be far from an easy match. Manchester United are consistently one of the top two teams in the league. Any team with players as talented as Rooney, Young, Vidic and countless others is going to be difficult to beat. I'd love to say its going to be an emphatic win for the Reds, but that's just simply not the case. It'll be a hard fought game to be sure, but I think it more than likely ends a stalemate. Let's call it a draw, you could say.

It has never been the most friendly of rivalries

Tevez Controversy

Sporting News- Tevez broke a fundamental rule of sport—that no individual is more important than his or her team—when he sat moodily on the bench at a time of dire need for Manchester City, seemingly refusing to play on Tuesday night in the Champions League.

A millionaire striking. How pathetic and how distasteful at a time when so many less fortunate than Tevez are feeling the economic pinch.

If City manager Roberto Mancini is telling the whole truth here and Tevez really did mutiny, then football has witnessed a saddening new low.

At his rampaging best, the muscular, boxy Argentine can turn matches around with his penetrating runs on goal. Given how well Bayern were playing and how dispirited Mancini's team looked, even Tevez might not have been able to rally City. But he is used to thriving in adversity. He grew up in a rough Buenos Aires neighborhood known as "Fort Apache." He carries a childhood burn scar on his neck with some pride, refusing to hide it with plastic surgery. Because of his background, Tevez should be more aware than most how lucky he is to be so handsomely paid for kicking a ball. Besides, his teammates needed him.

But astoundingly, said Mancini, Tevez's response when he called him was, "No."

"He refused to do a warm-up again and he refused to go on the pitch," the Italian said later, clearly fuming and shaken.

Manchester City's enigmatic striker Carlos Tevez has recently created a huge controversy through his behavior off the field during a match. According to his manager, Roberto Mancini, he refused to take the field during a pivotal Champions league match. The repercussions of his actions seem to be tremendous, as Manchester City is currently saying that they not only will not let him play until at least January, they also will attempt not to pay him throughout the suspension. This will not only affect the player, who will lose millions of dollars, it will affect the team as well who will surely miss out on Tevez' goal scoring abilities. Tevez is currently denying that he refused to play, but if this turns out to be true, it is a sad day for sports indeed.

My question is, how can a guy making millions of dollars playing a child's game actually justify refusing to enter the game when asked? He is one of the most highly paid players in the sport, and he somehow is right to say "No thanks" when told to warm-up? I think Tevez is totally in the wrong on this one.