The 2011/12 Gary Speed Memorial Thread

[MJB]

Made the rounds on Twitter. Quite a few football journos talking about it. I'd find a quote, but Twitter sucks.

Mat Kendrick, says he's from the Birmingham Mail:

Supporters' player of the season is Stephen Ireland #avfc

So it was Supporter's POTY.

Probably a piss take in protest against McLeish

[Summers]

Players player; Petrov.

Fans player; Ireland.

Goal; Weimann v Stoke (coulda been Keane's 2nd against Wolves, both were great).

Says it all re: Ireland. He's been good, though. And there isn't many who deserve it more than him based on the season we've had.

[Summers]

Made the rounds on Twitter. Quite a few football journos talking about it. I'd find a quote, but Twitter sucks.

Mat Kendrick, says he's from the Birmingham Mail:

Supporters' player of the season is Stephen Ireland #avfc

So it was Supporter's POTY.

Probably a piss take in protest against McLeish

Or more like he's been one of our best players and the fans appreciate the effort he's put in and his quality on the ball.

[MJB]

Player Of The Year in 16 appearances though?

[Summers]

Yup.

None of the defence have impressed.

Chris Herd has been a revelation in midfield. Clark's been solid. Ireland has been fantastic and at the centre of anytime we actually looked like a footballing side. Bannan hit or miss. Petrov was solid until the illness; I would have voted for him.

Bent had been average and then crocked. N'Zo has been shit. Gabby has been shit.

[Dingle]

What about Given?

[Summers]

We looked better with Guzan in goal while Given was injured. Given doesn't command the defence enough nor come off his line when he should sometimes.

That said - put any goalkeeper infront of a defence led by Richard Dunne and flanked by Warnock and Hutton and he'll struggle to command them. But yeah - Guzan brought a calmness and a good presence when he played. A lot of fans were annoyed Given walked straight back in.

[Adam]

Have I missed the opportunity to celebrate the City win already?

The bar half emptied on full time, leaving those who remained to cheer and laugh for seemingly hours on end. Brilliant night.

[Cheeky Hughes]

Have I missed the opportunity to celebrate the City win already?

The bar half emptied on full time, leaving those who remained to cheer and laugh for seemingly hours on end. Brilliant night.

It's never too late to celebrate the City win!

[METALMAN]

knew city would win 1-0

[King Ellis]

Why didn't you tell the rest of us, we could have put some money on. :/

[METALMAN]

gambling is immoral. i don't want to encourage it richard.

[Baddar]

Looking back on last night, anyone think the singling out of Smalling for the goal was harsh? He was in front of Kompany and missed his header by a few inches - it's not like he did a lot wrong.

[IAceI]

He was the culprit, though. It was a well worked move by Manchester City and I firmly believe they knew exactly what they were doing but they forced Smalling to take a detour around Lescott which allowed Kompany to move in freely. That said Kompany's leap and header was pretty much textbook and he still had a lot of the work to do himself, so while Smalling may have been at fault to a degree it's not like he handed Kompany the goal on a plate. Ironically it's a drawback of man-to-man marking on a set piece, but also shows why the press/media seem to prefer man-to-man marking to zonal, because when it does go wrong, they can apportion to the blame onto someone - and they like culpability in an instance like that. Who can they blame?

Having said that, listen to the radio this morning there was no mention of Smalling being at fault while I was listening. The whole story was about Mancini and Ferguson and their little spat on the sideline and Park Ji-Sung's ineffectiveness. I was disappointed that there was no plaudits heaped on Yaya Toure or Zabaleta commending them on a great game, thought the pair of the them were outstanding.

Also I have great respect for Ferguson and admire Mancini as a tactically astute manager but if I was a player and watched them two going on like that on the sidelines I'm not sure I wouldn't feel at least a bit embarrassed about it. Heat of the moment and the like, and I can't really equate myself to having ever being in that position, but I'd have liked to think the manager's might have a little bit more restraint in some of the circumstances.

[Colly]

I think expecting sensible opinion from the media, radio or otherwise, isn't worth the effort, especially if the nations anger at 'peoples favourite' Harry Redknapp being overlooked is anything to go by. Just do what I do and ignore everyone. Except Gary Neville.

As far as the spat goes, De Jongs tackle was naughty but no worse than Jones' lunge on Barry, all a bit silly.

[Summers]

Looking back on last night, anyone think the singling out of Smalling for the goal was harsh? He was in front of Kompany and missed his header by a few inches - it's not like he did a lot wrong.

Not even slightly harsh. It was completely his fault. He left his man and had to move around another pairing just to try and get back to Kompany. If he sticks with his man instead of going walkabout, Kompany doesn't score.

[DavidMarrio]

You know who I thought should get some credit in that City goal? Tevez. Was making a right nuisance of himself getting in between the Phil Jones and in front of De Gea.

But yeh it was Smalling's fault, poor marking and Kompany does what he does best when it comes to poor marking off a corner and just exploited the space and well we all know what happened next. Gotta agree with Ace as well I thought Toure and Zabaletta were fantastic last night. It was your typical Yaya Toure performance just dictating the midfield and storming forward.

[Dynamite]

Yeah, Neville showed it pretty well on that giant iPad Sky have. That little step forward Smalling made meant he lost the yard he needed to beat Kompany in the air. Small margins but it's what games like this are decided by.

Watching the match yesterday was probably the most nervous I've ever been in a game since the Chelsea final in 2008. All I saw the whole day around town was United and City shirts. I went out the pub for a bit of air at half time and it was as empty as I've ever seen Manchester. The only people on the street were guys outside pubs, hardly even any cars going past.

Still think there'll be one more twist in the title race, whether it be us or City dropping points somewhere.

[Noah]

Yeah I get the same feeling Dynamite.

This title is not destined to be decided on just goal difference. One of the two clubs will drop more points in the next two game.

Just hope it's City.

[METALMAN]

well we all know what happened next.

what happened :/