Morph

ZLF, would you be happy to see Scott Parker here on a loan until the end of the season? Or perhaps Joe Cole? With Chelsea trying to pick up Czech star Jarosik, Parker would get pushed down the pecking order. Also with Cole putting in his star substitute performances I would think Parker''s hopes of first team football are limited. If Ashton does sign I think another quality midfield player is top priority. What about Thompson at Blackburn?

Can you not play Fleming in the right back position giving a back four of:Fleming Doherty Shackell CharltonI think Shackell has to be considered at some point in the season.

To exiled and non-exiled fans everywhere, and to those City players who grace these pages with their presence, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Wear your colours with pride this festive season!!!

DDiM, I think you''ll find that Todorov is out for the season. Your closest to his home club being down there in Pompey at Uni.

Well here''s someone else''s view, that I''m sure will only throw more logs on the burning fire that was started by CanaryBoy. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/feature?id=319726&cc=5739

susieb, you''re forgetting Helveg is a foreigner so he can''t possibly be any good can he? I''m amazed at all of the threads that have started up over this one. I can''t believe that any City supporter in their right mind believed they would go to Stamford Bridge and come away with a win. A point possibly if all things fell into place, but anything other than a loss, you have to be kidding. Similarly, I''m amazed at how many so called fans are on here praising Helveg for his performance one week and slamming his performance the next. Zero to hero to zero all in the space of 2 weeks. Geez! I''d concur with many of the other noters that Helveg''s experience is going to be really useful in the long stretch, assuming he doesn''t get totally pissed off with the way some of "our" supporters behave. My Christmas wish is that a whole bunch of the noters that have slagged off players in this forum get a real doze of reality and come back to note without the "whiplash effect" when players have an off day.

So Saint, the board aren''t telling porkys about having only £1.2million to spend. Francesco had implied that they were telling lies about the transfer kitty. I believe I argued that they weren''t. Your link appears to back that up. NW has a MINIMUM £1.2million to spend. The board do not have a hidden warchest to open to give him more than that. In order to get more NW has to come up with alternative ways to get the money - probably sell first. In answer to somebody elses post, Juninho has played for Celtic this season. In fact he played in the Champions League for them. That said he has struggled to make an impact. He isn''t/wasn''t a direct replacement for the man who left, Larsson. He''s more of a Petrov type of player. I would even argue that he''s another Bentley/Hux type of player that doesn''t lead the front line rather than play off the front line. Best used in a free role of the type that we''ve just seen the best from Bentley in.

Francesco, I''m afraid I have to disagree with your comment about the board telling porkys (no doubt this will start 1st Wizard off again). I believe the only thing that has been said is that £1.2million has been added to the transfer kitty due to shareholders not exercising their right to sell back their preference shares. Nobody has publicly stated how much is actually in the transfer kitty. The only thing you could definitively say is that the kitty holds £1.2million. Maybe more, but no less.

I have to say a lot of the posters are being more than unfair to Mr C in this thread. He posted what he thought was a legitimate question to provoke some debate over an issue that he felt needing discussing. Several of the subsequent posters have not given a reasoned response to Mr C poser. "Should Worthy drop Huckerby?" I don''t think that anyone will disagree that Hux has the ability to turn a game on its head. And he brings to the table a permanent threat when City attack. However, some others have pointed out that he''s not the same player when he is asked to perform a specific role. Give him free reign and he does a great job. Ask him to to provide and attacking threat but also provide the defensive cover for his left/right fullback and he''s not the same player - he doesn''t play with the same abandon. So should Worthy drop Huckerby?  Personally I don''t think he should simply because of his ability to turn a game on it''s head. But that''s not to say that the question shouldn''t be asked. Fair do''s to Mr C for being brave enough to ask the question and hats off to Bananaman for standing up for him. So instead of slagging off a poster for coming up with a legimate question come up with a reasoned response. Once the board starts down the personal slagging path it becomes no better than some of the other message boards out there.

SuperShaun, I''m geographically close to Edinburgh but it wasn''t me. I leave 17 miles to the north just outside Dunfermline. Actually saw a guy in one of the local Tesco stores the other day sporting a retro City shirt and one of the Lotus emblem jackets. Even saw his car in the car park sporting City badges over the side indicators. Maybe it was FifeCanary who had noted here sometime in the past.

Beds, can''t completely agree with you on this one. What a young player brings to the game over a wise old head is the belief that they can beat anyone. Not sure whether City''s youngsters are like that, but bringing one or two in and giving them a try is no worse than fielding seasoned pros who are seemingly intimidated by the opposition. Give Crow or Jarvis a half and tell them to just go out there and play. Chances are they''ll give their all because they know no other way to play. BTW, don''t forget Shacks played in the cup game against Newcastle and from the little commentary I heard it appeared he had a bloody good game. He''s not been in the team since.

Don''t disagree with you Vic, but from a fans perspective they only see what goes on on the park. From the comments I read here Worthy is taking too long to learn even given the steep learning curve. If that is such a real problem what harm or good would it do to bring in someone to tutor Worthington that does have experience at this level? I know we go down the well trodden road of "director of football" et al, but would it benefit the club to bring in say, a Venables, Sir Bobby or Strachan to help Worthy get his Premiership feet?

I can''t believe what I''m reading in some of these posts. There were so many posters who deplored the report on GH receiving hate mail in the post and here we are with several posters seemingly cheering because the poor guy''s got injured. Come on guys that just isn''t on.I wish Holty a speedy recovery. He''ll never get credit for the effort he puts in from some of the fans, but in a lot of cases he''s the only guy that just gets on and does the unfashionable stuff in midfield.As the Tom Smith character in Seabiscuit said, "You don''t throw away a whole life just ''cause he''s banged up a little."

Rather than send another thread off at a tangent I''m picking up on some byline that was discussed there. How about having Peter and his team run a competition to come up with a design for a "I''m a Pink''Un Poster" T-shirt? Clearly, Peter et al have to set down some criteria for what the design should include and most importantly that it should be a design that when printed up could be sold. Thoughts?

You can add me as another unhappy chappy Canary Boy. These guys are supposed to be providing a service to those fans who are unable to get to either home or away games. For those fans ardent enough to sit in front of a computer to listen to live commentary and pay for the privilege, albeit a small amount, it is a bit of a pain in the butt when you can''t get coverage. Are these guys in anyway connected with the club? If so, shouldn''t the club take this up. The provider appears to a service provider to the football club. When that breaks down it reflects badly on the club. I have to say the excuse on the club site is a bit lame. Made even more lame when directly underneath is an advert to sign up to CanariesWorld and not miss a live match!!!!!

Sorry to be despondent about this, but I don''t think it''s going to matter how much Worthy gets to spend in January. His record for the current campaign with regard to transfer dealings is less than exemplary. This is clearly not helped by the fact that he doesn''t really give his signings a chance to get a run in the first team to stake their claim to a place. Charlton £250k - currently a first team regular, looks to be excellent value for money, but is he playing in his preferred position? Jonson £800k(?) - in and out although an extended run in the team hasn''t allowed him to stake a claim to a place every week Doherty £750k(?) - not even yet had the chance to start in the his preferred position at centre half, whilst showing that he''s nothing more than a "donkey" up front Helveg Free - best value signing by far, but also not been given a chance for an extended run in the team to show what good value his signature really was. Bentley "Free" - on paper a good bit of business to bring in the young talent but he''s hardly set the team alight, has he? Safri £500k - another player seemingly left out in the cold having played for just a couple of matches. A ball winner and ball player but once again left on the sidelines. Someone posted the other day that they thought City needed to sign seven players. I disagree but I think they need two possibly three, unless Worthy is prepared to shake off his personal disagreements with players and pick the best 11. I think they need a centre half who can command the back four and also command the team on the field. Malky was that man when he was at the club although I''m not convinced he was in control of the back four. However, they don''t currently have a "leader" at the back and I really think they need one. There''s no reason why Helveg can''t be that person if he was given a chance in the side. I also think they need a killer striker who scores for fun. I had hoped McKenzie was going to be that killer striker. His pace has good and he harries the hell out of defenders but he can''t seem to hit a bloody barn door which is not good.

Carles, try going via http://www.soccernet.com/ and selecting the live scores button on the left hand side. When you get presented with the set of fixtures select the box at the right hand end of the table beside the City game and it should throw up the Soccernet Gamecast Insider window. That gives you text commentary but also shows the number of shots teams are having and from where.

Web-team: Peter, I''m with you on the Safri vs Savage score. I think Mr Savage could end up with Norwich down to ten men if Worthy puts Safri in the spot. If Worthy wants to continue in the vein of ball players in the middle of the park I would suggest that he gives Helveg a try. Sods law says you''ll see Doherty drafted in as central midfield cover

Zipper, in reply to your comment "who be a manager hey morph" - I would. Give me Worthy''s job any day of the week. StevenageFan, do you think Bentley offers the team something that you don''t get some of the other midfield players on the books? Say McVeigh, Safri, Holt, Jonson or Henderson. I agree with you that Hux ought to be pushed back up front as he is to easy to pick up when he''s wide on the left. A team simply has to do what Man City did to him (two players marking him) and he disappears. Jonson offers you that extra defensive cover that Hux doesn''t. It''s something I think you also get from Bentley. So I would agree with you that a midfield four of Bentley, Mulryne, Francis and Jonson would be a good step forward from the victorious team on Saturday.

Has anybody actually seen Doherty play in his preferred position of centre back in a City shirt yet? I know there were several posters at the reserves game against Arsenal in which Doherty featured at centre half, so what was he like? Several posters seem quite happy to let the guy even though he''s not been given a chance to perform in his preferred position. That seems harsh in the extreme.

[quote]I too had my lucky red underwear on for the game but also chose not to wear my new away city shirt with premier badge. I have religiously not worn a city shirt to a game for the last three years pur...[/quote] If that''s all that Zip is going to have on I guess we''ll all be able to pick him out on MOTD. ZipperLF has anyone told you we''re getting into winter now and it''s starting to get colder. Next thing we know you''ll be popping up in just red pants at a Green Bay US football game!!

I can empathise with both Worthy and Zipper on this one. Moving Bentley to the left and bringing Jonson back does put a bit more defensive cover over the midfield four from the Southampton game. Huckerby goes missing from his defensive duties too often. That said, you do have a winning side that you would hope Worthy would give a run to. So play the same line-up but have Jonson or Safri or Holt on the bench to bolster the midfield if Hux goes missing too often at St Andrews.

Sorry but isn''t this a bit harsh on Doherty? Worthy signed him and then promptly played him in a role that he was accustomed or possibly even suited to. I think we should reserve judgement on Doherty until we''ve seen him play at his natural role, which I believe is CENTRE HALF not centre forward. This is also hot on the heels of negative comments about the back four [Charlton and his Wheelies], prior to Saturday''s win. Where is the cover if either Charlton or Fleming goes down. Shackell is clearly one option, but if you get two back four injuries who else goes in?

Also made the Soccernet team of the week along with Worthy as selected manager. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/feature?id=317157&cc=5739

Listening to Radio 5 for the results round up and found the end of the Chelsea vs Bolton game. I noticed that Hierro has finally managed to squeeze into the Bolton line-up. Comments on the commentary about how long it had taken him to get used to the pace and style of the game here in the Premiership. It certainly drew some parallels to what is happening with Helveg at City.