Considering all the names we have been linked with since the end of the football season and earlier, I expected to come back from holiday to see a glut full of new names to the squad as well as four England players travelling to South Africa.

Three was okay but you have to feel a little sympathy for Adam Johnson. The winger has been impressive for City since signing from Middlesbrough and you might have thought he would have been the dark horse to get to South Africa.

But out of 180 minutes in two games, Johnson only got six minutes to impress Fabio Capello which just wasn’t enough. But Johnson is only young and it makes sense not to put too much pressure on the winger at such a major tournament. It will be better to give him match experience in the Euro 2012 qualifiers against Bulgaria, Switzerland, Wales or Montenegro.

But it was good news for SWP who, along with Joe Hart and Gareth Barry, made the squad and will hope a good World Cup will help reignite his City career. The little winger impressed during his 45 minute spell against Japan when England came from behind to win 2-1.

So Where’s All These Big Name Signings Then?

Considering we were supposed to be buying half of Europe this summer, we’ve only made two official moves in the transfer market. The much publicised bid for James Milner is still rumbling on with the media just taking guesses at the amount City will offer next. But any move for the England man will now have to wait until after the World Cup unless City want to incur the wrath of Fabio Capello, who has decreed that no transfer with his players will take place while they are on World Cup duty.

Jerome Boateng will become a City player on 1^st July after agreeing terms on Saturday, after the deal had been imminent for almost a month. Boateng has agreed a five year contract and will become the third Hamburg player to join the blues. Why don’t we just go the whole hog and buy Hamburg?

The World Cup Is Finally here

After waiting for what seems like an eternity, the World Cup will finally make its way onto our screens on Friday, giving us four weeks of football to look forward to.

I will, of course, be watching as many of the matches as I can get away with and bring regular updates on City players competing in the tournament. However, if you fancy doing a World Cup blog for us, send us an email at writers@overthebluemoon.net to register your interest.

Enjoy the World Cup

Last week couldn’t have got off to a worse start. Shay Given ruled out for the remainder of the season, understudy Stuart Taylor also out injured and Joe Hart on a season long loan with Birmingham.

So we found ourselves with an inexperienced goalkeeper going into three final critical games of a long, hard season, meaning City made a request to the FA for special dispensation to make an emergency signing of a goalkeeper.

Now if we didn’t have anything to aim for, Mancini might not have bothered to sign another keeper and allow Gunnar Neilsen to see out the remainder of the season. But with a place in the Champions League at stake, he really didn’t have an option. Of course, City should have put a clause in Hart’s loan deal to say he could be recalled at any time but at least they will have learnt this for the future.

The FA’s decision to grant the blues permission was not met well by certain parts of the media, who claimed City were bending the rules but how can a club that asks permission be bending the rules? I can understand it if we had just gone out and signed a keeper without permission. I could also understand if we’d signed a top class keeper rather than a third choice but we stayed within the rules and within the spirit and fairness of the game. So where was the problem?

There seems to be a bit of a witch hunt against the blues at the moment and everything we do is scrutinized by the media. I suppose it’s something we will have to get used to.

Villa Down, Spurs To Go

A match against Villa is always difficult and Saturday’s game was a real test of our strength. Villa were sitting above us in fifth and defeat would have made challenging Spurs for fourth even more difficult.

And when John Carew opened the scoring, we could have been forgiven for thinking that was it. Stewart Downing almost made it two before the blues levelled and that’s when we began to show a bit of quality.

Within minutes we took a lead that we wouldn’t throw away and made it 3-1 before the final whistle. Some felt the blues would have felt the pressure on Saturday and cracked, allowing Villa to steal the points but City again proved the doubters wrong to stay in the race.

But the real test comes on Wednesday when Spurs arrive. The Londoners had been tipped at the start of the season to break the top four and this season they would have got away with it if it wasn’t for those pesky City players.

Europe Here We Come, Again

Whatever happens on Wednesday, European football was assured once City beat Villa. Everton still could have caught us but goal difference was in our favour. We made it to the quarter finals last season but we have the players now to go all the way to the final next year. And to make things even better, Chelsea’s win at Liverpool not only puts them within one win of taking the title from United, but also assures City of at least a sixth place finish in the league.

For so many reason’s, this one has definitely been one to remember.

After the euphoria of last Sunday’s action, the blues were brought back down to earth as the week ended in the worst possible fashion.

Thanks For Nothing Arsenal

After thumping Birmingham 5-1 at Eastlands, City fans were eagerly looking forward to a week that could have seen us take a step closer to fourth place. All Arsenal had to do was beat Spurs at White Hart Lane and we could stay four point clear. But no, the Gunners had to go and ruin the party by losing 2-1. In fairness though, Spurs have been very good at home this season and Tuesday’s win was their twelve at home. So it all boiled down to Saturday’s results to see who had the upper hand by Sunday night.

Man United – Sponsored By Last Minute.Com

For the third time this season, United scored in the last minute against City. It didn’t help that the referee for the game had been changed to a certain Mr Atkinson. The very same Mr Atkinson that officiated the September derby. But this time, Atkinson couldn’t be blamed for us conceding in the last minute again.

But that’s the way it goes. If you don’t play until the end you get punished and we did. So it was all down to Chelsea. A win at Spurs would keep them clear of United and us in fourth. And typically enough, Chelsea lost and we go down to fifth. But credit to Spurs for the way they have performed over the last two games. Two big derbies and two victories show they have the mettle to stay the course and if we can’t break the top four, they will. They next visit Old Trafford where a decent result would almost but guarantee fourth place for them.

Europe Still On The Cards

Even if we don’t make it to the Champions League, we still look like claiming a Europa League place with a fifth or sixth place finish. With four games to go and Spurs still to visit Eastlands, we can’t rule anything out but at this stage of the season, we cannot afford any more slip ups.

It seems like not only are the blues are finishing the season with a flourish, but everyone around us seem to be allowing their season to implode. But from a blue point of view, it’s just simply brilliant.

Pole position but will Mancini stay?

The blues started the week in pole position for fourth place in the Premiership after Saturday’s demolition of Burnley, coupled with Spurs’ defeat at Sunderland and Liverpool’s draw with Birmingham but the news of the week seemed to surround Roberto Mancini. Again

First he was off the Juventus then he was committed to City. It’s all speculation with no base at the moment. No manager in their right mind would move right now, not with the season so close to finishing. However, 50% of supporters who have voted on OTBM regarding Mancini’s position say he has done enough to keep the City job with 40% saying we should judge at the end of the season. Personally, I think we should just give him the job now.

Oh Bayern we love you.

What a week it’s been for United and we’ve loved every minute of it. Beaten at home to Chelsea, surely the Champions League was their best hope of finishing the season on a high? Well, no not really thanks to Arjen Robben. Crap defending or not, that was a class finish and Bayern rightly went through.

With Chelsea in the FA Cup semi final on Saturday, United had an opportunity to overtake them at the top of the league and did they take it? Hmmm, no I think is the answer. A 0-0 draw at Blackburn left Chelsea on top with a game in hand.

Tut tut. Are the standards slipping at the Theatre of Crap?

Fourteen goals in three games? This is City right?

Six last week, five this week. Finally City are beginning to show their true potential. After the little blip against Everton, City have won all three of their following games convincingly. 3-0 against Wigan, 6-1 at Burnley and now 5-1 against Birmingham but not only that, we are now four points clear of Spurs and they face Arsenal next.

Mathematically, we can still catch Arsenal, but I wouldn’t be too bothered if the Gunners win at White Hart Lane on Wednesday. Liverpool look out of the race for fourth after failing to beat Fulham at Anfield. The scousers are now six points behind us and have an inferior goal difference.

All in all, another good week and looking forward to the derby on Saturday.

Have a good week people.