Frank’s a model pro

Manchester City’s website reporter writes every week for Chron Sport


IT was a really cagey game for City against Chelsea.

But to have come back with a point after going down to 10 men was probably a good result.

Chelsea did a Stoke job. They sat back, defended deep and caught City on the break. Thankfully Frank Lampard came up with the equaliser. In fact Frank could have gone on to score again and win the game. That would have been a real turn-up!

Frank is a great player and City are lucky to have him around for a while. A superb professional, you could see the respect both sets of fans had for him at the end of Sunday’s game.

Even with 10 men, City still looked dangerous; new signing Mangala was terrific, as was James Milner.

Mangala is a real beast: huge, with a great attitude and quick-thinking style.

He and Vincent Kompany ought to create a formidable partnership at the heart of the defence. Mangala is left-footed, too, so he balances the defence perfectly.

It’s been an interesting start to the season. Southampton, Swansea and Aston Villa have enjoyed great starts, but Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham will be up there again once things start to settle down.

It is looking like Chelsea and City are going to be the favourites, though. Already I can see the title being won by one of those two.

I had a good day last week on my latest City TV “Challenge Chappy” feature, in which I had to try to get as far away from the Etihad Stadium as possible in 24 hours - with no money.

I made it to Dover port, which wasn’t bad, though it was a tiring day.

I was going to get on a ferry to Dunkirk at 6am the following morning with the truck driver I’d cadged a lift off.

But the time limit meant wasn’t really worth going any further, so I called it a day.

Watch a video feature of my day on the City website soon. It should be a good watch - I had some laughs along the way.