‘Score’... Pablo gets the message

The City kit manager and former Latics stars writes every week for Chron Sport.
MANCHESTER City’s 4-1 victory at Fulham was the best performance I have seen us produce for a long, long time.

Everything just seemed to click for all of the players.

The movement was fantastic and in the first half especially, the hosts could not get near us.

With Diego Maradona watching from the stands, our two Argentina internationals, Carlos Tevez and Pablo Zabaleta, got on the scoresheet.

Despite the presence of their hero, I don’t think Carlos needs any inspiration to score goals at the moment. He is flying.

It was Pablo’s first goal of the season and I am not just saying this . . . before the match started I went up to him and said “score”, which is something I have never done before.

He hit a screamer into the top right-hand corner of the net and at half time he gave me a big hug!

I believe we are one of the teams capable of winning the Barclays Premier League title.

It is too close to call between ourselves, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal.

No-one should ever write off United because they grind out results, while the two London sides will bounce back from their latest defeats.

I would have seen the highlights from all of the weekend action, but the traffic from Craven Cottage to Euston Station was so bad that we missed our train!

Up next is a trip to Stoke City, which is always a difficult encounter.

Their fans create a hostile environment, and we will have to be at our best to take all three points.


ELSEWHERE, it is great to see Robert Pires back in England, after he signed a six-month contract with Aston Villa.

He may be 37-years-old, but if he has maintained a good level of fitness, he can be a big asset to Gerard Houllier’s young team.

Pires was an unbelievable talent during his Arsenal days.

I spoke to our former captain Richard Dunne the other day, and he said Houllier has made a positive impact already. It should be an interesting campaign at Villa Park.