Monday Gossip

Mon 31 Oct 2011, 8:41AM
Posted by Peter Ferguson

Good weekend for City, great weekend for Adam Johnson. Not only does he make a real impact off the bench against Wolves, but he is clasped warmly to the bosom of the Mancini family.


Who says so? Why Roberto, of course. More or less. The candid Blues manager has recently been telling the media that Adam can be better and more consistent, constructive criticism straight from the heart.

Now he tells the Independent's Nick Szczepanik: "I love Adam. It's like with children, if you love your children then sometimes you should be hard with them. If he was not a good player, then I wouldn't waste my time to do this.

"Because he has everything, I don't want him stopping at this level. I want him to go up a level, then a level more. He could become one of the top wingers."

Nick adds: "Mancini revealed that his opinion is shared by Fabio Capello, the England head coach. "'We know he is an incredible player but a player like him should play very well every game, like David Silva.

"'One versus one he is incredible, every time he takes the ball near the box wide then we can score a goal or have a chance. He did well today. But he can improve every month, every week, every day.'"

Over at goal.com, they've got some good old-fashioned injury news - remember that? - regarding the Champions League tie with Villarreal at El Madrigal, which isn't nearly as nice as it sounds.

They report: "Juan Carlos Garrido will have to make do without experienced midfielder Marcos Senna in Wednesday's Champions League game after the former Spain international picked up an injury.

"The 35-year-old picked up a hamstring injury in his side's 2-0 La Liga win over Rayo Vallecano on Saturday and was forced to leave the pitch after 49 minutes.

"Senna underwent further examination on Sunday and uefa.com reports that the hamstring problem will keep the midfielder out of his side's fourth Group A game."

Bit of a Halloween horror for the Spaniards, already without top striker Giuseppe Rossi, no points, and facing a City side that has racked up more Prem goals than any team at this stage, ever.

The Mail offers a breakdown of how the 36 were scored: Outside the box 11, open play 29, headers 3, from corners 6, direct free kicks 0. Hmmm. Let's brush up on those set pieces, eh lads?

Let's all hope AJ lives up to his expectations then eh lee.

Yeah but Kolarov scored a direct free-kick in the CL against Napoli, so we can score from anywhere. Villerreal should be worried .