Saturday gossip

So what was the key to last April's stirring win over United
at Wembley? Tactics? Skill? Well, a bit but according to Joleon Lescott
in the Daily Telegraph today a blast of music on the way down and in the
dressing room lifted the lads to new heights.




With City playing his former club today, Joleon was a natural choice for a sit-down and Henry Winter's excellent interview leads on the day the lads turned it up to 11 (which as all Spinal Tap fans know is one louder...)

"Roberto Mancini had hitherto not been a fan of loud music
pre-match, allowing headphones but not speakers. “The game before the
semi we’d played Liverpool and we could hear their music,’’ said Lescott.
“Our dressing room was quiet. We lost 3-0. The music’s not an excuse
but I spoke to some of the players, went to management staff and said:
‘Do you mind if we play some music before games?’ They agreed.

“On the train, I got my computer out and went round the tables
asking for a couple of songs each from the boys. All random tunes. James Milner’s more an indie man. Harty
[Joe Hart] is more a house guy. It was crazy in the dressing room at
Wembley with the music, everyone was so hyper. We won the semi and never
looked back.

“Last year everyone was questioning the bond between players and
talking about ‘egos’ but we knew that wasn’t the case. Winning the Cup
helped that bond. We seem even closer this year.” That's great to hear,
isn't it?

Meanwhile the Express is one of several outlets that pick up on the new order of things when it comes to City's forward line.

"Carlos Tevez's fall
from grace hit a new low yesterday when he was overlooked by his
country and relegated to fourth-choice striker at his club.

"Tevez will be back on the Manchester City bench today, 24 hours
after Argentina omitted him from their squad for next month’s
internationals.

"City manager Roberto Mancini said Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko are now his first-choice strikers and suggested Mario Balotelli has jumped ahead of Tevez in the pecking order."

And along the M62, Barry Horne reveals in his Liverpool Echo column
that he is not a fan of lunchtime kick-offs, and that he hopes Everton
will put everyone to sleep today as his former club look to extended
their good record against City.

"I WAS still playing when lunchtime matches were starting to
creep into the fixture list – and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that
many early fixtures are dull affairs.

"I think it’s a combination of it being an unusual time for fans
to attend a match, plus the difficulty players have in adjusting to an
earlier kick-off.

"Having said that, I wouldn’t mind today’s game being dull as long as we come back down the M62 with something in the bag!

"There’s absolutely no doubting City’s phenomenal depth of
talent, but Fulham showed last weekend that they aren’t invincible and
the spirit in the Everton camp does give some cause for optimism."

Pump the music upto the max and beat that shower of shit convincingly i say.

didn't realise you had a soft spot for the toffees shaken...

Can we pump Radiohead's Exit Music for a film into the away dressing room prior to kickoff??

My mate's a big Everton fan Dawg and i'm sick of getting beat by um. Him and his lad have been at mine for the match, they're very quiet at the moment . Quality result!