Top 10 things we learned from Manchester City v Everton
It was a blow to City's title hopes, but what else did we learn from the match?
1) Rewrite
As the full time whistle went every single 'Christmas No 1' headline up and down the land had to be binned and rewritten. For the record, and just in case you hadn't heard, had City taken three points tonight they would have been top at Christmas for the first time in 81 long years. They didn't. So they aren't.
2) Will he stay after this?
Just hours before kick-off, Man City announced that Carlos Tevez had withdrawn his transfer request and expressed his "absolute commitment" to the club. But with City trailing 2-0 after just 20 minutes on a bitterly cold night, Twitterer @GomezGooner wondered: "is Tevez gunna hand in another transfer request at half time now?"
3) You snood you lose
Now we don't want to jump on the softie-bashing bandwagon but, well OK, maybe we do. Number of Man City players wearing snoods? Five (including Tevez's effort which looked like he'd cut the leg off a pair of club training trousers). Meanwhile, none of the Everton players were even wearing gloves - and quite a few were in short sleeves. Their attire was as manful as their defending.
4) You snood you lose (pt II)
Indeed, when Pablo Zabaleta went off for treatment in the first half and came back on with a bandage around his head for a minute we thought he'd just pulled his snood up.
5) Please give generously
While City were desperately trying to get back in the game and peppering the Everton box with crosses and shots there were a welter of claims from the City players for handball. Time and again they ran after the ref asking for the decision - by the end of the match they'd had more appeals than Blue Peter.
6) He loves Man City
It may have come as a surprise when Tim Cahill netted after just a couple of minutes - but it really shouldn't have. According to the wonderful @OptaJoe, Tim Cahill has scored away at City in four of the seven seasons he has played in the Premier League, and the last three in a row.Conversely, Carlos Tevez has still never scored against Everton. As @OptaJoe might say: contrast.
7) Chant of the night
Everton fans after 20 minutes played: "2-0 and we spent f*** all".
8) Oggy, oggy, oggy!
Still, they were not quite so full of voice when City pulled one back in the second half, although despite all City's big spending, they still needed Everton Phil Jagielka to put it in the back of the net.
9) Because he's worth it
Carlos Tevez must have been praying for something to take the spotlight off his transfer request and subsequent brouhaha (oh yes, look it up). Bet he didn't see this 2-1 defeat coming though - or Louis Saha's ridiculous orange hair do. It's because he's worth it, you know.
10) Every cloud...
So City fans, you missed the chance to see your club top at Christmas for the first time in 81 years. Still, it could be worse... and it is. According to stat experts Infostrada Sports, that defeat means Manchester United are now top of the table on Christmas day for a record breaking 17th time and for the first time since 2006/2007. Maybe next year eh?
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