Watford were scrapping for their lives City were creating and missing chances with a gambler’s throw
Posted in General on 28. Aug, 2010
Watford were scrapping for their lives, City were creating and missing chances with a gambler’s throw. Berkovic could have scored twice in two minutes just before the half-hour mark, once scooping over after Espen Baardsen had blocked Danny Tiatto’s long-range shot, then forcing the Norwegian to tip over a delicate left-foot chip. The Israeli was also the instigator of the best chance of the half, bursting through the inside- left channel before squaring the ball to Goater, whose side-footed shot was well saved by Baardsen. “He would have taken that nine times out of 10,” said Keegan.By half-time Watford looked in some disarray at the back and in need of some severe rehab of their own from Vialli and Co Instead, City stepped up the pace just after half-time. Pearce, City’s new captain and talisman, could also have crowned his debut with a goal. A trademark left- foot free-kick flashed a yard wide early in the first half, another from an altogether tighter angle early in the second half took a deflection off a Watford scalp and clipped both bar and post.
In the 50th minute, Watford showed their first glimpse of attacking life, Gayle heading a long, swirling, cross back across goal, while Carlo Nash and his defenders shirked their responsibility, a familiar failing last season.Goater should have put the home side ahead moments before he did, but, having been put clean through by Wanchope, he struck his shot directly at Baardsen. Yet the miss proved merely the prelude to City’s purple patch. Moments later, Goater’s header rocketed past Baardsen and Berkovic followed up Wanchope’s header for City’s second. To add to Watford’s woes, Paul Robinson was sent off for a second bookable offence and Pearce rifled home a trademark free-kick.”We did quite well for 20 minutes in each half, but that’s not good enough,” said Vialli For Keegan, the season promises new life. Vialli has a hard road ahead.Manchester City 3 Watford 0Goater 57, Berkovic 59, Pearce 87Half-time: 0-0 Attendance: 33,939.
Like a top-drawer author, David Platt has plotted the script of his career with meticulous care. The ending he foresees is a happy one: the England manager’s job. Another chapter in the yarn unfolded last Thursday when Platt, in his first step as the new Under-21 coach, announced his squad for Tuesday’s friendly against Holland at Reading’s Madejski Stadium. Like a top-drawer author, David Platt has plotted the script of his career with meticulous care. The ending he foresees is a happy one: the England manager’s job. Another chapter in the yarn unfolded last Thursday when Platt, in his first step as the new Under-21 coach, announced his squad for Tuesday’s friendly against Holland at Reading’s Madejski Stadium.
Platt opted long ago not to follow the stumbling path of so many professional footballers, hoping to prolong their life with a job on the fringes of the game, or perhaps an income from pub or punditry.
As the 35-year-old former international midfielder said on Thursday: “At 26, you suddenly realise your career is half over.”Platt certainly did, taking himself off to Italy to burnish skills and expand knowledge before coming home, via three seasons at Arsenal, to prepare for the next stage by qualifying as a coach. This has not, so far, worked as smoothly as he might have wished. A return in a coaching role to Sampdoria, where he played with distinction under Sven Goran Eriksson from 1993-95, did not work out. Nor, in truth, did his two seasons as manager of Nottingham Forest, where the ambition of a return to the Premiership remains unfulfilled.A determined hurdler who has clipped, but not stumbled over, a couple of obstacles, Platt surges on and is now aboard the England set-up, the place he has always wanted to be since winning 62 caps and scoring 27 goals for his country.Platt’s mateyness with Eriksson, seen by some as a prime factor in his appointment to the Under-21 job, draws a swift riposte: “If you come into a high-profile job there are going to be mixed opinions. The FA’s opinion is what counts, or else I wouldn’t be sat here.