'There is a tremendous amount of jealousy'

Nigel de Jong 'tells it like it is' in a Daily Mirror interview this week:

“What makes it really hard for us, is that every team we play, sees us as the big favourite for the title. We are now a hot item in England only because our club have spent such a lot of money on new players. I am not saying they hate us in every stadium, but I do feel there is a tremendous amount of jealousy.

“I really think we must compete with Chelsea and Manchester United this season. Two years ago a new owner arrived here. Last year we laid the foundation, this year we have to fire from all cylinders. We must go and win trophies."

This might rile some opposition fans, but it's not as if de Jong was a neutral's favourite before he came out with this. And there is something fun about having a play so unpopular with other fans - just remember Joey Barton. Later in the same interview, though, de Jong makes a strange diversion into 'telling it like it isn't':

“Vincent Kompany and I are the only two players who have been with this club before the sheik arrived,” he said. “So I think I am a player with a lot of experience at the club.’’

This is just flat out wrong. De Jong signed for City on 21 January 2009. We were bought by Sheikh Mansour on 1 September 2008. There's nothing else to say. (I'm not sure what Shaun Wright-Phillips, Pablo Zabaleta, Micah Richards, Joe Hart, Michael Johnson and of course Jô make of it either.) Ultimately I suppose it's rooted in de Jong's admirable but slightly silly desire to paint himself as a life-long blue, who cried when we were relegated under Alan Ball, who was held on his father's shoulders to see us beat Gillingham and who invaded the pitch at Ewood Park in May 2000.

David Silva wins the World Cup

David Silva won the World Cup last night. I wish I could say this made him the first City player to win a World Cup, but he's still technically a Valencia player. And I'm a stickler for technicality. Rather, when he signs he will become the second player to join City having won the World Cup. Patrick Vieira was the first.

Silva was an unused substitute, which must have been a personal frustration given his role in Euro 2008. Perhaps it was good, though, that he was not on the pitch given the tackles that his new team-mate Nigel de Jong was throwing about. De Jong and his co-bully Mark van Bommel were tasked with terminating Spain's passing with extreme prejudice and both were lucky to stay on the pitch after some brazen fouls. De Jong's flying kung-fu stamp on Xabi Alonso's thorax was punished with only a yellow card, when a red would have been more appropriate. I've said before how much I dislike de Jong's malice, and this was one of the worst.

That said, I would have loved him to win it. Not just because he, unlike Silva, is currently a City player but because of all our playing representatives at the World Cup, he feels ours in a particularly meaningful way. But Spain were deserving winners, on aesthetic and moral grounds, and de Jong was one of the main reasons for that.

Boateng bags bronze

All three of the remaining City players at the World Cup will go home with medals, as Germany beat Uruguay 3-2 in the third/fourth place play-off. Jérôme Boateng will join his new team-mates three weeks for now with a World Cup bronze medal.

He moved to right-back, having played left-back in recent games. This was interesting, I've got a feeling he's just as likely to play right-back than centrally this coming season, certainly if we sign David Luiz. I don't think he's a natural full back, but he was very assured this evening. There were none of the defensive lapses that spoilt his semi-final (it certainly helped that Martín Cáceres didn't get forward half as much as Sergio Ramos had), and he had some good moments going forward.

When afforded some space in the second half he swung in two perfect crosses from the touchline: the first was headed in by Marcell Jansen to make the score 2-2, the second was just missed by a flying Stefan Kießling. His best moment was yet to come, as he won the ball in defence and surged up the pitch, linking with Thomas Müller in a counter-attack as direct and exciting as anything Germany produced against England and Argentina, even if it was ultimately unsuccessful.

He could well be our first choice right back. He's certainly better than Micah Richards: he's got all of his athleticism plus a whole lot more technical ability. He's different from Pablo Zabaleta, not quite as canny or as reliable and so we could choose between them depending on the context. But he looks promising and I am excited about seeing him in blue.

Nigel de Jong and David Silva will compete for the World Cup tomorrow evening.

Boateng out, Silva into final

And so the personalities of the all-Manchester City World Cup final are decided: Nigel de Jong on one side, David Silva on the other.

Silva came on for the last five minutes as Spain closed out the lead brought to them by Carles Puyol's second half header. He played quite well, twice running with Fernando Torres on counter-attacks but not getting the ball. His high point was probably winning a disputed corner off Bastian Schweinsteiger but he had one or two other nice touches.

He was more assured than Jérôme Boateng. Playing at left back, Boateng was teased by Andrés Iniesta and tormented by Sergio Ramos. He could have been booked three or four times over and was substituted for Marcell Jansen early in the second half. He's clearly a natural centre-back but I suspect he'll start at right-back when the regular season starts. Just a hunch.

De Jong v Silva is on Sunday night.

City guaranteed a World Cup winner

Short of teams or players being expelled from the tournament, it is now certain that a Manchester City player will pick up a World Cup winner's medal on Sunday.

Last night Holland knocked out Uruguay, who ultimately fell down on their lack of Manchester City players. If they'd had just one blue they might have done better, but there's one thing connecting the three remaining teams, and it's us.

Nigel de Jong didn't play last night, owing to suspension, but I'm sure he'll play the final. His replacement Demy de Zeeuw, who looks like de Jong from a distance and plays a bit like him too only last 45 minutes. He was replaced by Rafael van der Vaart at half time. While it's possible Bert van Marwijk will start with the 4-1-4-1 for the final it's highly unlikely, particularly given the necessity of shutting down either Andrés Iniesta or Mesut Özil.

Jérôme Boateng and David Silva go head to head tonight.

Robi scores but de Jong through

What a night of football. Two Manchester City players going head to head for a place in the semi-final. Robinho v Nigel de Jong. And City legend Elano, still injured, could only watch.

Robinho started well, playing with the imagination and audacity we saw at City and the energy and bite that we didn't. His tracking, tackling and efforts to win the ball back made him look like a different player altogether from our £32m man.

Only five minutes in he thought he put Brazil ahead, ghosting behind Andre Ooijer, receiving Dani Alves' pass and scoring. Just as he wheeled away to celebrate the flag shot up - Alves had been offside. Tight call. But five minutes later Robinho put Brazil ahead. Holland lost the ball, and their transition from an attacking to a defensive set-up was haphazard at the least. Robinho drifted into the chasm between Ooijer and Johnny Heitinga, and was half-heartedly tracked by Arjen Robben. But he received a straight ball from Felipe Melo and replicated that open body right foot finish we saw against Chile (and against Portsmouth in the 6-0.)

Once ahead Brazil dominated. Robinho's movement was too much for Gregory van der Wiel to comprehend, and Robi was even involved in spats for - get this - over-zealous tackling. Nigel de Jong had to restrain him once. But Brazil couldn't double their advantage and went into half-time one ahead.

The game looked sewn up. The one thing I was sure of was that Brazil would never implode, never capitulate. So the second half was shocking. The Dutch were brighter but could have expected to be gifted a goal. Wesley Sneijder swung a cross in, Felipe Melo and Júlio César jumped into one another and the ball was deflected into the net. Soon after a Dirk Kuyt near post run was ignored, he flicked a corner on and Sneijder buried the second ball.

But there was disappointment in between the goals for de Jong. His harrying and tackling was so relentless, so heroic that he picked up a yellow card. This was his second booking of the tournament and means he misses the semi-final. A personal blow but how else was he meant to keep Kaká quiet? It was a noble act of self-sacrifice to rival Jesus of Nazareth Luis Suárez.

When Felipe Melo was sent off for stamping on Arjen Robben the game was up. Ten man Brazil were stunned and could not create anything. Holland's extra man told and they had their own chances on the break. Robinho and Elano are flying home, and while Nigel de Jong won't play in the semi final he might just be strutting around Soccer City next Sunday night.

De Jong into quarters, Vladi out

Nigel de Jong's Holland made the quarter finals of the World Cup with a 2-1 win over Slovakia. It wasn't a great game; in keeping with Holland's group stage matches they were cautious and patient, and produced only occasional moments of attacking quality. Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder put them 2-0 up before Robert Vittek pulled back a late penalty. My report for Telegraph.co.uk is here.

For de Jong it was another solid game. His combination with Mark van Bommel is probably the least-compromising 'doble pivot' in the World Cup, with a hat nervously tipped to Gilberto Silva and Felipe Melo. They closed down Slovakia and denied them space.

Some of Slovakia's opportunities came from Vladimir Weiss exploiting the positional naivety of Gregory van der Wiel. Two or three times Weiss surged behind van der Wiel but without much end product. Even with Vittek's late penalty it was a safe enough win for Holland, who now progress to the quater-finals.

De Jong nearly scores for Holland

Holland played out their third consecutive win yesterday, beating a lively but poorly organised Cameroon side 2-1 in Cape Town.

Nigel de Jong played, and he nearly scored his second goal at international level when he got on the end of a free kick from Rafael van der Vaart, but he could not control his volley and it went over the bar.

His Dutch side will play Vladi Weiss' Slovakia in Durban on Monday afternoon.

De Jong plays in comfortable Dutch win

Another easy day for Nigel de Jong, who played well enough in Holland's 1-0 defeat of Japan. It was a game very similar to the Dutch defeat of Denmark, as Japan defended in numbers and limited the space Holland had to play in. And like the Denmark game, it turned on a mistake, as Wesley Sneijder's shot was palmed into the net.

Given Japan's counter-attacking style, there was not much play for de Jong to break down but he made most of his tackles, and did so without risking ending anyone's career, which made a nice change. He could well be rested for Demy de Zeeuw or Stijn Schaars against Cameroon but will have a tougher job to do in the Last 16.

De Jong plays in Dutch win

Nigel de Jong, arguably the City player most likely to come away with a World Cup winner's medal, made a mixed start to his campaign in Johannesburg this lunch time.

He started alongside Mark van Bommel in Holland's 4-2-3-1. It was an easy start - Denmark, playing a cautious and counter-attacking 4-1-4-1 had very little play for de Jong to break down. He made a few tackles, used the ball neatly but had a quiet afternoon in store.

But after half an hour he jumped into a two footed tackle on Martin Jorgensen. It ought to have been a straight red card. He subsequently got a yellow but it was not a redress of football justice. These tackles are getting increasingly indefensible. I know tough tackling is the point of Nigel de Jong and that mistakes can happen but there is no avoiding the fact that he chooses the malicious option more often than he ought to. I suppose when he broke Stuart Holden's leg in an international friendly the scales fell from my eyes. It's not what I like to see.

Anyway, de Jong was instrumental in Holland's opening goal. Just after half time he played a perfectly weighted ball through to Robin van Persie, who got to the byline and crossed - Simon Poulsen headed into Daniel Agger's back and Holland were ahead.

De Jong came off with six minutes left for his lookalike and understudy Demy de Zeeuw. Holland won 2-0.

'We could use a good right-back'

Just because something is true it does not mean that you have to say it.

Nigel de Jong has implored MCFC to buy Ajax's young right-back Gregory van der Wiel, currently alongside de Jong in the Dutch squad. He said:

"I know that Greg is on our wanted list at Manchester City." De Jong told the Daily Star.

"I have pleaded with them to sign him, as we could use a good right-back.

"The tempo of English football will make him stronger still and I've recommended him to City's management."

True enough - we could use a good right back. But I'm not sure this is de Jong's jurisdiction, and even then I think it's only worth buying if we can seriously upgrade on Zabaleta, Richards and of course Jérôme Boateng. But it's interesting in further revealing 'the Boateng plan' - that is, young, talented players based on the continent.

Neither de Jong nor van der Wiel played in Holland's 2-1 friendly win over Mexico last night, which I will be reporting on as part of another new project soon to be confirmed.

Suspensions

Pablo Zabaleta's season of bad tackles, late tackles, high tackles, cynical tackles and clumsy tackles has finally caught up with him: he has racked up ten yellow cards and therefore is banned from the Burnley and Birmingham City games.

It's not come at the best possible time, but I'd rather he missed these two games than the next two - Manchester United and Arsenal. The problem is that Nigel de Jong could well sit those out for the same reason. To avoid that, he needs to escape cautions in the next two games - at which point the giant reset button is pressed in Soho Square Wembley Stadium and de Jong can collect bookings with impunity.

But this means that it's probably wisest to rest de Jong for the Burnley and Birmingham games. Hence Gareth Barry's resting on Monday night. Expect to see Barry and Vieira in midfield on Saturday, with the possible addition of Stephen Ireland or even Sylvinho. I don't particularly worry about that game, but the prospect of Lee Bowyer and Barry Ferguson over-running Barry and Vieira on Sunday week is fairly worrying.

Players back Mancini

Well, two of them have - former Hughes loyalists Nigel de Jong and Vincent Kompany have defended Mancini after Wednesday's evening's unpleasantness:

"Everyone at this club is passionate and wants to bring success so there will be times when emotion takes over," said Kompany.

"The boss showed how much he cares and I don't see a problem with what he did.

"We were losing and he wanted to get the ball back in play - that was all there was to it. I think too much has been made of it already."

Nigel de Jong, as usual, agreed with his former HSV teammate:

"It was a very emotional game, you could see that at the end with the gaffer," he said.

"Everybody knows I am not the easiest player in these kind of games.

"You have to set a tone - you are 1-0 behind and if the referee continues making disappointing decisions you know it is going to be an emotional game."

It seems that not all Hughes loyalists were singing from exactly the same hymn-sheet though.

NdJ praises Tévez

Our second best player this season has taken time out to praise our very best:

"Sometimes you need that spark to give you something extra, and it was good to have Carlos back against Chelsea to give us that," said de Jong...

"If you see the results from the last couple of games, it is a fact that Carlos is the spark we need in the squad. With his attitude and attacking skills he gives us an edge in difficult games. We have a lot of quality players, but he gives us an extra boost sometimes...

"Off the pitch he is one of the boys - he doesn't see himself as a superstar at all. He loves football, and has that South American temper in him which everyone loves," said De Jong, who was at Eastlands meeting schoolchildren in his role as the club's enterprise ambassador encouraging pupils to learn about business.

"I identify with that side of Carlos, because I am a fighter as well, so I love to see him play."

People often talk about the lack of experience of finishing fourth or above in the squads of City, Spurs and Aston Villa - and they're right. (Of course, we have Kolo Touré, Emmanuel Adebayor and Patrick Vieira but I'm not sure any of them would get into my first choice City side.)

But something that makes me more confident is the characters of our key players. While 'passion' and 'commitment' are often asked to bear more explanatory weight than they ought to in analyses of football, there's no doubt that de Jong and Tévez, as well as our third most important outfield player, Craig Bellamy, are exactly the sort of characters we need in the position we're in. They're brave, determined, and completely single-minded about success. They're warriors and exactly the sort of characters we need if we're actually going to finish fourth. And I look at the most important players at Spurs and Villa - with all due respect to some really excellent players - I don't necessarily think they've all got that attitude de Jong, Bellamy and Tévez possess.

Our shot at fourth

We're just four days away from what feels like an endless and borderless fifteen day break, and so focus is returning to the one relevant question in our season: can we come fourth?

Nigel de Jong thinks so:

"(We have a) good chance, I mean Liverpool lost yesterday so it's going to be a tight race at the end.

"Everybody goes for fourth place of course but I think we can do it.

"We've got one game in hand (over Spurs), we've got a couple of good games against our opponents as well at home so you've just got to try to keep going and focusing, try to get those three points in every game and we'll see where we end (up)."

While Gareth Barry pointed out that ruthlesness against the lesser teams is going to be as important as those definitive home ties with Spurs and Villa left to come:

"Three points are massive in the Premier League and we need to keep collecting them," said Barry.

"I'm not sure why we haven't done it against lesser teams.

"Earlier in the season, we had a slump where we failed to win four or five games in a row which we should have won.

"Hopefully, we can put that right before the end of the season, which is the vital part."

This is absolutely right. Looking through our remaining fixtures, it's very clear that Spurs and Villa at home are the biggest games. But given that this is a four-horse race, and that only the narrowest of margins separate the contenders at this point, every match and every point is crucial. Sunderland away, Fulham away, Burnley away, and West Ham away are just as winnable, and just as valuable as our big name home ties.

And are we going to do it? I honestly don't know. It's unlikely - even if we're favourites we've still probably got at best a 35% chance of doing so, as the odds will show. To be very frank, I find it hard to form rational opinions on this sort of thing. Years of supporting City have conditioned me against it. There are lots of attractive elements to the DNA of Manchester City but triumphs and ruthlesness aren't exactly in the mix - if you want dramatic victories from the jaws of defeat on a regular basis there's another Manchester club who will regularly provide it for you. My prediction? We'll go 2-0 down at on the final day, but pull it back to 2-2. We'll think 2-2 is enough for success, based on results elsewhere, and take the ball into the corner flag. Everyone in the ground will know it's not. But word won't get onto the pitch in time, and we won't get that winning goal.

If you don't want neurotic and fatalistic predictions check out Norfstander's vox pops on this issue.

De Jong in the headlines

And not in a good way.

A late tackle in last night's 2-1 win over the USA saw Bolton Wanderer's Stuart Holden fracturing his fibula, putting him out for six weeks. Our Nigel said:

'Such offences are part of football,' he said on www.knvb.nl. 'I went for the ball and got the opponent at the end. I had no evil intent. If the ball is between me and the opponent, you have to go in full. If you do not then the opponent takes you. And if you're scared in a game you get injured yourself.'

Everyone knows I love de Jong, and of course I recognise that severity of injury and malice of tackle do not correlate 100%, but it still is a bit of a shame to see that happening in an international friendly.

On the other hand, it might help Vladimir Weiss get a game for Bolton.

De Jong descends into self parody

I love Nigel de Jong. He's my favourite player, by a distance. I hope, with increasing desparation, that he is soon made club captain. He's a very good player and a genuine leader on the pitch. Next time I get paid I'm getting the home shirt with DE JONG 34 printed on the back. So I don't want anyone doubting my commitment to him.

But he does love his big chat before big games. He talks about pride, about passion, about the fans, about how much it all means to him. And his latest battle cry reads like a parody of 'things Nigel de Jong says before big games.' It's all there. First he tells us how up he is for the next match:

"They [Liverpool] are a huge club, one of the Premier League's 'big four', and as a player, these are the games you want to be involved in.

"We also have the added incentive of knowing a win will dent one of our main rivals for a Champions League spot. We have to prepare as we always do for our home games and aim to take all three points."

Then how much he loves the fans, and how much better our fans are than United fans:

"I love the City fans and the fighting spirit they have – it's something I can really relate to.

"I noticed from the moment I arrived in Manchester how many Blues there were compared to Reds. This is a working-class city. The people are used to hard work and want to see players play in a way I think they would if they had the opportunity."

And then there's how hard working a midfielder he is:

"I'm the type of player who wants to work and fight hard on the pitch too.

"I'm not the sort of player who will make a nice move during a game – in fact, I'd rather win a fair, crunching tackle than score a goal!"

Of course all this is preferable to Robinho's attitude. And de Jong is an exceptionally hard-working and dedicated player (as well as being technically better than he gets credit for.) But it's just a bit bewildering to read these exact words a few days before every big match. It reads like a satire of the sort of thing that John Terry would say. But we're not far away from it being a satire of stuff Nige de Jong would say. Before the Chelsea game next Saturday he'll tell us how when he was growing up in Amsterdam as a boy him and his brother used to argue about which one was Ian Brightwell and which one was David.

NdJ labels Stoke 'kick and rush'

True enough, although Stoke don't mind being patronised by those associated with bigger clubs, if only because their siege mentality and club unity feed off it. So I don't know how wise it is for players who grew up in the Ajax youth teams to criticise Stoke for their style:

"I like the ball played along the ground a lot, but I think we can expect a lot of long balls against Stoke, so you have to be prepared for the second ball and knock-downs.

“It’s going to be a battle and it’s probably not the best pitch in the league to play football on at the moment, but we know Stoke away is going to be hard whenever you take them on...

The former Hamburg star added: “In Germany and Holland all the teams try and play football - here you still find teams who play kick and rush. But they are doing what they feel they have to in order to survive in this league."

That said, if we're going to beat Stoke we're going to have to beat them at their own game. Few teams go to Stoke and win, and those that do only triumph on Stoke's terms. And so de Jong is going to be more engaged and more involved than he was on Saturday evening.

de Jong for captain

If you agree with me that Nigel de Jong should be made City captain, there's a Facebook group pushing the idea here.

The captaincy

With the return to England of Kolo Touré, and the return to fitness of Patrick Vieira, we're set for a period of speculation over our captaincy. Shay Given has been standing in recently, and has done well. Well enough to keep the armband even when Touré's back, probably. But I wouldn't give it to either. We're still early enough into the Mancini era for him to make grand gestures of imposing himself on the club, and the re-allocation of the captaincy is the perfect means to do this. And there is one outstanding candidate: Nigel de Jong.

I don't think there can be much doubting that Kolo Touré has been a poor captain. He's quiet, diffident and doesn't lead by example. I don't think Mark Hughes ever really wanted him as captain. The plan was for Gareth Barry to take over from Richard Dunne in the role. He had done it for years at Aston Villa. But I think Hughes was underwhelmed by Barry's leadership qualities when he arrived. Like che is quiet on the pitch. He has also has a frustrating habit of hiding in big games. Hughes saw this - and was right to - but erred in giving the armband to Touré ahead of Given, de Jong or Craig Bellamy.

Five months on, Mancini has a chance to correct Hughes' mistake. He might well stick with Given if he does not reinstate Touré. And Given hasn't done a bad job. But I do think we have one exceptional candidate in the ranks. Nigel de Jong is consistent. He plays every game - starting every match under Mancini so far. He is a leader on the pitch: brave, vocal and determined. He tackles like a tank but still hasn't got sent off yet for City. He sets an example. He's tactically disciplined. He tends to play with all but Given and the centre-backs ahead of him on the pitch - if something is going wrong he tends to know about it. In short, like the best of captains, he plays with his heart and with his head.

I don't think that this is a blazing priority, and I don't even think that the success of our season depends upon it. But I do think that Nigel de Jong would be an excellent captain of Manchester City. Certainly better than the current incumbent.