'He can change his mind'

Roberto Mancini spoke publicly about the the Tévez situation for the first time yesterday, at the press conference before today's game with Juventus.

Of course, Mancini is always going to be tactical rather than honest in this sort of situation. So we shouldn't take his statements as an honest and incisive analysis of the situation. And yet, there was something in Mancini's relaxed demeanour (even with the Woody Allen glasses) that suggested that the whole situation is not quite as irreconcilable as it might seem.

"If Carlos is unhappy, and he's scored ten goals and played very well, then I hope that he's unhappy like that all season! But I don't think he is really unhappy. He can change his mind.

"Do I want him to stay? Absolutely. He has a contract, and he is our player. It's my belief that Carlos will stay with us, I think that he will continue to play for us."

Ultimately, the longer this goes on the less certain I am about it. The shifting rationales from the Tévez/Joorabchian camp are so fickle and flippant that it undermines the credibility of any case that they make. So much so that I am beginning to doubt just how relevant the home-sickness complaint is. I mean, if all it boiled down to was his craving his daughters' company so deeply that he could not bear to be in Manchester any more, then why not just say that? Football fans are idiots but we're not heartless: I'd like to think that there would be some degree of sympathy on a personal level if he said this.

But it increasingly feels as if even the homesickness, which I always thought was explanation, masked byother excuses, might in fact be a mask itself; the face, in fact, being Joorabchian's relationship with Garry Cook. I'd hate to accuse a father of lying about his relationship with his children but if this is a purely personal matter then why does Tévez not just come out and say exactly that?

Which is a long way of saying that I am increasingly baffled and put off by the whole sordid affair, and I am less confident than ever in any prediction that I might make.

More on Tévez

A few days into what looks increasingly like our annual Christmas crisis, and the future of Carlos Tévez looks only marginally clearer. There have been two material developments of note: a statement issued by Tévez's camp on Sunday night, and his return to Carrington this morning.

The statement, in which he says his "relationship with certain executives and individuals at the club has broken down and is now beyond repair", was not the statement of a man bluffing his way to a new contract. Rather, his ever-changing rationale for his desire to leave smacks of a man desperate to get out of Manchester as quickly as possible. As every schoolboy who hasn't done his Physics homework knows, one excuse is better than many. So for Tévez to change his target from Roberto Mancini to Garry Cook and Brian Marwood does rather lessen the credibility of his critique.

Having seen this on Sunday, I presumed we'd seen the last of him at City. But he has attended training today, perhaps in the light of news that the club would take him and Kia Joorabchian to court should he go all Bob Crow on us. While I'm increasingly sure that he's going to leave, it does sound as if Real Madrid (by far his most plausible destination), will not pay for him in January. That being the case, we might well have a disgruntled Tévez, naturally stripped of the armband and back in the ranks, shuffling around until June. This wouldn't be an obviously bad outcome, he played some good football while in his final months at Old Trafford. It would also allow us to take more time over the selection and recruitment of his replacement. If the club don't want that (as would be very understandable) then he can be loaned back to Boca Juniors for a few months, as Robinho was this time last year.

So most of the possible outcomes are still in play, although I do think his staying here long term is a real long-shot now. Mancini will speak with him on Friday when the team return from Turin.

Tévez, etc

Just when things were starting to look really rather promising, this happens.

It's a disappointment, certainly. The timing is a surprise. It's not exactly the behaviour you'd want from a club captain; I don't think it's what Scott of the Antarctic would have done.

That said, if you didn't think that Tévez was a disagreeable individual, bolshy, abrasive, volatile, and under the thumb of Kia Joorabchian then, well, you hadn't really been paying attention. I don't think we can have too many complaints, either. If Tévez was more like, say, James Milner then he'd still be a squad player at United. Those very qualities that propelled him out of United and towards City are the very same ones we're being stung by now. Those that live by the sword, etc.

I'm not entirely sure how this will play out. It's not obvious to me that this isn't just a Rooney-style play for more money. Note City's suggestions that he'd been asking for a new contract. If it is then he's not the first player to hold City to ransom (I think the man that opened the scoring on Saturday earns a bit), and I'm sure that we'll do the decent thing and pay up. That's not to say that I don't think he's homesick, and that he doesn't want to go back to Buenos Aires, I'm sure he does, but just that selling him to Boca Juniors looks very unlikely from here.

Option 3 is that he finds playing under Roberto Mancini so anathema that he wants to go to Real Madrid or Inter. Maybe, maybe not. Madrid is a plausible destination, given Gonzalo Higuaín's injury, but if he doesn't like Mancini I can't see him getting on under Rafa Benítez. Moreover, I'm just not sure his relationship with Mancini is quite that bad. His record under him has been exceptional, and clearly plays hard for the manager. His two best mates, Pablo Zabaleta and David Silva, have been playing very good football for the last month or two, and have demonstrably good relations with the boss. There's no question of an anti-managerial clique, led by Tévez, as there was with the Robinho/Hughes relationship.


I'm not going to go so far as to predict that he'll stay at City, but that's not obviously a much less likely outcome than any other scenario right now. I'm sure there will be another statement from the player this week, and then an answer, one way or the other, before Christmas. I do think, though, that this has shown Mancini's decision to make him captain to have failed. The logic was sound enough but clearly the armband itself is insufficient in inducing Carlos to conduct himself like an adult. So, like Danny, I would not be surprised to see it change - either reverting to Kolo, which would be fair enough, or switching to Vincent Kompany, who would be perfect in the role.



However it turns out, though, it's a shame and a disappointment when things were otherwise looking up. More later in the week, I'm sure.

The importance of Tévez

Not just symbolically in Manchester derbies, as we will see tonight, but every time City go out onto the pitch. There have been two interesting pieces on Tévez in the last day or so which are worth looking at.

First from the great Jonathan Wilson, explaining Tévez's 'false 9' role within our system:

Tevez, though, makes it work, as he almost defines the role of the false nine. His movement prevents the team breaking up, providing a link with the midfield, and as he drops deep, so he can interact with Touré or Barry. That is not natural to Adebayor – very much a real nine – and the difference in their approach is seen here. Adebayor did drop deep and pull wide, but far less than Tevez, and against Wolves he attempted only just over half the number of passes Tevez did against West Brom...

The theory is simple: the back four defends with only occasional forays from the full-backs; the three midfielders dominate possession, and if they can't, they sit deep to provide an extra layer of defensive cover; and a fluid front three tries to turn the possession into chances and goals. Tevez, though, adds something extra, linking the two parts of the team, and making the whole more fluent. He scores goals, but more important is that he lubricates the whole mechanism.

And then the great Uwe Rösler, City fan, talking about the man who in some sense replaced him:

"City often appear to lack enthusiasm when Tevez isn't in the side... He lifts his team-mates and also the crowd through his style of play. In my time at City, Paul Walsh was similar: very busy, never giving up, chasing everything and always looking to create chances.

"In the game at Wolves in October [when Tevez was injured], City got an early goal and then played as if they thought the job was done. They invited Wolves back into the game and ended up losing. With Tevez in the team you have a guy who is up for it all the time and he carries the rest of the players with him."

There's also some interesting stats in that piece, the most striking being that we have won 91.6% of games in which Tévez has scored.

'Now and then a good shake-up is healthy'

Roberto Mancini has been speaking in Italy about his recent much-publicised falling out with Carlos Tévez:

"What happened in our dressing room happens in others as well. And when it matters it is good that it happens. Against Newcastle we had gone to sleep in the first half, so the confrontation with Tevez was exactly the alarm call everybody needed.

"The confrontation with Tevez was really ballsy. And in the second half City deservedly won. The alarm call worked well. We [Mancini and Tevez] sorted everything between us before the restart. And when I took him off at the end we shook hands again. Now and then a good shake-up is healthy."

I didn't write about this when the reports first came out, because I didn't really know what to make of it. I suspected, though, that it was less surprising, and less problematic than people presumed. As Ryan Giggs suggested in his interview with Simon Hattenstone this week, it is the reporting, not the existence, of these events that is noteworthy.

Roberto Mancini and Carlos Tévez are both notorious for their tempers. Given how poorly we played in the first half I would be disappointed if there had not been tension and discord at half-time. Tévez was appointed captain to channel his inner magma as constructively as possible, and this sounds like a vindication of that approach. As Paul Wilson writes on Guardian.co.uk today:

Be that as it may, the main reason City should take a relaxed view of tempers snapping in the dressing room is that it shows the club cares. Plenty of people maintain the only thing that matters to City's expensively assembled squad is the bottom line on the wage slip, but when members of a team are falling out among themselves at the same time as they are climbing to second in the Premier League it tells you that ambition has finally arrived at Eastlands. The real thing, not just the easy soundbite. The captain falling out with the manager over tactics should not be mistaken for just the latest bit of slapstick in the endless City comedy show, this is the development that shows how much has changed at the club.

On Tévez as captain

I'm conscious of the fact that I've barely written anything about the captaincy situation so far this season. This is out of character - I've previously written about it, criticising Kolo Touré's performance of the role and advocating for his replacement by either Nigel de Jong or Vincent Kompany. I was surprised by the Tévez appointment, and didn't know what I thought at first. But the more I think, and the more I watch, the more I sympathise with it.

Initially I thought Tévez was poorly suited to the role. His lack of English, his erratic and bolshie behaviour might well have excluded him; how different to the loyal, honest Richard 'Boxer' Dunne. He's certainly not a conventional captain in the way that Vincent Kompany is: vocal, consistent, articulate in both English and French (thus allowing him to cover two of the squad's three major linguistic groupings). He would have been the natural pick, and Nigel de Jong would not have been too far behind. (Given that de Jong is one of the world's most infamous footballers after the World Cup the idea of him captaining one of the world's most hated football clubs - from a seige mentality, 'two fingers up' perspective does hold some attraction.)

But there are reasons to appoint a captain beyond merely the case of the player who best fits the checklist. One of the key facts of City in 2010 thus far has been just how dependent were are on Carlos Tévez. He's scored 20 in 27 games this calendar year, but even that stat feels like it undersells him. Just think of the games where we looked flat before he opened the scoring and turned the game. The 3-0 win at Molineux, where he scored twice, both goals in the League Cup semi against United at home, and the goal at Old Trafford that almost took it to injury time. At Stamford Bridge in February we were 1-0 down but out of it just before half time. But Tévez spun Terry, tore past Carvalho and drew us level. Or the Wigan game, where we played miserably and relied on a Tévez hat-trick within the last twenty minutes to win it for us. Then on Sunday, against Wigan again, it was his chip just before the break that allowed us to go in on a high, with the win in our nostrils. If you don't think that changed the game, compare the respective second halves of the Sunderland and Wigan games this year.

I think it's fair to say that no team in the Premier League is as carried by one individual as we are by Tévez. For Gerrard there is Torres. For Rooney there is Scholes and now Nani and Berbatov. But Tévez is the sole carrier of our torch, the only man capable of lifting a flat performance, of carving something out of nothing through his own bubbling blend of will and talent. At times last season he was not just our only competent finisher but also our only creative player, the only one who could create a chance - even if it he had to take it himself. With Robinho back at Santos and Ireland drifting out of favour he was certainly our most effective trequartista even if he lacked the chances to show this.

Carlos Tévez is the difference between a pedestrian, tidy but fairly inconsequential team and a very different outfit: with Tévez charging around up front we can beat almost anyone: we did the double over Chelsea last season, and he scored three of our six goals. If we are going to achieve anything, this year or in the next few years, he will be at the centre of it. And therefore Mancini is right to do everything possible to keep him interested and motivated. If giving him the captaincy is what is required to sustain and enhance his emotional involvement with the club, then it has to be the right decision.

Tévez needs to be as invested in the project as it is in him. If his time at Manchester United taught us anything, it is that he needs to feel like the most important man at the club, as if the whole enterprise rests on his shoulders. Now, this wasn't the case at Old Trafford. But, as it happens, it is at City. By giving him the armband Mancini is reminding Tévez that our stories, and our chances at glory, are intertwined. When Kolo Touré discussed losing the captaincy, he said the manager told him it was so Tévez would be 'more involved in the set up' - and made reference to Diego Maradona at Napoli. Just because a comparison is lazy doesn't mean it's irrelevant. As an unlikely captain himself Maradona led Napoli to the most successful spell in their history. He carried the team, the armband was a manifestation of that fact. If we ever win anything under Roberto Mancini, it will be thanks to Carlos Tévez. It is only right that it should be Tévez who would lift the trophy.

Captain Tévez

I've let this one slip by without comment: Carlos Tévez now seems to be MCFC captain. He was given the armband against Spurs, so I suppose it ought to have been obvious from there.

Mancini explains:

"I think that being captain will allow Carlos to show his personality more.

"It will encourage him to express himself more and I think it can improve the team. He leads by example on the pitch but also in the training ground every day.

“I understand what importance is placed on the captain in England because it is the same in Italy though often the armband is given to the longest serving player.”

Maybe. I don't think it will allow him to 'express himself more', or at least, it won't help as much as learning English might. I'm fairly unconvinced, I must say. I'd have gone with Vincent Kompany, who is vocal, mature, fluent in English and French (in Tévez's defence he is one of the few who can speak with Silva in his native tongue), intelligent and an obvious leader. Nigel de Jong would be a good choice for similar reasons, even if he lacks some of Kompany's presence.

That all said, Mancini sees all of these players in training every day, and I don't. He also sees their private interactions, he knows the social dynamics, and he will not have taken this decision lightly. It's just a surprise.

Pre-season plans

(This is as much for my benefit as anyone else's: I had to write this down to clarify it in my own head.)

After a week of pre-season training in Carrington City fly to Portland, Oregon tomorrow afternoon for the second stage in their summer programme. They will meet up with the Touré brothers and spend a week training at the Nike headquarters before playing Portland Timbers - a second tier side - on Saturday.

I think that the following day - Sunday 18th - the squad fly to New York where they will be met by England's brave heroes Gareth Barry, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Joe Hart (who, to be fair, did nothing wrong.) They will contest the New York Football Challenge at Red Bull Arena (actually in New Jersey) with games against Sporting Lisbon and Hans Backe's New York Red Bulls on Friday (23rd) and Sunday (25th) evenings respectively.

There's two more games in the US: Club América in Atlanta on 28 July then Internazionale in Baltimore on 31 July. I imagine we'll fly back to Manchester on Sunday 1 August. Training at Carrington will restart on Monday 2 August, joined by the last World Cup leftovers: Carlos Tévez, Jérôme Boateng, David Silva and Nigel de Jong. (I don't know when Vladimir Weiss and Roque Santa Cruz will start training, I guess Weiss will join with the England players and Roque with the final four.)

Once back in Manchester we've got a friendly in Dortmund on the Wednesday night and then against Valencia at Eastlands on the Saturday. Then it's another free week before White Hart Lane the following Saturday lunchtime. So the whole programme is six weeks long and contains seven friendlies.

My question, though, is how likely the last four joiners are to be able to play our first game? Their first day of pre-season will be twelve days before we go to Spurs. I'm not a fitness expert, so am very keen to hear from anyone who is. Our chances of getting anything there are slim enough with Tévez, de Jong, Silva and Boateng on the pitch. Without them it does not look good at all. Keen to hear your opinions on this.

Boateng storms into semis

Another quarter final with MCFC interest on both sides on Saturday; Jérôme Boateng's Germany went up against Carlos Tévez's Argentina. It was an unexpected rout.

Diego Maradona was tactically out-classed by Jogi Löw, whose German side limited Argentina to half-chances while breaking at will into the gaping savannahs in Argentine territory. But one of the fundamentals of this plan was solid defence, something Boateng provided well from left back.

In fact, this was probably the best game I've ever seen him play. He won every tackle (including one or two on Lionel Messi), distributed the ball intelligently and swung in one excellent cross. He's not a natural left-back, but with his skill set he's quite possibly now the best right-back at the club.

Carlitos was starved of service and could only carve himself a half-chance here and there. A very frustrating evening. But Boateng marches on!

Tévez hits two in Soccer City

Carlos Tévez scored twice last night as Argentina qualified for the quarter-final of the World Cup, beating Mexico 3-1.

The first would have single-handedly inspired a debate on video technology had Frank Lampard's 'goal' in Bloemfontein not got there a few hours beforehand. Mexico goalkeeper Óscar Pérez charged off his line to punch but the ball only reached Lionel Messi. Messi chipped the ball back into the box, towards Tévez who was yards goal-side of Pérez and both Mexican centre backs. He darted back into an onside position to head home, and the flag stayed down. The goal was replayed on the big screen, the Mexican players protested to the officials but they were powerless to overturn their decision.

Gonzalo Higuaín scored another before Tévez scored an uncontroversial second: rifling the ball into the top corner from twenty-five yards. Tévez can hit the ball with astonishing purity and ferocity when the mood takes him, and this was one of his best. He came off soon after for Juan Sebastián Verón. Tévez and teammates will face Germany on Saturday afternoon in the quarter-final.

Tévez plays in Argentina triumph

Argentina won their second Group B game 4-1 against South Korea, with our very own Carlos Tévez playing a key role. He played on the left of a front three with Gonzalo Higuaín and some small fellow whose name I missed. It was an improved performance from the Nigeria game - Tévez seemed to have a clearer idea of his job, and didn't run into Ángel di María as much as he did then.

Carlitos' work rate was typically impressive throughout, his high point was winning a free kick from the right that was headed in by Higuaín at the far post. He earlier hit a free kick just over the bar. Tévez was replaced by Sergio Agüero in the second half.

Tévez off to winning start

The first current Manchester City player involved in the World Cup was Carlos Tévez, who played in Argentina's 1-0 win over Nigeria. He started in a fluid front three along with Lionel Messi and Gonzalo Higuaín, tasked with working the defenders to free up space for his compañeros .

He did this fairly well, as Argentina started brightly and created chances, going 1-0 up through Gabriel Heinze. But as the game went on Argentina seemed to lose some of their coherence, and the chances they did create owed more to Messi's individual brilliance than any cohesive team play. As Veron tired Tévez started to drop deep and centrally, as he does for City, to create chances. He put one perfect ball through to Higuaín in the channel inside the left back, but the shot was saved. And later on he carried the ball in a four on two break but put Messi in when Ángel di María might have been a better option.

But it was a decent game from Carlos and a fine attacking performance from Argentina. They face a fiercer test from South Korea on Johannesburg on Thursday lunch time.

MCFC Academy Graduate Dickson Etuhu played in midfield for Nigeria, and couldn't lay a finger on Messi.

Tévez beats Kidd

No, not another training ground bust-up, but movement in our top-flight goalscoring records.

Carlos Tévez now has 23 league goals for the season, meaning that he has overtaken Assistant Manager Brian Kidd's armful of 21 from 1976/77. I think this makes it the most bounteous harvest in a top flight season since Franny Lee's 33 in 1971/72.

'If he's not happy, it would be better to change'

Today's papers are full of Roberto Mancini's surprising decision to speak publicly about Carlos Tévez's discontent:

Asked if he thought Tevez might be unhappy, Mancini replied: "I don't know. Tevez has four years left on his contract. But I don't know. If he's not happy, it would be better [for him] to change squads. If a top player is not happy to stay here, then it's better for him to go to another team...

"I've spoken to Tevez. What we said was private but I did remind him that there had been only one time when he had to train twice in a day.We have trained twice four times in the five months I have been here. On two of those times Carlos was in Argentina and one time he was here but didn't train. So I don't know why [he's unhappy]. When we don't have a midweek game I always train two times on Tuesday because it's the only way I know."

It's a surprise and a disappointment to see this bubbling up into the public sphere. I had hoped that Tévez's infamous Daily Mail interview was an aberration, a mistake, but it looks as if Tévez was being honest - he does seem to dislike Mancini's methods which, from the perspective of an outsider like me, do not sound too unreasonable. But then we cannot get too precious about the fact that Tévez is a prickly character. If he wasn't bolshie, stubborn and pointedly candid he would still be a very effective squad player at Manchester United. It's those qualities which drove him to City and so the fact that they still make up a big part of Tévez's character should not be a surprise.

But this reveals more about Mancini than it does about Tévez. The fact that Mancini has gone public with this, and put down our star man and Player of the Season-elect is important. I think it's the latest data point in a recent trend: Mancini's desire to cultivate and project managerial authority. With the exception of cash, managerial authority is the most important currency at any football club. It's a necessary part of any successful team. We certainly won't win anything without it. And Mancini arrived with none at all.

He was brought in to replace a popular manager, who had bought almost every member of the squad. He had no time to bring in his own players, and when he did only signed Patrick Vieira. He was likely to leave in the summer if we failed to come fourth, an open secret in football. It's hard to come up with a set of circumstances less conducive to an authoritative manager. And Mancini knew this. He also knew that if he was to have any success at City he would have to fight it, and show that he was boss. Hence the famous substitution of Robinho at Goodison, and shipping him back to Santos. Hence ordering Tévez home from Buenos Aires. Hence telling Wright-Phillips to keep quiet about his contract. Hence (temporarily) dropping Kolo Touré. Hence falling out with Craig Bellamy.

It might be ugly, and it might even cost us a good player or two, but Mancini has to show that he is in charge. Mark Hughes went through precisely the same process eighteen months ago, I called it 'Sparkyisation.' And I'm entirely supportive of it. We can't expect to do anything without a clear sense of managerial authority. Unfortunately, we're not a club that is well geared to that. With our demanding owners, our public and influential CEO and Football Administration Officer, our big stars on big contracts we have serious obstacles in the way. Cultivating managerial authority at City isn't easy. But someone's got to do it. Mancini's approach is absolutely necessary.

MoS: Tévez could walk

Fairly worrying rumour-mongering in the Mail on Sunday - a report that Carlos Tévez could seek a move at the end of the season if we don't make it into the Champions League next season:

Tevez has become increasingly disillusioned at life at Eastlands under manager Roberto Mancini, and his adviser Kia Joorabchian is believed to have contacted some of Europe's leading clubs as a contingency if City miss out on the top four...

Significantly, Joorabchian, an important figure in Tevez's life, has fallen out with the hierarchy at City following the departure of Hughes and will not be averse to finding Tevez a new club if instructed to do so.

Real Madrid and Inter Milan will be among the contenders to sign him, but there could also be a surprise move from Liverpool, even though their own Champions League hopes are slim.

Well, I hope this isn't true. The infamous Daily Mail interview before the derby underlined Kia Joorabchian's mischievous side and this could well be part of the same thing. I don't know if Tévez is pushing for a new deal, or seeking to put pressure on the board to replace Mancini or what. I'm sure that at some point those players we brought in last summer - Tévez, Gareth Barry, Adebayor - will grow frustrated if they don't reach the Champions League football they anticipated on joining City. But I'd like to think that this won't happen this season.

PFA Award nominations announced

I was excited this time last year when one of our own - Stephen Ireland - was nominated for PFA Young Player of the Year. But this year we've gone one further, with Carlos Tévez getting a much-deserved nomination for the real thing. I don't imagine he'll win it - Wayne Rooney has to be penned-in for it, and rightly so. Having a nominee, though, is something to proud of and a sign of how far we've come so quickly.

We are not without representation in the Young Player award, either. Joe Hart, who is one of ours even if he has been playing for Birmingham City all season, is on the short-list.

TLDORC March awards

One of the quieter months of the season - only four games, and just ten goals were scored. All we had for drama was the undignified tussle between Mancini and David Moyes in stoppage time at Eastlands, for which Mancini now faces an FA charge. On the pitch, we failed to capitalise on the remarkable Stamford Bridge conquest quite as well as we might. Seven points from a possible twelve is probably only one or two fewer than we would have wanted, and fourth place is still in our hands. It started with a strange game at Sunderland - a woeful first half performance was followed by a real improvement and a deserved Adam Johnson equaliser, before we went to Craven Cottage and beat a very flat Fulham side 2-1. Then it was Everton - even more of a bogey side than Fulham - and a characteristic capitulation. The month ended with a game which we needed mistakes from the referee and opposition goalkeeper to put us ahead in. We barely played ninety minutes of good football all month - the second half at Stadium of Light, the first half at Craven Cottage and maybe a few glimpses when ahead and against ten man Wigan at Eastlands. But fortunately we have a striker who can win us games no matter how poorly we play.

Sunderland (a) 1-1 (thoughts, reax)
Fulham (a) 2-1 (thoughts, ratings, reax)
Everton (h) 0-2 (thoughts, ratings, reax)
Wigan Athletic (h) 3-0 (thoughts, ratings, reax)

Player of the Month

Carlos Tévez. Without build-up, caveats, honourable mentions or qualifications. Carlos Tévez's contribution dwarfed those of his teammates in March, just as it did in December and January. After a quiet game at Sunderland he was back to his best at Fulham. Roberto Mancini tends to ask him to lead the line on the road but in that game he was given the license to play off Roque Santa Cruz, a much more natural pairing than Tévez in tandem with Adebayor. Carlos was relentless, running across and between defenders - it was like he was doing a bleep test on a carousel. When he surged past Chris Smalling and clipped it past Mark Schwarzer it was all he deserved. He tried hard against Everton - leading the line again - but couldn't beat Tim Howard. Against Wigan he was our best player yet again, not on Adebayor's wavelength and therefore having to do it all himself. He ran at defenders, nearly winning us two or three penalties, before opening the scoring after Vladimir Stojkovic bottled a challenge with Ade. He went on to score two more - his second hat-trick of the season.

He is now on 19 EPL goals and 25 in all competitons, overtaking Nicolas Anelka's 17 EPL goals from 2003/04 - the Elk also scored 25 in all competitions. More importantly, he has overtaken Anelka as our best striker of the modern era. And he has a bigger task than Anelka ever did - dragging us into the top four. Because we are a nakedly one man team, and have been for months. There has been much discussion of how much United and Arsenal will miss Wayne Rooney and Cesc Fàbregas - and of course they will - but I think they will only decline marginally. Without Tévez we would be a terrible side. We don't create enough chances, and more and more of our goals come about through his individual contribution. He is the one thing keeping us in the hunt for Champions League football. Long may he continue scoring. Because if he stops, we're finishing sixth or seventh.

Goal of the Month

Adam Johnson v Sunderland

We haven't scored enough dramatic stoppage time goals this season. We've conceded two at Old Trafford, but not scored one as far as I can remember. So it was exciting to get a point that late in the game. Even more exciting, though, was the way it was scored: AJ picking up the ball on the edge of the box and curling it in the smallest of gaps beyond Craig Gordon. I still think he meant it.

Individual performance of the month

Carlos Tévez v Wigan

His second hat-trick of the season! When was the last time a City player did that?

A further point on Ireland

A caveat to what I wrote last night:

Part of the problem with Ireland this season was Mark Hughes' use of Carlos Tévez as a second striker, behind Emmanuel Adebayor. The waspish Tévez would drift across the space between the opposition lines - in much the same way as Wayne Rooney does for England. This was the space in which Ireland operates so effectively.

As with Rooney, though, it has become apparent during this season that despite his lack of height Tévez is really rather effective at leading the line. During Adebayor's compassionate leave Tévez enjoyed his best spell at the club, leading the line in a classic 4-3-3/4-5-1 system. In fact, Tévez's strength, tenacity and hold up play arguably make him better suited to this role than Adebayor is. And if Tévez plays this role, then there is space behind him - at the peak of the midfield triangle - for Stephen Ireland.

The coincidence of injuries and absence mean that we have rarely been able to play this way - with Ireland drifting behind Tévez. But it's an option. And suggests that Ireland's form, rather than systems, might now be what is holding him back.

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.

Tévez back for Chelsea

According to Roberto Mancini in today's press conference:

“I spoke with him yesterday and I think that he will come back on Thursday or Friday morning,” Mancini said, before adding: “I am sure.”

He continued: “It is important Carlos comes back Thursday or Friday so he can play against Chelsea. He said to me that every day he has been training in Argentina, every morning.

“He had a serious problem but now I think he resolved his problem.”

Good news, both for Tévez personally and for MCFC. We've looked toothless without him. He might not have enough to get us a win at Stamford Bridge, but we'd be an even longer shot without him.