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Roll up roll up come and see our superstar Preview Percy as he covers the visit of Manchester City. Ok well as a marketing pitch it’s a bit lousy, but the club started it...

Next up we play host to Manchester City. Kick off on Saturday is at 5:30pm for the benefit of Sky. So you’ll be able to meet up and have a nice session at your hostelry of choice pre-match without rushing.




That is unless your future other half is dragging you down to your wedding venue of choice to discuss colour schemes and all that sort of stuff. I sent an email saying “claret, blue, job done” but apparently these things require “discussions” which will seriously curtail my pre-match preparation time. One might almost think that was the plan.

So Manchester City then. Played two, won two much as one might expect. Their opener saw them stroll past Chelsea 2-0 whilst last weekend Ipswich had the temerity to take an early lead before City moved up into second gear to win 4-1. So business as usual then. Or maybe not.

For once their final position in the league is less likely to be totally dependent on how well or badly they play with all sorts of legal shenanigans taking place. There are, of course, the legendary 115 charges sitting on the books. They have been sitting there for an age with the authorities seemingly reluctant to move things forward. However, there is now a date set for November for some kind of hearing to take place.

There is an interesting betting market to be had there – will there be a verdict in the Man City case before those stranded astronauts get back? Of course, City’s legal team have long had the tactic of “annoy us and we’ll tie you up in red tape” under their belt. In this case some legal proceedings were instigated to counter the Premier League’s rule that owners can’t simply pump money into a club by pretending someone else is doing the paying. The word is that that action is likely to be dismissed for the delaying tactic it actually is.

Still Daisy is quite happy with their relatively quiet transfer summer so far. A mere two players turned up in Manchester this season. She counted them. Twice. They spent £21m on Brazilian winger Savinho. The player arrived from French second-tier outfit Troyes where he spent the last two years. Or rather he didn’t.

You see he didn’t play a single match for the French, spending the two years away, partly at PSV but mostly at Girona. This didn’t amuse the Troyes faithful who felt that if they had signed a player he ought to have been turning out for them in their struggle against relegation.

It did seem a bit odd that a club would spend a club record €6m and not play him. Until you consider this: Troyes didn’t own the player. He was signed by the City Football Group and merely assigned to Troyes, also a member of the City Football Group. Which would also account for his spell at Girona who are also… well you get the picture. So nothing fishy at all about the transfer at all, then.




Slightly more straightforward, though still a bit odd, was the deal that brought Ilkay Gundogan back to the club after one whole season at Barcelona. Gundogan bade an emotional farewell, heading off to Catalonia having captained the Citizens to so-called Champions League/League and FA Cup treble. One can only presume that he missed the rain.

Wild and Wacky World Of Association Football? Oh go on then. Actually it’s been a quiet week for the quirky, though I did find a headline in the Independent which stated that Gary Lineker had gone into print to state that “Elon Musk is a rather odd bloke”. Too easy really.

On to us. Wednesday? Hard work and unconvincing are two words that sum that one up. Killman continues to impress and there were good spots in mini spells but nothing of any consistency for any meaningful length of time. Much of that can be attributed to there being two teams out there on a sultry evening trying to get to know their team mates.

I will express some concern at the use of Fullkrug. Now I know its early days and all that but my hope when we signed him was that, with a new manager in tow we might actually have round pegs in round holes. However, Wednesday saw the lad look on occasion as isolated as an American astronaut. Now I’m hoping all that was just a matter of early days, bedding and all that but I will admit that there were periods of play that looked depressingly familiar.

As for the goal. I’ve not had a chance to look at a replay but my people tell me that the ball may have gone in off Bowen’s arm. Do I feel sorry for them as a consequence? Not a chance. Although such things don’t get taken into account these days Bowen’s contact was completely accidental and unavoidable. Unlike, to take a completely random example, the goal scored by Callum Wilson down there where a clearly deliberate handball that was allowed to go unpunished along with the offside that was also ignored.

Wan-Bissaka acquitted himself well, despite playing on the ”wrong” flank following a late hamstring injury to Cresswell , who , as a consequence, will not be available for this one. Cresswell is the only definite absentee, though a number of others are a bit lacking in match fitness. Todibo still looked off the pace a bit on Wednesday and was hooked at the interval whilst Alvarez is still building up strength following his international hamstring problem. Other than that it’s a full squad to pick from.

Well for the prediction it’s hard to look much beyond an away win. We did give them a game in last season’s corresponding fixture, and I guess this one is more about the performance than the result. However, the £2.00 that I was going to use to buy the world’s smallest violin to play to the few Bournemouth supporters who could be bothered to make the trip on Wednesday, will instead be placed on a repeat of last season’s scoreline of 3-1 to them.

Enjoy the game!




When last we met at the Olympic: Lost 1-3 (Premier League September 2023)

Areola had made a number of good saves and there had been some inspired defending coupled with some missed sitters before Ward-Prowse got on the end of a superb Coufal cross to stick away a diving header to give us a half-time lead. Sadly, that lead lasted all of 43 seconds into the second half as Doku restored parity with a low drive. Zouma was unlucky to see Ederson superbly tip a header away before Sliva and, inevitably, Haaland put the game to bed.

Referee: Michael Oliver

Our so-called “best referee” left his colleagues sur le continent raising their collective eyebrows with his somewhat eccentric performances meaning that he’s unlikely to get a warm welcome when he next visits Denmark. The single most predictable appointment of the weekend. Luck us.

Danger Man: Erling Haaland

Has started the season on fire.

Percy & Daisy’s Tenuous Manchester Fact Of The Week

I understand that Rutles tribute act Oasis are planning a reunion next year. I suppose since the sad passing of Neil Innes people will have to make do but you’d have thought they might have done some sort of publicity for the gigs.

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