There are reports emerging that Chris Hughton was in Scotland yesterday to watch John Ruddy play and keep tabs on the youngsters progress. The 23 year-old which is quite young for a keeper is on loan..

Saturday 16th January 2010
Chelsea sent out a signal of intent to their title rivals by hammering Sunderland 7-2 at Stamford Bridge. The Blues took the lead after just eight minutes as Nicolas Anelka rounded Martin Fulop and slotted home. Florent Malouda made it two with a superb individual effort.
Ashley Cole scored a delightful third goal [...]

Below is a list of teams with some quality players which will unfortunately miss the World Cup next summer:
Ireland- The Irish team may not be the most talented to miss out on qualification but certainly was unjustly eliminated by France. The Ireland squad is not as deep as other but has talented players such as [...]

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The appetite for commentary on the farce in Paris still seems strong, and I thought Arsene Wenger had a very wise take on the entire situation today.  Wenger is, obviously, a French supporter and very close with Henry.  In fairness to the Irish fans, the world football community, and for the sake of Henry, he [...]

“I’d love to finish my career here,” he declared. “I haven’t been here long, but I already feel at home and love the club.

“I grew up a Celtic supporter and they have a big place in my heart, but I really hope I can finish my career here. You can never say never, but I’d like to think I will.

It’s a great period to be at City. There’s such excitement in the dressing room. There’s a real feeling of optimism and we believe we’re going places. It’s been a great adventure for me and I couldn’t be happier.”

>>Shay Given.

Good positive stuff from Given, and I can safely say his performances since being signed last January have quashed the misgivings I intially had when he signed, turning in both a high level of consistency and the ability to make the kind of match winning (or point saving) saves that we have lacked since David James left the club.

The Republic of Ireland will take on France in the World Cup play-offs which commence next weekend in what will be an intriguing clash between the shrewd Italian coach Giovanni Trapattoni and the much-maligned French national team coach Raymond Domenech.
Trapattoni’s record speaks for itself with successful spells almost everywhere he coached yet his most [...]

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Shay Given was absolutely 110% man of the match, no doubt about it what so ever and if anyone says any different then they must of been watching some other football match.

Ok the real City never turned up but hey, its a clean sheet if anything and one look at the table says it all.

1 loss, 4 draws and 5 wins with 1 game in hand and we are in the top four so if we keep

Speaking about the key presence that Given has become since his signing from Newcastle last January:

“Shay’s been more than I could have hoped for in terms of his presence on the field.

“He’s got a calming influence on the back four. That’s made a marked difference to the way the guys in front of him have been able to defend.

“It comes from knowledge of the game. It comes from knowing when you need to take the sting out of games and when you need to build momentum.

“That starts from Shay and he has a great understanding, because of the Premier League experience that he has.”

Given’s performance has far exceeded that I expected since his arrival, and I don’t think there can be any debate as to the value of his signing and that he brings more to the side than Joe Hart did.

That said, I have seen a little bit of criticism of Given in recent weeks, particularly related to his lack of size and ability to command the area. Perhaps this is as a result of us conceding from set plays but for me this is being very overly critical and the few problems we have had at the back not stemmed in any way from the goalkeeper.

Thoughts?