Mancini's defining moment

Posted by Rebecca Lowe on 13/05/2011

Roberto Mancini could win a domestic cup with a fourth club at Wembley. © Getty Images

After nearly 18 months in charge of Manchester City, and a defining week in his reign, I think Saturday will be the day that Roberto Mancini is judged. A win against Tottenham on Tuesday night secured Champions League football for the first time and now the Italian could end the club’s 35-year wait for a trophy in the FA Cup final against Stoke City on Sunday.

If, as expected, Manchester City beat Stoke to win their first piece of silverware since the 1976 League Cup, then Mancini will have done exactly what he was told to do by the club’s billionaire owners: finish in the top four and win a cup. However, should it all go wrong at Wembley, the jury will still be out. Is a place in the Champions League qualifiers an adequate return on the investment put into the club? I think that is yet to be determined.

I also think there are still legitimate complaints about City’s style of play, from fans and pundits alike, given how much money they have spent in recent seasons. I recently interviewed Nigel de Jong and put this issue to him. He said that we all know where the manager is from, and he is right. Mancini is from a country where a cautious style of play is ingrained into him. He is what he is, and if you are going to employ him then you have to accept that style of football.

If those in charge of Manchester City ultimately want to see a more attractive style, as Roman Abramovich did at Chelsea, they will need a fresh approach. They might be successful under Mancini and perhaps they will win the title next season, but they won’t do it playing expansive, carpet football. They will win it with 1-0s and 2-1s. I think it is a fair complaint from fans that they are not being entertained as much as they should be.

Of course, even if they do win the FA Cup on Saturday, Manchester City’s parade could be well and truly rained on. If they win silverware for the first time in 35 years, then they will surely be fighting for space on the back pages with Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United’s 19th league title, as it is likely the red half of the city will be celebrating the point they need against Blackburn. If United win and then City lose, it would be one of the worst days in the club’s history. So, given that scenario, City fans will be even more desperate to win the trophy.

Saturday will be a fascinating game. Manchester City’s vulnerability lies in crosses and they don’t look particularly hot from set-pieces. I think Tony Pulis might look at that and be encouraged about the Rory Delap long throw, and the delivery from wide positions of Jermaine Pennant and Matthew Etherington, should the latter recover from injury in time to take his place in the side. Really, Manchester City should win. End of story. But we could well have a shock on our hands given how impressive Stoke were in their 5-0 defeat of Bolton in the semi-final. Their subsequent form since then has also been eye-catching and has seen them rise to eighth in the table.

Given that Carlos Tevez made his return from injury against Spurs, albeit for only seven minutes, he will surely start at Wembley. He will probably play as the lone striker with two players wide of him, possibly David Silva and Adam Johnson. If Tevez is short of fitness, though, then Mancini will probably go with Edin Dzeko as Mario Balotelli is too much of a risk in the biggest game for City in many a year.

In fact, I don’t think we are going to see Balotelli in English football for much longer. He has certainly sparked debate in the media as he is a constant source of stories and everybody loves a character. But in some people’s eyes he has stepped over the line too frequently this season. I think if he had scored 20 goals like Chicharito in his debut season then he would be more of a loveable rogue. At the moment he is just a rogue.

Whether Mancini stays or goes, I think it is unlikely Balotelli will be at the club come August. However, given the kind of person he is and the talent he possesses, he could easily come on and score the winner in the FA Cup final and forever be a Manchester City hero.

Only fools rush in

Posted by Rebecca Lowe on 31/03/2011

Steve Kean is under increasing pressure at Ewood Park © Getty Images

Given their current predicament, Blackburn Rovers could be seen as a cautionary tale against undue haste. They rushed into sacking a manager, Sam Allardyce, who was doing perfectly well, and then on the back of a couple of victories early in his reign they handed Steve Kean a three-year contract. He may well turn out to be a top manager, but he has no experience as the No. 1 so it was a surprising decision to give him the top job so quickly. That worried a few fans and was probably a bit too rash. As soon as he signed the contract, their results have started to go downhill.

The decision to sack Allardyce in December seemed to come out of nowhere, and if he had stayed you wouldn’t be surprised to see Blackburn in the top half right now. When new owners come in they want to stamp their authority and they get very excited about owning a Premier League club. They want to make a difference and a change straightaway, when perhaps they aren’t particularly familiar with football. I don’t think Venky’s know much about the game. The decision to sack Allardyce was the wrong one and it was taken at the wrong time. They caused themselves unnecessary problems - just look at their league situation now, ahead of Saturday's live game on ESPN, compared to when Allardyce left.

Venky’s have talked about signing players like Ronaldinho and Ruud van Nistelrooy, but stars of that calibre are realistically not going to go to Blackburn. A persistent problem in football, from the top all the way down to the bottom, is that the people in charge of clubs have not played the game, so they tend not to understand a manager’s role. They just see pound signs and commercial opportunities, a chance to sell more shirts, and it is not always of benefit to the man in charge.

At Blackburn, Venky’s don’t seem to understand the game. Will they ever? I’m not so sure. It is a real problem for the Premier League, which is a rich person’s plaything. These are clubs with over a hundred years of tradition and history and they shouldn’t be messed with. They should be treated with much more care than some owners treat clubs.

I feel for Steve Kean, though, because he had to take that job. He obviously had his sights set on a managerial role and he couldn’t turn down an opportunity in the Premier League. But in a relegation fight you need experience, and I don’t think we know enough of Kean to definitively judge whether he can keep Blackburn up. He has impressive coaching credentials but has he got the ability in terms of motivation, in terms of conducting a half-time team talk when they are 1-0 down away from home? Only time will tell over the next few games.

On the evidence of results so far you could infer it is not working. Blackburn are certainly in a tricky position at present and a number of pundits I have spoken to in the past few weeks have all tipped them to go down. I think the club have the right assets to stay up though: the players are just about good enough, although Roque Santa Cruz needs to start putting in some performances to demonstrate why he originally left the club for £17 million.

Given they have players like Christopher Samba, Paul Robinson, Ryan Nelsen and David Dunn, I think Blackburn will prove to be better than three teams this season. The names at Ewood Park don’t exactly roll off the tongue in terms of quality, but they do have individuals with a lot of experience, amongst the playing staff at least.

A defining moment for Moyes

Posted by Rebecca Lowe on 18/02/2011

David Moyes has been the subject of some criticism in recent weeks © Getty Images

Saturday’s FA Cup fourth-round replay at Stamford Bridge is arguably a season-defining fixture for both Chelsea and Everton. Given their current malaise, it does not look as though Chelsea can win the league, and the Champions League could also be beyond them in this kind of form, so the FA Cup could be the final trophy for them to recover some pride. For Everton, meanwhile, it could be a decisive game in the reign of David Moyes.

It has been such a shame to see some Everton supporters criticise Moyes during what has been a difficult season, as he has achieved so much since being appointed in March 2002. However, they are just venting their frustration at failing to see their club progress. Smaller clubs - in terms of history and stadium size - are moving ahead of them.

I am sure he is desperate to strengthen his squad but you feel he is in a position where Everton are being left behind. They are such a big club, but the rest of the top ten - sides like Manchester City of course, but also Aston Villa and Sunderland - have big investors. Everton do not. That is a difficult situation for Moyes to manage, particularly when he has no funds whatsoever.

The Scottish boss finds himself in a very difficult position. For a start, there is not too much interest in buying the club, so it is not as though there is light at the end of the tunnel. Ever since he finished in fourth spot in the 2004-05 season and then failed in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League, people have suggested that Moyes may have taken Everton as far as he can, and questioned when he will go.

But where can he go? It is unlikely he will get the Manchester United, Manchester City or Arsenal jobs without recent success, and he cannot get success without money. You could argue that the longer he remains there, his stock drops, but what else can he do?

Sir Alex Ferguson tipped Everton to be a club who could break into the top four this season but that has proved to be wide of the mark, and it is purely down to the fact that the club have no funds at their disposal. When Moyes does buy, he buys well - the success of a player like Marouane Fellaini demonstrates that - but there are too few occurrences of improvements in the squad.

In that context, it is understandable that fans are growing frustrated. The worry is that the longer Moyes stays and the longer things don’t go quite right, the stronger those feelings will become amongst supporters. The achievements he has enjoyed - taking the club to the FA Cup final in 2009, finishing fourth in 2005 - may be forgotten by the fans. I wonder whether he is thinking, ‘Do I quit while I am ahead?’

If Everton are to rescue something from this season they have to get past Chelsea on Saturday, and I actually think they have a decent chance of doing so given the problems afflicting the London side at present.

Also, Everton know they will have Reading at home in the next round, and that is a real incentive. Whoever wins has a genuine chance of the quarter-finals, and after that, anything can happen. One thing is certain though: Everton, and their under-fire manager, need a result.

A tale of two Cities for Sven

Posted by Rebecca Lowe on 07/01/2011

Sven-Goran Eriksson could not hold onto his job under the former City owner © Getty Images

Sunday’s live ESPN fixture between Leicester City and Manchester City demonstrates just what makes the FA Cup so special, with plenty of subplots to the third-round fixture. As well as Leicester boss Sven-Goran Eriksson facing his old club, his opposite number Roberto Mancini is doing the same.

Manchester City were going through a strange phase when Eriksson was there under former owner Thaksin Shinawatra in the 2007-08 season; it is a completely different club now. He did a satisfactory, finishing ninth in his solitary season in charge before being sacked. Eriksson wasn’t outstanding, but then neither was he so shocking that he deserved to lose his job. I think he will have a point to prove on Sunday, but from a wider perspective I think he has a point to prove in England generally.

The former England manager’s past few years in management have been tinged by repeated disappointment - with spells at Mexico, Notts County and Ivory Coast failing to bring him the success he desired. Ironically enough, during his time as England manager between 2001 and 2006, fans grew frustrated because he could ‘only’ get to quarter-finals, and no further. England supporters would have been happy with that in the summer. Eriksson will certainly want to make a point to the country at large.

It was a good step for him to to join Leicester at the start of October. The Foxes are a big club, with big ambitions and big potential, and this is his chance to demonstrate again what he is capable of. Eriksson has managed some top clubs across Europe, and of course the England national side as well, so to step down to the Championship would have forced him to swallow his pride, but he has done it, and to good effect so far.

With 35 points from 26 games, they are outsiders for the play-offs and promotion thanks to their improved form under Eriksson. As he is a big name, he can bring in prominent players such as Curtis Davies, Kyle Naughton and Chris Kirkland on loan. Whatever you may think about his record as England manager, the name Sven-Goran Eriksson still has a lot of cache in football. He is a huge celebrity, and that makes people interested and makes players want to play under him. According to most of his former charges he is a great man-manager - David Beckham will only have good words to say about him - so I think he has had a very positive impact on Leicester.

Mancini’s own input to the history of the Foxes is far more brief. He made five appearances for Leicester in 2001 at the tail end of his career, including a 2-1 win over Aston Villa in the FA Cup. It was a very strange move, but he did leave a mark at the club. Robbie Savage, our studio guest on Sunday, forged a strong bond with Roberto during his brief month at Leicester. He says that even at the age of 36, the current City boss would do things in training that no one else was capable of. He was unbelievably talented.

Robbie also took Roberto under his wing. When he arrived in England from Lazio, Mancini’s English was not very good and Robbie Savage, being the character he is, looked after him and took him out and about in Leicester and showed him the sights. I couldn’t really think of two more different people, but with the two Robbies out in Leicester, I bet the girls were running scared!

According to Robbie, his new Italian colleague introduced him to pasta, though it’s slightly bizarre he wasn’t aware of it already. According to Savage he had never eaten it before Mancini told him, “Come and eat this lovely Italian food!”

Reunions aside, I am really excited about the three games ESPN have this weekend; they are ties that certainly reflect the traditions of the FA Cup at this stage. It is what the FA Cup is all about, the potential for upsets, and Leicester v Manchester City will be no different.

All hail Pace - Droylsden's driving force

Posted by Rebecca Lowe on 25/11/2010

Droylsden boss Dave Pace is an excitable character © PA

The second round of the FA Cup has a special feeling as the smaller clubs populating the competition are just 90 minutes away from a possible meeting with one of the Premier League elite. For a team like Droylsden, who are from Greater Manchester and sit in the Blue Square North, living in the shadow of clubs like Manchester United and Manchester City on a daily basis, it is even more of an incentive. ESPN is proud to be bringing you live coverage of their game against Leyton Orient on Monday night.

Droyslden are an interesting club, but they are not very well known, even in their own vicinity. Manchester is dominated by two huge clubs, and there are plenty of big teams surrounding the city in the North West. When covering a Droylsden game a few years ago. I was staying in Manchester and jumped into a taxi to get to the game. I asked the driver, a born and bred Mancunian, to take me to Droyslden. His response was: “Where’s that?” He had absolutely no idea, and the ground is not very far away from Eastlands and Old Trafford. Some Manchester City fans even attend games when City are playing away from home.

The club play at the Butcher’s Arms ground, which is an amazing name. It is a romantic ground and the manager is a real character. Dave Pace is also the chairman, the owner and pretty much the everything there. At Droyslden they even have a chant that goes, “Who needs Mourinho? We’ve got Dave Pace-io!” He is a football man and loves Droylsden to pieces.

He's very excitable. He is a bit of a Mourinho in that respect - he is great with the press and you always get a good line out of him. I once interviewed him on the touchline during a win against Oxford - which was a huge result against a much bigger club - and as the final whistle blew he went absolutely ballistic, saying it was one of the greatest moments of his career. If they beat Leyton Orient on Monday, I’m not sure what he will do.

Monday’s game is huge for him and Droylsden as it brings them exposure and money in the bank. The money helps to keep the club alive and they are 90 minutes away from a glamour tie that could fund them for years. As the stakes are so high, it is no surprise that the atmosphere at a local ground on FA Cup nights couldn’t be more different to that at a huge stadium. The fans are a lot closer to the action and a lot more excited about television being there. You are all together there as part of this experience - we are making a real difference to that club.

On Monday, there is definitely a chance of a shock. With the magic of the FA Cup, particularly for a night game, the Droylsden players, who work in their day jobs for the rest of the week, will be fired up. To them it is everything. You can never rule anyone out in the FA Cup, but particularly Dave Pace, as he will be doing everything he possibly can to ensure Leyton Orient’s trip to Droylsden is anything but pleasant.

De Jong tackle devoid of intent

Posted by Rebecca Lowe on 05/10/2010

Hatem Ben Arfa broke his leg in two places © Getty Images

Nigel de Jong’s tackle that broke Hatem Ben Arfa’s leg on Sunday has generated a lot of controversy, but none of our pundits in the ESPN studio thought it was intentional. It was just one of those incidents.

I watched the game from inside the tunnel on a big screen. Newcastle assistant manager Colin Calderwood and midfielder Alan Smith, who was on the subs’ bench, ran in to see the replay of the tackle. Only one angle was shown due to the severity of the incident but they didn’t appear at the time to think the intent was too bad.

At half-time, Newcastle manager Chris Hughton seemed more angry with referee Martin Atkinson about the penalty than the tackle. I think the general consensus is that it was a bad tackle, but it wasn’t intended to break his leg. Undoubtedly it had an awful result though.

My sympathies of course lie with Ben Arfa, and it is a terrible, terrible shame because he was looking like such an exciting player. He could have been the difference between Newcastle finishing mid-table and Newcastle struggling, and now he has been sidelined for such a long time.

But Nigel de Jong now has a reputation - partially stemming from his challenge on Xabi Alonso in the World Cup final - and while it was not a good tackle by any means, I don’t think that he meant to injure Ben Arfa. As such, it was a harsh decision from Bert van Marwijk to drop him from the Netherlands squad as a result. How can he be a part of a team that reached the World Cup final and then be dropped for a tackle that has got nothing to do with his international career?

I think Nigel de Jong will now have a reputation that will be noted by referees and opposing managers. To drop him from the international squad is probably a step too far.

We have seen a number of reckless tackles already this season - and another at the weekend with Karl Henry’s lunge at Jordi Gomez - but it could just be a spate of incidents, a coincidence, rather than anything more sinister. In football, often we try to find patterns when perhaps there are none. I remember this time last year, there were substantially more goals than usual and everyone was asking what the reason was, but there wasn’t a reason. Karl Henry’s tackle was not good at all, but I still don’t think that any player would go in to break someone’s leg. Sometimes these unfortunate incidents do happen.

I think generally football has lost the art of tackling, though. In the 1970s and 80s, it was something people took a lot of pride in. I think two things have now changed. Firstly there isn’t the same pride there, and secondly you get booked so much that players can be afraid to make tackles, and when you are afraid to make tackles you don’t execute them properly.

Villa won't miss Milner

Posted by Rebecca Lowe on 20/08/2010

The big news ahead of our live game on between Newcastle and Aston Villa on Sunday is the sale of James Milner to Manchester City. But while there is no getting away from the fact that he is a fantastic player, Villa have a good, strong midfield and players to replace him. With Stephen Ireland going the other way, plus £18 million, it is actually quite a good deal for Villa.

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More drama still to come in the Champions League race?

Posted by Rebecca Lowe on 06/05/2010

Tottenham secured fourth with a 1-0 win at Eastlands © Getty Images

Manchester City vs Tottenham was an unbelievable game. As a neutral, it was just brilliant to watch. I didn’t care who won, I just really enjoyed the tempo of the game. In the second half, I thought Tottenham were outstanding and they really deserved to win.

It’s a real spanner in the works for City’s grand plan for world domination, though, and means they’re not going to be able to attract the kind of players they want. How many of these players who have - allegedly - joined City for the money are going to want to stay for another year to try again to break into the Champions League?

It was interesting that, when Craig Bellamy went to shake Harry Redknapp’s hand at the end of the game, he had a big smile on his face. He’d just lost the game and any chance of fourth place, but he had this big smile on his face. You just think, ‘I wonder where Bellamy’s playing next season...’ I’m not saying he’s going to Spurs, but I’m just not sure he’s very happy at Manchester City.

I also don’t think for a second that Roberto Mancini will be there next season, and I just wonder if the time has come for Jose Mourinho to return to England to a club that’s still on the rise. It’s a challenge and - with the chequebook the size that it is - it’s the kind of challenge Mourinho might relish.

The result on Wednesday was disappointing from an ESPN point of view because we were hoping of course to have their destinies decided on Sunday, but the flip side of that is that we are going to be at Burnley vs Tottenham and, somehow, Tottenham can still finish third.

If they beat Burnley and Arsenal lose to Fulham, Spurs will automatically qualify for the Champions League and they don’t have to go through the dreaded qualification round that Everton found very difficult a few seasons ago.

I actually don’t think that’s out of the realms of possibility. It’s hard to see Burnley taking something. We covered Burnley’s game against Manchester City a couple of months ago when they went 3-0 down inside the first six minutes and that was one of the most surreal experiences I’ve ever had as a broadcaster. On Monday, we had Arsenal at Blackburn on Monday, and they’re not looking in great shape.

Fulham are obviously not going to play their strongest side against Arsenal on Sunday because they’ve got the Europa League final on the Wednesday, but I just don’t think an upset at Emirates Stadium is out of the question.

It’s a strange time for Arsenal. Before the 0-0 draw with Manchester City last month, I sat down with Arsene Wenger for half an hour. He was fantastic. They’d just lost to Wigan so he wasn’t in a great mood, but he was his intelligent and insightful self and gave me some great insights into how he believes the club is still moving in the right direction.

I asked him ahead of the Blackburn game if he thought he was stubborn - it’s a word that’s been bandied about a lot in relation to Wenger - and he virtually admitted that he was. He can be quite stubborn on everything, from transfer policy to standing there doing an interview after he’s just lost to Blackburn.

After that game, he was as monosyllabic as he’s ever been when I’ve interviewed him, and I’ve interviewed him many, many times.

It’s so difficult because everyone enjoys watching Arsenal play, but they’ve gone five years without a trophy. I’m sure they’ve moved forwards greatly in terms of youth policy, but the silverware isn’t there and they’re in danger now of becoming the forgotten force of English football.

Last but by no means least, of course, it’s important to remember that the title can still turn on its head on the final day. Chelsea will secure first place if they beat Wigan at Stamford Bridge, and many think it’s a foregone conclusion, but I think Wigan are genuinely capable of providing an upset.

If there is any club down at the bottom that Sir Alex Ferguson would want Chelsea to play, it’s Wigan. With the exception of Manchester United, Roberto Martinez has an excellent record against the top teams this season and they seem to raise their game for the big matches.

I think Chelsea are going to have enough, but I don’t think it’ll be a straightforward 3-0. I wouldn’t be surprised if Wigan scored a goal and gave Chelsea a scare.

I think Stoke will be a fairly straightforward game for United, though. They go into it under no real pressure at all because no one expects them to win the title.

Chelsea should have enough in the end, but it’s going to be a fascinating day and I’m just so grateful that the Premier League has thrown up a final day title decider. This season has been so unpredictable and it still could go either way.

A tale of two centre backs

Posted by Rebecca Lowe on 20/04/2010

It was amazing being at White Hart Lane to see Tottenham beat Chelsea on Saturday because the tension was incredible. With about ten minutes to go, I always go from my seat watching the game and back to the interview room to prepare for my post-match interview. As I walked in, sitting in the corner, slumped, looking very sorry for himself and moist-eyed, was John Terry, with his boots off and legs out, looking thoroughly annoyed following his sending-off.

He was sitting in front of our screen to watch the remainder of the match. As soon as I walked in, he straightaway said to me: “Was it a sending off? What did they say in the studio?” He looked like a broken man, I have to say. He looked really dejected and he actually said to me that he hadn’t seen the replay of the first yellow, when he fouled Pavlyuchenko, but he had seen the second yellow for a foul on Gareth Bale and that that was fair enough. He didn’t look like a man angry with the referee, because sometimes he can be, but he was more angry with himself, and he did sit there and look like he had thrown away the title for his team-mates. But I don’t think that is the case at all.

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Tense at the top

Posted by Rebecca Lowe on 25/03/2010

Now we are approaching the end of the season, you do sense more tension when speaking to the Premier League managers. The nicest part of the season is the first eight weeks. Everyone is a lot calmer. However, you don’t get a lot out of them because every answer is ‘Well there is a long way to go!’ Now they are all tense, so actually the interviews tend to be a bit better because the answers you get are more revealing with emotions running so high.

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Chelsea had the Blues on Saturday

Posted by Rebecca Lowe on 05/02/2010

I covered Chelsea’s game against Burnley last Saturday in the immediate aftermath of the John Terry scandal breaking and I have never seen an atmosphere like that in the build-up to a game.

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Carlo's 'Indestructibles' in ominous form

Posted by Rebecca Lowe on 03/12/2009

The ESPN cameras travel to Eastlands on Saturday for Manchester City against Chelsea and, without a doubt, the visitors from London already have the look of champions. Someone spoke about them recently using the word ‘indestructible’. Arsenal were once ‘The Invincibles’ and now Chelsea seem to be ‘The Indestructibles’.

I think that their defeats earlier in the season - to Aston Villa and Wigan - were possibly the best things that could have happened to them. You kind of got the feeling that, before that, they were starting to believe their own press a little bit and their defence was looking a bit shaky. Since those defeats, it has been back to basics. That is what I have been told by Carlo Ancelotti himself - that he has gone back to basics with the defence. Since that Villa defeat, they have been fantastic and haven’t conceded a goal in the past five league games. I think you do win the league if you are the best of the best and it certainly looks that Chelsea are that team at the moment. They have all the hallmarks of champions.

I don’t think that they will be unduly worried about being knocked out of the Carling Cup by Blackburn. Obviously they never want to lose because it stops their momentum, but it was on penalties, so it officially goes down as a draw. They will be saying that it was a draw and that penalties are a lottery and I don’t think they will be worried at all. I don’t think being knocked out of the Carling Cup will have any effect at all on Saturday and I fully expect them to perform as we have seen in the past ten weeks of the Premier League.

I really like Carlo Ancelotti. I really warmed to him the first time I met him. His English is still improving and when I first interviewed him, for the Burnley game on August 29, he was still quite unsure about the language. I think the problem with that is, when a player or manager isn’t confident with the language, they are concentrating so hard on getting it right that their personality is kept behind. They can’t possibly have a more interesting conversation so they just try to get the crucial points across. I think he sometimes comes across a bit dour and doesn’t smile very much, but I do think that is down to the language difference because I am told that he is not like that in real life. As the season goes on, and he gets more comfortable in the role, I think we will see what kind of man he is, but I found him a real gentleman and it was an honour to interview a man who has won the European Cup as a manager and as a player.

Ancelotti’s opposite number, Mark Hughes, secured a win over Arsenal on Wednesday night and that will lift some of the pressure off his shoulders. The 3-0 win took the club into their first domestic semi-final since 1981 but, while we say they beat Arsenal, Arsene Wenger naturally played a very young team in the Carling Cup and I don’t know how much you can really draw from it. City should be winning 3-0. It has taken pressure off as on paper it is a good result, but the real test will come in the next few weeks and starting with Saturday’s game at home.

A few months ago people were saying this fixture could be a game between the first and second clubs. That isn’t the case, but I spoke to Nigel de Jong on Thursday morning and he thinks that City are as good as Chelsea. They have got to prove it.

Actually, City deserve a lot of praise for only losing one game in all competitions - and that was to a last-gasp Michael Owen goal in the Manchester derby - and they can’t win every game. The expensive recruits have only just met each other, relatively speaking, so I really think that they will improve - they just need time. I hope the team and Hughes get that because nothing successful is built on rash decisions.

Do you want to ask ESPN's Premier League co-host, Rebecca Lowe, any questions about life behind-the-scenes at England's elite clubs or any wider issues affecting the game? Leave all your comments and queries below and we will ask Rebecca a selection of the best in the next few weeks.

Wily Ferguson's Wiley attack all part of the game

Posted by Rebecca Lowe on 06/10/2009

It was pretty exciting for me to conduct an interview that everyone has been talking about this week: Sir Alex Ferguson’s outburst at Alan Wiley following Manchester United’s 2-2 draw with Sunderland on Saturday.

Our post-match chat with Fergie was a long time in coming. The ESPN crew were all standing in the Old Trafford tunnel for quite a while and I think we would have been waiting for another hour if that late equaliser hadn’t gone in for United. All the time you are thinking about the right questions to ask, whether you will hit the right note, as an interview with Sir Alex Ferguson is a challenge at the best of times. When they have performed as badly as they just had against Sunderland, I had to make sure I was 100% on my game.

When he came out though he had a big smile on his face, which I thought was a bit strange. He seemed a bit distracted but then all was revealed as, after the first or second answer, he started talking about Alan Wiley’s fitness and it just all poured out. I knew straight away in my mind that this was a good story, this was a good, good story, so I followed up with a couple of questions to see how far he would go.

What was so interesting was that he walked out with that smile on his face. I think he knew he had an agenda. Everyone knows that Sir Alex is the cleverest manager in the business and his team did not perform so he talked about something else. It was very clever because we have all been talking about it ever since! I think it was designed to take the focus away from his team’s performance but that is not just Sir Alex Ferguson. All managers do it in different ways, he just does it in more dramatic ways than others. Kevin Keegan said that it was definitely a ploy to deflect attention, but Jose Mourinho used to do the same thing when taking the attention away from his players. It is all part of the game and it keeps us talking about it three, four and five days later.

The ProZone stats apparently show that Wiley ran 6.86 miles during the game - more than all but four of the Manchester United team! But I don’t think I would want to tell Sir Alex that particular stat. I wonder if there will be someone brave enough to? Everyone thinks that he is wrong in terms of the facts but I don’t think anyone is brave enough to say ‘Hang on a minute, Sir Alex, let me just read you these ProZone stats’! He has cultivated that atmosphere so he can’t lose. He will pay a fine and it will be loose change and ultimately it doesn’t matter a jot to him.

But if Alan Wiley was briefly considering his future, as was suggested in some reports on Tuesday morning, then I think it is sad because I am yet to read a single person’s point of view that supports Sir Alex Ferguson. I think Alan Wiley has the support of the referees, has the support of other people in the game, he is an excellent referee and is very rarely criticised. He probably knows in his heart it was unfair and that he has been made a scapegoat. But that is why Sir Alex Ferguson is so successful: he is ruthless.

I’m 50-50 on whether he overstepped the mark. Yes, because he upset Alan Wiley and that is not a pleasant thing to do, but we are in an industry where that happens. That is why football fills the columns and fills the blogs like it does, because it is a lot more interesting with characters like Ferguson in it.

Mind you, I’m not quite sure why the FA have asked Ferguson for an explanation of his comments. He explained what he meant when he said it. He will think this is a bit ridiculous as his explanation will be that he does not think the referee is fit enough. Do I think the FA will come down hard on him? No. I think Sir Alex Ferguson is the single most powerful man in English football and I think that carries a huge amount of weight. They will probably fine him but I don’t think it will be any more than that.

I wouldn’t be surprised if, one day in the future, and I’m talking ten years or so down the road, Ferguson has a quiet word in Alan Wiley’s ear and says ‘It was part of the game, Alan.’

Do you want to ask ESPN's Premier League co-host, Rebecca Lowe, any questions about life behind-the-scenes at England's elite clubs or any wider issues affecting the game? Leave all your comments and queries below and we will ask Rebecca a selection of the best in the next few weeks.

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Posted by Rebecca Lowe on 18/09/2009

It was great to become part of the ESPN team over the summer and (if for some strange reason you haven’t been watching so far!) my role is co-host of the Premier League games. That involves all 46 games this season and being ESPN’s presence at the stadium. I try to get as much access as I possibly can - to players, the managers and the club. It’s my ambition to give supporters things that they haven’t seen before.

The unique thing we are trying to achieve with the Premier League coverage, which hasn’t maybe been done before on other channels, is access. Obviously ESPN is an American-based company and over in America the amount of access they get is quite alien to us. I was told that in MLS a month or two ago, Kasey Keller, the former Tottenham goalkeeper, was playing for Seattle Sounders and he got injured in the middle of a game.

The match was stopped to allow him to get treatment and the ESPN reporter went on the pitch and started to interview him as he hobbled off! In he went into the physio room, sat with him as he got strapped up, carried on the interview and walked back with him all the way back to between the sticks, then the game carried on.

It’s amazing. Can you imagine this weekend if Robert Green gets injured, on I go with my microphone, everyone is waiting as I walk across the pitch? I’m not sure that the Premier League in this country will ever take to that. I’m not sure we will get that far. However, we have already made great strides this season.

When we did Burnley’s trip to Chelsea, one of the biggest clubs in the world, I did a two-minute tour of the dressing room. I was amazed to be in there and I’m quite lucky, but I think for those fans at home it was a real insight. We saw the bathroom area, the warm-up area, even Frank Lampard’s locker with his name engraved on the front, and really gave people a view into a world they rarely get to see. That is what we are trying to achieve. We are trying to break new ground and be different.

When I covered Blue Square Premier games for a previous employer I often interviewed managers during the game - try doing that with Fergie. But at some point this season, and I have already pinpointed which game it is, I am going to try my Blue Square magic on a manager. I already know what manager it is, but I’m not going to say who because I will probably fail and I don’t want to set myself up for a fall! But I will try to speak to a manager during a game. I think I might be able to twist this manager’s arm, so look out for that viewers!

I also conduct the pre and post-match interviews and it is not easy to speak to managers when they have lost. It is all about getting the tone right. It is all about the moment they first walk into the interviewing room. When David Moyes first strode in after Everton lost 6-1 to Arsenal I could tell by his body language that he was obviously furious, but he was also in shock. So the last thing you do is start chitter-chattering away. It is crucial that you stay out of their way. There is nothing an interviewer can say after a defeat, and especially one like that, that will make them feel anything other than more annoyed.

But it does not always work out like that. After Aston Villa beat Liverpool, Rafa Benitez was great. I was concerned because Liverpool had not had a great start to the season but I met him pre-match and he was a real gentleman. He is one of the nicest managers I have interviewed. He is warm, genuine and respectful and he was the same post-match.

I will be encountering Rafa again for our live ESPN game between West Ham and Liverpool and I think it will be a good match. Both teams play good football, Upton Park has a great atmosphere and Liverpool’s travelling fans are fantastic. I’m really, really looking forward to it and hope you are too.

Do you want to ask ESPN's Premier League co-host, Rebecca Lowe, any questions about life behind-the-scenes at England's elite clubs or any wider issues affecting the game? Leave all your comments and queries below.