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Tevez could play for City again
Carlos Tevez could play for Manchester City again, according to assistant manager David Platt, after the want-away striker's proposed transfer to AC Milan collapsed on Thursday.
The 27-year-old Argentina international has not featured for Premier League leaders City since September, having been frozen out by manager Roberto Mancini after refusing to come on as a substitute in a Champions League match away to Bayern Munich.
It had been thought that incident had damaged Tevez's relationship with Mancini beyond repair but Platt, speaking to reporters here Friday, said there was still a chance of the former Manchester United star representing City again.
"Stranger things have happened," former England midfielder Platt said.
Man City, three points clear at the top of the Premier League, travels to Wigan on Monday where it will look to bounce back after suffering successive defeats for the first time since 2008.
The holders were knocked out of the FA Cup by United last weekend before a midweek League Cup semi-final first leg loss to Liverpool.
But Platt insisted City was not cracking under the pressure of expectation.
"No one expected us to continue winning games without having a difficult moment," said Platt.
"We can't accelerate the season by four months to see how it is going to turn out.
"But we are still in the Carling (League) Cup semi-final and our players are quite capable of turning the situation around, and 19 clubs would like to be where we are in the championship.
"It is not a bad position to be in - some crisis."
Meanwhile Platt said City expected to have David Silva fit to face Wigan after the Spain winger suffered an ankle injury in the defeat by United that saw him miss the Liverpool clash.
"David did a bit of running yesterday (Thursday) and will do a bit more today (Friday)," said Platt.
"Hopefully he will be back on the training pitch tomorrow (Saturday)."
But Platt was not so positive about striker Mario Balotelli, who aggravated an ankle injury against Liverpool.
"Maybe (he could play against Wigan). But that's all it is, a maybe."
AFP
Tags: english-premier, soccer, sport, england First posted January 14, 2012 09:05:34Thursday, December 8, 2011
Postponement could be positive: Lavicka
Sydney FC coach Vitezslav Lavicka believes the break afforded his team by the postponement of Wednesday's A-League clash with Perth could be just what it needs to find consistency.
It gives the Sky Blues more time to recover from the huge physical and emotional effort required to beat Brisbane Roar 2-0 last Sunday, halting the premiers' record unbeaten run.
Now a win against last-placed Gold Coast away this Sunday could put Sydney in the mix for a top-two spot on the ladder.
"We were quite confident after we beat Brisbane Roar last weekend," Lavicka said after team training on Wednesday.
"The boys were then focussed on Wednesday's match and we were ready to play.
"But I think the players will now be refreshed physically and mentally for the next match now without the quick turnaround for the mid-week game."
Consistency has long been an issue for the Sky Blues who went from being premiers in the 2009/2010 season to finishing in a club-low ninth place last season.
And with all eyes on the boys in blue after their emphatic win over the Roar, Lavicka is eager to prove the feat was not just a one-off.
"Good teams in the A-League are able to keep the consistency so this is a good challenge for us to show ourselves and everybody else that we really are a good team," he said.
"I believe they are mentally prepared for that pressure.
"We want to be one of the best teams in the A-League but without consistency and the momentum there's no way we can achieve that."
With Perth stranded in Western Australia by an electrical storm, the FFA will now have to reschedule the postponed Campbelltown Stadium encounter, which would have been local hero Brett Emerton's homecoming of sorts.
"He's part of that area so of course he was excited to play there but there are two ways to look at it," Lavicka said.
"On one hand yes he is disappointed to not be playing this week in Campbelltown but on the other hand he now has more time to get good training and good recovery before our match on Sunday against Gold Coast."
It was hoped the postponement would also give striker Mark Bridge (back) and midfielder Terry Antonis (fatigue) a chance to be fit for Sunday but Lavicka has ruled both out of the Gold Coast match saying they need more time.
AAP
Tags: soccer, sport, a-league, campbelltown-2560, sydney-2000, nsw, perth-6000, wa, australia First posted December 07, 2011 15:43:53