After reading Wayne Bridge’s rather witty response of ‘Mancini is my only handicap’ after Mancini criticised the left back, saying he only stays at City for the money and plays golf on a Saturday afternoon, it not only made me chuckle slightly, but also made me ponder the issue of players being alienated from their respective squads.
The aforementioned Mancini is notorious for this – the Siberia of the reserves is something multiple City players have found themselves contending with since the ice cold Italian arrived, with Bellamy, Adebayor and Bridge – to name but a few all ostracised and effectively barred from the first team no matter what.
I have to say, I do find this slightly strange – yes a player may not be the first choice, but surely he is worth letting train with the first team and having as a back-up option? The players cast aside like an unwanted toy by Mancini are not without talent, and it remains to be seen if the Italian will eventually come unstuck one day because of doing this.
Take Chelsea and AVB for instance – yes Anelka and Alex wished to leave, and handed in transfer requests, but only after they were pushed to, after being basically humiliated by AVB and not only made to train with the youngsters, but park and eat with them also.
Now with the injury crisis Chelsea are experiencing defensively, one wonders if AVB made a mistake with Alex – probably the best centre half Chelsea have in the squad. Likewise Anelka could have been utilised a great deal with the African Nations approaching. Sturridge is prolific, but seems to be at his best cutting in from the wing, and this leaves the main man spot to fill up top. Forgive me if I am not falling over myself to nominate Torres for this position, but I would quite like to see Chelsea score goals in the games they play.
There are however some situations where players deserve to be treated like they have the plague – Carlos Tevez is one of these, and no amount of talent can excuse the behaviour the striker has displayed at times this season. A bust up with the manager is one thing – these happen and it is dealt with and moved on from. Downright disrespect however is quite another thing, and simply cannot be tolerated.
Unless the Chelsea pairing of Anelka and Alex and indeed Bridge at City have done something drastically wrong that the public are not privy to, it does seem strange that they are being treated in the way they are by their managers. If nothing else, it is disrespectful and ungrateful to players who have done nothing wrong except not be ones the manager fancies.
I may be being overly sentimental here, but I do not believe it is right or fair to treat players in such a way. Yes sometimes they do not fit in and need to move on, but humiliating them is not the way forward. You never know when a player may come in useful or may cross your path again, and leaving under a cloud is something that is becoming all too familiar sight these days, and when a player is told he has no chance of playing for the first team and shown an utter lack of respect, quite frankly I don’t blame them for being more than a little aggrieved.
Written by Rebecca Knight for FootballFancast.com.
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I’m somewhat embarrassed by the sexist comments made in response to this article, almost as embarrassed as the author of this load of old honk should be about having written it.
Mancini told Bridge well over a year ago that he wasn’t wanted, yet he continues to sit at home collecting £90000 a week. That’s fair enough – Bridge and the club signed the contract, so he’s perfectly at liberty to sit on his arse, getting rich, until it expires.
What I object to is him carping about the situation when he’s had plenty of opportunities to leave a play the football he apparently ‘craves’. The bottom line is that in order to leave he’d have to take a pay cut, something he isn’t willing to do and a fact that he isn’t willing to admit.
This article is poorly-researched, badly-written, self-opinionated crap – just like 95% of the football blogosphere. Well done!