Eriksson eyeing three new faces

Chris Bailey

January 14, 2008

TOFFEE TROUBLE: Dietmar Hamann battles with James McFadden

SVEN-GORAN Eriksson and owner Thaksin Shinawatra held talks on Saturday morning as the Blues' search for new players continues.

The City chief has made it clear that he would like two or three signings during the January window to bolster the club's chances of finishing in the top six or even grabbing the fourth Champions League place.

Defeat at Everton on Saturday sent the Blues tumbling from fourth to seventh in the table on goal difference and reinforced the need to bring in at least one striker and possibly another midfielder.

But the manager was giving little away after his conversation with Shinawatra.

Chances

"I spoke to him and we will see what happens. We are working on things and hopefully they will happen but it must do so soon because January is soon over," said Eriksson.

The manager knows lack of goals is the crunch, saying: "We have to create more chances and that is a little bit of a problem that has been hanging around us all season."

Eriksson likes Dinamo Zagreb's 21-year-old Mario Mandzukic but the Croatians are in no hurry to sell after pocketing cash in the summer for Vedran Corluka and Eduardo.

Swede Johan Elmander, Real Madrid's Julio Baptista and Ajax's Klaas Jan Huntelaar are the latest men to be ruled out after one-time target Nicolas Anelka's move to Chelsea.

Huntelaar would cost around £18m and Juventus are favourites for his signature.

Who should City go for? Have your say.

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Spiderman (14/01/2008 at 09:02)

If this artical proves true then i will take all the flack from everyone of you and rightly so but i WON'T hold my breath.....?

Nancy's Knickers (14/01/2008 at 09:03)

So we have no money then!!!

Calm down everyone - In Sven we trust.

Scooby Blue, South Stand 216 (14/01/2008 at 09:08)

We will not know who City are going for until they are sat next to Sven in a press conference ...... I personally feel we need a battering Ram type centre forward ..We are so weak up there but maybe Valeri Bojinov can give us that power in the long term ..... it's the final third where we are lacking and it's becoming more obvious ..However wins against West Ham and Derby and we are back in the shake-up ..even though I don't think Saturday's result has put us out of it ..we need to add more goals to our play otherwise that goal difference is gonna cost us come May !!

p-woodhouse, gorton (14/01/2008 at 09:19)

if sven knew who he wanted before the transfer window opened.
why are they holding talks about getting new faces in. they should be already be holding talks with the players and their agents. we all know what we need, im not bothered about a midfielder or defender. get one or two big money top of the tree strikers. otherwise we will end up mid table....

celf, hazel grove (14/01/2008 at 09:19)

same old links just a different day,you are gonna have to come up with something better than this MUEN.

celf, hazel grove (14/01/2008 at 09:21)

jason roberts wants away from blackburn,is he the kind of strong centre forward we are looking for?

LimerickBlue (14/01/2008 at 09:23)

i live near stevie I's homeplace and there are rumours that he's signed/is signing for the scousers? I personally don't believe it but I heard this from friends of his

Devon Blue, Devon (14/01/2008 at 09:24)

I dont know how serious the good Dr T is about his statement on this club when he purchased it of bringing glory back to the club. But being Sven has brought us this far in a short time it would be a shame to waste this chance of Europe even though we are ahead of schedule of the original plan.
To do this we need at least 3 player of quality if not 4.

Huntlear would be idea up front or why not make a double swoop for Santa Cruz and Bentley from the rovers also we need a ball winning mid fielder to feed the strikers Mascharno from the Pool would fill that role.

But whatever thing need to be done very fast

We need to off load Vassall ,Samaras, Dabo, Dikov,Mills*2 Mpenza as they are not upto the challenge ahead. Keep Geovani as he is an Ideal squad player

41andnotseenowtreally, Heaton Misery (14/01/2008 at 09:30)

Next weekend -

Wigan-Everton - draw
Liverpool-Villa - draw

City beat the Hammers.

City back to 4th.

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.

Blue John, London (14/01/2008 at 09:33)

Good to hear Sven condemning long ball football after the game at Everton, and saying that he's banned it from training. The way we've played this season has been a delight at times. That said though, our record against pressure merchants like Everton and Blackburn is attrocious. Players like Elano, Petrov and Castillo are great if the opposition gives them space, but they've exhibited all the backbone of a jellyfish when they've been required to mix it. Truly only teams like Arsenal and the Rags can go to places like Goodison and play their normal game. We just aren't good enough yet. In the absence of Johnson, we need a midfield enforcer (Didi and Charlie are a couple of elegant strollers) almost as much as we need a beast up front. Anyone see Jason Roberts bully Bolton into submission yesterday? If we ain't got much cash, he'd be ideal as a short term stop gap.

petenico, manchester (14/01/2008 at 09:35)

personally i would be happy to make our first english signing in the form of dean ashton.
any1 who saw him at the weekend will know how he can be a right handful for any defence. hes a city fan too! im sure he would be happy to join the svenmania revolution!
need a right sided winger too. if only to give a good balance and a different option form time to time

Bluetonium, Manchester (14/01/2008 at 09:41)

It is so close in the top half that we need to push for a top striker to keep ourselves in with a chance. Maybe another creative/ all action midfielder too. Teams may be wiser to us in the 2nd half of the season and there is a risk of a new purchase not settling straight away, but we have to go for it if we want to increase our chances of Europe. We should see off West Ham twice and Derby away, but after that its Arsenal, so the Jan games would be ideal to bed a new player in. Sure players are overpriced in January but it should pay off. Makes me wonder if we have been told to trim the squad before buying any more?
Still its progress from last year - we are talking about Fred and Mancini now, not Mido, Eastwood and Collins John like last Jan.

citytillidie, oldham (14/01/2008 at 09:43)

dean ashton haha are you having a laugh he's not a 20 goal a season man we ned to spend £15m-£20m on a striker
and a wide right midfielder and a strong aggressive defensive midfielder
(bresciano,mancini, and a top notch finidher

mozza_100, Ashton-under-Lyne (14/01/2008 at 09:44)

If he can get three players that he would take if they were available in the summer then I'm all for it. Just because we've been muscled at Everton I don't think we should be worrying. A lot of good teams go to Goodison and come out empty handed, we're not the first and we won't be the last. I think Blues have to get realistic. We all want to go on some European travels but it was never the plan to do this well. Now we're here I'm sure the boys are doing their best. I just don't want to see us splashing cash now and not being able to splash out on someone Sven thinks could really turn the tide next season. Keep the faith.

PhilB65, Sheffield (14/01/2008 at 09:45)

We need a midfield enforcer and a powerful physical striker most of all. Ashton would be a great choice, and yes, as Blue John says, Jason Roberts would be a bargain. I haven't forgotten how he bullied Sylvain Distin at Wigan a couple of Boxing Days ago, and he did the same yesterday when he scored a cracker against the Whingers. Ched Evans also scored a good goal for Norwich too. He showed good strength to power home with his left.

The Truth (14/01/2008 at 09:49)

Jason Roberts is a good shout to play on his own up front. As is Dean Ashton. Like them both. The other names are pie in the sky.

Nasty, East Stand, Level 1, (14/01/2008 at 09:50)

Chill Brothers, after seeing Svens face after the game on saturday I think he now realises that to hoist the mighty blues into the top four is going to be the biggest challenge of his life but after seeing some of the stunning ladies he has wined and dined anything is possible for the swedish maestro so lets cut the negativity and get behind the boss and our team you know it makes sense !!!!.

WE TRUST IN SVEN !!
CTID

arthurdawkins (14/01/2008 at 09:53)

WIN NOWTS !! ONLY 3 ?? Oh dear dybolical stuff again..
Ask yourselves when did you
play well.I told you before!
HES BOUGHT BAD,THEY ARE SO
POOR. AND THE LOT YOU HAVE
THERE ITS LAUGHABLE.When a
defender gets the top marks
every match...something is so
wrong..What Old Sev wants is
Videos of us attacking ?? he
hasnt got a clue.Your average
is about one shot at goal...
He celibrates if you get a
corner !! Mind, you did not
get one against us..Never has
it happened in a Derby..What
a record it be.WE TRUST IN ?
AND PIGS CAN...THAIART...ALL.

Karem, Roen (14/01/2008 at 09:56)

Johan Elmander, Julio Baptista and Klaas Jan Huntelaar would all be perfect signings. But who knows what Sven & co really have in mind? 18 m for Huntelaar is expensive, maybe we could get both Baptista and Elmander for 20 m.

uzirugby (14/01/2008 at 09:57)

WE are not going to sign anyone at this rate!

We need fire power!!

Get Padolski on loan with a view to permanant signing!

I have a feeling that cash is an issue now!

1 min we got £40 million to spend the next barely £10million!

Please get rid of Dabo just kick him out, I dont want to read stories related to that waster!

Pay the money for Elmander quality striker!

Or if we can afford Huntelaar then excellent he is class!

But if we are desperate then we need to go for a fairly decent sriker!

WE should look to bring in Sissoko of liverpool or Diarra from Arsenal. This will give us strength in front of the defence!

and if we really want Champs League then bid 22million for Berbatov!

Elano's best goal ever, Once of Droylsden now Brisbane (14/01/2008 at 09:58)

With the exception of Chelsea, whose owner has a bottomless pit of cash which other billionaire owned club really splashes the cash?

Liverpool....NO. Their apparent unwillingness to spend big in this window has caused Benitez to be seemingly on the verge of losing his job.

Aston Villa..NO haven't noticed that particular wallet leaking cash yet. Portsmouth, Newcastle again NO and NO.

Then you have Arsenal and ManYoo who have spent and have obviously spent well if league position is any indicator.

So heading back you have LFC, Villa, Barcodes and Pompey and lets throw in Everton for good measure all vying for a CL or UEFA spot in the same manner that we are. Therefore including us there are 6 teams in contention for 3 places (more if the Big 3 win the domestic cups)

If all the above have the same ambitions why does everyone assume that we have a God given right to that 4th spot or even a top 6 spot. Money has through footballing history proven to not always be the yardstick of success. Sunderland, Tottenham and Newcastle have all spent and/or got money and where are they in the league?

It's competition boys but not as we have known it.

Stop bloody whinging

uzirugby (14/01/2008 at 09:59)

celf, hazel grove

Jason Roberts! EM the answer to that is

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

Peter Jones (14/01/2008 at 09:59)

Sven: "I spoke to him and we will see what happens. We are working on things and hopefully they will happen but it must do so soon because January is soon over,"

That does not sound like he got the assurances he wanted does it? Let's look at the phraseology:

'see what happens' 'hopefully they will happen' 'must do soon' 'January is soon over'

All sounds rather negative doesn't it?

Harry Skinters (14/01/2008 at 10:00)

I've been saying for months that we need two new strikers and a right sided midfielder. Not SWP and Elk but their equivalents. Strikers have been City's weakness for soooooo long. In recent years only Elk and Goat have been fit, reliable goal scorers. Look at the strikers in the squad now (on-loan or otherwise); Bianchi, Bojinov, Corradi, Dickov, Evans, Mpenza, Samaras, Sturridge, Vassell. 9 strikers and is there one fit reliable goal scorer amongst them. The answer is either 'no' or 'don't know' for all of them. That's where our key problem is. Wholesale change is required. Ship out the dead wood and splash the cash to bring in two proven Premiership strikers. Then more of the same in the summer.

DUBLIN BLUE (14/01/2008 at 10:02)

"tumbling from fourth to seventh in the table on goal difference" is this not supposed to be the MANCHESTER evening news why are these journalists of this paper constantly trying to undermine the city's team MANCHESTER city fc and there mindblowing turnaround in performance in the last six months,why not praise the team and celebrate our new found success

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