MANCHESTER City manager Sven-Goran Eriksson is determined to sign another striker before the close of the transfer window, despite the emergence of teenage prospect Daniel Sturridge.
Sturridge was the only positive for Eriksson following Sunday's 2-1 FA Cup fourth-round defeat at Sheffield United, where a bunch of balloons played their part in sending City crashing.
The Blades grabbed a 12th-minute opener from Luton Shelton as
he took advantage of a Lee Martin cross that had deflected off the balloons deposited by City fans sat behind Joe Hart's goal.
The club's misery was further compounded by news that up to £2,000 had been stolen from a number of wallets in the City dressing room at some point during the afternoon. At least 18-year-old Sturridge – nephew of former Derby and Wolves striker Dean – proved he has a bright future ahead of him.
Less than three minutes after his introduction as a half-time substitute, Sturridge sparked hopes of a comeback with a sumptuous volley in off the underside of the crossbar. It was his fourth goal in five days after scoring a hat-trick in City's 3-1 FA Youth Cup win last Wednesday, following six months on the sidelines with a hip operation.
"You can see Daniel is a very good player," remarked Eriksson. "He had not played for six months, but he came on in a game like this and you could see he is physically strong, his technique is fantastic and he scored a very good goal."
Yet Eriksson is wary of pushing Sturridge too far, too soon, even though he is struggling for numbers in attack. After off-loading Rolando Bianchi to Lazio on loan last week, the Swede also has Valeri Bojinov still recovering from cruciate knee ligament surgery and Nery Castillo from a separated shoulder.
"When I came to England in August I had never seen Sturridge play football. I had only heard about him, but I knew of his talent," added Eriksson. "I saw him a couple of weeks ago in training, initially with the reserves and then the first team, and he showed he is good.
"But I don't know if we can expect him to play for the rest of the matches (in the Premier League] after six months without a game. That might be dangerous and too much. So I can easily live with another striker, and we are in the market for one, and Sturridge. It's not a problem."
Sturridge had replaced Elano at the break as Eriksson felt the Brazil midfielder was likely to get himself sent off such was his growing frustration. Gary Speed, in particular, gave Elano a rough time, with Eriksson conceding his players need to toughen up if a promising season is not to fall by the wayside.
"Elano wasn't injured, just frustrated," added Eriksson. "We have to learn, and he has to learn, that life in England will be like this. No-one will let him do what he wants with the ball without attacking him because he is too good a player. So this was a good lesson for many of our players who have not played in England before about what the FA Cup is about."
There was frustration for Sheffield United manager Bryan Robson that Sunday's win was matched by the kind of determined performance that has often been lacking in the Coca-Cola Championship this season.
As a result, United are currently languishing in 14th place in the league, nine points off the play-off places, which has led to some fans calling for Robson to go. Robson said: "You are always looking at yourselves to try to improve. What we have to do is ensure our mental approach is right when we play unfancied teams or those below us in the league. That's two Premier League teams we've beaten now in the FA Cup, while we have also beaten West Brom who are top of the league, Wolves who are a good side in this division, and Charlton away. So the lads have proved they can do it. We have to show we are more determined in our mental approach against lesser opposition because we want to climb the league."
While the detractors might have temporarily been silenced by the win over Premier League City, they will be in full voice again tonight if United lose in the league to high-flying Watford. Robson, though, is confident the Blades, who have a home tie with Middlesbrough to look forward to in the FA Cup fifth round, can push for a play-off place if they can follow up on the win over City with a positive result against Watford.
"If we can go on and beat Watford then I'm sure we can go on a real good run this season," added Robson.
BIZARRE GOALSVanderlei (Cruzeiro 0 ATLETICO MINEIRO 4, April 2007) An extraordinary lapse of concentration by Cruzeiro goalkeeper Fabio allowed Atletico Mineiro striker Vanderlei to score the fourth goal in the Belo Horizonte derby. After conceding the third goal, Fabio was still looking for the ball in the net and had his back to play as Atletico scored again. He apparently failed to notice as Cruzeiro kicked off with a different ball. The ball was intercepted by Vanderlei who scored into an undefended goal. A furious Fabio picked two balls out of the net.
Peter Enckelman (Birmingham 3 ASTON VILLA 0, September 2002)With his team trailing 1-0 to their arch-rivals, the last thing Villa needed was to gift their opponents a goal. And that is exactly what they did. Olof Mellberg took a throw-in from the left but Enckelman somehow managed to mis-control the ball and it rolled into the net. Villa's Finnish keeper claimed he did not get a touch but referee David Elleray awarded the goal.
Gary Crosby (NOTTINGHAM FOREST 1 Manchester City 0, March 1990)The Forest winger was waiting behind Andy Dibble when the City keeper picked up the ball. As Dibble held it out on his outstretched hand deciding what to do Crosby nipped around the keeper, nodded the ball out of his hand and rolled it into the empty net.
Gary Sprake (Liverpool 2-0 LEEDS UNITED, 1967) Sprake attempted to throw the ball out to team-mate Willie Bell but at the last moment changed his mind, only succeeding in hurling into his own net.
The full article contains 1082 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
