Sunday 2 November 2008

Bolton 2 - Man city 0

Manchester City have been beaten for the second time in a week after going down 2-0 to Bolton Wanderers.

City were surprised by Middlesbrough in midweek, but failed to make amends by losing at The Reebok courtesy of Ricardo Gardner's close-range strike and Richard Dunne's own goal.

Jamaican winger Gardner opened the scoring in the 77th minute when he sent Gretar Steinsson's right-wing cross in off the crossbar to ease the pressure on under-fire manager Gary Megson.

Any hopes of City getting back into the contest ended late on when Dunne inadvertently diverted Gardner's driven cross into his own net with Kevin Davies lurking at the back post.

Bolton began the day propping up the rest of the Premier League, but have now moved into 17th spot thanks to their third league win of the campaign while City remain well off the pace-setters in 10th position.

Spurs Chairman hits out at Berbatov

Daniel Levy has claimed that Dimitar Berbatov twice refused to play for Tottenham as he looked to secure a move away from the club.

The Bulgarian striker joined Manchester United at the end of the summer after months of speculation about his future.

Spurs had struggled on the pitch before Berbatov's departure and Levy believes the whole transfer saga had unsettled the squad.

Chairman Levy also maintains that Berbatov opted out of Premier League games against Sunderland and Chelsea.

"We had a player who had refused to play two games for us, having a detrimental affect on the dressing-room," said Levy.

"We'd known for a year that the player had wanted out of this club."

Tottenham signed Berbatov from Bayer Leverkusen in 2006 and Levy feels the club helped to put him on the footballing map.

Diappointed

Levy insists that Berbatov wanted to move to Old Trafford in 2007, adding: "We were very disappointed.

"Dimitar Berbatov was a player who we brought to this club at a time when Man Utd were interested in him.

"He made a conscious decision to come to this club, we invested a lot of money, nobody had ever heard of Dimitar Berbatov when we bought him.

"A year later with 10 days to go to the end of the window he tells us he wants to leave to go to Manchester United."

Levy thinks Berbatov's conduct then - and a year later when he eventually moved for £30million - amounted to treating Tottenham with contempt.

"I don't think he treated this club with the respect that we honestly deserved," Levy explained.

"We put him on the map, I think he's an outstanding player, but he signed a long-term contract with this club and I think he should have stayed.

"I had so many conversations with him. He kept saying it was about his ambition to play for Manchester United. It wasn't a money issue. We offered him a new contract and he wasn't even interested in discussing it."

Adams seeks Viera

Portsmouth manager Tony Adams plans to speak with Inter Milan about the availability of Patrick Vieira.

Adams was appointed as the new manager at Fratton Park on Tuesday following Harry Redknapp's sudden move to Tottenham and he is looking to put his own stamp on the squad.

He has identified former Arsenal team-mate Vieira as one of his top targets and will be contacting Jose Mourinho in the near future.

Vieira, who left Arsenal in 2005, has struggled with injuries in recent times and is entering the twilight of his career, but Adams believes the 32-year-old would still have plenty to offer.

"He is definitely a player I'd like to bring here if he was available," Adams told the Sunday Mirror.

"I will be speaking to Inter manager Jose Mourinho and asking about him.

"With Patrick you know what you are getting - he is a proven winner and a great character."

Ready for fight

A number of Pompey players have been linked with moves away from the South Coast and reports suggest that Redknapp may try to raid his former club in the January transfer window.

However, Adams is ready for the fight and has made it clear to his bosses that he will leave if he is undermined.

He explained: "I told them at the club if you sell my players, I will walk.

"That would be cutting my throat. There would be every chance we would be relegated.

"Without good players, you can't do anything."