Tottenham's Peter Crouch, centre, attempts a spectacular bicycle kick against Manchester City yesterday.
Tottenham's Peter Crouch, centre, attempts a spectacular bicycle kick against Manchester City yesterday.

A stuttering start to Mancini's new dawn



The late Jack Walker showed it was possible to transform the fortunes of a slumbering giant 15 years ago when the steel magnate's personal fortune enabled Blackburn Rovers to come from comparative obscurity to break Manchester United's grip on what was then an embryonic English Premier League. Roman Abramovich's considerably larger reserves of Russian roubles enabled Chelsea to do the same a decade later and break what by then had become a duopoly involving Arsenal as well as Sir Alex Ferguson's United.

The stakes are continually rising for those seeking to buy the title, as Manchester City will surely discover over what they confidently expect to be a productive winter. City now have riches beyond the dreams of a faithful following who ensured Maine Road was well attended through decades of under-achieving and have more recently transferred their patronage to Eastlands. A first domestic championship since the golden era of the Swinging Sixties has been brought into view by the arrival of Abu Dhabi funding. City, for so long the poor relations in their own neighbourhood, are now the envy of all around them whenever the transfer window is open.

Roberto Mancini arrived from Italy seeking to provide a tangible reward to the club's owners in return for their massive investment. The City manager was shorn of his trademark blue and white scarf as a new campaign opened at White Hart Lane yesterday but the purse strings are still very much in the Italian's grasp as the eve-of-season recruitment of Mario Balotelli emphasised. The £24 million (Dh137.4m) signing of Inter Milan's talented striker and the likelihood of England's James Milner moving in from Aston Villa for about the same fee will take City's summer spending beyond £125m - an outlay which they would expect to reap the desired dividends.

Yesterday proved, however, that it takes more than money in the current era to bring success and it was a relieved City squad who left London grateful to the heroic display from a player who cost them a meagre £600,000 from Shewsbury four years ago. Joe Hart, out of favour for club and country last season as Shay Given was an undisputed first choice at Eastlands and several other goalkeepers were unconvincingly ahead of him in the England pecking order, is now relishing No 1 status at both levels.

And how he demonstrated why with a string of saves to prevent a dominant Tottenham Hotspur team taking what would have been a thoroughly justified three points to go with the six they took from City last term. Completing that impressive double enabled Harry Redknapp's Spurs to deny City a chance to perform in the European Champions League this season. On the admittedly brief evidence of yesterday's 90-plus minutes of goalless but entertaining action, they will be better equipped to give a decent account of themselves in Tuesday's qualifying round against Young Boys of Berne, Switzerland. Redknapp, who has created a local rivalry in north London with Arsenal to match the one that is developing in Manchester, warrants all the accolades that have come his way for achieving so much in such a short time at White Hart Lane.

His impressive line-up, assembled for a fraction of the price of City's, carved out chances galore in the face of isolated threats to their own rearguard. But for Hart's saves and some indecisive finishing they would have inflicted severe early embarrassment on their wealthy visitors. wjohnson@thenational.ae

Vidaamuyarchi

Director: Magizh Thirumeni

Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra

Rating: 4/5

 

Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20WallyGPT%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2014%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESaeid%20and%20Sami%20Hejazi%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20raised%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%247.1%20million%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2020%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPre-seed%20round%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Hales' batting career

Tests 11; Runs 573; 100s 0; 50s 5; Avg 27.38; Best 94

ODIs 58; Runs 1,957; 100s 5; 50s 11; Avg 36.24; Best 171

T20s 52; Runs 1,456; 100s 1; 50s 7; Avg 31.65; Best 116 not out

If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.

When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.

How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
Cryopreservation: A timeline
  1. Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
  2. Ovarian tissue surgically removed
  3. Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
  4. Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
  5. Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
Game Changer

Director: Shankar 

Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram

Rating: 2/5

if you go
MATCH INFO

Manchester United 1 (Fernandes pen 2') Tottenham Hotspur 6 (Ndombele 4', Son 7' & 37' Kane (30' & pen 79, Aurier 51')

Man of the match Son Heung-min (Tottenham)

How to protect yourself when air quality drops

Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

Wear a face mask.

Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
 
Started: 2020
 
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
 
Based: Dubai, UAE
 
Sector: Entertainment 
 
Number of staff: 210 
 
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners