Tevez: I wish Rooney joined me at City

CARLOS TEVEZ lit the fuse on an explosive Manchester derby by admitting: I wish Wayne Rooney had joined me at City.

The Argie hitman left Old Trafford for Eastlands in July 2009 and Roo looked like following in his footsteps last month.
The England striker was on the verge of quitting United but was persuaded to stay with a five-year mega-deal.
Ahead of tomorrow's Premier League crunch at Eastlands, Tevez said: "I would have liked him to come here of course. But it was complicated for him to leave United.
"Wayne is a player of great quality. He was a team-mate and a friend of mine at United and he is one of those men that it is better to have on your team than against you.
"For me he is the best English striker of recent years.
"I made the change and so far I'm not sorry."
Rooney is currently in America as he recovers match fitness after an ankle injury.
City have not given up on signing him despite the player penning a deal worth £250,000 a week at Old Trafford.
Just three points separate the teams at the top end of the table.
Victory will fire City right back into the title race.
Tevez said: "We are in the top three and I think we are better than last season, we're improving all the time.
"But we have to continue to fight over an entire season before we can gauge whether we are good enough to win the title.
"I think we can - but we have to continue winning.
"Our results have been good so far, but it is not perfect.
"To be champions you have to avoid losing at home and not give away too many draws.

"So on that front we are falling a bit short. "But there is plenty of time to recover. The title race is wide open."
And pal Joe Hart is backing Tevez to keep City's title bid on track tomorrow night - by winning the game on his own.
Keeper Hart said: "Carlos can carry a team and he can carry 10 men.
"If we're stinking and Carlos plays well, there's a good chance we'd win.
"He's a phenomenal player. I'd say the best I've played with. He just leads by example in all the right ways.
"You would look to him, not to give you a pep talk but to win you a game."

Van der Vaart player of the month, Moyes manager of the month

Rafael van der Vaart has been named as Barclays Premier League player of the month for October, with David Moyes taking the manager award.

Tottenham's Van der Vaart, a deadline-day signing from Real Madrid, scored three goals during the month as well as laying on another for Roman Pavlyuchenko against Fulham.
Everton took 10 points from their four league games this month to earn Moyes his award, beating Birmingham, Liverpool and Stoke and drawing with Spurs - whose equaliser came from Van der Vaart.
It is the eighth time Moyes has won the award - and the third in 2010 - while he has also been named as the LMA manager of the year on three occasions since joining the Toffees in 2002.

Balotelli will miss the Manchester derby!

Mario Balotelli will miss the Manchester derby after accepting his red card against West Brom, but the striker will appeal his three-match ban.

The Manchester City forward was given a straight red card for violent conduct after clashing with Youssouf Mulumbu.
City are now appealing against the three-match ban but accept the red card - he had already been booked - meaning he will miss the chance of facing Manchester United.
The FA said in a statement: "The FA can confirm that Manchester City FC have today submitted a claim that, following the dismissal of Mario Balotelli for violent conduct, the standard punishment of an automatic three match ban is clearly excessive.
"The claim will be heard by an independent regulatory commission tomorrow."

Torres has the X-Factor

FERNANDO TORRES blew the Premier League title race wide open and insisted: The best is yet to come.

The Liverpool hitman, who struck twice to stun leaders Chelsea, said: "It's been a difficult time for me but I'm feeling better and improving every day.
"I don't know if I can play at my best soon but I hope so.
"The end of last season was tough for me, especially at the World Cup, because of lots of injuries.

"Part of life as a footballer is being criticised. Everything you do is around the world a minute later.
"I know the expectation and I want to fight hard to get my top form back."
Torres opened the scoring after 11 minutes before hitting a magnificent second on the stroke of half-time.
It took his record against the champions to seven goals in eight games - and left Chelsea just two points clear of Manchester United at the Premier League summit.
For Kop boss Roy Hodgson it was vindication of his insistence that it was only a matter of time before Torres struck gold once again.
Hodgson said: "Fernando is a vital player for Liverpool, he would be for any club.
"We speak all the time and he wants the club to do well. He wants to see we're moving in the right direction.
"We were all in a situation wondering what the future would be during the takeover but, like myself, he can see a positive one here.
"He likes being at Liverpool and playing for Liverpool. I don't have any fears for the future as far as he's concerned, as long as we can get back close to the top of the table where Liverpool belong.
"He has taken his fair share of criticism, some of which has been exaggerated and not deserved.
"But people will now say he's back to his best. Let's just hope that's the case."

Agger's injury is long-term

Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson is resigned to being without Daniel Agger for the "long-term" after the defender was ordered to rest a calf injury.

The 25-year-old Denmark international has not played since September 25 when he came on as a substitute in the 2-2 draw at home to Sunderland.
He visited a specialist in London on Wednesday to assess the problem and has been told not to train to allow the problem to rectify itself.
"Agger is long-term. They can't put a date on it," said Hodgson.
"At the moment he can't train, he has just got to rest and wait for the next time he goes to see the specialist again.
"They are very anxious that bone doesn't form. It is a calcification issue and training would certainly accelerate the calcification.
"Now they have to wait and hope the body breaks down the calcifying elements before he can even think about training again.
"So it could be very long term."

Carroll get England call after score yesterday against Arsenal!

ANDY CARROLL will get his first England call-up against France next week - unless FA chiefs block it.

The giant Newcastle striker was watched by Three Lions boss Fabio Capello yesterday as he headed the shock winner at Arsenal.
Capello is a big fan of 6ft 3in Carroll but the Italian is also well aware the young striker has been involved in a number of off-field misdemeanours in recent weeks.
Carroll, 21, is facing the threat of jail after ending up in court facing charges of causing actual bodily harm and this weekend was alleged to be involved in a drink and drugs scandal.
But Capello wants to look at Carroll in the friendly against the French at Wembley on November 17 and will consult with FA bosses.
Carroll was heavily tipped to feature in the last England squad - the Euro qualifier against Montenegro.
But he was omitted because he had failed to turn up for a medical assessment when selected for a previous Under-21 squad, angering coach Stuart Pearce.
He has been forgiven for that now and, with Capello keen to experiment against France, Carroll could start the match.
Toon boss Chris Hughton insisted: "There was never any question of not picking Andy today.
"I didn't talk to him about the headlines and he is not a difficult player to manage. He is mentally very strong."
Sunderland's Darren Bent will miss next week's clash with France as he has been ruled out for three weeks with a hamstring injury.

Roberto Mancini won't quit!!

ROBERTO MANCINI insisted 'You'll have to sack me' after another catastrophic Manchester City defeat.

The Italian's job is on a knife-edge after City slumped at Polish minnows Lech Poznan in the Europa League.
Last night's humiliating loss was their third in a row and there have been a series of dressing-room bust-ups.

But Mancini, who has blown £300million on building a superstar line-up, refuses to quit - saying: "For me it is totally clear, I will stay at City until they fire me.
"I've seen the owner Sheikh Mansour two or three times and we have a good relationship.
"I also have very frequent contact with the president, Khaldoon Al Mubarak.
"We speak three or four times a week and he often comes to training."
City are fourth in the Premier League despite their mega-bucks outlay on new players.
But Mancini insists he will eventually get it right - if he is given time.
He told French magazine So Foot: "As a coach I've taken teams that weren't winning such as Fiorentina, Lazio and Inter and I've won."
Mancini now faces crunch games against West Brom on Sunday and bitter rivals Manchester United next Wednesday.
His side were sunk by two late Poznan goals in their Group A clash.
And he groaned: "We didn't deserve to lose. Everything is against us and Poznan were lucky.
"To say the team are against me is all rubbish.
"There were some hard discussions with some players but the team follows me.
"The club have asked me to qualify for next season's Champions League and we are going well for that.
"We must change this situation. It's difficult but we must pay more attention in the way we play.
"We can only change things if we stay together.
"We have lost the last three games but, here, we didn't deserve to lose. That's football."
There was some good news for Mancini as skipper Carlos Tevez flew back from Argentina to Manchester after his thigh injury and trained at Carrington yesterday.