Manchester City was in the news last weekend for its brilliant performance despite having ten players’ army on the field. City’s striker Nasri was actually shown a red card after his headbutt to Sebastien Bassong, which was considered a violent way to react to an opponent’s challenge. Nasri was sent off during the first half of City’s clash with Norwich last weekend, and despite silently accepting the penalty, City said after the match that they will appeal against three matches’ ban of their French international, but after having a second thought over the issue, City has now decided to forgo the matter altogether, which means, they will not have Nasri in their squad for next three matches. Manager Roberto Mancini has earlier indicated about such a move when he was asked about whether his team will persuade an official appeal. Moreover, another reason for City’s step back looks, if appeal gets rejected, Nasri can even get a ban extension, which would have been another setback for Carrington club.
When Mancini was asked for his reaction about not urging of an appeal, he said, “We don’t know what can happen if we appeal. Usually they reject an appeal. This could be a problem because after this game we lose three players – Yaya, Kolo, Razak and we don’t want to lose another.” Hence, it looks a wise move not to go with an appeal looking at the midlevel strength of the team. Actually, despite some good performances in the field and an overall respectable leaderboard’s position, City is missing multiple players coz of injuries, like Right-back Richards, who is out since October after a knee injury, and midfielder Rodwell, who sustained a hamstring problem recently.
Club issued a statement mentioning the details of the matches Nasri is going to miss because of the slapped ban. It reads as, “The Football Association has confirmed that Samir Nasri will serve a three-match suspension, following his red card during the 4-3 win at Norwich on Saturday. Nasri will now miss the New Year’s Day visit from Stoke City, the FA Cup tie with Watford and the trip to Arsenal on January 13.” Overall, City have had a satisfactory 2012, and want to maintain or perhaps reduce its trailing margin with top positioned Manchester United. New Year’s showdown with Stoke City will prove to be a tough challenge for City who is facing multiple setbacks due to injuries and bans.