Ostrich-Gate Controversy

            As the Premier League comes to a close, and along with a team winning the title, teams are trying to avoid relegation. Along with this, pressure is building up, and one of the teams feeling this pressure is Leicester City. Having won many of their previous games and actually moving out of the relegation zone, Leicester has been looking good in their avoidance of relegation. However, going up against Chelsea, who are almost guaranteed to win the league this season, Leicester lost 3-1, leaving them out of relegation but not by as much as they previously were. The controversy comes outside the game, however, during a press conference with Leicester City manager Nigel Pearson. Basically, after getting annoyed by a journalist, Pearson asked him if he was an ostrich because he had his head in the sand. This continued, and he shortly walked out of the interview. Then, during the pregame conference for their next game, Pearson apologized to him, but was later called out for being a bully by yet another reporter. So now, other managers are either supporting Pearson or saying that what he did was wrong.

            One argument is that, as a manager of a team near relegation, he is obviously under a lot of pressure and that built up and led to what happened. Also, some say that this is how the whole reporter thing works, with them constantly coming at the managers with questions and then this leads to the managers reacting sometimes. Others say that Pearson’s was an act of bullying and he wasn’t able to manage his anger well. I think that, while not the best, Pearson’s actions were definitely well justified and he handled the situation well. First, I believe that the reporter was making Pearson repeat himself, and he felt that the questions were simply stupid. Also, to Pearson being criticized for his lack of anger management, I think that if he was angry, he handled it quite well. He never raised his voice, and he appeared relatively calm even when addressing the second reporter calling him a bully. I feel that most people are making too big of a deal out of the whole thing, and that it is just the relationship that reporters and managers will always have. 

City Struggle for Win

            At the other end of composure comes a game from the weekend that was chaos at best. Manchester City went up against Aston Villa and took a not-so-pretty victory, but a victory nonetheless. Defensive plights were followed by goalkeeping errors, and goals for each team followed. At just three minutes, Villa goalkeeper Guzan played an uncomfortable pass out of the back right to Aguero’s feet, and he wasted no time putting City one goal up. Similar things happened on the other end of the field, however, as a mixup in City’s defense gave Villa a comparably easy goal. Nearing the end of the game, Villa looked like they were making a viable comeback. Then, City substitute Fernandinho came through for his team and put in a late winner, giving City a scrappy win to put them in second.

            Manchester City really needs to get their game together if they want any shot at reaching Chelsea (however slim). Chelsea still sits comfortably at the top of the table with fewer games played, and they have looked much more composed than City did today. Even to stay in second place ahead of Arsenal, Manchester City will have little luck playing like they did today. Looking ahead, there is much to be done for the team during the summer, and they are by no means without need of a few players.