Without a Dream in Our Hearts

Thief or saviour?

2012-01-23T20:07:00.000-08:00

The eternally combustible Mario Balotelli was centre stage yet again yesterday as City almost snatched defeat from the jaws of victory against a Spurs side that will feel that they were robbed.

No one at all will remember the first 45 minutes of football. City looked the more likely to score, with Sergio Aguero producing a good save from Spurs keeper Brad Freidel. But that was largely it, as both sides weighed each other up.

The second 45 minutes was a goal fest, as the tide swept (not ebbed) one way and then swept back the next, almost with disastrous consequences for the Blues.

Once again, it was the man of the season David Silva that first picked the lock, splitting open the Spurs defence with a pass of great vision to Samir Nasri, and the former Arsenal man’s shot flew into the back of the net, leaving Friedel no chance.

Three minutes later and City were two up, this time with a goal that was the polar opposite of the first. A great flick on from Edin Dzeko saw Joleon Lescott scramble the ball over the line.

Led by the impressive Aguero, who was probably City’s best player all afternoon, the Blues were cruising, but not for long.

I’ve written recently about giving younger players a chance as we experience our so-called resource crisis. Mancini once again placed his faith in Stefan Savic here, and once again the younger clearly was the weak link. A nervous defensive header back to Joe Hart did not have the power to reach the England number one, and Jermaine Defoe pounced, rounded Hart, and made it 2-1.

You had to take your hat off to Gareth Bale’s equalizer. The Welshman’s strike was a perfect combination of precision and power, as the ball looped over Hart’s head and into the back of the net. That goal made up for a shocker of a mis-kick earlier in the half, where Bale got his feet all wrong and ended up scuffing his shot in the box.

From here on in, you felt it was damage limitation for City.

Defoe gave Savic a torrid time. Spurs were looking increasingly lethal on the counter attack after that goal, and there were a few backline misunderstandings between Savic and Lescott. But the young Serbian is learning all the time, and I back Mancini’s decision to put him in the firing line.

The same cannot be said of Dzeko, who is hardly green, either to first team football or to the Premier League now. Aside from his fantastic flick to allow us to score the second, he seemed to get in the way and slow play down for us, with not much of an understanding with the fiery Aguero and quick-witted Silva. He looked the odd man out going forward.

At any rate the game boiled down to two late events. As the game came to a close, Spurs broke once again with intent. Defoe was whiskers away from winning the game, almost getting to Bale’s crossed, but City escaped, seemingly with the draw.

But yet another twist saw Balotelli, on for the substituted Dzeko, brought down in the area by Ledley King. The Italian slotted home the penalty and the win was ours.

Of course the controversy is now turning on whether Balotelli should have been on the pitch. Already booked for a challenge on Benoit Assou-Ekotto, the Italian challenged Scott Parker for the ball in what looked like a fair coming together. However, upon the replay you can see that the Italian, unexplainably, did stamp on Parker.

We should accept the incoming FA ban and get it over with, rather than appealing and incurring an extra game. He might well miss the Carling Cup Semi against Liverpool but we need him for the league.

At any rate, it was a remarkable victory by the Blues. We let Spurs back into the game, but we were seriously understrength whereas they pretty much were at full tilt. Still, the match turned away from Spurs.

At the end of the day we did what could to win, and we did. The omens are good. Maybe we didn’t deserve to win, but to do so in the manner we did just underlines the threat that we have now become.

But we can be our own worst enemy. The unpredictability of Mario Balotelli is the stuff of titles, but it is also the stuff of madness and the unexplainable. In him, we have a weapon that no other team possesses. Unfortunately, sometimes that weapon has a tendency of hurting the hand that controls it.

However, you do sense that it will be our own actions, and not the actions of others, that will either win or lose us this title.

The kids are alright, surely?

2012-01-12T03:21:00.000-08:00

Vincent Kompany’s enforced absence from the side has increased calls for us to sign new players – particularly a defender – in the January transfer window. But do we really need to bring in new faces? And would it be prudent to bring in new faces given the incoming FIFA regulations?

It has not helped that the team appear to be going through an inevitable slump. If we’d have beaten Sunderland, United and Liverpool in the Carling Cup, I’m sure the call to sign more players would have been much quieter. But we lost those games, and naturally the manager and (some) fans alike are clamoring for new faces.

To be fair to Mancini, he called this situation a couple of months ago, citing that we would need reinforcements in January given the departure of the Toure brothers to the Africa Nations Cup. He must also have known that David Silva could not keep on performing to the level that he has.

Also, managers will always be managers. Mancini lives and dies by what happens on the pitch, so it is only natural for him to push for new faces and maximize the impact we can have on the pitch. But I'm not sure whether the board will sanction any new additions in this window.

Kompany KO?

Whilst unfortunate, the Vincent Kompany situation is not the end of the world. Of course Kompany is a massive player for us, definitely one of the top three defenders in the world at the moment, but no-one is more important than the club.

The Belgian will miss four important games, no doubt about it. It will be very difficult for us now at Anfield, as we will certainly be put under the cosh there. The Spurs game also cries out for his presence – Redknapp’s men are as much a threat to our title ambitions as are United.

But at the end of the day, these are only four games. I am certain we can do without our captain – we proved as much in the second half against United.

Other options

We should balance the clamour of rushing into signing new players with a look at what we already have: Bridge, Kolarov, Clichy, Lescott, Savic, Onuoha, Richards and Zabaleta. At a pinch Barry and Milner can come back to fill in full back positions. That’s 10 potential options, without mentioning the untested Karim Rekik.

Of course, its 10 options in theory, but fans would argue the reality is leaner. Bridge and Onuoha appear to have been frozen out. Barry and Milner are emergency options. Playing them at the back would not just be playing them out of position but playing them in a different sector of pitch with different requirements.

But that still leaves us with seven options at the back, including the young Dutchman Rekik. Mancini has proved in the past that he is not averse to throwing in a youngster when it matters. He did so with Dedryck Boyata in the Carling Cup Semifinal second leg at Old Trafford a couple of years back. The Italian has hinted that he may turn to Rekik. I’m not sure whether that’s a ploy to alarm the owners or not.

In the end, this is the reason why we have a squad. Is this not the perfect opportunity to call on the likes of the EDS squad for a couple of substitute appearances? Isn’t football just as much about instilling confidence in younger players to go out and do the job as it is about identifying and signing established players?

In terms of resource issues, the same can be said of midfield, in fact perhaps here we have even less options on the table: Barry, Hargreaves, Johnson, de Jong, Milner and Nasri. Why not introduce the likes of Gai Assulin or Denis Suarez here?

If we know anything at all about Mancini, it is that he is a pragmatist. We have seen little of the likes of Rekik (17) Assulin (20) Suarez (18) and Savic (21 - although Savic has come right into the first team squad) probably because the Italian and his back room team do do feel these players are fully ready.

Mancini placed Savic at the centre of our defence yesterday, directly replacing Kompany. As Savic gave away the penalty, and was probably the weak link at the back, this may well now lead to Mancini taking even fewer risks in the youth department. But where else will the likes of Savic learn other than as part of the first team? Sometimes I think you have to accept the mistakes of younger players to allow them to grow into solid performers.

Financial fair play

We’ve had it good for the last couple of years in terms of signing players, but we’re going to have to get used to not getting out the cheque book every time we hit an injury / suspension crisis, and now is the perfect time to do that.

By 2013 we will have had to curb our spending on transfer fees and, most importantly, wages. Placing our faith in young players is the key plank of this effort. The club has already acknowledged as much with its plans for the Etihad Campus.

Blooding younger players is a habit, and we have to get into the habit of doing it. We’ve brought these younger players to the club, so someone must have shown faith in them somewhere along the line. Why don’t we now throw some of this talent into the mix?

The strength of 10 men

2012-01-09T02:22:00.000-08:00

It could have been a mauling, instead it turned into a cup tie and a half. City ultimately lost their FA Cup crown amidst a first half that was not good enough, whatever is said about the sending off of Vincent Kompany. United will gloat, but they will kick themselves that they did not push the sword in further.

The Blues started well, forcing their opponents back, but there was really nothing they could do against United’s opener, a top drawer header from Wayne Rooney, who seems to save some of his best performances for City.

We were down but far from out, and then came the sending off. The club will appeal the decision but I can’t help thinking there’s no point in doing that. The officials will close ranks and back Chris Foy, but really, there was nothing in the sending off at all, apart from a referee that appeared to be trying to make a name for himself.

With our captain and best defender off the pitch, we went to pieces at the back and United capitalized. We couldn’t clear the ball out of the area, and when we did, we couldn’t hold it long enough to give our defence a breather. It was classic United and there was no doubt that with a man less, it was going to be difficult.

United pressed and Wellbeck’s goal came as a result. I have to commend the strike, taken at an awkward angle and with perfect precision, the young striker showed great athleticism.

But the truth is, he was allowed to do this because we were soft in the area – in this case Nigel de Jong was the culprit. If you are de Jong in this situation, you have to be putting extreme pressure on the man, but instead, de Jong appeared to duck out of the challenge. It might have been out of fear of fouling Wellbeck, it might have been out of fear of deflecting the shot. Whatever it was, it gave the young United striker the window he needed to execute, and suddenly we were flapping.

There can be no qualms over Alexander Kolarov’s tackle on Wellbeck for the penalty. Costel Pantilimon did well to save Rooney’s penalty, but could do nothing with the rebound. It was a baptism of fire for our Romanian stand in keeper, a strange game to rest Joe Hart in.

But it was a credit to the Blues that Wellbeck’s second was the last United scored in open play. In the second half the ten men regrouped, got our heads right and Mancini got the tactics right. We were too belt and braces in the first half, even after we went behind. We needed to slow things down, have a bit of possession, wait for them to come at us, and then hit them. And that’s exactly what we did. Replacing Adam Johnson and David Silva with Pablo Zabaleta and Stefan Savic, we were much more able to repel United’s attacks.

It was the classic dilemma of playing against 10 ten. United were unsure what to do. Do you go for the fourth and kill the opposition off? Or do you wait and allow them to come onto you? The strength of ten men here cast doubt into United's overall play in the second half.

Ferguson helped us with his substitutes. Subbing Nani and Wellbeck took the edge of United’s offensive play. Introducing Paul Scholes particularly slowed things down for them, and as the game wore on, United surprisingly became less of a threat.

Kolarov’s sublime free kick was just was the doctor ordered, the first chance of the second half in the back of the net, start-as-you-mean-to-go-on stuff. Kolarov needs to start weighing in with a few more of these. We all know his defensive frailties – for me he still isn’t cut out for the position of left back in this league – but if he can bring goal scoring free kicks to the table then that weighs things out a bit more.

The game then changed. United continued to have possession but our counter attacking became more effective. Sergio Aguero was ploughing a lonely furrow for the majority of this encounter, but he did what all top strikers do and immediately switched on when he was needed. A brilliant cross from James Milner (who is probably having the season of his life) found Aguero unmarked in the box and the Argentinean scored City’s second, forcing the ball home after Lindegaard had parried his first effort.

Things were looking particularly dicey for United at this point. That is the central difference with Ferguson’s men this season. They are showing a brittleness at the back and throughout the spine of the team. Most sides are sensing blood and exploiting it, and that’s what we did here.

We on the other hand are showing steel, and our character came through.

As things became increasingly tense, too good penalty decisions were turned down. Kolarov brought down Valencia and then Phil Jones handballed inside the penalty area. On another day both could have easily been given.

A late, late Kolarov free kick, parried away by the United keeper in a penalty area full of players, could have gone anywhere. We threatened yet again with a corner, with Micah Richards attempting a scissor kick, but the ball could not be scrambled home. Instead, United scrambled away with a victory. It was a far cry from the thrashing they were surely expecting to give us. Nowadays, its a different City. It wasn't inconceivable that we could have won the game if some more decisions went our way - and all this with a man less.

There is something strange about United this season that I cannot quite put my finger on. There seems an air of capitulation about them, something rarely found in the Ferguson era. The script of this match started as a potential rout for United, but it ended with them on the back foot, exiting stage left as quickly as they could as they hung on while we ended the match heroically. Perhaps it is this inability to keep to the script that is now troubling Ferguson’s squad?

United will take the victory, but with 10 men, and a comeback that was almost United-esque in its manner, City will take the psychological edge.

The regista deficiency?

2011-11-25T21:29:00.000-08:00

I hoped for a draw, we went for a win but in the end City were defeated by a Napoli team that has proved a thorn in our side during this Champions League group stage.

Looking back at the two encounters now, I still think we never quite worked out how to play against Walter Mazzarri’s unusual counter attacking side. The way we played showed our deficiencies, some I think that have been around for a while but others that have just recently come into view now that we have stepped up into the Champions League.

An excellent analysis of our defeat in Naples has been posted by the well read and always informative Zonal Marking. ZM draws out one of our newer weaknesses, in that we don’t appear to have a regista (a deep lying playmaker) within our ranks. ZM’s argument goes that if we’d have employed such a player against Neapolitans, he would have forced more of a change in Napoli’s rigid shape (which we found so difficult to get around) by drawing opposition midfield players towards him and therein leaving more space in front of the defence of our attacking players to exploit.

Naturally people look outward. Who can we sign? And whilst that may eventually turn out to be the case, it doesn’t mean that we can’t look within our current squad to see who could do play that role.

A look at our midfield and on the surface, it seems that ZM’s analysis has leverage. We all know what Nigel De Jong is about – he’s a destroyer of play, making the tackle and knocking the ball sideways to get our attacks moving again. I’ve heard a bit of criticism (unbelievably) come in for De Jong for allegedly being one dimensional, but you’d be hard pressed to find a better player of his type in the Premier League today. For me it’s no problem that De Jong is solely a defensive-minded player. There’s going to be times in Europe when we need someone to do his dirty work – we’ll certainly need him in the Premiership, and for me there is no-one better. But for the regista role, it’s a no-go.

Gareth Barry’s work rate is phenomenal but we all know he can’t fill this position. Barry comes in for a lot of criticism – for England as well as for City – but it’s the ground he covers and the things he does without the ball that make a difference for us. Still, he’s not a regista.

It’s too early for David Silva to occupy this position. He does his damage as a trequartista for now, floating around between the oppositions defensive and midfield lines. Maybe later in his career he'll move back, a la Paul Scholes.

That leaves us with Yaya Toure and James Milner. It’s been well documented that the Englishman's preferential role is a central, creative one, but Milner is a player that people associate with industry and versatility. He is a balanced player – he can attack and defend to a good standard but I've not seen anything exceptional going forward. What is exceptional in Milner is his work rate and commitment. And he has improved quite a bit in his wide play. When we’ve really demolished teams this season, Milner has always seemed to play a significant role. He certainly has the defensive capacities attached to the regista role, but it remains to be seen whether or not he has the creative passes in his arsenal to become a regista.

That leaves us with Yaya Toure, probably the likeliest fit for the role in our current squad. Everyone knows the deep midfield role he played in Barcelona. Likewise everybody knows what he can do in advanced midfield – not in terms of performing the role of the trequarista – but in terms of being a much more direct attacking midfielder and powering forward, with the ball, towards opposition defences.

Yaya is a top quality box to box player. He also has that elusive element to his game – the pass from deep that cuts open the opposition defence. The best example I can think of was in the 5-1 demolition of Spurs earlier this season, where he set up the second goal with an exquisite pass from deep. Last season, everybody loved Yaya when he powered forward. This season he’s been playing a deeper role, but not necessarily less attacking. Some of his passes that have set off our counter attacks have regista written all over them.

Of course, Yaya, played against Napoli, so if he’s meant to be a regista, why wasn’t he effective? The answer is probably that Napoli were too good for us on the night. Playing just behind Milner, Yaya wasn’t creative enough. Perhaps also he wasn’t deep enough to qualify as a regista. Perhaps Napoli found Yaya easier to pick up because he was advanced, in the thick of the midfield battle rather than overseeing things from a deeper position.

Our other deficiencies came back to haunt us – pace in wide positions, both in an attacking and defensive sense. Napoli were lightning quick but Kolarov, whilst he does do a job, isn’t the fastest. Neither is Zabaleta, although Zab is defensively savvy and usually compensates for lack of pace with good positioning. Going forward, we didn’t do well enough on the wings. Balotelli and Silva aren’t wide players – we know that – but they are exceptional when they come inside. The only natural wide player we have left now is Adam Johnson, and everyone knows that Mancini has him coming inside.

We are probably out of the competition but you never know. Villareal are playing for nothing and might want to go out on a high note. First we must focus on dispatching Bayern Munich, one hell of a task. My feeling is that we will draw with Bayern in a frustrating 1-1 affair. The Germans will give us nothing.

If we do go out, I don’t think fans can complain with the way we have approached the Champions League. We’ve been positive on the whole, as we have in the Premier League. It’s the biggest sea change from last season. I don’t know whether Mancini has done it to appease the fans, whether Khaldoon and Mansour have had a word and said they wanted more bang for their bucks, or whether Mancini feels more emboldened now he has the players to be more progressive. But our style – the style that pundits slated us for last season – has really changed. Basically we’ve been more positive and we’ve got burned for doing it. We have to look at it as a learning curve, as irrational as that may sound given that so many of our players have CL experience.

Of course the disappointment will still be there, and the question mark will remain over Mancini’s record in the Europe’s top competition. Remember too that Napoli also qualified for the competition for the first time this season and now it looks like they are going to progress. If they do, the bottom line will be that they handled the step up better than us.

So, not an ideal situation for the Blues, but if fans want cheering up, they can always listen to the Napoli chairman Aurelio De Laurentiis.

The history men

2011-10-24T21:40:00.000-07:00

At the end of this season’s Charity Shield, Wayne Rooney said that Manchester United had taught City a footballing lesson. If that was a lesson, then yesterday, City returned the favour with interest. Only this was something more akin to an education.

It is rare indeed that United find themselves on the receiving end of a defeat so emphatic, but there’s no other way of looking at it. Yesterday, United were hammered 6-1 in their own back yard. And I’m not even being partisan there either. This was Manchester City at their very, very best and United couldn’t cope. It’s a wonder the stands of Old Trafford coped with the Poznan too, such were the amount of times City fan were called upon to observe it.

The game had a familiar feel about it in the opening exchanges. United were out of the blocks quicker and were harrying us all over the pitch. Whenever we tried to search for the outlet, they closed us down. We defended well though, largely restricting United to shots from distance.

And that resolute defence was just as important as the flair we showed going forward. Vincent Kompany and Joleon Lescott were solid. Indeed, perhaps the more disturbing element of this match for United fans was not the fact that they were cut wide open. If they are honest, they perhaps know that defensively, they are not at their optimum. Maybe the more level headed United fan might even say that they had this coming, but on balance, attack has for the most part got them out of jail. So it follows, that the most disturbing element here for them was the way we controlled that attack. Apart from Darren Fletcher’s excellent strike, only Jonny Evans came close.

When you are under the cosh at Old Trafford, finding an outlet is key. For those first 20-odd minutes or so we couldn’t really find it. And then? Enter Mario Balotelli, with a superb strike from an excellent Milner cross that outwitted the United defence. We were on our way.

I have to say there can be no complaints for the sending off either. Evans was left for dead, and Balotelli would surely have netted. De Gea is good, but he is not Van Der Sar just yet because he does not have the presence. Then the rest was history, as United were blown away. And talking about history, the Blues created quite a bit of it on the way. How about 81 years since United let in six at home in the league? That’s unbelievable.

And at the centre of it all, the irrepressible, the magical, the sensational David Silva. The Spaniard played out of his skin. The pass he gave Edin Dzeko for the final goal was out of this world, something to die for. That pass, and the Spaniard’s goal, were the icing on the cake. It could have easily been seven or eight.

The unofficial United mantra of ‘strength in adversity’ went out of the window here. Instead, they just got weaker and weaker. As Joe Hart said, United were already bleeding when Evans brought down Balotelli. All that was required then was for us to administer the diagnosis. And boy did we go in for the kill.

We did exactly what we needed to do. 2.0, 3.0. Then came the Fletcher goal, a glimmer of hope, a comeback to end all comebacks. And the answer? 4.1. Want some more? 5.1. And by the way there’s a sixth for afters. Crushed. This was an utter Derby humiliation, on a completely different level to that of 1989.

This is the way to play against United at OT. In general, in the past United have been rewarded for being United: positive, going forward, with the belief that they can salvage almost any cause. But every team has its limits. Here’s they got punished for showing those exact same values – they got punished for doing the exact thing that has got them out of jail on so many occasions. They got punished for being United.

The unusual thing was, they didn’t seem to understand what was happening to them. As Ferguson alluded, they were probably guilty of believing their own hype. In trying to hold true to the idea of United, they only did themselves more damage. But in the end, all empires overstretch their reach. It will happen to Barcelona one day, and it happened to United here – in the worst possible circumstances.

The stock response of many United fans: "its only three points", shows how little they really have to say about this hammering. What they should be saying is: "fair play". They know they can’t complain. Sometimes you just have to take it on the chin and respect the fact that you were beaten by the better team. Mancini is right to be humble. United are reeling now, but they won’t need any more galvanising. We know they’ll come back at us.

Nothing has really changed at this point in terms of the league. United are still the favourites because they are the champions, and we’re still incomparable to them on that front because they’ve done it so many times whilst for all those years we fought amongst ourselves, got relegated and sacked managers. As Mancini said, things will only start to change once we secure that first league title.

But the context surrounding City and United has changed, its impossible to deny. On and off the pitch, this is a different City nowadays. Ferguson can only label us as noisy neighbours for so long. To be honest, we’ve been a whole lot more than that for sometime. Remember the 4-3 at Old Trafford? Remember the Carling Cup Semi Final defeat at Old Trafford? And now this. In the wider context, of course things have changed. To deny that is to be out of touch.

One thing’s for sure, the return leg at the Etihad Stadium will be an explosive affair. We’ve certainly given them something to think about.

This was us at our best. Aside from the mercurial Silva, Milner was also another standout performer. Aguero and Balotelli were as menacing as ever. Mario is still one for the future, I don’t think we can rely on him 100% yet, but his performance here and in previous matches proves that his mindset has changed somewhat. That’s not to say he won’t go and take five steps backwards. But that’s part of the madness of Prince Mario. Here United couldn’t control him. The Italian is explosive, that much is true. He has that little bit extra that you know could make him great. Unpredictability, audacity. If channelled in the right direction, Balotelli could be formidable.

Ditto for Sergio Aguero. This lad is the one to watch for me. Aguero has the look of a man that will win us serious trophies. I like his style: a true footballing brain and a glint in the eye that says he is up for the fight too. This is where our special added value will come this season. If he can stay clear of injury, then it’s going to be a better year than last for sure.

And as for Mancini – his hand continues to strengthen at the club. I have great respect for the Italian. He’s a professional and he took this victory like a professional. He has proved his doubters wrong this season. I think everyone has been surprised with just how progressive we have been since August. It is a different City than last year, a more optimistic side, more adventurous. Mancini is still experimenting, pushing the limits of what we can do going forward. And credit to him for doing that. To build a Premier League dynasty, we need to strike a balance between the flair of Arsenal, the pragmatism of Chelsea and the ruthlessness of United. It’s a task of the highest order, but Mancini is certainly moving towards that. He has to be praised for doing that.

If we’d have had an indifferent start to the season, playing with the same defensive mindset, the anti-Mancini faction would have grown, such is the short termism in football these days. But the Italian has nipped that in the bud. He’s the man who ended our 35 years trophy drought. He’s the man who led us into the Champions League. He’s the man who has just issued United with probably their worst ever Derby defeat, at Old Trafford. He’s already in the history books.

1955, 1989 and now 2011. I was there at Maine Road in 1989 when we beat United 5-1. It’s one of the clearest memories of my childhood – being passed over the barrier in the North Stand because some United fans had got in and were causing trouble. But I must admit, even though I watched this demolition in a bar in Jakarta, this day was so much better.

It was one of the greatest and will be for quite some time to come. Good to know too, that this defeat still means an awful lot to some people. Now, we must move on, get our heads down, and carry on with the job.

Mancini must find Derby cure for City’s identity disorder

2011-10-21T10:47:00.000-07:00

It’s that time again. This weekend, we’ll renew our rivalry with United at Old Trafford. Over the past few years, Manchester Derbies have tended to be rip-roaring affairs. It’s impossible to know which way this one will go, but there’s bound to be passion and controversy somewhere along the way.

That passion has become super charged because of the narrative that is building this season. It’s a story of two Manchester clubs (albeit with one technically just outside the city of Manchester), one that continues to grasp the Premier League crown and one that edges closer to it season upon season. For the neutral, it is fast becoming one of the most compelling club fixtures of the world game, even if Ferguson would have people believe otherwise.

I can’t remember when we last visited Old Trafford as clear league leaders, but I know that this only serves to add further spice to what is an already explosive Derby cauldron. As we were in the Charity Shield, at Old Trafford we will be cast as the new pretenders, arriving at the swamp with our title credentials established. Even though we had kaept pace with United on points for weeks, we were still denied top spot on goal difference because of United’s 8-2 freak hammering of Arsenal. Even when we dealt out a demolition to Spurs, it seemed that we still couldn’t best our rivals. That of course is the superficial view, and ignores the context surrounding both fixtures. But now, with United drawing at Anfield, and City hammering Villa 4-1, we will arrive at Old Trafford as clear league leaders, both on points and on goal difference.

In reality, being ahead by one point and being slightly ahead on goal difference means little at this point in the season. All it means is bragging rights for City fans at OT. As soon as the game kicks off, all of that will disappear.

Football suffers from so much short termism these days. One week, teams, managers and players are the best thing since sliced bread, the next they can be cast as villains, sometimes even outcasts. Various forms of media, including the likes of this blog, are all guilty of fuelling that short termism.

But one argument that does not throw wood on that fire is the view that City are once again a different side to the one that faced United last season. At the risk of falling foul of short termism, a great case in point was this week’s Champions League game against Villareal. I’m sure most fans expected us to coast it, but it didn’t turn out that way. The Spanish side shocked us with an early goal, and then all of a sudden, come the 93^rd minute, we were staring at another draw and likely early exit from the competition.

And then up pops Sergio Aguero, in the 94^th minute, to give us the three points we so badly needed. It’s becoming a cliché, but City teams of old just would not have done that. It’s down to belief. With belief, you put yourself in the right positions in order to affect a change. You force things, but you do so in an intelligent way. In fact, I thought that Aguero’s strike, and maybe the team’s overall performance, even bore shades of Manchester United.

United have been doing that – forcing the play in intelligent ways – for years. Not playing well, but yet still coming away with the required result. Anyone who has ever won anything will acknowledge that it’s what all the best teams do.

And that why we must not start to believe our own hype at Old Trafford. For we are not the only narrative builders in this league. Ferguson has been building a narrative of his own for decades – its called 19^th league titles – and we are the latest threat to that narrative. For years, United wanted to knock Liverpool off their perch. But now, make no mistake about it, they will want to put us right back in our box.

I hear City fans talking up our chances at the swamp, looking at United’s recent performances, and I honestly wonder whether City fans have learnt anything from our battles with United over recent years. It a complete and utter mistake to draw comfort from United’s recent performances. They may well have been performing below par, against the likes of Stoke, Basel, Norwich and Liverpool, but it doesn’t matter. They are still picking up points. They may well have a suspect defence, but somehow United always seem find a way to up their game. And I’m sure they will do so again when we face them this weekend.

It would be great to issue United a resounding defeat. In a sense we’ve a right to hope for that, as we’ll be racking up at the swamp with some heavy artillery in tow. But when was the last time United took a hammering? It doesn’t happen often, and Ferguson is the reason why. When it comes to the crunch, United rarely let their guard down.

We mustn’t let our guard down either. And I don’t know how Mancini will go about that at OT. There’s only two ways I believe he can do it. The first is to approach the game as the City of last season: safety first, keeping things tight and trying to nick a goal. The second is to approach the game as the City of this season: offensive, progressive, playing fluid football, striking quickly, effectively, efficiently.

Go too defensive, and we will keep it tight whilst having the players to hurt United on the counter, but here we will also run the risk of inviting too much pressure, which you don’t do against United.

Go too offensive, and we give United something to think about at the back but leave ourselves open in the process, which given United’s penchant for counter-attacking, could prove disastrous.

I honestly think that Mancini is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. Win, and he’ll be lauded as a tactical genius. Lose, and he’ll either be labelled too cautious or too naïve.

The answer, as it often does, probably lies in balancing of City’s split personality. And for once, that should give City fans more cause for hope than they usually have at OT. Because for once, I sense that this match is more about the personality of City than it is of United. More about how the Blue side of Manchester acts and how the Red side reacts, than the other way around.

We’ll see soon enough.

WADIOH on BBC World Service

2011-10-01T11:16:00.000-07:00

A big thanks to the team at Sportsworld, a programme aired on the BBCs World Service, for inviting WADIOH onto the show to discuss the recent Carlos Tevez saga.

Sportsworld is (like the title suggests) beamed across the world, presenting live commentary from the EPL, topical sporting debate and big name interviews from the world of sport.

To catch the next programme, check out Sportsworld's website here.

Alternative you can contribute to the debate through Sportsworld's Facebook or Twitter pages.

What will be success for City in 2011/12?

2011-10-01T06:20:00.000-07:00

This might seem like a tedious question but it is one that is going to be recurring at Manchester City for seasons to come now. I asked the same question towards the end of last season as Mancini’s days of judgement loomed. But with the manager coming through that period unscathed, and with the club in a record four competitions this season, I think now is an interesting time to ask the question again - whilst we're still relatively at the start of things. So what do people (Blues and non-Blues alike) think can be defined as a successful 2011/12 season for City? Here’s some of my own thoughts.

Let’s take the Premier League first. Given the start that Arsenal has made, and with Chelsea, Spurs and Liverpool not coming out of the blocks too quickly, we have to be looking at the top two positions. United have admittedly had an explosive start, but it will not last forever, as evidenced by the recent loss of Wayne Rooney to injury. Defensively, they are also more open - whilst De Gea is not as bad as everyone thinks it is impossible for the young Spaniard to fill the boots of Edwin Van Der Sar so early in his tenure. Chelsea now are slack and are in the middle of a 'changing of the guard' of sorts, but the signs are there that Fernando Torres is on the way back, and with Juan Mata and Raul Meireles coming into the squad, I've little oubt that Villas-Boas will oversee the necessary transition. This means that Chelsea may well come on strong towards the end of the season, but we still have enough in us for one of the top two spots.

In terms of trophies, I would forgo not winning both the FA Cup and the League Cup (yes!) if it turns out that we can put together a solid run to the latter stages of the Champions League. I think it is a little unrealistic to think that we can win the CL this season, but progress in this competition with serve us better over the longer term, rather than winning the League Cup for example. Don’t get me wrong, its always good to win more trophies and I certainly wouldn't shy away from doing that, but the collective experience gained from a lengthy CL run would be worth more.

But if we win the lot – then great!

I guess the main thing this season is perhaps not to become frustrated if we end up with nothing. It would surely be hard to take for the fans if this were to happen, given the FA Cup glory last year, and the amount of money that has since been spent players – again. But it must be remembered that this season is a new experience for us, fighting on four fronts. We now have the squad to win the league, but the final pieces of that squad must still be given time to settle. Sergio Aguero is one of the reasons why we are title contenders this season, but although he has made a blistering start, he must still be given the time to settle properly. We just need to ensure that we are qualifying comfortably the for CL each season and are having a real crack at the Prem each season. We're established in the top four now, so we've a great base from which to build. I think its a matter of time before we land one of the big two trophies.

But that's my three penneth. What does success mean for you this season?

A second place league finish? Nothing less than the Premier League title? Champions League glory? Domestic cup glory? Settle for nothing in the event that the Blues still prove that they are progressing (i.e. they reach a couple of finals and finish second in the Prem)? Or nothing less than the quadruple?

Answers on the (electronic) postcard below!

Anger and defeat in Munich

2011-09-28T06:42:00.000-07:00

A disappointing and dark night, beaten by the better team and squabbling amongst ourselves, surrounded by a red mist that that we could not ultimately find a way out of. I think we all need to calm down a bit, analyse this defeat, and move on quickly. If we do not, the knockout stages of this competition will soon be out of reach, if they aren’t already.

Playing in a fantastic stadium against a formidable team – what a night it could have been. Instead, the club is now collectively discovering that the Champions League can be a cruel, hard place. Trailing 2-0 in the second half, Mancini tried to sure things up by substituting Edin Dzeko and bringing on Nigel de Jong, but it only made things worse. If we are not careful, we are going to get burned in this group. We played well against Napoli, we played well in parts against Bayern, but this is a competition of fine lines. Miss a chance here, make a small mistake there, fall on the wrong side of the line, and you quickly become surplus to requirements. Added to this, the result has now become a sideshow. We all know why.

The behavior of Carlos Tevez was unacceptable. A player on hundreds of thousands of pounds, probably the highest earner at the club and he refuses to come onto the pitch. I’ve never seen anything like this before. His excuses fly in the face of all that Tevez has become, all that he has built his image up to be: a great player, someone who works tirelessly for the team, a former captain of the club who leads by example, never gives up fighting, never gives up trying to find a way to win. And the excuse: “I didn’t feel right to play, so I didn’t."

Then today came the inevitable statement. First, an apology:

"I would like to apologise to all Manchester City fans, with whom I have always had a strong relationship, for any misunderstanding that occurred in Munich."

Then, a subtle reminder of what he has given the club:

"They [the fans] understand that when I am on the pitch I have always given my best for the club.”

And finally, the back track:

"In Munich on Tuesday I had warmed up and was ready to play. This is not the right time to get into specific details as to why this did not happen. But I wish to state that I never refused to play. There was some confusion on the bench and I believe my position may have been misunderstood. Going forward I am ready to play when required and to fulfil my obligations."

So we’ve gone from a statement last night where he was saying he did not feel ready to play to a statement today saying that he was ready to play. Which one are we to believe?

A message to Carlos Tevez

Carlos, you are one of the best players this club has ever seen. Last season we wouldn’t have won the FA Cup, wouldn’t have finished third in the Premier League without you. But that still doesn’t give you the right to insult the City fans (yes, the ones who paid good money to watch you week in week out last season and the ones who made it to Munich last night to see your no show) with a statement like this.

We may have been blind enough to support this club on its schizophrenic journey from the Premier League to the old Division Three to the Champions League, but we are certainly no mugs. If you really want the fans to understand, then let’s have the detail on just what was said last night on the bench. You can’t hide behind the ‘this is not the right time to get into specific details’ phrase. It’s just excuses. You’ve already embarrassed the club and disrespected the fans for not wanting to play in Europe. Don’t insult them further with contradicting statements that make no sense. So lets have the truth.

Why did the toys come out of the pram?

It could be Tevez’s actions represent his disgruntlement at the captaincy being taken off him, perhaps his frustration at how he has become somewhat of a bit part player as Aguero and Dzeko have increasingly staked their claim. Tevez might feel that Mancini has no right dropping him, given the fact that he was joint top scorer in the Premier League last season. On being informed that Mancini sees no future for him at the club, Tevez's comments betray and element of this: “I was top goalscorer here last season, I always act professionally so it is up to him [Mancini]."

It could be of course that Tevez’s actions represent an attempt to make his presence at the club unbearable. The idea that in refusing to play, the club’s hierarchy and the fans will want nothing to do with him, so he speeds up the process for a move – but this time agitating in a much more destructive way. In effect Tevez' actions could be part of a plan to up the ante against the club and see how far it will go before resorting to selling him.

Even if this is the case, it begs the question: what club would want to take on this type of player? In addition to the baggage that already came with Tevez – massive wages, massive transfer fee, the controversy that has followed him at pretty much every club he has been at – here is player who has been given everything at Manchester City and has now even refused to take the field of play. Would Corinthians, Madrid or Inter want to take such an expensive risk?

Mancini has rightly said that for him Tevez is finished, and whilst we do want to sell Tevez at the right time and for the right price, we must also be aware that of how corrosive this situation might become and the effect it might have on the rest of the squad. The decision will ultimately lie with Khaldoon but sometimes, you just have to cut your losses. If Tevez is to be involved again, the club will have to deploy a media strategy of the highest order to win the fans back. Even then, that probably won’t be enough. You can just imagine the reaction at Eastlands as Tevez warms up, approaching the South Stand – the place from which the atmosphere of the whole ground is often generated.

Mancini and defeat itself

A bad tempered night at the Allianz didn’t end with Tevez either. Dzeko showed his displeasure at being substituted in the 55^th minute but gesturing a sarcastic thumbs up. Well sorry Edin but that’s not acceptable either. Mancini has rightly said that he will bench the Bosnian during the next game no matter what happens. And then to cap things off, linked to the Tevez incident Mancini was reported to have an altercation with Pablo Zabaleta, the Italian thinking that Zabaleta had said something in defence of his countryman. To Mancini’s credit he quickly admitted that he had made a mistake and had put it right with our dependable utility man.

The Tevez incident, combined of course with the nature of loss against what must now be one of the favorites for the competition clearly fuelled a series of angry responses from Mancini towards Dzeko and Zabaleta. The Italian must also be aware of having to eat his own hat a little, given the confidence he seemed to hold after the Napoligame that we would defeat Bayern in their own back yard: "We will do better in Munich. We will be calm, more than tonight and we can win there. They are a fantastic side but we have a team that can win anywhere."

I back Mancini with his reactions against Tevez and Dzeko. In my opinion, the manager has got to be king – he needs to keep on stamping his authority on the squad and telling players what they can and can’t do – but the Zabaleta incident shows how things can get out of control in the heat of the moment. The Italian needs to check himself here.

All of this clouds the fact that we were second best on the night and that Bayern deserved their victory – full credit to them. They will look upon this result as proof of their now 10 game unbeaten run not being a flash in the pan. I thought we would certainly put an end to Bayern’s 9 games without conceding a goal, but sadly that wasn’t to be either. Before the game Ribery spoke of how Bayern were getting close to Barcelona – now of course they’ll start to truly believe that. To be fair to them they achieved this victory without the threat of Arjen Robben. Impressive stuff.

Bayern also had an old Blue within their ranks. Daniel Van Buyten was signed on loan by Kevin Keegan many moons ago. Since then he's racked up 120-odd appearances for Bayern, but when the commanding centre back cast his gaze on the City team sheet I bet he didn’t recognise a single name. We have metamorphosised since then, but not yet to the point where we can put away a top European team in their back yard. Tevez was not the main reason why we lost this game. The distraction caused by his refusal probably dented our efforts to get back into it, but it was the 11 players on the pitch that were the problem. At the end of the day we have the players to do the damage, but we came up short. We were 2-0 down at half time, both opposition goals scored from rebounds after a promising first 30 minutes. Dzeko missed an early chance. Tevez had nothing to do with these things.

It means now that anything less than a win against Villareal and we will crash out of the competition at the first hurdle. And if that happens at this stage it will hurt – for the fans, the players, Mancini and Khaldoon. It will also leave a bad taste in the mouth.

The greatest signing of them all

2011-09-22T08:53:00.000-07:00

This week saw the club layout of the specifics of a planning application that will see the construction of a new youth development and first team Academy, situated right next to Etihad Stadium. I’m impressed, both in terms of the process and the eventual outcome that this application will produce – if of course we have it granted.

The club really seems to have gone about this in a professional manner, making sure to canvass the opinions of local residents and feeding those views into the planning application itself. The plans have also been informed by the club’s research on top sports development centres across the globe, and also research into youth development best practice.

The club say that this is the single most important investment made to date, and I completely agree with them. The new development, in combination with the stadium, is intended to form the Etihad Campus. The campus will be spread across 80 acres, and located somewhere with this stretch of land will lie to key to our footballing future.

As part of the club’s football development strategy, the campus will have space to house 400 young players, 11 or so youth development pitches, 4 first team pitches, accommodation and classroom facilities for 40 young players, a designated first team building decked out with all the mod cons, and finally, a 7,000 capacity stadium for youth team matches. To cut a long winded paragraph short then, all the ingredients we need to be successful over the long term.

Significantly, youth and first team facilities will be in close proximity. This is something that has to happen, as Patrick Vieira – our new Football Development Executive – has already said:

“It will be fantastic for the youth because they will be next door to the first team. That will make them think 'if I want to make it, I will have to act like them'. They will take the first team as a fantastic example. It will be important for the first-team players as well, to show the way to the youngsters."

To add to the football dimension, the campus will bring regeneration and community advantages to the local area. Much better than planting a great big super casino in the east of Manchester.

The really exciting element to all of this is the youth development. Some will say that we’ve had one of the best if not the best youth Academy of England over recent years. I’m not so sure. We certainly don’t come in the top two. Apart from our standout graduates – Daniel Sturridge, Micah Richards and Michael Johnson in my opinion, we’ve produced a handful of good solid players who can play at Premier League level – the likes of SWP, Stephen Ireland, Joey Barton, Nedum Onuhoa, Vladimir Weiss etc.

But whilst good, these players are not on the same level as some of those that other clubs have produced. In the 1990s, West Ham developed a mass of talent in the form of Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard and Joe Cole. The cream of United’s academy came in the form of Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and David Beckham – more recently Giuseppe Rossi is also of the same ilk, and has gone on to do well at Villareal.

All of this of course is massively eclipsed by what has been achieved on the continent. Ajax set the first benchmark in the 1990s, with the likes of Frank Rijkaard, Denis Bergkamp, Frank and Ronald De Boer, Edgar Davids, Clarence Seedorf and Patrick Kluivert all coming through the ‘Jong Ajax’ academy. More recently Jong Ajax has produced the likes of Rafael Van der Vaart, Wesley Sneijder and our very own Nigel de Jong.

We all know of course that this benchmark has now been raised by Barcelona. The Catalan club’s ‘La Masia’ has been at the core of Barcelona’s recent domination of the club game, producing the likes of Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Pedro Rodriguez, Cesc Fabregas, Sergio Busquets, Gerard Pique, Bojan Krkic, Carlos Puyol and Victor Valdes. Not to mention of course Mikel Arteta and Luis Garcia – who made the grade elsewhere. And all these players are just the recent crop. In the 1990s the likes of Pep Guardiola, Ivan De La Pena and Albert Ferrer were also produced.

The Etihad Campus must surely be looking at matching and one day eclipsing the achievements of Yong Ajax and La Masia. Let’s face it – wouldn’t it be excellent to see five or six English lads – or even better, Manchester lads getting into the first team? I think that would eclipse signing the best the world has to offer. There’s nothing better than watching a local lad come good – if anything I think this would strengthen the bonds between the club and the fans even further. Over the long term it would probably increase our performance on the pitch too – there’s nothing more formidable than a talented player truly playing for the shirt.

As Brian Marwood says, the aim must be to bring through home grown players with the ability to play in the Champions League, but facilities alone will not produce this kind of player. Only the right personnel, imbuing youngsters with the right philosophy – and of course welded to the right environment, will bring the results we need.

The foundations of this philosophy are already being built. I watched a reserve team game at Hyde last season and they played very similar to the way Mancini set out his first team, at the time a kind of 4-2-4, four at the back, two defensive midfielders and an attacking diamond up front.

It’s also good to hear how the club have been treating our young players off the pitch. Club Ambassador Paul Lake has been taking the squad on tours of West Gorton and Ardwick to give the youngsters a sense of the history of the club. Aside from our recent past, there’s a lot to be proud of and some great past players that our current youngsters should want to emulate and surpass. Clearly this is about building pride in the shirt, and about realising what it means to the fans to give your all to the Blue shirt of Manchester. I’m reminded up a banner that has been known to drape from the stands of the Etihad Stadium: “We dream of playing in the shirt. Today God chose you. Play like we dream.” That is the kind of mentality we need to be giving these youngsters, because when it comes to the top, top level, a large part of football is all about mental strength.

If given the go-ahead, the challenge for the Etihad Campus is to develop a set of players with the right mix of technical skill, tactical awareness, physique and mentality that will form the foundation of the club’s long term success. This is the only way for this club to move forward and is bigger than any signing we can possibly make.

Some City fans never learn

2011-09-21T07:42:00.000-07:00

Whilst listening to this week’s edition of BBC Manchester’s Blue Tuesday, I nearly fell off my chair when I heard the criticism being levelled at some of the squad.

The show, presented by our man inside the BBC - Ian Cheeseman, and one of our greatest ever players - Paul Lake, is a fantastic weekly snippet of all things City and I always try to download the podcast. Apart from the televised games they show here in Jakarta, Blue Tuesday is a great way of keeping your finger on the pulse of the club. It’s a credit to the programme that it chooses to air the plethora of City fans’ views out there - I acknowledge that football is full of opinions and every supporter has a right to express what he or she thinks, but this week some of the opinions aired on the show through various social media sites weren’t just incorrect and ill thought out, they were harmful to the atmosphere surrounding the club.

Two particular comments come to mind. One ‘fan’ commented that Vincent Kompany had been terrible since the Community Shield. Another commented that Yaya Toure ‘contributes nothing at all to the team’. Yet another described the Ivorian as ‘lumbering’.

Let’s take Yaya first. I certainly didn’t see him ‘lumbering’ towards goal when he scored winner against United in last season’s FA Cup Semi. Last season he powered forward on numerous occasions and was unstoppable 95% of the time. And what a touch he has. This season, because of the new signings Yaya has been playing in a withdrawn role at the base of the midfield (much like he did for Barca when they won the Champions League). But we saw at White Hart Lane how he can still play a key attacking role, both in terms of counter attacking and in terms of overlapping from wide areas.

On the charge that he 'contributes nothing to the team', on the contrary, Yaya contributes an awful lot to the team. His contribution last season culminated in winning us the FA Cup for god’s sake, and his experience in Europe will be priceless if we are to progress in the Champions League. Yaya suffers a little because, playing in the midfield department, perhaps fans tend to compare him to all our action midfielder Nigel De Jong. Anyone with half a brain knows they are two different players who approach the game in different ways. Also, we’re not a one man team. Of course De Jong is quality and he is one of the first names on the team sheet etc etc, but the recent draw against Fulham wasn’t down to his absence. It was down to our slack concentration.

Then we come to Vinnie. What a player. Arguably the best centre back in the league. Yes he had an off day in the Community Shield, but let’s face it, the whole team did – we never showed up at Wembley and got our backsides kicked. Kompany fully deserved to be our new captain. He’s a talker, committed in the tackle, has great positional sense, is great defending our box etc etc. He’s a true modern centre half in the sense that he can pass well, bring the ball out into midfield, is comfortable playing in a defensive midfield capacity. In fact I’m surprised that Barcelona didn’t come in for him in the summer, given their problems in the centre back department Aside from these qualities Kompany loves the club – something that all our riches can’t buy as Tevez has proved. The lad makes a mistake and all of a sudden people are on his back. Consider everything that Kompany has given us – and will give us in the future – and you know that this talk of dropping him is utterly out of touch.

And not only out of touch, but reckless. We have enough enemies outside the perimeters of Eastlands as it is. We don’t need to create more inside the fort by turning on our own players – in this case two world class players – and making them feel unwanted. These kind of comments are a microcosm of our recent, shambolic history. Jumping to conclusions far too quickly, the stuff of making knee jerk reactions that has seen so many good personnel at the club jettisoned far too early.

I don’t check the message boards, but I hope these kinds of comments are snippets in a wider sea of rationality. Two draws, one against an excellent Napoli side who are Serie A contenders, and the accusations start flying. This kind of short termism has destroyed us in the past – it was a key ingredient of the ‘typical City’ era. Let’s not allow that kind of sentiment to develop again.

Cook falls on a sword, but it is not his own

2011-09-10T11:41:00.000-07:00

This week Garry Cook resigned as the club’s Chief Executive Officer. A sorry end to a sorry affair that could not have concluded any other way.

A debacle whichever way you look at it

By now I suppose readers know of unfortunate details. It seems as if Cook had sent an e-mail to Brian Marwood (City's football administrator) about Nedum Onuhoa’s agent/Mother, apparently mocking her battle with cancer. Unbelievably, Onuhoa’s Mother (Dr Anthonia Onuhoa) was copied into the e-mail. She recently went to the papers (the actual e-mail was sent months ago) and suddenly alarm bells were ringing in Manchester and, most importantly, in Abu Dhabi.

In an effort to save his own skin, or perhaps in an effort to tell the truth (we still don’t quite know) Cook painted himself as the victim. He said that his account had been hacked into and the message in question had been sent without his knowledge. At the time he apologised to Dr Onuhoa and ordered an internal investigation to establish who had been responsible.

It’s unclear at what point the upper echelons of Manchester City (i.e. Mansour and Khaldoon) got wind of this – or indeed whether they knew about the investigation Cook himself seems to have launched. But as soon as the whole thing appeared in the press, they ordered an investigation of their own. This week, that process – to put it bluntly – appears to have smelt a rat with Cook’s explanation.

And so this week Garry Cook ‘jumped’. The more realistic explanation would perhaps be that he was ‘shoved and then jumped’. There can be no doubt over who has done the shoving and on whose sword Cook has fallen.

The values of Mansour’s Abu Dhabi

At the beginning of Mansour’s involvement with City, Khaldoon gave an excellent interview to David Conn of The Guardian. It was part of a trilogy of reports focusing on the birth of a new era at City. In that interview, Khaldoon gave a fascinating insight into how Mansour saw his involvement at City:

“We are acknowledging that how we are handling this project is telling a lot to the world about how we are. This is showing the world the true essence of who Abu Dhabi is and what Abu Dhabi is about.”

Khaldoon went on to talk about the values of Mansour’s Abu Dhabi: loyalty, commitment, discipline, long-term thinking, respect, appreciation of history. Interestingly enough, on the value of loyalty, Khaldoon chose to elaborate. "We believe in loyalty," he said. "We don't leave our men behind, we stick with them.”

These are admirable values indeed, but the Cook resignation proves that – for Mansour and Khaldoon at least – they are finite. At the end of the day these values may form the belief system of Abu Dhabi’s leadership, but they still remain subservient to image of Abu Dhabi itself. This image is synonymous with Mansour, and that is why it must prevail over everyone else - even the man in charge of running the day to day affairs of the club.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s no doubt that Garry Cook has done a lot of good for the club. Being the head of Nike’s ‘Air Jordan’ brand he clearly came highly recommended and most importantly well connected across sport. Cook has presided over a complete revamp of the club’s image, which whilst uber slick and right up to date with the latest trends, somehow feels like it has remained true to Manchester, the club’s history and the club’s fans. Using the imagery of the Blue Moon has been a master stoke, as has the ‘Welcome to Manchester’ poster, and the nod to Neil Young with this year’s classic black and red away kit.

Indeed the club’s image is currently very healthy. I still don’t think we are hated as much as other clubs would be if they had the resources we have. This is in part testament to innovative way the club does things now and how it is expertly marketed. Then of course we have the new City store and the new ticket office – both world class. Ultimately, Cook is responsible for all of this, so he should take the credit.

Cook’s gaffes: a short history

Ironic though that someone so heavily involved in marketing and relations with the public should be so prone to making PR gaffes.

Many of these gaffes were storms in teacups. Cook inducted City legend Uwe Rosler into the Manchester United (!) hall of fame. Robinho made a similar gaffe when he joined the club, but I can’t remember him being berated for it. Then there was the collapse of our audacious attempt to lure Kaka from Milan to Eastlands. Cook accused Milan of bottling the move.

Whilst you would prefer your CEO not to put his foot in it, these are minor errors, rather comical in the case of Rosler, and perhaps a bit of sour grapes in the case of Kaka.

Then there was the quote on the cusp of our Carling Cup Semi derby with United, when Cook talked about how not if, but when City would beat United again. United went on to knock us out of the cup, but this was nothing more than a bit of pre-match jousting.

But there’s always the other side of the coin. In his resignation statement Cook seems to have alluded to a bit of negative attitude against in the nation’s media. That might be correct, indeed the media may have blown up some of Cook’s throw away gaffes (one only has to look at the picture of Cook in the papers to see how the media love to dislike him) but they’ve done this for a reason. The Onuhoa incident is not the first Cook has made a gaffe of a more serious nature.

The obvious one was when Cook remarked what a pleasant guy Thaksin Shinawatra was – ‘a nice guy to play golf with’ I think the exact words were. When attention was drawn to Thaksin’s dubious human rights record, Cook basically said it was of no concern to him. This showed a complete lack of awareness. A club CEO shouldn’t be saying stuff that like that.

Then there was the comment about Richard Dunne. Cook said that Dunne wasn’t a name that City should be associated with because the name ‘Dunne’ doesn’t roll off the tongue in places like China and by association is not a shirt seller. Again, this showed a complete lack of awareness, this time of footballing matters. Cook failed to appreciate that Dunne had been City’s player of the year for four seasons on the run and had been a rock at the back for the Blues. At the time Dunne was the captain of the club. Your CEO should not be making disrespectful comments in public to the club captain – completely unprofessional.

One gaffe too far

These serious gaffes were both made under the tenure of Thaksin. The Onohua comment - firmly in the realm of PR – is the first big mistake Cook has made under Mansour.

For Mansour and Khaldoon, this is about the prestige and reputation of Abu Dhabi. Being one of several key overseas investments, like it or not City is an element of Abu Dhabi’s foreign policy, a factor in how the rest of the world sees Abu Dhabi itself.

Mansour and Khaldoon are not stupid. It would have been completely understand if, upon taking the reins of the club, they had said goodbye to Cook (given that he was gaffe prone). The fact that they simply did not jettison Cook proves that they liked what he brought to City.

But in the Abu Dhabi-City connection, business and politics are intertwined, and unfortunately for Cook, his employers are both astute businessmen and politicians. I believe that Mansour and Khaldoon have nothing personal against Cook, but business is business, and at the end of the day, Cook was harming the business of Manchester City and therein the prestige of Abu Dhabi.

When Khaldoon said that Abu Dhabi doesn’t leave its men behind, perhaps what he really meant was that Abu Dhabi doesn’t leave behind the men worth saving.

The age of the 'Manchester duopoly'

2011-09-03T21:15:00.000-07:00

Here's a guest post from Murray Withers, with some interesting predications about the future of Mancunian and Premier League football. Check it out below.

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Sometimes the scores alone tell a much bigger story; Spurs 1 City 5, United 8 Arsenal 2 or why not Manchester 13 North London 3? Tabloid hacks and broadsheetcolumnists were in unanimous agreement ; Sunday 28 August was the start of a new era that would see Manchester placed firmly at the centre of world football (if it’s not already).

Leaving aside the shrill nature of such a big statement just three games in, both games being live on the same day as well as some specific circumstances helped the media to come to such a historical verdict – Harry Redknapp decided to fight with fire by naming no defensive midfielder (ignoring the fact that we usually have two performing that role, freeing the rest up) while Arsene Wenger, who wouldn’t have expected Djourou to be so easily shoved aside for the first or Van Persie to miss a penalty, of course blamed injuries (only on deadline day has he realised modern football is all about the depth of the squad!). However, that took nothing away from the sheer power and skill on display by Roberto Mancini and Alex Ferguson’s men. All the carping about wages, transfer fees and the general commercialisation of the game went away, as breathless commentators remembered that aesthetics over-ride ethics. Headlines swooned over the performances of Rooney and Young, Nasri and Dzeko.

For City, where we were often criticised last season despite our third place finish and Cup win because Mancini kept the handbrakes on, it all went through Tevez, other expensive buys hadn’t clicked, etc, now there’s varying degrees of admiration, respect and fear from the other clubs as we look the Real Deal. Wewere told our Champions League group was a ‘baptism of fire’ but I saw City as arguably the best of a strong bunch, as did Frank Ribery. Suddenly all the commentators are not looking beyond City or United for the major honours, overlooking the truism that nothing’s decided in August or September.

When Ferguson started as manager in 1986 with the stated intention of knocking Liverpool ‘off their perch’ he could never imagine then that the biggest challenge to United’s two-decade ascendancy would come from City. But for a man as schooled in the game as the canny Scot, he would have realised straight away in September 2008 that the football map was going to change following Shaikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nayhan’s takeover. City have since had their false starts – buying Robinho for a British record only to find him non-committal to playing at Fratton Park and the KC Stadium, trying to buy the likes of Kaka at blatantly inappropriate moments in the club’s development, finishing fifth in Mancini’s first half season. Our semi-final win was a major turning point, to overcome the early let-offs before charging back into the game and denying them a sniff proved a sea change. The final win over Stoke delivered another nail in the coffin of Cityitis.

Yet continued criticism of City’s new found status usually has three lines of attack; ‘no history’; we have just bought success; and no team spirit aka they’re only in it for the money. Well it’s true we don’t have the success of the big three but share trophy space with the likes of Newcastle, Tottenham, Wolves, but a club like Chelsea had even less and that didn’t stop Roman Abramovich. City fans have had to rely on less tangible elements over three decades (the bananas, the loyal support, cult heroes like Kinky, Rosler and Goater, cult moments like the 10-1, 5-1 and Dickov in stoppage time) but that does mean that the wider perception of City as one of the teams that matter has been downplayed in the public eye. To the second we are, er, guilty as charged; the outlay from both Hughes (including in the last days under Shinawatra) and Mancini has been considerable, although inflated by City operating in a price bracket of their own and ultimately only about half the players have worked). The third is just ignorant of how football teams operate; anyone who’s played on a muddy pitch on a Sunday morning will appreciate how vital team spirit is to any side. There may be the odd disagreement between individuals or the odd uncontrollable ego like Tevez but it is swallowed up by the collective will. Make no mistake, it’s not just the paycheck that will make our ‘galacticos’ dig deep for each other.

But the armchair crowd should remember how it was a few years ago. Buoyed along by their Champions league harvest every year, the monopoly exerted by the ‘Big Four’ had become so powerful that ‘organic’ development of a team and club stood no chance of breaking the glass ceiling. Every season it was just a question of where Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and United would finish. The cartel needed breaking up by force. As a City fan, I’m just grateful for the chance we have to compete. People who lead perfectly capitalist lifestyles baulk at the beautiful game being thrown to the markets where regulation is a joke and inequality is a given, but that’s what’s happened. This is not the 70s any more. At the top level football is about investment, brands and capitalising on overseas support, survival of the fittest. United started it in the 1990s; the rest of us had to swim with the tide or sink. The business models, as in the real world, may be different, but it’s about the willingness to attract the top players that counts. Everything else is just excuses. Purists can head to the non-leagues if they don’t like it, but the majority just slag it off because their team isn’t the lucky benefactor, all the while praying for similar salvation.

City have stolen a march on the field – the fact that world-class players like Aguero now want to come to Eastlands tells its own story; the ‘project’ is working. There’s professional satisfaction to be had from being part of building up a new force rather than adding to an established presence. However, one thing the real business world usually won’t allow is continued domination and that’s why the so-called Manchester duopoly probably won’t happen as scripted, at least not for very long. Look at Liverpool’s American turnround (despite the odd gem in Suarez, Dalglish seems to have gone for quantity rather than quality), Abramovich’s ongoing investment at Chelsea and the wake-up call at Arsenal. Allow also that serious investment can strike a sleeping giant at any moment. The overinflated bubble cosseting football from the wider economic slump will survive a while yet.

Buoyed by the extraordinary tenure of Ferguson, Reds have had two decades of constant gratification. And just as City fans would love to do a Poznan all over the decline of United, wiser Blues know this isn’t going to happen either. The top teams stay top teams now, rather than burning brightly and fading away. The true test will of course be when Ferguson steps down, but there is much less likelihood of this rupturing the club and leading to a decline. A top-class manager will want to ensure the legacy, and so it goes. But they’ll have to get used to sharing the success.

So though the prospect of Mancunian domination whets the appetite, bet on neither a Manchester duopoly or a City monopoly in the long term. More likely a much wider playing field of a top five or six competing for the pots, and new oligarchs, petrodollar benefactors and American or Asian investors making contenders of other teams.

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Like what you read? Check out Murray's blog: http://originalsonictruth.blogspot.com and his twitter page: http://www.twitter.com/managedpellets.

Mancityaway.co.uk

2011-09-01T01:38:00.000-07:00

Readers should check out a new City website that has recently appeared on the City online scene.

The site is called mancityaway.co.uk and aims to bring travelling Blues fans tips for all away fixtures this season and beyond, with particular focus on City's Champions League campaign.

Currently on the website are comprehensive guides to all of City's group stage opponents in Europe this term: Bayern Munich, Villareal and Napoli. Fans can find tips on flights, airports, general info on the local city / town - plus expert insider knowledge from locals.

Go to mancityaway.co.uk and check out the site now!

What a difference a year makes

2011-08-30T02:13:00.000-07:00

Well, well well.

After our last trip to White Hart Lane (last season’s opener) I wrote about how Joe Hart dragged us through toscrape a 0-0 draw after Spurs had absolutely taken us to the cleaners. But that was last year. This time around, Redknapp’s men found themselves facing a different proposition altogether. At the end of 90 minutes, they were on the end of a 5-1 hammering, destroyed amidst a display of attacking fluency from Mancini's men.

There will be those of course who emphasise the ‘what ifs’ of this game. Gareth Bale had a glorious chance to open the scoring when found unmarked in the area, only to slice his effort over the bar. And then after Dzeko’s opener, Bale found Peter Crouch with a magnificent cross, with Crouch’s effort swerving inches past the post. Big chances, but in truth they were rarities in match where the home side experienced the full force of City’s attacking prowess.

It makes you wonder whether Mancini has had a brain transplant over the summer. There certainly won’t be many sides that win 5-1 at White Hart Lane this season. It is a total credit to Mancini that we set out in the right frame of mind and with right players on the pitch to issue Spurs this defeat. Samir Nasri, Sergio Aguero, David Silva and of course, Edin Dzeko all combined brilliantly to play football that the watching support must have been proud to witness in the flesh.

The switch from Arsenal to City appears to have been seamless for Nasri, with the Frenchman setting up Dzeko’s first two goals, and then exchanging a sweet one two with Aguero to allow the Argentinean to power past Matt Dawson and strike a goal of unbelievable drive and skill.

I wrote recently about how we might still need to add natural width in the attacking department. It was clear here though, that with Nasri and Silva adopting wide positions and Aguero dropping off Dzeko, we didn’t need it. Nasri provided two excellent crosses from wide for Dzeko to score his first two goals. We were going narrow and wide and were having success every time.

The afternoon belonged to the Bosnian, the scorer of four goals that will certainly do his confidence no harm. Dzeko’s goals finally demonstrated to the Premier League how he is a striker that can do it all. Two poacher-like tap ins, an exquisitely re-directed header that completely wrong footed Brad Friedel, and finally, the icing on the cake, a fantastic curling shot in open play, sailing into the top corner after a neat interchange of passes with Gareth Barry – surely the pick of all the goals scored last Sunday.

A mention must also go to Yaya Toure. The towering Ivorian is playing a deeper midfield role than last season but – to his and his manager’s credit – this role is not necessarily less attacking. Yaya made the vital initial pass to set off the blistering counter attack that led to the second goal. Almost acting as a makeshift wing back, the Ivorian also overlapped Nasri on the right flank, receiving a perfectly weighted pass from the Frenchman, and crossing for Dzeko to tap in.

Naturally the comparison will be made with the exploits of our neighbours, who if score lines are anything to go by issued an even more emphatic 8-2 defeat to Arsenal. To look solely at the scoreboard though misses the context that gives meaning to these two results. United are playing some scintillating stuff at the moment, but Arsenal are a team in disarray, many players injured or suspended, morale through the floor with the loss of Fabregas and Nasri. Spurs however have no such weakness – this was after all a team consisting of Dawson, Bale, Modric, Lennon, Van Der Vaart and Crouch. So which is the more resounding victory?

Time will tell, but I don’t think I’ve seen City play with as much attacking fluency since the days of Eyal Berkovic and Ali Bernarbia circa 2001-02. Back then of course, a lot of things were different – we were playing against the likes of Crewe Alexandra, Grimsby Town and Rotherham United. Last weekend, we were a proposition that Spurs simply could not handle.

Nasri joins the revolution

2011-08-27T08:11:00.000-07:00

This week brought the news that Samir Nasri signed on the dotted line to become Roberto Mancini’s fifth signing of the summer. A protracted saga indeed, but what a player to land.

We now have so many options in attack that the mind boggles. Tevez, Dzeko, Balotelli, Aguero, Silva, Yaya, Adam Johnson and now Samir Nasri. In spite of this wealth, you can never have the complete attacking line up. I still think we are short a little bit in the width department. However, this shortage will only be highlighted if we run out of ideas going forward and start drawing too many games. I get the sense that Mancini is probably never going to be a fan of out and out wingers and will probably check their presence to Adam Johnson. Mancini probably thinks his current crop of forward thinking players have the ability to both – play through the middle and round the back of defences. I can’t argue with him. For me he has been an excellent manager for us on balance so far.

What we do have now going forward is intelligence and movement in abundance. I’ve not seen Aguero in the flesh but from what I hear he sounds like a player that operates several moves ahead of most. With Dzeko starting to fire on all cylinders, bringing more movement, and now with us adding Nasri to the likes of Silva in the creativity department, there is no doubt that we have on paper some of the finest attacking talent not just in the Premier League but in Europe.

We’ll need it if we are to navigate what must be the nearest thing to a ‘group of death’ in the Champions League. Bayern Munich, Villareal and Napoli all await as we launch ourselves into the promised land for the first time since 1968. I’m excited and gutted at the same time. We’ve been placed in such an action packed group with some quality teams and players: Ribery, Robben, Schweinsteiger, Senna, Rossi, Cavani, Pandev, Hamsik et al. Of course I’ll be missing the whole lot!

If nothing else, the Nasri and Aguero signings perhaps indicate that we are no longer in the throes of revolution. Rather Eastlands is now home to a full blown, established regime. FA Cup winners, third place Premier League finish, Champions League football and now attracting players on the cusp of entering their prime years (Aguero at 23 and Nasri at 24) – all these things show that players are coming here to win things now rather than solely for the money, as was the criticism during the Robinho, Adebayor and Lescott signings.

Contenders for the Premier League and somewhat of a wild card in the Champions League, Blues fans must ask – have we ever had it so good? Has there ever been a better time to be a City fan?

A day to forget

2011-08-09T03:39:00.000-07:00

Well let’s put it this way, there’s certainly better ways to start a season.

It should have been a tale of how a young Spanish goalkeeper withered under the pressure of his first competitive match in English football. Instead what we had was a tale of City’s complete and utter Charity Shield capitulation to Manchester United. A hard and (given last season’s FA Semi final victory) strange pill to swallow. Two goals up at half time and we throw it away. Unbelievable.

It feels worse than the 4-3 loss at Old Trafford and the Carling Cup semi final defeat of a couple of seasons ago. Then, on both occasions we were always up against it. Here we had the foundations of control in our grasp but somehow could not hold on to that control. It’s incredibly frustrating.

This of course was not just another game, not just another run out to sharpen up the limbs before the Premier League kick off this weekend. This was a Manchester derby, played at times with frenetic pace and passion. The reactions on the players and managers faces at the end of the game told you all you needed to know.

What happened to City’s pre-season?

By all accounts the Blues have had a good pre-season on the pitch, no massive injuries to worry about, winning many games (if not all) and dispatching Inter Milan convincingly on the way. But at Wembley we just didn’t turn up. We weren’t in the game for large periods. Joleon Lescott took his header well, and as for Edin Dzeko’s freak goal, well I said at the time that we should’ve been testing De Gea more. We did, and we got our reward, but both goals came as surprises, against the run of play.

United, with the wind knocked from their sails, should have been put to the sword. We should have gone on and finished them, but instead showed none of the composure and defensive steel of the Mancini era to date. Instead we came out during the second half looking even less up for the battle than we did the first. Possession football – another mantra of Mancini – was thrown out with the bath water as we easily allowed United back into the game.

How not to play against United

You would have thought our current squad would by now have learnt its lesson. One thing you do not do against United is give them – freely – the incentive to attack. Without possession you must fight and press as a team to get ball. If you don’t it becomes a mental thing. They build up attack after attack, you find yourself retreating and then suddenly you’re thinking of how United have this ‘knack’ of retrieving even the most irretrievable of causes.

There’s a reason why United do this so many times and that because they have the courage of their conviction. They ask the question, and you must answer it.

Unfortunately last Saturday City didn’t come up with the answer. I do feel that this was a question of mentality, not a question of picking the wrong players, the wrong formation, using the wrong substitutes to freshen things up.

Replacing Balotelli with Barry was correct. The Italian was ineffectual and we weren’t seeing any of the ball, so I can understand why he was sacrificed for someone who was more adept at getting the ball back and giving it. The formation – again I think correct. It served us well last season, but here our two key individuals (Yaya Toure and De Jong) could not impose themselves on the game in an attacking / defensive sense respectively. In terms of line up we went with pretty much our stronger available. Aside from the Tevez circus, the only question marks for me were Kolarov over Clichy and Milner over Johnson. Kolarov did surprisingly well, and Milner will always give you more defensive cover than AJ. I thought it was a side well balanced, as you can’t go gung-ho against United.

Mentality

With so many things appearing to be correct from the outset, the gaping deficiency was the way we went about our business, the way we allowed United to cut through us, almost at will in the second half. At times it was as if we were not up for the battle.

After we had conceded we did muster some resistance. Silva had a glorious opportunity to put someone (maybe Dzeko) clean through on goal, but his pass was snuffed out. Adam Johnson’s ferocious shot was saved by the unimpressive De Gea, and Micah Richards’ header, again forcing a save out of the young keeper, was judged to be a foul. In the end we have only ourselves to blame. I truly believe that in every other way we are now a squad that stands ready to win the league. Only the mentality – not any other football club – stands in our way now.

United will always be United but we are much better than the offering we gave here. Our detractors are having a field day of course – they love to cast us in the mould of expensive strangers, players driven by big wage packets and by the same coin, United as the purists, a team that places never say die team spirit above all else. But for City at least this is wide of the mark and fails to take into account all that was good about us last season. A team of expensive strangers would not have topped the league in December, would not have finished third, and would not have won the FA Cup, defeating United on the way.

Talk of us being taught a ‘footballing lesson’ is pure gamesmanship (I would like to hear how Mr Rooney describes his team's Champions League performance against Barcelona last May). The fact is that last season we were much closer to United than they would like to think, but still the glaring error of Vincent Kompany, our most assured defender of recent years, capped off a day to forget. Mancini must now ensure that this does not set the tone for the rest of the season.

An Asian angle

2011-07-18T04:38:00.001-07:00

Admittedly posts have been a bit thin on the ground recently, mainly due to me moving to Jakarta (as you do). I hope to continue posting, if for anything else then to partially compensate for the trauma of giving up my season ticket. What can I say, maybe I’m typical City myself – just as the club is becoming successful I do one to other climbs.

So for the foreseeable I’ll be posting about City from afar whilst looking for a supporters club out here (if anyone knows then give me a shout).

I’ll also be doing my best to let Indonesians know exactly who is the only football team to come from Manchester…

Out of 35 years of darkness, comes light

2011-05-15T12:10:00.001-07:00

A day that I will never, ever forget. The 14^th May 2011 is now etched in the club’s history books as the day Manchester City came back from the cold, trophy-less wilderness – the day that saw them return major honours for the first time in 35 years. An unbelievable day, the best I’ve experienced whilst supporting this troubled club.

‘Boring, boring’ City
Its fair to say whilst it wasn’t the best FA Cup Final, it certainly wasn’t the worse. It was clear from the beginning that we were the side with more purpose and drive. Thomas Sorenson was kept busy from the start, producing a good save to deny the buzzing Carlos Tevez early on, and then a top drawer save to deny the curling shot of a (surprisingly) workmanlike Mario Balotelli later on in the first half.

The chance of the half fell to David Silva, who could have more or less picked his spot when the ball fell to him in the area, with the Stoke defence at sixes and sevens. The Spaniard drove his shot into the floor, and it bounced agonisingly high, over the bar. At that stage I must admit I wondered whether it was going to be our day.

And then, in the second half, came Stoke’s big chance. The largely ineffectual Kenwyne Jones wrestled past Lescott and bore down one on one with Joe Hart, but the keeper was equal to the task - just as he has been in the vast majority of big games this season, and blocked the Trinidadian's toe poke. After that Stoke offered little else in the way of a direct threat on goal.

The support of the Stoke fans is to be commended, but they went a bit far in their chanting of ‘boring, boring City’. You try to not be judgemental when it comes to assessing the way Stoke play, you try to see what else they have in their locker, but the truth is they have little apart from a physical, long ball game. We were the team that was trying to win the game. Stoke didn’t appear to know what they were doing at times. I’m sure their fans must feel that their team did not turn up.

Out-stoked

Much was made before the game of what Stoke’s approach would be. High balls into the box, Delap’s long throws, strength, commitment, fight. Pulis would surely have called upon his men to out compete the Blues, rile us up, unsettle us with their aggression.

But five minutes into the match, and it was totally clear who was taking the fight to whom. From the moment Nigel De Jong won his first tackle, the Stoke players must have known that they were in for a battle. As the game wore on, we dominated in this department – De Jong (my man of the match), Kompany and Lescott all gave excellent performances. Perhaps it took Stoke aback that we were so combative, as they pressed little and so had few chances to really dictate the game.

If there is a special element to this Mancini side, it is that very merging of power and skill. We are less of a machine than Chelsea, and we have less attacking fluency than Arsenal, but we have enough of both to make us formidable.

00 years: a moment of huge significance

At risk of sounding completely overawed, this could potentially be the biggest moment in the club’s history. The naysayers will of course say this is nothing, just one trophy, we have a long way to go to match the best, this victory is nothing that other teams haven’t won before.

But whilst this is partially correct, it is only part of the picture. This is a very different Manchester City than the one that returned major honours back in the 1960s and 1970s. And indeed football today is very different to football back in 1976. Our resources are vast. We are far from the limits of our powers and our future is full of promise. There will be setbacks, but the Manchester City moment is getting closer.

Resetting the counter from 35 years to 00 years is also hugely significant. The 35 years hung as an albatross around our necks, the source of endless mocking and taunting. The 00 years banner brought out onto the pitch by the backroom team represents just how much it means to banish that mantle. And whilst we’re talking about the backroom team, we cannot fail to mention Roberto Mancini, who will now go down in the history of this club as the man who started to change our trajectory. The Italian has had his critics, but no-one can credibly argue with him now. He was brought in to deliver Champions League football, but he has delivered more than we could have possibly imagined, with two league games still to play. We usually leave things to the last minute, so it is very un-City like to be going into the last days of the season with our two central targets secured.

And just as important - if not more important - than the man who has delivered this success are the men who had the judgement to bring him here in the first place. None of this would have been possible without Sheikh Mansour and Khaldoon Al Mubarak. Their financial power is a key element, but this season’s successes show that they are also excellent judges of character and ability. It was a big call to sack Mark Hughes, and an unpopular one at the time. But no-one can argue with that decision now.

More than anything else, this victory represents a springboard to success, the first brick of a house that Arabian financial might is slowly building. We now have a group of players that have won together – massively important for our team spirit and togetherness – things that have been questioned so much this season. Before, we were a team of individual winners, now we are a winning team. We are now laying the groundwork for a new era, whilst drawing the curtain on an old one.

If it has not ended already, the era of typical City is finally coming to a close.

BLUE MOON.

The hallowed turf reached, the albatross awaits...

2011-05-15T12:06:00.000-07:00

It was an edgy performance, but Tuesday’s 1-0 win over Spurs was enough to see us into next season’s Champions League qualifiers. It was a magnificent night for the club, a landmark night that will go down in our history.

The table doesn’t lie, and this season no-one can argue that we don’t deserve it. Looking back, perhaps qualifying for the CL last season may have been a season too early for us. Perhaps it is better to do things this way, with our better signings bedded in, ready to do battle for next season.

In fairness, Spurs dominated this affair, in many ways a re-hash of last season’s encounter late on in the season, where a Peter Crouch header sealed the CL deal for Spurs. But this was a different City to the one that took on Redknapp’s men at Eastlands last season. Spurs huffed and they puffed, had plenty of possession, but had only two major chances to show for it. When it came to the crunch, City’s defensive qualities showed as they smothered Spurs’ cutting edge. Hart once again proved to be the tormentor of Spurs when he produced a fantastic reflex save from Pienaar’s header.

I felt we were always the more likely to score. Dzeko had a massive chance to make it 1-0 but Cudicini saved at point blank range. Silva’s long range effort would have been one of the goals of our season had it dipped slightly. Vieira’s effort was cleared off the line. Tevez’s break away at the end of the game should have sealed the deal but for another excellent save by the Spurs keeper.

In the end it didn’t matter. An own goal by Peter Crouch was enough to get us the three points and send us into the hallowed turf of the Champions League. Not since September 1968 have we been able to compete on this level. Back then – in the old European Cup - we were knocked out in the first round against Fenerbahce. Now, we must ensure that we do not have a repeat performance of that debacle. We must do all in our power to really go on and make some headway into Europe’s elite competition. With the players we have, this is the place where we must now belong.

We have accomplished the ‘bread and butter’ element of our season. Now we must put the icing on the cake. Most fans would have settled for Champions League qualification at the beginning of the season, but Champions League football and FA Cup winners? That would be one hell of a season at this stage in our development. History has already been made with the win over Spurs, but to remove the 35 year albatross would be something special yet again.

It will be a tough encounter, much tougher than the Semi Final against United. Irrespective of Stoke’s recent form, we all know what they can do to us. They’ve done it countless times in the past. There is no way at all that we are massive favourite, despite what others may say. This is one game, and anything can happen. More than anything else, we need to match Stoke’s drive and desire – only then will we stand a chance. For Tony Pulis, manager of Gillingham in the 1999 Division 2 playoff final, there is that added dimension of revenge. We also must not forget that Stoke have the chance to make history too. We’ve been in the wilderness for 35 years, Stoke for 39.

They don’t come much sweeter

2011-04-19T15:38:00.000-07:00

It was a glorious day in every sense of the word. The sun was shining, the Blue Moon rising as we issued United their first proper derby defeat since Arabian riches flowed into Eastlands. Oh how long this victory has been coming.

Build up to a spectacle

Obviously no Tevez for this encounter, I when I saw the City team I feared the worst, - no Micah Richards and the inclusion of Alexsandar Kolarov. United have serious pace from wide positions, and with the selection of both Nani and Valencia I thought we were going to be in for a rough ride. The omission of Anderson gave me hope that we would give as good as we got in the middle of the park.

The City fans though had clearly brought their voice with them, contributing to a fantastic atmosphere that saw us rarely hear our opposite numbers (although I’ve since spoken to some of those and they assure me the feeling is mutual). The majority of City fans had taken their seats well before kick off, indicative of what this day meant to the hordes of Blues that had come down from Manchester. For United the enthusiasm was less – Wembley is obviously less of a novelty for them than it is for us.

An encounter to remember

It’s a cliché but this was indeed a game of two halves. United were the quicker out of the blocks but by the 90^th minute there was no doubt who had stamped their authority on the game. Credit should go to the players for their mental strength. It’s never easy to start off on the wrong in any game, never mind in an FA Cup Semi Final against our greatest rivals. But Mancini’s men pulled it around in stellar fashion – a complete reversal of our endeavours at Anfield the previous Monday night – and proved Ferguson wrong along the way.

City grew into the game and by the end of the first half were beginning to make real headway on the United goal. This was all not before Dimitar Berbatov had missed two glorious opportunities to score in quick succession – the first producing a magnificent save by Joe Hart, the second miss more down to Berbatov’s inept finishing.

No doubt though we had got away with it here, but this is football, and chances must be taken. As the half came to a close, Gareth Barry lashed a shot into the side netting and Vincent Kompany – my man of the match – curled a shot just agonisingly wide from the end of the area.

Into the second half, and we came out all guns blazing. With Yaya Toure pressing higher up the pitch, he dispossessed Michael Carrick and bore down on Van der Sar, slotting a neat shot under the Dutchman to draw first blood. I will never forget the reaction in the crowd after that goal had gone in.

As for the players, they had started to believe. We began to dominate and swarmed forward, winning 50-50 balls all over the park. The desire that had evaded us completely against Liverpool was with us in abundance here, as we pushed United back for a good 15 minutes after Yaya’s strike, and indeed could have had more goals if it were not for some poor crossing from SWP.

The sending off of Paul Scholes was correct, but I felt we would have held out at any rate. This was our day, and this was certainly not the United of last season, where they swarmed around us in the dying embers of the Carling Cup Semi Final. There was a sense that United could have played for much longer and still not have scored, so blunt was their cutting edge. Uncharacteristically, as the game wore on, United lost more and more attacking rhythm. All the talk beforehand was of us missing our talisman. In the end, United missed their much, much more.

Tougher tests

This victory will count for something even if we are unable to return the FA Cup next month. United were building up a worrying string of victories against us, but to defeat them in a game of such magnitude has exorcised the ghosts of last year (the 4-3 and the second leg Carling Cup Semi). This game mattered to Ferguson’s men, as could be seen so clearly when the toys came out of the prams after the final whistle. Of course defeat hurts, but defeat to City is still worse, even now, after all the success that they have had.

But United are small fry compared with what we have to face. This victory should give us great heart, and we should bask in it, but we should not allow it to detract from the major tasks that are still at hand – winning the FA Cup against a talented and stubborn Stoke side (the manager of which will surely want revenge for our exploits against him in the 1999 Division 2 playoff final!) and of course securing Champions League football. These will be the real victories of this campaign. Only then will we be able to say that the squad of 2010/11 was the one that really began to change the history of our club.

We’ve seen the worst, now let’s hope for the best

2011-04-14T14:56:00.000-07:00

And so we arrive at the biggest weekend of our season so far - an FA Cup Semi Final against the old enemy. Some might even say this is the biggest game in City’s recent Arab-centric history. Of course, in true City fashion we prepared for this test in the worst possible way.

Despair at Anfield

What happened? We can talk about line ups and formations – and they do play their part of course – but I can’t understand the abject performance of the 11 players on the pitch. Absolutely unbelievable in a game of such magnitude. Significant for the ‘Mancini out’ people – I think this is the first time under Mancini’s leadership that I’ve seen us completely unable to live with the opposing team. The positive is that we don’t do this very often. The negative that now Spurs are within three points of us with a game in hand. Not what we want at this stage of the season.

We were weak defensively, particularly in full back positions. We were second best in midfield and we were blunt up front. Adam Johnson provided us with little outlet. Edin Dzeko’s touch looks to have deserted him. In fairness we got away with 3-0. It could have been a hammering. We were overrun.

We shouldn’t be rotating selection on games like this, and for this Mancini must take the blame. At the very most perhaps I would’ve rested Silva, but for me De Jong was vital to give us that extra cover. Mancini admitted he made mistakes after the game – uncharacteristically unsavvy of him to do so I think as this just heaps more pressure on him keeping his job. Perhaps he was trying to take the pressure off the players, who knows.

Saturday, 5.15pm

Just as this Saturday represents a massive chance for Mancini to redeem himself, it is also an opportunity for him to fall further. Defeat to United could well hinder our push for forth, but victory…well, that could change things significantly. It’s a fine line, and Mancini could well live or die on these next few days.

The injury to Carlos Tevez is a severe blow, there is no point in masking it. His loss means more to us than United losing Wayne Rooney to suspension, no doubt about it. Micah Richards seems to have made an unlikely return – if he plays it will be a boost for us defensively, allowing us to switch Zabaleta to left back and shore up our suspect full back positions. Due to United’s considerable threat from wide positions we need to be watertight at full back – and show a bit of footballing savvy. Richards and Zabaleta are our best bets here.

Up front though, the worry remains that without Tevez we will struggle. Mario Balotelli has yet to put in a performance worthy of his own boasting mouth. To start with the enigmatic Italian would be a gamble in a game of such magnitude, but then again, at the moment Dzeko doesn’t foster confidence. The unpredictability of Balotelli could be a factor here. He is somewhat of an unknown quantity against Ferguson’s men, and he is capable of producing the bit of magic that we need. The question is whether the lad can keep his head in such a super charged game. I want to believe in him but he gives us little to go on.

‘Changing history’

Mancini has talked about the opportunity to change the club’s history through arriving at the final of a major cup competition. Of course he’s right, but in this semi we also have the opportunity to change our recent history – and here I’m talking about our record against United since the Arabs took over. Strangely we’ve yet to defeat our rivals since we started signing top quality players. I’m sure there’s a typical city angle on that somewhere. Bring back Shaun Goater and Benjani.

I’ve always thought that the winners of the FA Cup this year would have to defeat United, and now that task has fallen to us. Lose - and the mental block will go on. But there’s always two ways of looking at it. Win – and we claim the scalp of our greatest rivals at Wembley. This is a massive opportunity. They don’t come much bigger than this.

An opportunity lost

2011-03-18T17:23:00.000-07:00

It was a night that started so brightly. City came out of the blocks all guns blazing for the second leg of our last 16 Europa League clash with Dinamo Kyiv, and you felt that it was going to be our night. An eventful 90 minutes later however, and we found ourselves out of the competition, defeating Kyiv 1-0 on the night but not being unable to overturn a 2-1 aggregate scoreline. I am sure we will look back on this European adventure as a major opportunity lost.

Somehow we have managed to crash out of Europa League not even matching our quarter final appearance in the UEFA Cup competition two or three seasons ago. And of course our squad back then was a shadow of what it is now. We have achieved less with more resources, more talent, more firepower at our disposal. It is just so frustrating.

The blame game

There are of course many reasons why we lost against Kyiv. Mario Balotelli is likely to come in for the most flak. The young Italian’s actions were rash, stupid, brainless, call them whatever you want. His sending off undoubtedly made it hard for us, but he alone did not single-handedly lose us this tie. Mario Balotelli is not as important as that. Instead we lost this tie with woeful defending in the cold night of Kiev, and in the wasteful finishing on show at Eastlands in the return leg. Preparation also seems to have been an issue – Vincent Kompany has spoken of how the squad were shocked by how good Kyiv were. That’s not acceptable in today’s game, and certainly not in knockout football. We all know of Dinamo’s Champions League pedigree. Plus, they didn’t exactly sneak past Besiktas in the last round. Either the players weren’t briefed well enough or they failed to listen to the advice of Mancini and his backroom team. Maybe some were too busy trying put on their training bibs.

That we were the better, more purposeful side for the vast majority of the second leg speaks volumes for the 10 men who were left with the seemingly insurmountable task of overcoming Kyiv without a full contingent of personnel. Dinamo Kyiv hammered Besiktas 8-1 in the previous round, but in truth over the two legs we should have dispatched them with ease. Two glaring defensive errors in Kyiv, combined with Balotelli's mindlessness and our own poor finishing, have more or less ended up handing the tie to the Ukranians.

Nullifying Kyiv

The threat of Shevchenko never materialised and he was more or less nullified by the excellent Kompany and Joleon Lescott. Tellingly, the former Milan and Chelsea striker was substituted at the midway point of the second half.

Kyiv were limited at best to counter attacking football. That is of course, when they weren’t diving around the pitch and trying to get City players booked. I have never seen a referee be sold on so many occasions during 90 minutes. But I have no complaints here – this is something we have to put up with in European football. Besides, the referee got the biggest call right, with Balotelli quite rightly being sent from proceedings.

Chance after chance

At the other end of the pitch though, we were woeful. To be fair, Kolarov took his strike well, but we had much clear opportunities to score that we didn’t take. From point black range, Balotelli sent a shot sailing over the bar in the second minute of the game. In the second half, a wicked deflection almost crept into the Kyiv goal at the near post. When he was introduced, Edin Dzeko had an excellent chance but shot directed at the keeper. Then, as the game reached its conclusion, we had the chance that could have forced extra time, with a shot coming through a crowded penalty area only for Tevez to miss the vital flick that would have sent it beyond the keeper and into the back of the net.

Its no coincidence that our attacking threat has diminished as there have been slight declines in the form of Carlos Tevez and David Silva. You can’t play well all the time, but at the bare minimum – at this point in the season – you must ensure victory. We have not had a good performance against credible opposition since we dispatched West Brom 3-0 back at the start of February. This needs to change soon, because we have Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs on the Premier League horizon, whilst United lie in wait in the FA Cup semi final.

‘Manchester City FC – Europa League Winners 2011’

Although this reality is now beyond us, the title nevertheless has a very believable ring to it. You look now at the strength of the competition – PSV, Benfica, Braga, Dinamo Kyiv, Porto, Spartak Moscow, Villareal, FC Twente. We have more than enough in our locker to beat this lot. I sense an excellent opportunity to get the 35 year monkey off our backs has gone begging.

Mancini’s day of judgement nears

2011-03-06T15:11:00.000-08:00

As City approach the business end of the campaign, on what basis will the club’s supporters – and perhaps more importantly the club’s hierarchy - judge Mancini and his squad to be a success? The Italian’s bedding in period has long gone. This is Mancini’s squad, with Mancini’s mark all over it. The time is fast approaching where we can begin to make some sort of reasoned judgement as to whether the Mancini way is the right way for the Blues. The Italian will live on die depending upon how we fare on three fronts.

The hallowed turf of the Champions League

The bottom line is that we will fight it out with Chelsea and Tottenham for Champions League football next season. There are three teams and only two places up for grabs. Its going to be tight.

Chelsea are on the way back. They have wobbled this season, that much is clear, but they have a squad whose steel was forged together by Jose Mourinho, and in many ways are still a side fashioned in the image of the Portugese. They know how to win things and when the pressure comes they will know how to step up to the plate. As Ferguson suggests, the League might well be beyond them now, but they will be prepared to do whatever it costs to finish in the top four – to finish outside is simply not an option for them. They may not be firing on all cylinders but with the ‘failure is not an option’ mentality, and with the Essien’s, Lampard’s, Terry’s, Drogba’s, and Torres’ of this world within their ranks, you do feel that they will secure Champions League football.

Spurs are more or less neck and neck with us. I hope they go as far as possible in the Champions League because I feel that this may be their Premier League undoing. Van Der Vaart has proved an exceptional buy, and Gareth Bale has been a revelation this season. With Lennon on the opposite flank and the aerial threat of Crouch, Spurs remain a force to be reckoned with. They still have to come to Eastlands of course – a match that may end up becoming Part Deux of last season’s encounter. But we have vastly improved upon last year. Spurs will come and play football, and we all know that when this happens at Eastlands our chances of victory increase. You just hope that we can approach this game as full strength as possible, with the likes of Silva, Tevez, Balotelli and Yaya on song.

Failure to qualify for the Champions League this season will be a big blow to Mancini’s hopes of staying in the job. A 5^th place finish will be unacceptable - we will have spent around 140 million on players only to replicate our efforts of last year. The counter argument will be that players need time to gel. There may be something to this, for me though it is no excuse. The spine of the team has been pretty much the same for quite some time now – Hart, Kompany, De Jong, Barry, Tevez. The additions have added talent, not taken it away. In many ways I think Mancini has tweaked rather than employed a wholesale revamp of the squad.

If we fail to secure 4^th place then it will once again be down to our inability to defeat mediocrity. Too many draws against average but workmanlike sides – it will sound a lot like last season. And then the vultures will swirl once more.

But secure fourth place and we will be on target. It might sound arrogant to say, but the Champions League is now where this club belongs. Everything is being geared towards this aim, both on and off the pitch. It is so obviously the next step to take, but nobody allows you to take that step for free, so we must make ensure we take it.

Our continental adventure

Its been relatively plain sailing in the Europa League so far. At the group stage, the obvious threat of Juventus (including Del Piero, Krasnic, Iaquinta et al) surprisingly never materialised, and aside from getting ourselves turned over against Posnan we qualified for the knockout stages comfortably. The last 32 saw us come away with an awkward draw in the first leg against Aris FC, but we swatted the Greeks aside 3-0 in the return fixture.

Up until this point in the competition we have by and large played within ourselves. You sense that as long as we keep our concentration, we have enough to get by. Into the last 16 though and a tricky tie awaits. Our opponents, Dinamo Kiev, drilled Besiktas in the last round and have Shevchenko in their ranks (I believe he doesn’t have a bad record against us). So not only will be have to be on our guard, one senses that we might have to be closer to our best.

On the plus side, its clear that if we can navigate our way past Kiev then the road to Dublin will begin to pave itself. Juventus aside, some half decent teams have already gone out of the competition: Athletico Madrid (last year’s winners), Sampdoria, Borussia Dortmund, Rubin Kazan, Sporting Lisbon, Napoli, Young Boys, Sevilla and Besiktas. The last 16 will eliminate more quality, with Bayer Leverkusen facing Villareal, PSV facing Rangers, Benfica facing PSG and Twente facing Zenit.

The Europa League may well be a good opportunity for Edin Dzeko to build up his confidence. The Bosnian is still adjusting to the rigours of Premier League combat and has still to find his feet on the domestic front. But the European stage, with the slower, more considered approach that teams often bring to the table, may suit Dzeko better at this point in time.

This is a real opportunity to secure some European silverware. It will not be easy – anything can happen in knockout football – but we have the strength in depth and the right players with top level European experience to do the necessary damage. I would be satisfied with a semi final birth at the bare minimum, but even then, if we do not reach the final I’m sure many will feel that this is an opportunity lost for a squad that could punch its weight with many Champions League teams.

A top four finish and Europa League glory will strengthen Mancini’s position at the club considerably if not for any other reason than that it will prove that the decision made by our Arab owners to jettison Mark Hughes for a more nuanced and experienced manager was the right one make. And there’s nothing better than having a controversial call proved correct. This return will be solid, watertight, irrefutable evidence that the Italian is moving us in the right direction.

Romance in the FA cup

The glory and romance of winning the FA Cup will be difficult to surpass. Providing we avoid an almighty cock up against Reading, then we stand an excellent chance of reaching the final and winning it. The FA Cup is so special to English football that perhaps even in the disastrous scenario of finishing outside of the top four, the board may choose to give Mancini a reprieve in the event that he guides City to victory at Wembley. This would be not only be a victory of course, but would represent an end to the 35-year albatross that has hung around the club’s neck. Manchester United are still in the hunt for the cup, which also provides that little bit of ultra-explosive spice should the two clubs meet at Wembley.

Mancini’s window of opportunity

Perhaps not even a 5^th place finish and Europa League glory will keep Mancini in the job - the thinking being that it will have been unacceptable to have had so many opportunities to make sure of Champions League football and failed yet again.

Chelsea’s wobble, Liverpool’s non-season, and Spurs’ unexpected Champions League charge have all created a window of opportunity for Mancini to achieve real success with City this season. Entering the Champions League clearly has long term benefits to the club – you feel that if Mancini comes through this test, then the board will have little reason to grumble. For unlike Mark Hughes, the factor that goes most strongly in the Italian’s favour is that he is the board’s man. Sacking Mancini will be as much an indictment on his performance as it will be on their judgement. After all, nobody likes to admit that they got it wrong.

Close, but no cigar

2011-02-14T11:33:00.000-08:00

Another derby, another day of disappointment, where we are left picking through the embers of a defeat that even the most objective City fan will surely feel we did not deserve. This after all was the best City team to visit Old Trafford for years, depleted – I would argue - only by the absences of Nigel De Jong and Adam Johnson.

But derby days are strange days. In the past we have won at Old Trafford with much lesser elevens than the one that walked out last Saturday. All the more frustrating then, that we should come away with nothing.

Analyse the game itself, and you find that we gave an impressive and at times stylish account of ourselves. Our main threat came from the right in the form of Micah Richards, who I must say put in a fantastic performance. The right back seems to be returning to the form of old, when he first broke through into the first team. The threat from the right increased when Shaun Wright-Philips entered the fray for the ineffectual Kolarov - another good substitution from Roberto Mancini. SWP put in his best performance for a long time, with vastly improved crossing and dribbling – the kind we know he is capable of delivering but that which also seems to have deserted him for months on end. Its funny how opportunities open up in football – had Adam Johnson not been injured, SWP would likely have exited the club last month. Instead the little winger now has the chance to play his way back into Mancini’s plans. An interesting sub-plot to the season finale.

Aside from Richards and SWP, our big guns stepped up to the plate. Kompany was imperious as usual as the back, and as usual Silva and Tevez were always a threat, playing stylish one twos around the edge of the United penalty area. Indeed it was this intelligent interplay that carved open the United defence in the opening minutes, with Silva toe poking a shot past Edwin Van Der Sar that rolled agonisingly past the post. We all know that its moments like these that come back to haunt you.

That said this was a much better all round performance than at Eastlands. Ferguson went with a defensive-minded 4-5-1 formation, if anything else a compliment to City and the myriad threats we pose. It is rare indeed that United opt for caution at home. As it turned out this played into our hands. For large periods it was us with the initiative, us with the ball in the opposition’s half. On the whole we restricted United to the long shots of their irksome winger, Nani.

It came against the run of play on 41 mins when United edged in front. What a soft goal to give away. Lescott failed to win a header that had his name written all over it, the ball bounced to Giggs who quickly lofted a pass to Nani and the rest was history.

All our endeavours deserved the slice of luck that we got in the 65^th minute, when substitute Dzeko struck a SWP cross towards goal, only for it to be deflected off the back of Silva and into the back of the United net.

Back United came, but not with the tenacity of our meetings during last season. This time around I felt that we dealt with their attacking threat much better. So much so that it took a combination of luck (Nani's deflected cross, Kompany's slip) and the technical brilliance of Wayne Rooney to see us off.

No prizes are given in football for impressive performances. They took their chances and we didn’t. And that clichéd sentence unfortunately sums up this derby meeting.

If it wasn’t already, now the title is completely gone and we must focus on our cup competitions and the battle for Champions League football. And looking at the league table, there is certainly no time for self lament over this defeat. Tottenham and Chelsea are breathing down our necks with games in hand. We must pick ourselves up quickly.

Balance the key to undermining the mediocrity that faces us

2011-02-08T16:14:00.000-08:00

One emerging theme of this campaign has been City’s inability to defeat teams of lesser calibre, especially when the team in question sets themselves up as hard to beat. Even when we have managed to get the goal, sometimes we haven’t pushed on and got more goals, or we’ve managed to the get a second, third or fourth but have somehow allowed the opposition to keep within reach of levelling the game.

The results

Let’s take the obvious results first – i.e. the frustrating draws that should have been wins: Blackburn at home (1-1), Birmingham at home (1-1), Leicester away (2-2), Notts County away (1-1), and most recently Birmingham away. Then we have a set of edgy wins that should have been comfortable victories – i.e. Bolton at home (1-0), Blackpool at home (1-0), Wolves at home (1-0) and Leicester at home (4-2).

I sometimes feel that we are a bit skewed tactically. If we’d have decided what were about in these games, maybe we’d have come away with more points. For me the problems emanate from wide positions and have a knock-on effect on our ability to score goals. Are playing with full backs? Or are we playing with more traditional type wingers? What is the function of Edin Dzeko?

Full back conundrums

Whilst Alexandsar Kolarov is undoubtedly good going forward he remains shaky when going in the opposite direction. We could still be seeing a bedding in period here but the Serbian certainly does seem to lack pace, which is alarming given that Mancini has bought him with an attacking function in mind. Once Kolarov gets better positionally we may see him be able to do the whole job on the left. And of course his goals will always come in handy.

I am more worried about Jerome Boateng, who does not seem comfortable playing at right back in the English game. Rarely does he venture forward, which in one sense is a shame because he can put a half decent cross into the box. On the other hand it shows that the backroom staff, or Boateng himself, do not believe that he can perform the full hit on the right. If you don’t have the pace, better to be cautious rather than push on, lose the ball and then get hit on the counter.

If we are going to set our stall out to play with wing backs, then I would suggest Kolarov and Micah Richards. The latter was the only consistent threat going forward against a weak Notts County side in the FA Cup. Richards can cause damage going forward, and his speed and strength serve him well if he gets caught out and needs to get back.

It is concerning though that we don’t really seem to have moved on a lot in the full back areas, given the money that we have spent (Kolarov £16m, Boateng £10m). These players both came to the club to perform these functions but at present they don’t seem up to the full task. Both were injured earlier in the season and they do need time to continue to bed in but the fact remains that if they were doing the job we bought them for we would be much more of an attacking threat.

Wing problems

When the full backs aren’t firing on all cylinders, we turn to the more natural wing players that we have in the squad, but this has now also turned into a problem area for us. We just don’t seem to have enough wingers.

This has been aggravated by the injury to Adam Johnson, one of our most natural wide men, who will possibly miss the rest of the season with an ankle injury. Our next best thing has to be Shaun Wright-Philips, who still appears to be a crowd favourite even given the lack of form that the diminutive winger has showed for months on end now. Unless SWP picks up his game, he will struggle to fill the void left by AJ.

Then we have James Milner, clearly not a natural wide man but often employed there by Mancini. Milner huffs and puffs – you will always get 100% from him wherever he plays, but he lacks the pace and trickery of a wide player. At £26m, the ex-Villa man appears to be an expensive commodity to use out on the wing at any rate. And finally we have Jo. I hate to kick a player whilst he is down, but against Notts County, the Brazilian was awful. Complete lack of presence on the field and an awful touch. We all know that he is never going to be the answer.

Packing the middle

Our inability to breakdown average teams form the flanks has led to us packing the middle. Too many players trying to do too much from central positions against opposition that is, on the whole, behind the ball. All this threatens to stifle the threat posed by our new striker, Edin Dzeko. Against Aston Villa and against Notts County, he found himself in possession in wide positions. This is not where we want the Bosnian. He may well be able to play, and from what’s I’ve seen he certainly can, but we want the lad front and centre to take advantage of the physical and aerial threat that he can pose. We have the players around him who can play. For me the Bosnian badly needs service from wide positions.

A balance that might not exist

So now that the transfer window is closed, how does Mancini get around these problems to turn an already good season into an excellent one? He may have already found part of the answer. Against West Brom last weekend, Kolarov was employed as a left winger and I must say he gave one of his best performances yet in a Blue shirt. With Zabaleta at left back, the Serbian was given licence to go forward with Tevez and Silva, and even found himself at times in the central midfield attacking position often occupied by Yaya Toure.

But the balance of the side is still not quite right. Where was the threat from the right against West Brom?

It seems to me that at present, we can’t field a fully balanced team. If we opt for wing backs, then we open ourselves up to Kolarov’s lack of pace and Richards’ lapses of concentration. A Kolarov and Boateng pairing means that one gets forward and one does not. If we opt for traditional wingers, then we only have one in the squad who is capable of beating defenders – Adam Johnson – who is currently injured.

And whilst I accept football is sometimes a game of trade offs, with the money we have spent, you’d be forgiven for thinking that perhaps we shouldn’t be allowing ourselves to be making these kinds of compromises. Meanwhile of course, we have a £27m target man who should be attacking quality balls in the opposition box. Surely the signing of Dzeko is proof of the value Mancini places on attacking from wide positions. But strangely enough we now find ourselves beyond the January transfer window with question marks over whether we have the players to mount significant threats down the flanks.

Mancini has done well so far, no-one can deny this, but I do sometimes wonder whether the Italian has chosen the wrong system for the players at his disposal. Or rather, whether he has signed the wrong players to fit into the system he wants to play.

Only time will tell, and who am I to argue with Mancini, who has up to this point put in an impressive performance as manager. But if we fail to get into the top three this season, then we are all sure the look back at the fixture list and deduce that it was ‘our failure to beat mediocrity – that’s wot did it’. Then the next sentence will be: ‘we didn’t go for it enough’. And perhaps we don’t go for it enough because we are aware of our frailties, weaknesses that give rise to a cautiousness in our play, and that stem from having a slightly off balanced team.

If we want to be successful then this needs to be addressed. It's things like this that can prove to be the difference between a top four side and a side that vies for the title itself.

Topical City - Issue 2 released

2011-02-07T13:37:00.000-08:00

The second Issue of the excellent online City magazine is now available. Just click on the image to the right to get reading. This issue includes a wide array of topics - anything from Tommy Caton to Maurizio Gaudino to David Silva! Without a Dream in Our Hearts makes an appearance on page 17, with an article about Michael Johnson and the City Academy.

New City magazine launched

2011-01-05T08:50:00.000-08:00

Click on the image to the right to check out Topical City, an exciting new City magazine that has just been launched this week.

Topical City is packed full of interesting articles on the Blues. It aims to showcase the best of City on the web, and includes contributions from several City blogs that you may well have already heard of!

An article from Without a Dream in our Hearts is found on page 24.

A 1-0 destruction

2010-12-05T13:17:00.000-08:00

If one team could ever destroy another 1-0, then City’s one to nothing victory over Bolton yesterday was surely a classic example. Bolton have impressed of late and to their credit they came to play football, but for large parts of the game they were crushed and were lucky to escape with only conceding the one goal. The result betrayed City's true performance.

Almost stalemate from the jaws of victory

Despite City’s dominance, Joe Hart almost threw it all away in the second half when he let a cross slip through his gloves, only for the ever reliable Vincent Kompany to clear the ball off the line and save all our blushes. But in truth that incident represented the sharp end of the Bolton threat.

City’s dominant forward diamond

Another home draw would have been difficult to stomach. We were much more dominant here than we were against Blackburn or Birmingham. That Bolton actually tried to play football probably went to their detriment, as it opened up spaces at the back for our forward diamond of Tevez, Balotelli, Silva and Yaya skilfully to exploit.

And exploit it they did – from the off in fact – when a lovely through ball from Yaya Toure placed Carlos Tevez through to finish cleanly. At the time I thought we were in for a hatful, but it was not be – more because of our poor finishing rather than Bolton’s defending.

Time and again we broke through Bolton’s backline. In behind, approaching the box, round the back from wide positions – any which way but loose. Mario Balotelli struck the post, David Silva struck the bar, as City searched for the goal to kill off Coyle’s men. Our front four were all impressive, but playing just behind the front three Yaya Toure had his best game in a Blue shirt. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – he is the joker in the pack as far as our so called ‘defensive midfield’ goes. The dog work is done by De Jong and Barry, whilst Yaya is given license to power forward. His dribbling skills, combined with his power, make him formidable from central attacking positions.

Mancini’s eleven

I have been disappointed of late to hear of fans complaining about Roberto Mancini at the helm. Its true that we haven’t been the best side to watch of late, but I really must ask what more do fans want? As the table stands we are three points off 1^st position. Everyone is dropping points and we will be no different, no matter how much our team costs. We have excellent players at the club now, of course that much is clear, but so do Arsenal, United, Chelsea and Spurs – more to the point these teams are much more settled than ours.

Fans harp on about all the money we have spent and the astronomical wages that we pay, and about not getting a just return for this investment. Just because we pay £25m for a player and pay him over £150,000 a week doesn’t make him 15%-20% better. He is still the same – albeit very good - player who like any other needs time to gel and settle in the team.

And besides, no-one can complain that we played boring football at Eastlands yesterday. This was the strongest City line up that I think Mancini can field. Hart, Kolarov, Kompany, Toure, Zabaleta, Barry, De Jong, Yaya, Balotelli, Tevez, Silva. More to the point, this team very much has Mancini’s stamp on it – especially in an attacking sense. And we were all over Bolton yesterday. Surely that confirms some doubts about us in a tactical sense.

Booing Mancini’s decisions – like fans did against Birmingham – is small minded and fails to see the bigger picture of which stability is the key ingredient. Honestly, I would’ve thought that City fans above all others would understand this. Just take a look at the last 17 years for starters: something like 11 managers and zero success.

Regime change on film

2010-11-14T13:23:00.000-08:00

For all those City history buffs out there, if you haven't had chance to watch then this Granada documentary is certainly not one to be missed.

The year is 1980 and City are struggling in the lower reaches of Division One. Malcolm Allison is the man at the helm. He is undergoing his second spell at the club – only ten years earlier Allison had been a key part of City’s European Cup Winners Cup triumph.

Allison tries to arrest his team’s decline in form but as he goes about his work the threat of the sack increasingly begins to emanate from the boardroom – most starkly in the form of Chairman Peter Swales. What follows is an unusual and highly rare look behind the scenes of a club undergoing a managerial change.

There’s some fascinating footage in here: Allison’s pre and post match talks, his tactics on the training ground and the squad’s difficulty in getting to grips with the those tactics, Swales giving his manager two games to save his job, the sacking of Allison, Allison saying goodbye to his players, the interview and subsequent appointment of John Bond, and Bond’s frank assessment of his predecessor – which takes place in right in front of Allison and Swales.

Click on the links below to access the documentary. If only we had this fly on the wall stuff nowadays.

Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3KVEy1XKoc

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3XEPJ923AQ&feature=related

Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YfQQjptuak&feature=related

Part 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wo_fV3h2DDI&feature=related

Part 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAbzMloipcY&feature=related

Part 6 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLq7MvHUh7g&feature=fvw

More comments on our recent fixtures coming soon.

An interview with the enemy

2010-11-10T00:26:00.000-08:00

Something to get the derby juices flowing. An avid United fan - from Greater Manchester - lays the law down on Roberto Mancini, 34 years, the importance of Baconface and the recent Rooney transfer saga.

1) How long have you been a United fan?

All my life, my granddad is a red, and so are my mum and dad. We are all season ticket

holders.

2) Where do you sit in Old Trafford?

We sit in the corner of the North stand and East stand, directly across from the tunnel. (Block N2401)

3) If you could have one player from City’s squad, who would that be and why?

I think Joe Hart has a bright future, England no 1 for the foreseeable future. I would like to

see him work with VDS for a season or so and take over the role when he feels it’s time to retire.

4) There have been a few murmurs recently about the future of Roberto Mancini, mainly due to a string of recent defeats and his cautious tactics. How do you think the Italian has performed since coming to Eastlands last year?

I think failing to deliver Champions League football last season was a major blow. The Tottenham game was a cup final at home and he fielded a defensive team like in most other

matches. In my opinion a game of that magnitude is something you should be looking to win not starting with 3 defensive minded midfielders. That mentality was summed up in the game at Wolves, 2-1 down and he takes a striker off and puts Zabaleta on. Those sorts of decisions will not win you the league; you need to be throwing strikers on trying to nick a goal if not two.

Overall I think the Italian has failed to deliver so far, failure to win a major trophy in the summer may well spell the end of Mancini’s short reign in charge.

5) Why do you think City has failed to lift a trophy over the last 34 years?

Since I started watching football closely I have never seen any consistency at City. Since

Fergie took charge 24 years ago he has seen at least 10 different managers come and go, you can’t expect to win anything unless the manager gets to stamps his mark on the team.

This season’s carling cup was a perfect opportunity to forget about last year’s semi final defeat and put the 34 year hoodoo to bed, yet Mancini showed WBA no respect and crashed out at the first hurdle.

6) Do you think the Blues can break their duck and win a trophy over the next few years?

I think they should do, the squad is capable of challenging for honours. I just think the longer the run continues the harder it will get, no matter how much money you spend.

7) The recent Rooney saga must have been a shock to your system. Do you think that is a sign of United’s decline?

It was a massive shock, one which I don’t think some fans will ever forget. Whether it was a ploy to get more money, to make the Glazers spend some of the Ronaldo transfer kitty, or he really did think United had no ambition and he wanted to join a club that hasn’t won a major trophy since 1976 you don’t go against the grain. You don’t say that Manchester United, a club who has won over 20 trophies since 1976 has no ambition.

I think Sir Alex played the situation out very well, but I don’t hold my breath, we may never see Rooney in a United shirt again. The whole matter can be put to bed till at least January. And while Fergie is in charge Man Utd will be successful.

8) How important has Sir Alex Ferguson been to the success of your club in the modern game?

Immensely important, Fergie has an unquestionable will to win. In his time at OT he hasn’t just built 1 great team but 3 or 4. He is the boss, he commands respect from his players and they believe in him. You only have to look at players who have played under him and gone on to manage themselves. Mark Hughes, (brushed out of the door at City prematurely) Steve Bruce, Paul Ince, Roy Keane and Bryan Robson all learnt from him.

The fact he is still it at helm after announcing his retirement in 2001 shows the passion he still has, his desire to ‘fucking knock Liverpool off the perch’ still remains.

9) How do you think both teams will fare in the league this season?

I think the league will be close, just like last season between United and Chelsea, United to win it by a point.

Man City will come in the top 4, and maybe challenge for the Europa League.

10) Turning to Wednesday night what’s your thoughts on the game? (United’s main danger man, City’s main danger man).

It’s a derby; maybe the most eagerly anticipated in my life time. Anything can happen. I think it will be tight. The team that can keep their heads not let the occasion get to them and keep possession will win.

City’s danger man is without doubt the ‘money grabbing whore’ he is your talisman, without him you struggle. He still feels he has a point to prove to Fergie, the man who rightly thought he wasn’t good enough for United.

United’s danger man is dependent on how bad the speculated injury crisis is. Nani has been our best player this season; if he is fit he will cause your defence problems.

11) And your prediction for tomorrow night game?

2-0 United.

Now we must look to the players

2010-11-02T15:19:00.000-07:00

Its fair to say its been a week to forget at Eastlands, compounded by the 2-1 defeat to Wolves. The 3-0 defeat to Arsenal, an injury sustained to our talisman Carlos Tevez, followed by the alcoholic excesses of Adam Johnson, Gareth Barry and Joe Hart all captured perfectly on camera for Roberto Mancini to see for himself. Nice work.

Defeat at Molineux…

In all of this, the killer blow was surrendering a 1-0 lead to capitulate against Mick McCarthy’s men. Victory at Wolves and the exploits of messrs Barry and co would have quickly faded. Victory at Wolves, and the absence of Tevez would not have been so clear for all to see.

But defeat, combined with the arguments of Vincent Kompany and Emmanuel Adebayor on the pitch, added to the fact that James Milner and Yaya Toure were so clearly arguing on the during the Arsenal game (to say Nigel De Jong had to split them apart would be to dramatise things, but he certainly had to adjudicate), and the media find themselves enjoying a nice little feast. And all of this without knowing the reality of what is going on inside that dressing room and inside that training camp.

The BBC Manchester phone in after the game was predictable enough. There were comments of doom and gloom: getting rid of Mancini, our tactics are all wrong, we’re too defensive, why don’t we start with Adam Johnson, why did we withdraw Adebayor and replace him with Zabaleta when we were trying to get us the goal that would’ve drawn the game.

Any comments about sacking Mancini are just wide of the mark - we are fourth in the league and still a strong candidate for Champions League football. Any criticism about his team selection, substitutions or tactical approach to the game do not get to the heart of why we lost. I went to last season’s visit to Molineux, where our discipline and clinical finishing ground Wolves into the ground. We were on the wrong end of things here because we did not demonstrate these qualities, both of which are fundamental to winning a game of football. So what do fans expect?

At the back and in the centre of midfield we lacked the assured air that we had both last season at Molineux and indeed earlier in this campaign. Despite a lack of concentration from Micah Richards, and a lack of cover from James Milner we were unlucky for the Wolves equaliser, a deflected cross landing in the path on the onrushing Nenad Milijas, just high enough for him direct the ball beyond Hart into the far corner of the goal. The second goal was absolute madness. A speculative cross, a defensive header straight to a Wolves attacker, a parry from Hart going straight to another Wolves attacker who did the honest thing and put us out of our misery. I’m not sure exactly how many bites of the attacking cherry we wanted to lavish on Wolves for their winning goal. We simply weren’t good enough at the back, and we were punished for it.

But more tellingly we lost because of how we performed at the other end of the pitch. Wolves were rocking in the opening 10 minutes as chance after City chance went begging. A surging Adebayor run just failed to find the lurking Mario Balotelli. To add to this the Italian spurned a superb, low driven Milner cross, and narrowly shot just over the bar after a neat one-two with Adebayor. In the second half an excellent run by Yaya found Adam Johnson who cut the ball back only for Adebayor to place into row Z. Our other strikers have simply got to start stepping up to the plate. Tevez cannot do it all on his own. We have more than enough in our locker to get by without him against a defence like the one we faced at Molineux.

…and its repercussions

We can harp on all we want about managers, tactics and substitutions, but it was the players that lost us this game, not Mancini. It is they who must now carry the can and bear the brunt of the pressure.

A good start might be to stop remonstrating with each other on the pitch. In a sense it is a good sign, they care about winning. And I’m not naïve enough to think that disagreement doesn’t exist on a football pitch, of course it does, and in every team, but perhaps we need to start controlling our disagreements a bit better. At the moment they are betraying a lack of concentration. There’s a sense that we are complaining about our lot rather than getting on with the job of doing something about improving it.

All eyes now turn to our trip to Poland on Thursday, and perhaps the sterner test of West Brom this coming Sunday. The spotlight will be on us at the Hawthorns and of course the game will be important. But for me nothing has changed and we are still very much in the mix. Chelsea have set the pace, but it is another thing entirely to sustain it. We on the other hand are still up there despite not playing particularly well for the most part.

A tale of three Silva's

2010-10-26T14:35:00.000-07:00

If there was any doubt that David Silva could withstand the rigours of English football, then the Spaniard’s last three performances in a blue shirt should have eradicated it. In Silva we have signed a top draw talent, arguably in his prime.

Perhaps we should have seen these performances coming. At the beginning of the month Silva put in a phenomenal performance against Lithuania in Euro Qualifying, capping it all with an amazing headed goal considering the diminutive figure he casts.

Blackpool

It was always going to be billed a David vs. Goliath contest. Whichever way the media framed the result, we were always going to be loser. A win, and it would be business as usual, nothing special, almost an after thought. Lose, and we would be a slain giant. This is the way it is going to be for many of our games this season. In terms of the respective structures of both clubs, the David/Goliath comparison certainly worked. But on the pitch, it was Blackpool that appeared to be closest to that Goliath.

It was a strange encounter. Blackpool wanted it more than us and their pressure on us when we had the ball made them formidable. We couldn’t get going and almost paid the price when DJ Campbell went through on Hart, only to miss the goal by inches.

It was into this supposed mis-match that David Silva stepped. It turned out to be an inspired substitution by Roberto Mancini. We were an altogether different threat with the Spaniard on the field and, perhaps understandably, Holloway’s men couldn’t handle him. Silva immediately produced the cross for Tevez to nick in – the finish itself an excellent piece of skill even if the goal looked slightly offside.

Then of course came the moment (much like Robinho’s stunning chip against Arsenal) that I will always feel was the moment David Silva arrived at Manchester City. Receiving the ball in the area, the tricky Spaniard’s double feint took two Blackpool defenders out of the game, with his curling shot elegantly finding the back of the Tangerine net. Sublime stuff that would’ve gone down a storm had it happened at Eastlands.

Posnan

Starting against Polish outfit Lech Posnan in the Europa League, in an attacking sense Silva was at the centre of everything good that we did. He linked the midfield with the attack superbly, and provided crosses for two of Emmanuel Adebayor’s three goals – allowing the Togo forward the record of the first City player to score a hat trick in Europe. What struck me here was how the Spaniard was a cut above from the rest of his team mates. The likes of Shaun Wright-Phillips benefited greatly from Silva’s slick passing, but yet could not reward that passing with a good end product, such as a quality cross or goal.

Arsenal

Silva was the best thing about what turned into a frustrating encounter with Arsene Wenger’s men. It was always going to be hard for us after Dedryck Boyata was sent from the field of play for taking out Marouane Chamakh, but even at 0-2 I still felt we had a great chance to get something out of the game. As a City fan this feeling is something that has been alien to me ever since I supported the club. Usually it’s the other way around – you fear that the team might throw away what looks like an unassailable lead, but its players like David Silva that are changing this mentality.

Once again, the Spaniard was at the centre of all our quality attacking play. In the opening minutes a deft Silva back heel from a Tevez cross almost secured us the lead only for the alert Lukasz Fabianski to deny us. Then at 1-0 down the Spaniard almost changed the outlook of the game with a twisting and turning run into the Arsenal penalty area, only for Fabianski to be equal once again. You certainly felt at 1-1 we could even go on and win the game, but in the end it was not to be and the Gunners efficiently closed the game out.

Even though he is known on the world stage, English teams are still getting to grips with the threat of David Silva. But the Spaniard has now had his ‘Robinho moment’, and the key will be to see how he reacts once teams start to get a handle on him. Will the Spaniard thrive where the Brazilian so spectacularly failed? The answer to this question will have a major bearing on whether or not City fans will look back at the 2010/11 campaign as a success.

A fine line: the City career of Malcolm Allison

2010-10-15T15:13:00.000-07:00

Former City coach and manager Malcolm Allison has sadly passed away. If there is a fine line between madness and genius, Allison certainly crossed it during his involvement with the Blues. But far from casting a shadow on his City career, I think this paradox will only serve to reinforce his status at the club. The man will always go down as a City legend.

The genius

During the club’s most successful period during the late 1960s to early 1970s. Allison played a pivotal role. Brought to the club as the first team coach by manager Joe Mercer - the manager for the majority of these glory years – Allison soon proved to be the perfect foil to Mercer’s figurehead, the Y to Mercer’s X. Theirs was a symbiotic relationship, formidable when they worked together, but fallible when they were at odds.

Together, the duo took City to heights of which the club has never experienced either before or since. Clinching promotion to the First Division in 1966, winning the First Division in 1968, the FA Cup in 1969, and then the League Cup and European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1970. From the Second Division to European glory in five years was the stuff of dreams. This couldn’t have been achieved without Allison.

Key to this success was Allison’s relationship with the players and his motivational techniques, creating a fantastic team spirit that allowed players to believe in themselves. This ability to get into the heads of players was complemented by his visionary training methods. In the words of another City legend of this era, Mike Summerbee, Allison was “the forerunner of fitness and tactics way beyond his time.” Indeed, according to another City great, the Allison approach appeared to border on the scientific, through studying the physiology of the squad.

And whilst on the subject of former City player greats, we should acknowledge Allison’s role in bringing a fair few to the club. ‘Big Mal’, as he came to be known, was vital to securing the services of Colin Bell, Francis Lee, and Tony Book – names that are now etched into the very soul of the Club forever, as is his own.

The madness

In his fictional account of the Mercer-Allison relationship, 'The Worst of Friends', Colin Shindler indicates that these men let greatness slip through their fingers. He could well be right. Everything seemed in place: the right managerial set up, the right tactics, the right team spirit, the right players who were beginning to win things. All that was left was the objective of sustained success.

But in the end this did not materialise, and it is not exactly clear why. The club of course will say that the Allison-Mercer relationship remained strong through their tenure, but I fear the reality was different. The prolific City Author Gary James has indicated that relations became strained when both men supported different sides during the club's early 1970s takeover battle. Allison supported the winning side and eventually became manager whilst Mercer was gradually forced out of the club. For Shindler, Allison’s ambition to step out of his manager’s shadow, and Mercer’s refusal to let go of the controls, was the root of the problem. The truth is probably a combination of both scenarios.

The result soon became clear. With Allison at the helm, City missed out on the League title by a point and won the Charity Shield the following season, but never again did they hit the heights of the late 1960s and Allison resigned in 1973. A fine line between success and failure indeed.

But ‘Big Mal’ was reinstalled at Maine Road in 1979 with the dubious title of ‘coaching overlord’. It was during this period that the madness of Allison really set in. In his book ‘Lows, Highs and Balti Pies: Manchester City Ruined my Diet’, Steve Mingle captures the eccentricities of Allison’s second spell in charge. Perhaps guilty of believing too much in his own judgement and ability, Allison set about dismantling what was potentially another City side capable of great success. The likes of Asa Hartford, Gary Owen (then England under 21 captain), flying winger Peter Barnes, and probably the best defender ever to grace Maine Road in a Blue shirt – Dave Watson, were all jettisoned. In their places came players of inferior quality, demonstrated most clearly with the now infamous £1.5m signing of Steve Daley. This was a horrendous gaffe - and an expensive one at that. Ten years earlier Allison had left a heroic legacy at the club, but his actions during this period threatened to undermine all his previous efforts – as Gary James quite rightly points out, these expensive replacements dogged City’s finances for the next decade.

With his judgement way off target, Allison’s once legendary motivational methods now seemed to border on the absurd. There’s a great example in Gary James’ recent ‘The Big Book of City’. In 1979, City had reached the fourth round of the UEFA Cup against Borussia Monchengladbach. In the previous round the Blues had dispatched AC Milan. Since that victory Allison had been installed and City went on to lose 4-2 to the Germans. Kenny Clements was a player on the sidelines at the time. He attributes the Blues' exit to the return of Allison, indicating that ‘Big Mal’ ruined everything during his second spell:

“I think he’d become too hung up on new ideas that he forgot about the basics. I remember he used to give us homework. He’d tell us to go home and write ‘I must win’ or ‘I will win’ a thousand times, then the next day he’d ask us if we’d done it. I always used to say ‘yeah’ but some of the younger, more impressionable lads would produce their lists and some would even write out twice as many lines! He insisted we drank coffee before a game to keep us alert, and brought in lots of motivational people. It didn’t motivate me I’m afraid!”

The legend

Clearly the motivational methods went a bit too far, but in the end this just adds to the Malcolm Allison aura. We must not forget of course that Allison went on to manage around the world and delivered real success in Portugal with Sporting Lisbon by winning a league and cup double in 1982.

But somehow I feel Allison’s heart will always be at City. Of course he was flawed. Of course he eccentric, over-confident and greedy. He wanted the plaudits of the Mercer years all for himself. But City fans will allow these excesses because they recognise that he was a foundation to the Club's glory years. Hopefully, we are going back to that place soon.

As Gary James shows, perhaps Blues will also allow Big Mal his shortcomings because he understood what it meant to be a City fan, and what it meant to beat United:

“In December 1970 he walked up to the Stretford End prior to a League derby match and held up four fingers to indicate how many goals he expected City to score against the Reds. Understandably, the United fans hurled abuse at him, but by the end of the match the confident Allison was laughing as City won 4-1.”

I can’t find a more fitting tribute to Malcolm Allison than that.

_______________________________________________

References

I’ve relied on some fantastic City authors to write this article. I’d highly recommend all of the books below, each of which provide a unique angle on the Club.

Gary James, Manchester City: the complete record (2006)

Gary James, The Big Book of City (2009)

Steve Mingle, Lows, Highs and Balti Pies: Manchester City ruined my diet (2008)

Colin Shindler, The Worst of Friends: the betrayal of Joe Mercer (2010)

The first quarter

2010-10-14T12:50:00.000-07:00

With another international break now over and the Premiership ready to begin, it’s a good time to reflect on how the first quarter of the season has panned out. Firstly, a word on our two encounters with the black and white shirts of Juventus and Newcastle.

Life in the Old Lady yet

They may not be the force of old but I was mightily impressed with Juventus. For me they were probably the best team to arrive at Eastlands so far this season and this encounter was probably the most interesting game to grace the pitch since the 2010/11 campaign began.

Juventus seemed well up for the game and pressured us on the ball at every opportunity. We couldn’t seem to get a grip on the game at first but gradually came into proceedings. Although Juventus seemed to have more control in the first half, it was still a surprise when Vincenzo Iaquinta powered them into the lead with a blistering effort from some way outside the area. I believe the shot was slightly deflected off Kolo Toure’s head, but nevertheless Hart was at fault here. England’s number one should not be letting in these kinds of speculative efforts. To be fair to him though, Jerome Boateng was the real culprit, standing off Iaquinta and allowing him sight of goal for that split second. In retrospect, the warning signs were there when the Italian striker had a powerful shot from a difficult angle saved by Hart in the opening minutes.

Our other dependable Argentinean Pablo Zabaleta, later injured with hamstring trouble, simply could not deal with Milos Krasic. The Serbian winger rampaged down the right wing for the entire first half. Although he was eventually booked for diving in the area (the referee could’ve easily caved in here) he was easily the most dangerous player I have seen at Eastlands this season. Mancini must take the credit for gradually nullifying the Krasnic threat, switching Boateng over to left back in the second half to keep the Serbian quiet.

Flashes of the potential brilliance of our attacking play shone through with Adam Johnson’s goal. An excellent through ball from Yaya Toure connected perfectly with Johnson veering run, and the winger took his goal fantastically well.

In the second half we had our chances but as the game approached 60 minutes Juventus had already decided upon their strategy. Playing against a bank of four and five is hard at the best of times, but it was made even harder against the defensive discipline of Luigi del Neri.

And then of course came the biggest let off of the night. Alessandro Del Piero is a player who needs no introduction, and whilst he is far from the player he was, he was a central element of Juve’s strategy at Eastlands – defend to the hilt, counter attack when possible and if the opportunity presents itself, draw fouls around the edge of the penalty area – then give the ball to Del Piero. So it was that this scenario played out in the dying embers of the game, with Del Piero’s resulting free kick smashing against the bar and crashing onto Joe Hart’s line in the style of Geoff Hurst 1966. Replays confirmed that the ref had got it right. Looking at the game as a whole, we had certainly got away with a point.

Newcastle

We didn’t really perform well against the Geordies either. Early on, after Tevez had once again stepped up to the plate by converting a penalty, it had looked like Newcastle were going to be on the end of a hammering. But credit must go to the Tynesiders in the way they fought themselves back into the contention and levelled the score line with a strike from Jonas Gutierrez. Defensively I felt we were looking a bit like we did in the Hughes days, when the team was unbalanced and schizophrenic.

With a forward quartet of Tevez, Silva, Milner and the supporting Yaya Toure, we lacked ideas. At this stage in the season I can only put this down to lack of understanding, with Yaya had a particular off day. I have written previously of my concern that we don’t have enough versatility up front and that a quality target man might give us this. But still, with the quality of that forward four we should be doing better against a team like Newcastle.

It was left to our boy wonder of the moment, Adam Johnson, to provide the answer. Benched after the Juventus game, he came from the sidelines into the limelight seconds after being introduced by Mancini, driving a low shot from the right into the corner of Newcastle’s goal, giving us the victory we required to build on the Chelsea win.

Adam Johnson

Mancini may well focus on Adam Johnson’s shortcomings, but the Italian must also admit that the winger has saved our blushes on a number of occasions this season. After Tevez, and in the absence of a second striker, Johnson represents our next best goal threat. And although his crossing is not yet the best, his trickery often unsettles teams and ups the tempo of our play. The crowd also love him. And given his recent 1^st half England performance against Montengro, the nation is growing to love him as well. All players need to improve but we should be careful not to dim the glow of Johnson’s start to the season

‘Winning ugly’

When all is said and done, we cannot complain too much about Mancini either. Seven games into the season and we are a clear second in the league, having already played Spurs, Liverpool and Chelsea. I know a lot of City fans grow frustrated with the Italian’s approach. You can hear the frustration in the post match phone ins and I do agree with some of it. I agree with the charge that we should be going for it a bit more at home. Sometimes we’ve too many defensive minded players in midfield clogging up our play, sometimes we’re not able to give enough support to Carlos Tevez.

Mancini’s caution may well be because of injuries, and with Kolarov, Boateng and Balotelli firing on all cylinders we could see a more adventurous approach. Whatever the reason, the fact remains that as we turn our attention to facing Blackpool, we are second only to Chelsea in the league – a much better return than at this point last season. Brian Kidd talked of ‘winning ugly’ against Newcastle. Whilst this may not be the traditional City way, it is something we may have to do for a bit longer in order to keep in touch with the leaders – at least until personnel return from injury and the team begins to gel.

On the radio

2010-09-29T15:47:00.000-07:00

This week 'Without a Dream in our Hearts' made a brief guest appearance on BBC Manchester's weekly Manchester City show - Blue Tuesday. Click here to check out this week's show, which features the legendary Paul Lake, Ian Cheeseman and an interview with former City player and Chief Executive Colin Barlow. A very big thanks to all the team at Blue Tuesday for the invitation to the show.

A very productive weekend

2010-09-27T01:13:00.000-07:00

After the midweek despair at having exited the League Cup, this weekend has provided a much needed restorative tonic. It certainly feels like we are back on track now. In truth, in league competition we were probably never really that far off it.

From one extreme to the other

Mancini will probably have breathed the biggest sigh of relief. He may well argue that injuries forced him into fielding the young, inexperienced side that failed at West Brom. But this is a results business, and whichever way you look at it, it was a shocking result in a competition where we had an excellent chance of getting to final, a chance that would’ve been all the more realistic by the fact that Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham also crashed out. To add to this, the team did include some experienced names: Given, Adam Johnson, Vieira, Santa Cruz and Jo. It wasn’t a bunch of kids playing out there, and we capitulated.

Defeat to Chelsea this weekend and I think there may have been murmurings of discontent amongst some elements of the fanbase. All the more important then, that we deliver the performance and the result. And I have to hand it to the lads, they delivered both with flying colours.

Carlos Tevez

When this era is over, I wonder how Carlos Tevez will be looked upon. Is he a City legend in the making? His contribution since donning the Blue shirt of Manchester certainly points towards this eventuality. And of course, Tevez’s contribution is made up of endeavour and goals – coupled with the ability to do it when it really matters. Against Chelsea he proved this yet again, with an excellently taken goal as City countered Chelsea’s attack.

Yet our strongest asset highlights an emerging vulnerability: a lack of versatility up front. Our attack is highly mobile, but it is small, which means we can only realistically go forward one way – on the deck. Adebayor is not the striker we need and he seems unable to challenge in the air. I don’t see what he offers the team that is different / better to what we already have. Santa Cruz is much more of a target man but yet his performances so far – combined with his injuries – suggest that his future lies elsewhere.

I’m not sure whether this lack of versatility is something the January transfer window can right, but its clear we need further options. If nothing else the home draw against Blackburn lends weight to this view. Teams that attempt to suffocate us will always stand a chance.

Keep calm and carry on

The other massive positive in performance terms was the way we defended. We look solid at the back, much more so than last season. This is something Mancini must take the credit for. This runs against what I am used to watching City, but for the moment at least we do not seem to be panicking when we take the lead and we do not look like conceding. Kompany continues to massively impress, but also Boyata deserves a mention for the way he dealt with the likes of the marauding Ashley Cole and awkward figure of Didier Drogba. He may well have been lucky to stay on the pitch, perhaps you could say the same of Pablo Zabaleta who also dramatically mistimed a couple of tackles, but our aggression was part of the reason why we emerged victorious. There’s not many teams that strong arm Chelsea into defeat, but we certainly did that on Saturday. And of course we did all this without - for the most part - our new defensive signings, with Kolarov still out of action and Boateng finally making his debut late in the game as a substitute for Boyata.

Having not panicked, we must continue to remain calm and pick up maximum points. This weekend was productive not only in our performance but also in terms of other teams’ performances. With Spurs and Arsenal both losing, and United and Liverpool both drawing, the top four seems to be taking shape (we hope). But we need to keep on winning. Extract 6 points from our next two games against Newcastle (home) and Stoke (away), and we will be consolidating our position. And that is where we need to be because otherwise, great victories of the kind we witnessed this weekend will only feel hollow.

New film documents City's rise

2010-09-08T14:15:00.000-07:00

The recent rise in the fortunes of Manchester City have been captured in a new docu-film that is due for release this week.

'Blue Moon Rising' promises to be a unique insight into the club, charting the progress of the team during the 09/10 campaign through the eyes of a group of diehard City fans - all of whom also happen to be friends. There's also commentary from key changing room and boardroom personalities.

The doc-film has been produced by production company Endemol. A short trailer can be viewed by clicking here. Check the club's website for further details on where and when to see the full version.

Arabian eyes are smiling

2010-08-23T16:20:00.000-07:00

If City really are on the cusp of a new winning era, then when the history books are written tonight’s game against Liverpool will surely go down as an early sign of that epoch’s birth. Tonight the Blues were irrepressible, winning 3-0 as Liverpool were driven into the floor.

Dominant City

This was the most convincing win I’ve seen at Eastlands in memory. We bossed the game and dominated for large periods. Soon after kick off, our patterns of play showed positive thinking and a willingness to go forward at every opportunity.

And not only were we positive in an attacking sense, but we did the job defensively too. When we lost possession, we were quicker, sharper and more tenacious in the tackle than our opponents. As we increased our tally we gradually sapped the fight out of a Liverpool side that certainly were no pushovers – and this makes the victory even sweeter.

The central reason for this victory was our utter endeavour and commitment, and these attributes flowed from an unbelievably strong team core. At the back, Vincent Kompany was particularly imperious, executing numerous tackles to perfection. His partner and former captain Kolo Toure was very solid and added to the calmness that seemed to engulf the team when it was called upon to defend. In midfield, Nigel De Jong and Gareth Barry in particular were equally commanding as they fought tool and nail to break down Liverpool’s patterns of play. The distribution of De Jong and Barry was also particularly impressive – nothing flashy, just winning the ball and then getting rid of it efficiently.

The strength of our core enabled us to go forward with more confidence, and this we did. Deploying Adam Johnson and new signing James Milner on the wings, Mancini opted to play Captain Carlos Tevez alone upfront. Yaya Toure was the joker in the pack, the link up man between midfield and attack – essentially the position that Stephen Ireland coveted. Perhaps this will be a pattern in Mancini’s team selections. Assuming Yaya is in favour, at home he can be played in advanced positions whilst away he can drop back into a defensive midfield comprising of De Jong, Barry and James Milner.

And what of our new signing? There’s no two ways about it – James Milner impressed magnificently. I believe Stephen Ireland will be a good servant to Aston Villa, they certainly got a good deal. But so did City. Above all things, the strength, determination and cunning nature of Milner makes me think he is going to be a great asset to this Manchester City squad. He certainly made a great start, setting up the first goal for former Villa team mate Gareth Barry to place past Pepe Reina.

Tevez and Adam Johnson continued to impress. The Argentinean once again proved his mettle by scoring two goals, the first bundled in off a Micah Richards header, the second dispatched from the penalty spot after Adam Johnson was brought down.

Chances not taken

Hodgson’s men will surely rue a five minute period just after half time when they should have produced the equaliser were it not for the excellence of Joe Hart. Gerard, Ngog and Torres all went extremely close, produced two saves in quick succession from the new England No 1. I felt the game really turned on this sequence of play, and having missed the chance to level, soon the game was out of Liverpool’s reach.

A performance fit for a Sheikh

City fans were finally treated to their first glimpse of Sheikh Mansour in person. The Sheikh, who had temporarily jettisoned his Arabian garb for a Westernised suit and tie, sat in between the other two cogs of the club’s power axis – Khaldoon and Cook. Whilst Mansour may have been mightily impressed with what he saw, the latter two must have breathed a sigh of relief that this evening’s Merseyside opponents failed to spoil the Sheikh’s big introduction.

On the pitch though, the early signs are good, but at present I want to keep on looking at them as early signs. Nevertheless, it is hard to be negative. For this was a victory achieved without the likes of David Silva, Mario Balotelli, Emanuel Adebayor and Shay Given. The depth of the squad is now formidable, and so was the nature of this performance.

Does Balotelli’s promise outweigh his risk?

2010-08-20T08:23:00.000-07:00

In what has been dubbed the greatest gamble in football history, City last week signed 20 year old Mario Balotelli from Inter Milan. At £24m the Italian does not come cheap, especially for one so young. But whilst the Club can afford to gamble financially, Mancini certainly cannot afford to gamble in terms of performances on the pitch.

Dangerous for all the wrong reasons

By now surely, we all know that the forward comes to Manchester with a controversial reputation in tow. He clearly has problems with his temperament and attitude. It is rather worrying that the great man manager himself Jose Mourinho couldn’t figure out a suitable way to deal with the troubled Italian. Whilst at Inter, Balotelli apparently reacted very badly to being criticised by Mourinho and was dropped from the squad as a result, only being reinstated after making a public apology to his manager.

The relationship with Inter fans and players seems to have been equally turbulent. He made angry gestures during last season’s Champions League tie with Barcelona, throwing his shirt down in disgust. Apparently, Marco Materazzi attacked Balotelli in the tunnel afterwards. Then there was that interesting scenario where the Italian chose to wear an AC Milan shirt on a TV show.

The forward has shown immaturity in his personal life. He appears to have had disagreements with the authorities on more than one occasion, one of the most notable being caught along with three of his friends for fooling around with a toy gun in the centre of Milan.

Aside from Balotelli’s volatility, another problem will be fitting him into the attack. The media are all over this at the moment, especially with the departures of Ireland and Bellamy underlining the fact that we are getting rid of good quality players who have spoken of their loyalty to the club in the past. They will be on the lookout for any cracks appearing within our forward line.

So where will Balotelli fit in? I’ve never been convinced about Adebayor, and with Santa-Cruz looking like he is on the way out, we certainly need a target man to accompany Tevez up front. Whether Balotelli is that player I am not sure. I see him as more of a forward than an out and out striker, perhaps supporting a target man, or attacking from wide positions – similar to Tevez now I come to think of it. In fact the more our attack shapes up, the more it seems that we are destined to play without a target man.

So how to accommodate the likes of Tevez, Silva, Adebayor, Adam Johnson and now Mario Balotelli? This is a conundrum for Mancini to solve and it has the potential to be a volatile situation. Given Balotelli’s combustible personality, how will he react when he does not play every game, and is not first choice?

‘Crazy’ abilities

Aside from the well publicised controversial elements to Balotelli’s game, there seems to be a consensus already built that the Italian could be brilliant in the English Premier League. Carlo Ancelotti has gone on record as saying that the forward is a ‘crazy’ talent and that City will challenge for the title with Balotelli, not just simply forth place.

For Balotelli’s talent is said to be explosive. Quick, exciting from dead ball situations, technically gifted, and at 6 ft 3”, seemingly built for the rigours of a physical league. On the surface an excellent signing for all Premier League sides, but for his unpredictable temperament.

Mancini’s wild card

Balotelli could be brilliant, that much is clear. And perhaps Manchester City were always going to be the only club for him join, both in a financial and psychological sense. Roberto Mancini credits himself with giving the Italian his first big chance in football. Like Balotelli, Mancini was at one time a huge, underachieving talent, so perhaps there is some sense of mutual understanding there – it is well documented that the two supposedly have a strong relationship.

Initial reports are encouraging. Balotelli’s 57^th minute introduction during last night’s first leg tie against Romanian minnows Timisoara turned things in City’s favour, with the Italian himself marking his debut with the winning goal.

But only Roberto Mancini can know whether the odds of the Balotelli ‘gamble’ are stacked in his favour. If Balotelli is as good as they say he is, and if Mancini can stabilise him in the way he says he can, then the fortunes of City’s season, and indeed of Mancini himself, could begin to look very positive.

For all things Mario Balotelli be sure to check out fan site www.mariobalotelli.co.uk.

The darker side of progress

2010-08-15T14:22:00.000-07:00

Its been coming for a while but now, as the spending really begins to take affect, we are seeing traditional club heroes – and good players - being forced out of the club. Why? For the sole reason that we can buy better players who can do more things, more consistently and to a higher quality. Like the laws of nature, at Eastlands these days we increasingly see a situation where only the strong can survive and the weak must fall by the way side. This is the price fans must pay if they want to challenge for the Premiership title.

The imminent departure of Stephen Ireland

It now looks increasingly likely that Academy product Stephen Ireland will leave the club as part of a cash plus player deal for Aston Villa’s James Milner. For the sentimental fans amongst us, the departure of Ireland will be a sad loss. Ireland was voted player of year for the 2008-09 campaign, impressing in the League and in City’s UEFA Cup run to the Quarter Finals. After emerging from the Academy, Ireland broke into the first team but always seemed prone to acting unusually, for the most part off the field of play and sometimes on it. But he grew up and learned to banish that side of his game, becoming the accomplished player we all hoped he would be, providing the link from midfield to attack, providing the creation and guile from central midfield positions. Fans labelled him ‘Superman’ because of his performances. The club placed a banner over the dugouts to show this appreciation. And I wrote of his great talent, determination and new mental toughness. We all hoped he would push on from there and become a top class midfielder.

Then things took a turn for the worse. Mark Hughes, who I think got the best out of the Irishman – was sacked. Ireland has argued otherwise, saying that Hughes played him out of position, and speaking indirectly to his manager’s preference for Carlos Tevez in the attacking midfielder / deep lying forward role.

After Hughes’ sacking came injuries and more loss of form, resulting in time on the substitutes bench. The appointment of Roberto Mancini tightened the screws on Ireland’s City career. The Italian proved to be much more cautious than Hughes, preferring two – and at some times – three defensive midfielders as opposed to an attacking mindset in the engine room. Once again, threats from central positions tended to emanate from Tevez. And so when Ireland was called upon, he continued to play out of position, exacerbating his loss of form and probably sending his morale to lower depths.

In truth, Ireland’s central weakness was that he did not have enough tools in his locker. Of course he was good, and he proved this by linking well with exceptional players such as Robinho. But perhaps he was never good enough to the level where Mancini would allow him the freedom to play the central role that he wanted. And then, he was never flexible enough to warrant selection in other positions, such as holding midfield, left wing, right wing. We now have the De Jong’s, Silva’s and Adam Johnson’s of this world to do those jobs for us.

This I feel was the real nail in Ireland’s coffin, the simple fact that he could not do it all. Mancini has looked at the midfielder, asked whether he is good enough for where we are headed, and has answered in the negative

It is a sign of the club’s sheer ambition that, even for all the Irishman’s talent, for all his endeavour, and for all of his unquestionable commitment to the Blue shirt of Manchester down the years, he has – in effect – ended up being used as bait. This is ruthless, but this is where we are at Eastlands now. Holding out for a £2m payout will ensure that the Irishman is not remembered fondly, but the Club does not want the player, and so the player will do all he can to get the best deal for himself. Moreover, this is far from the point, but £2m is a drop in the ocean for the Club. He and his agent both know that.

Sadly, this is the detritus of a once fruitful relationship, and for the latter I thank Stephen Ireland. He gave us some great memories and I wish him the very best for his future.

No room left for Craig Bellamy

The flying Welsh winger, who last season enjoyed probably the best campaign of his career, is also on the verge of an exit. Personally, I have always thought Bellamy’s future to be welded to that of his fellow compatriot, Mark Hughes. When Hughes left the club the winger’s days were always going to be numbered no matter what he did on the pitch.

And on the pitch, I felt Bellamy’s form dipped slightly towards the end of last season, but not by much. He was still playing at a relatively high level, but he started the season on such a rich vein of form that there was only ever going to be one way to go.

But form is not the problem nor the issue. Bellamy’s enemies are now age, injury proneness and personality - the latter of which we found out a little bit more about this week. We all know that it hasn’t been plain sailing between manager and player. Screaming rows over the treatment of Bellamy’s knee, the player’s refusal to train, an internal investigation over comments Bellamy allegedly made in support of David Moyes after Everton’s defeat of City at Eastlands, and most recently, claiming that Mancini hadn’t spoken to him since February and doesn’t speak to Carlos Tevez.

Wherever the blame lies for Bellamy’s disgruntlement, a stream of discontent has trickled – and sometimes flowed – throughout his career. At City it now appears to have caught up with him again. This Wednesday he was left out of Mancini’s 25 man Europa League squad.

Much like Ireland, despite his excellent performances and stated commitment to City, Bellamy is another gifted player that appears to have been cut away from the hull of a club where competition for places is now fast on the increase.

Hart drags City through the opening day

2010-08-14T10:37:00.000-07:00

Tottenham Hotspur were always going to provide stiff opening day opposition for Mancini’s men and they didn’t fail to disappoint, but somehow the Blues managed to come through unscathed to produce a 0-0 draw at White Hart Lane. They owe it all to their keeper.

Joe Hart steps up to the plate

One of the most pressing pre-season questions has been who Mancini would opt for on the opening day of the season. Would he go for the experience of Shay Given or the youthful promise of England’s new no.1? Hart got the nod and was called into action perhaps a lot sooner than he would have liked as Spurs laid siege to the City penalty area in the first 20 minutes of the match. The likes of Defoe, Assou-Ekotto and in spectacular fashion Huddlestone all had a go but were denied by the City keeper. Bale finally managed to beat Hart but was denied by the far post, with Defoe unable to force home the rebound. With a mixture of luck and skill, we weathered the storm of the first quarter and made sure we got into half time all square. Centre back pairing Vincent Kompany and Kolo Toure were particularly impressive. Kompany was imperious in some of his tackles, but I think Kolo had one of his best games for us so far. Perhaps stripping him of the captaincy has been a good thing.

The roots of Spurs’ siege

We did not help ourselves. Micah Richards in particular had a woeful opening game, ripped to shreds by Gareth Bale every time the Spurs winger attacking. Not too long ago, Richards was harping on about how he had taken Mancini’s words to heart and accepted that he must improve his concentration levels if he is to warrant a place in the starting eleven. He may be able to talk a good game but there was zilch evidence of his improved concentration at White Hart Lane today. Richards also had no answers when it came to dealing with Peter Crouch, our nemesis of recent times. To compound matters, he gave away the ball far too much.

It would be unfair to just slate Richards with giving away the ball when this right through the team, meaning that we had little time to develop the composure in order to build attacks. Shaun Wright-Phillips was once again wasteful in possession, but Yaya Toure and David Silva and even Carlos Tevez were guilty of aimless balls.

Of all the new signings, I thought Alexsandar Kolarov had the most solid debut, dealing well with Aeron Lennon and getting forward himself, only to be nullified by the England winger. An injury to Kolarov during the first half saw him substituted at half time.

Second half revival

Things couldn’t get any worse after the break, and they didn’t as we came back into the game. I completely back Mancini’s decision to give Carlos Tevez the captaincy. Whilst the Argentinean’s English may not be the best, he leads by example on the pitch. He is still our best player, still at the centre of most of our attacking play. He was much more able to effect our game in the second half, coming deep to find the ball, buzzing around the edges of the area, drifting to wide positions. He was our all action hero and a constant menace to Spurs.

No matter how much of a battering you take in these kinds of games, if you can keep things all square, there will always be something that falls to you. That chance fell to SWP just after the restart, with Yaya dropping a perfectly flighted ball behind the Spurs defence to set up Shaunie one on one with Gomes. Unfortunately though, the little winger wanted too much time and the defender managed to get back into position and clear the lines.

Taking the positives

A special mention for Yaya Toure, who I think could well become a unique player for us. On the surface he is a defensive midfielder, but underneath this exterior there is a wealth of attacking potential. We saw elements of this against Valencia. In a midfield that will sometimes be packed with holding players, he is the dark horse that could be much more destructive than teams think. He is Vieira – with legs. I just hope that this does not stunt the development of Michael Johnson, who is another box to box player that has the tools to the whole job.

But for their wastefulness and Hart’s brilliance, Spurs should’ve been at least 2-0 up at half time. Prior to the game I had defensive concerns – particularly Kolo and Richards – but in the end our resilience enabled us to hold off Redknapp’s men, something we could not do last season. Whilst we didn’t look at sharp as our opponents, we kept on going. We gave away possession too much and were too often second to the ball, but this sharpness will come with more games.

I also had concerns over communication and team cohesion. David Silva started slowly and was caught in possession on occasion, but by the second half he looked far more comfortable and the signs of a good understanding with Tevez were there. The Spaniard has a fantastic touch.

We looked like half a team and half a group of talented individuals, but the fact that we kept Spurs out showed that we fought well. In the long run, I think this draw will serve us well.

This was a better point for us than it was for them.

Comments on a curtain raiser

2010-08-12T15:22:00.000-07:00

The new season is finally upon us and we couldn't have a more taxing start to the season than making the journey south to White Hart Lane.

As a preview to the opening day fixture against Arry's men, Without a Dream in Our Hearts agreed to be interviewed by Ryan over at Can't Smile Without You, an excellent and informative Spurs blog.

Click here to read the interview and also here to hear Ryan's thoughts on an intriguing curtain raiser.

Lets hope Mancini and lads can evoke the spirit of 2004 on Saturday with a performance full of belief and determination!

The new aggression

2010-07-15T13:55:00.000-07:00

Last season was a season of many firsts – both on and off the pitch. Away from the field of play there appears to have been a great deal of work done on the club’s image and marketing strategy. Even if we are not quite there on the pitch, off it the club has adopted an aggressive, winning mentality that I think puts us ahead of the majority of other clubs worldwide.

Aesthetically speaking

Everyone can see that the club has gone through a major cosmetic overhaul. This is perhaps most stark in the kit department. Last season, fans were finally rewarded with three fantastic kits to wear, easily the best in the Premier League, and probably the club’s best kits since the 1960s. The home strip was the real statement, with the club going for the maxim ‘less equals more’. Simplicity was the key word here, with the kit being kept very basic, all light blue with a white round neck. A return to Umbro as our kit sponsor has proved a fantastic move, with the partnership producing some top class training gear.

City’s online presence has been wholly revamped for the better. The website now looks very slick, with plenty of video content, plenty of interviews with top players, and new downloads. More creativity went into selling match days last season too. The Big Four Campaign (referred to in greater detail later) was a massive part of this, but also smaller touches, such as turning the stadium lights off just before kick off at night games, and projecting shining blue moons on the stadium screen – this kind of thing contributed much to the atmosphere of the games.

Customer relations

The club’s relationship with its fans has also improved. There has been some setbacks along the way to be sure (seat relocations come to mind), but overall the club is connecting with its fans in new ways.

A great example of this has been the worldwide web. There are a dedicated group of City bloggers out there who follow and report on developments at the club religiously. City have made strong links here, inviting bloggers to Eastlands to test the new website, inviting bloggers to write for the match day programme, placing links to each blog on the fan sections of the official website. These are all nice touches of recognition to City’s online community.

The club is also listening to its fans. The front page of the City website always contains a quote from fan blog or the club’s official Facebook page on recent developments. That the club actually took the design of its kits back to an old school style is – I think – further evidence of a club that wants to pander to its fans interests.

Focusing aggression locally

In a broad marketing sense, all of these moves have been aggressive. Improvements to the club’s image, improvements to how the club deals with its customers are all designed to pull in more money through keeping existing customers on board, attracting new customers and making sure all customers stay loyal.

But’s there’s another side to being aggressive, and that is competing with your rivals – in this context other clubs. And locally, we all know who that is.

At the beginning of last season, the new aggression was focussed specifically in and around Manchester. Its messages: the Blue half of Manchester is resurgent, belligerent, controversial and is the new kid on the block. Of course this took shape with the now infamous Tevez ‘Welcome to Manchester’ poster, slap bang in the City centre for all to see. The poster certainly put the cat amongst Ferguson’s pigeons, and it did so because it was a master stroke. The significance of the Tevez move could not be overstated, a top class player, a 20 goal a season man making the switch from United to City in his prime. How that must’ve rankled the red half of the city.

Then throughout the season came the creative Big Four campaign. This was a campaign that reared its head every time City played one of the traditional big four clubs (Arsenal, United, Chelsea, Liverpool) at home. The key message was that the club wanted to “celebrate those cult players who relish [big four] occasions and transcend the barriers between culture and football.” The key objective was to put “Manchester City at the centre of the cultural fabric of Manchester.”

With Arsenal’s highly charged visit in September, the club chose Emmanuel Adebayor as its first poster boy. A huge graphic was rolled out on the floor of the Manchester Arndale shopping centre before the game, and on the day of the match, posters with the same graphic were littered all around the stadium.

In December came the visit of Chelsea and it was Shaun Wright-Phillips’ turn. Iconic images of the little winger dribbling with the ball were graffiti-ed near the East Stand reception. The image was 50 meters long and young fans were challenged to run the length of the artwork to beat SWP’s own time and win prizes. This artwork was also replicated up the side of the four story Printworks in the middle of the city.

In February the campaign was upped a notch again with the visit of Liverpool. This time, Craig Bellamy was the centre of attention. The Welshman was the subject of an edgy video entitled ‘I give my all’, which featured a cinematic recording of Bellamy getting ready for a big match. A special piece of artwork was commissioned that signified Bellamy’s style of play: a snarling beast. All very unique stuff.

Finally, as the season came to a close with the visit of United, Carlos Tevez once again became the focus of the campaign. Clearly the club’s best player of last season, the Argentinean was the subject of another artistic design completed by the same people behind Barack Obama’s Presidential campaign. The new design, entitled ‘Tevez Pasion’, was very chic and iconic and is still available to download from the club’s website.

Whilst the campaign achieved its stated aims, I felt that it was about much more than just emphasising key players. Here was a campaign specifically directed toward the traditional hierarchy of English football through emphasising the links of current City players with their former clubs. Of course, there was plenty of room for needle here. It was clear that the Arsenal fans hated Adebayor before his reckless antics last year – pictures of his face around the stadium weren’t exactly designed to calm tempers. Bellamy the player is disliked by all except the club that he plays for, and the Tevez link with United needs no explanation. In short it was a campaign that sought to antagonise, challenge and a threat all rolled into one, with the message: ‘we are coming for you’ emblazoned on its forehead.

Channelling the aggression for 2010/11

Backed by this aggressive philosophy, off the field last season was a highly successful one. The real trick of course is keeping that aggression flowing and channelled in the right areas for the coming season. Key challenges lie first in the realm of aesthetics. How on earth can the club improve on last season’s kits? I have little idea and await the new designs with anticipation. I have always wanted the club to take a nod to its own history and produce a kit in the fashion of the old St Mark’s (West Gorton) black and white strip. The other key challenge is this: so far the new aggression has worked well locally, but how will this translate as the club continues to grow globally? Developing the new aggression for the global football market will have a massive bearing on whether the club increases its global appeal to rival the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester United and AC Milan.

New blood and dead wood

2010-07-05T15:31:00.000-07:00

Another transfer window in full flow, and once again we see the true colour of Sheikh Mansour’s intentions - and his money. New blood has already been injected into the club for the 2010/11 campaign, but the axe has also been ruthlessly wielded. Its clearer than ever that Mansour is going full steam ahead towards the target of winning the Premier League title. Whether he will achieve that feat is another matter, but he is certainly taking strides this summer.

Mansour’s gold buys Silva (and Yaya, and Jerome)
Within the space of a week the club signed the attacking midfielder/winger/striker David Silva from Valencia and defensive midfielder Yaya Toure from Barcelona. This is not to mention the earlier signing of German full-back/utility defender Jerome Boateng.

Of course all three signings are incredibly positive. Boateng is young, can play across the back four, and is already a full blown German international currently making his name in Joachim Loew’s surprise package team at the 2010 World Cup. The lad seems to have the right ingredients for the rigours of the Premier League – speed and strength – and given his European background will no doubt be handy for us as we mount our Europa League challenge.

Yaya Toure brings fantastic top level experience, and at 27 years old he comes to Eastlands at a good age. Once again we have added to our defensive midfield contingent: Barry, De Jong, Vieira, Kompany and now Yaya, but what is important is that we have added in a positive manner. Clearly this is a signing that will improve our midfield. It might even bring the best out of Barry by allowing us to rest the

England

midfielder a bit more. If we can hold onto Nigel De Jong though, I think it bodes for a formidable defensive midfield: steel, determination, aggression and now with Yaya, a bit more creativity and getting forward effectively too. But it is the signing of David Silva that heralds the most excitement and expectation. I must admit I thought we’d fall short in our efforts to secure this man’s services. Silva is one of those rare players that can drift between midfield and attack very effectively. Aside from his undoubted talent, which has perhaps been underlined more with the Spanish national team’s Euro 2008 victory rather than his exploits with previous club Valencia, what makes this signing extra sweet is that Silva was a target of Manchester United. Ferguson’s interest in the Spaniard has been well documented, but Silva rejected United’s overtures, saying that he wanted to play in Spain and would only move to Real Madrid or Barcelona. All the more surprising then, that Silva appears to have jettisoned this mindset to join City, and not United, Arsenal (perhaps the obvious choice), or Chelsea. Money has probably got something to do with it.

All three players have of course come for the money, but that is not the whole picture. For Yaya, the romanticism of finally playing in a club side with his brother Kolo must have also represented a strong gravitational pull towards Eastlands for the younger Ivorian. The other motivation of all three must be to play in the Premier League. Whilst I felt that the Premier League’s star waned somewhat last season, these signings show that it is still up there with the best Leagues in the world. That Silva and Yaya have both forfeited the chance of playing Champions League football with Valencia and Barcelona respectively throws more fire on the flames of that position.

Petrov, Sylvinho and Benjani jettisoned, Bojinov sold
Nothing irks me more than a player having a pop at an old club from the moment he has left. The words of Martin Petrov almost caused me to fall off my chair. The winger talked of City’s money and the club bringing in big stars. He went on to say that it doesn’t matter how much money you have if you can’t play as a team. He’s quite right of course, except to say that I don’t seem to remember Petrov being much of an overall team player when he was at Eastlands. An exciting winger yes, but I don’t recall him helping out his full back much.

I’m sorry Martin, but its sour grapes from you. Your real gripe is the fact that you didn’t play as much because we were bringing in better players. Injuries aside, you scored goals when you were in the team, but you couldn’t match Bellamy’s overall contribution to the team, and pretty soon you probably won’t be able to match Adam Johnson’s either. You are 31 years old, have injury prone knees, and were part of a club with a lot of money that wants to sign new talent and you were coming to the end of your contract. Martin – you did a great job for us under Sven and I wish you the best of luck at Bolton, but do us all a favour: stop moaning and get real.

The releasing of striker Benjani and full back Sylvinho also makes perfect sense. Benjani was never a real hit. Harry Redknapp definitely knew the right time to sell back in 2008. Of course, we will always thank Benjani for his winner against United at Old Trafford, but apart from that we didn’t get much return for the fee we paid Portsmouth. A terrible first touch will be my lasting memories of Benjani.

Sylvinho is another one that didn’t really work out. I don’t feel as if he ever got into the rhythm of the Premier League. His baptism of fire in League competition was away at Bolton, and what at baptism it was. We were defensively all over the place in that game, eventually drawing the match 3-3. Sylvinho I feel was more of a product of our new ‘big club’ relationship with Barcelona. I can’t ever see how he was a Hughes signing. Perhaps we signed Sylvinho to cure Robinho’s homesickness and instil a bit more discipline into the latter’s game? At any rate on the surface and in hindsight it feels like a worthless signing.

Finally, it is with a tint of regret that I see Valeri Bojinov appears to be leaving us to join Parma on a permanent basis. I always thought Bojinov was one of Sven’s better signings. He could have been great in the Premier League. Direct, powerful, a real bull heading up the attack. Injuring his cruciate ligaments against United in his first game meant that he never really got going. Once Mansour’s millions kicked in, there was always going to be limited chances for him at Eastlands now, but he deserves to be playing at a good club so I wish him the best of luck in Italy.

Once again, we return to that question
The big question come late August will be whether Roberto Mancini can forge these players into a team that wants to play for each other. The Italian missed out on 4^th and was rightly granted a reprieve, but he cannot afford any more big failures. In signing these players (and perhaps we aren’t done yet) the club hierarchy has once again delivered its part, now the coaching staff must deliver theirs. A bad start could see Mancini discarded much in the same way as Petrov et al.

Of course, there is another more haunting question at the back of my mind this summer: the prospect of Stephen Ireland moving to Manchester United. This is a story that refuses to go away. If the signing of David Silva had a catch, then this will surely be it. Thwarted in his pursuit of the Spaniard, Ferguson is rumoured to be focusing on signing Ireland. This is something that must not be allowed to happen. For one, the Irishman is an academy youth product. And for two, every City fan knows that Ferguson will only go and get the very best out of a player that has underachieved massively for the past season. That would surely be a spectre that would haunt us forever.

Hearts and minds

2010-05-24T15:05:00.000-07:00

Many fans will have probably already found this little gem of a video, unusually narrated by City fans and academics alike. For those that haven't, its certainly worth a watch.

If you supported the club in the dark days of the mid to late 1990s, the memories will come flooding back. For the neutrals among us, its a facinating four minute journey into the hearts and minds of the City faithful.

Some of this footage is absolute quality. It says it all about the hardcore support of the club.

For my sins I was born and raised a City fan

2010-05-18T12:53:00.000-07:00

My Dad stood and then I sat,
On the Kippax, in different years with different teams,
We watched shite defence and shite attack.
And then Lee and Ball ruined us.

It always went a bit like this:
Halftime, 2-0 up.
But there’s no belief, no relief from the question at the back of everyone’s mind.
How are we going to lose it this time?

Kinky came and went,
Another wad spent.
Another dent in the wallets of the fans.
Another comedic season sent up in smoke.
Late nineties devoid of skill and supporters devoid of hope.

From then on it was always the same.
Where do we look? Where do we turn?
It was Lee and Ball. They burned us.
Failed and failed and failed us.
Did more damage than a Red shirt could ever do.
Wrexham. Bournemouth. Division 2.

But it didn’t change a thing.
Next Saturday at Three o’clock we’d return.
Because we were the experts,
On the club, on our boys.

On the intricacies of our dire game.

We’d always return to point our fingers of blame.
And then the Arabs came…

Notes on a season

2010-05-13T16:28:00.000-07:00

We have missed the chance of being able to compete with Europe’s best next season. For many fans this will represent failure, but the reality is found far from this assessment. If anything, we are still a club in transition, and this above all things we must remember as we look back on this season, in my opinion our second season of upheaval.

So let us look at the campaign in its entirety. Why have we ended up in fifth position? Why not fourth? And why does this year’s season look and feel like a bit of a failure?

When it really mattered, we lost
Let’s start with the last question, and in particular the disappointment of the Spurs game. It was a cup final, and yes it was a cup final I expected us to win. But on the night we fell short because we ran out of attacking ideas. It is never productive to point the finger at individuals, but I feel Emmanuel Adebayor was a key element of this loss. Adebayor started the season well but climaxed way too early during the home tie against Arsenal last September. Following his subsequent suspension, and then of course the horror of what happened to his Togoelse team mates in Angola, he never recovered this early form. And I can’t work out whose fault that is.

Against Spurs (as we have done pretty much all season with Ade), we kept on pumping long balls up to him. I might be walking around with my eyes closed, but I don’t recall ever seeing the 6’3” striker ever win a header. He always jumps at the wrong time, and ever when he is close to getting the ball, he doesn’t seem strong enough or willing enough to win the ball a redirect it to a team mate. His opposite number – Peter Crouch – had this off to a tea. This meant that Spurs were able to retain possession much more easily higher up the pitch, putting us under pressure. Our long balls just came straight back at us, which is part of the reason why we eventually ran out of legs and ideas.

We can look at Adebayor’s individual weakness and pin blame on them. But we also have to question the tactics. What are the players told in the dressing room? Surely it is obvious that Adebayor is not going to win headers and therefore obvious that we have to find different ways of getting up the pitch? If we’re going to knock it up to the front guys, then why not play a more traditional front man in the mould of Roque Santa-Cruz? I was confused by Mancini’s approach to this.

Another big reason why we lost to Spurs was lack of attacking threat from midfield. We started with De Jong and Barry, then substituted Barry with Vieira. A midfield with the defensive stamp of Mancini. With little central link from the midfield, it seemed to me Tevez and Adebayor were coming deeper to retrieve the ball, and then running it into wide positions. Whenever they were successful and crosses did come into the Spurs box, our attacking presence was halved, as one of our striker’s was doing the winger’s work.

In sum then, our attacking play was disjointed – full of endeavour but with no teeth. All very frustrating when you consider the wealth of attacking talent we have within the squad. So we lost against Spurs, and full credit must go to them for the way they secured fourth position. With all the money we’ve spent, no Champions League football is a kick in the teeth. If we’d have beaten Spurs I feel we would’ve secured that berth. It was literally that close and this is where the feeling of failure comes in.

The derby defeats
The heart ache doesn’t end there of course. We also lost in other pivotal games throughout the season. The 4-3 defeat at Old Trafford was a bitter, bitter pill to swallow. It was our first loss of the season, and an important loss I feel for the confidence of the squad. We fought unbelievably well in that game, and when Bellamy scored to make it 3-3 in the 90th minute, it certainly felt for one second that finally, after all these years, the scales were beginning to tip in our favour. We were becoming as mentally strong and ruthless as our neighbours. It was our turn to spoil the party and nip back into contention at the death. Owen’s 96th minute winner cruelly demonstrated that for now at least, we had to wait a little bit longer. That goal knocked us sideways and over the season I don’t think we fully mentally recovered from that blow.

This mental state was underlined when in the Carling Cup semi final Wayne Rooney scored in stoppage time to deny us our first trip to the new Wembley. I was at that game and I can tell you that it was quite simply horrific.

And neither did it end there. Last month at Eastlands, Paul Scholes decided a drab Derby affair by netting in the 93rd minute. This was absolutely soul destroying stuff for the average City fan. Personally I didn’t react as badly to this defeat as I did to the other two. Maybe I was inwardly half resigned to losing it anyway, given what had happened during the season.

We also feel as if we have failed this season because of these dramatic defeats and our inability to put one over on our rivals and draw real blood. We need to chalk up a League victory against Ferguson’s men quickly if we are to remove this inferiority complex.

The consecutive draws
Not long after our first defeat to United, we began to get in the habit of drawing games. The seven draws we chalked up in the months of October and November were key to us missing out on fourth. They were also key to the demise of Mark Hughes, sacked in December. Some were welcome and came against good sides such as Aston Villa and Liverpool, but too many of these draws were worrisome. The home draw against Fulham was where I saw the first signs. We had built a good 2-0 lead by the 60th minute, but by the 70th we had capitulated and allowed Hogdson’s men to draw level.

At the time I passed it off as an aberration, but I nevertheless sensed the smell of ‘typical City’ lurking in the atmosphere. At the next home game that sense was confirmed as we went 2-0 down to Burnley in 30 minutes. By the 60th minute we were 3-2 in front, but we capitulated yet again towards the end of the game and allowed Burnley to level the tie 3-3. We broke the duck with an excellent home win against Title-elect Chelsea, but a game later we were back to our drawing habits, allowing Bolton to put 3 past us at the Reebok. We gave as good as we got of course, and equalised every time Bolton took the lead. But it was clear to see that something was going wrong at the back. It was entertaining, high octane stuff going forward, but we were leaking goals badly at the back and the back of our minds everyone knew that this was not top four form.

Although we’d put a stop to the consecutive manner of our draws, you could see our confidence was knocked. We’d lost our steel, we weren’t the side we were at the beginning of the season. For the Mansour-Khaldoon-Cook axis, the final straw came with the 3-0 defeat to Spurs at White Hart Lane. This was (quite rightly as it turned out) a game billed as a battle between pretenders to the top four crown, and quite simply we failed spectacularly. I don’t remember us managing a chance all night as Spurs kept us at distance and picked us off. The billing of the game sealed Hughes’ dismissal. Whatever your opinion on Hughes, it confirmed to the owners that he didn’t have the mettle to lead this team into the top four.

The ingredients of our best ever Premier League finish
Having gone through all this dejection and despair, its clear that this is far from the whole picture. Although we failed on most of the big occasions, we certainly did a lot right. We would not have finished as high as 5th if this were not the case.

A lot went right offensively. Yes, Adebayor failed to fulfil his £25m price tag, but other players stepped up to the plate magnificently. Some, such as Carlos Tevez, were expected to. But others were not. Craig Bellamy has arguably just completed the best season of his career. Not many predicted the heights to which the Welshman would climb this year. A constant menace (both to opposing teams and – constructively – to his own team mates) it is difficult to see how we would have finished so high without Bellamy’s overall contribution.

But the largest accolade must go to a certain little Argentinean striker. After harbouring slight knocks at the beginning of the season, it took Carlos Tevez a little time to get into his stride. But when he did, he quickly became the attacking fulcrum of the side and the best player I have ever seen in a Blue shirt in all my years of watching City. The diminutive striker finished the season with 29 goals, 23 of them in the Premier League. In hindsight, it is this statistic that will most rankle United supporters this season. It is now clear beyond doubt that Ferguson made an error of judgement in letting Tevez leave. Perhaps this represents our best jibe at United this season – with Carlos Tevez in a Red shirt, they almost certainly would have won the League.

Our attack gave rise to some blistering results. It is to the attack’s credit that these reached their peak at the end of the season, with the back to back 6-1 and 5-1 demolitions of Burnley and Birmingham respectively coming to mind. But better results with more moderate score lines lay earlier on in the season. The opening day defeat of Blackburn Rovers was fundamental. Sam Allardyce and his men were the first to face the full brunt of Sheik Mansour’s millions. During the pre match build up they warned that City’s starlets would have a tough, physical ride. I think the term ‘kick lumps’ was used by one of the Blackburn players. And lets face it, a drubbing from Blackburn Rovers would have been an utter disaster on the opening day. Our season would have got off on the completely wrong footing and we’d have been the laughing stock of football, with Allardyce crowing in our ears. But these threats never materialised and the Blues efficiently despatched Rovers 2-0 at Ewood Park. Allardyce’s men seemed to heed this warning during the return fixture at Eastlands as I don’t remember any mind games being used here. But it didn’t matter. City were better than they were at Ewood and sent Blackburn packing 4-1.

The contribution of Adam Johnson should also be noted. Johnson, signed by Mancini but most probably identified by Brian Marwood, is a great English talent that will surely go on to do great things in football. Whilst formidable, his trickery on the wings has not always been there whilst he has been at City – most likely due to his lack of physical strength. But he has been a damn sight more consistent that Shaun Wright-Phillips, and this might well mean that the younger winger goes to South Africa in the place of SWP.

The defeats of Chelsea both home and away showed exactly what the side could achieve when it set its mind accordingly. In their decline, Liverpool were lucky to escape with two draws against us this season. We could have easily despatched them in both games if we’d have brought will and determination to the table. Things were looking very rosy indeed when, at the end of the season, we came from behind to defeat Aston Villa 3-1. The win was the first of a two game stint that we all knew would decide our Champions League future. We took the first step with flying colours, but as we all know by now, we failed to navigate the second.

The arrival, and subsequent backing of Roberto Mancini
The arrival of Roberto Mancini was a controversial development, not least because I feel the majority of fans – after they’d thought about it – actually didn’t want Hughes to go. Tempers were high and people were looking to point the blame at the club’s hierarchy. At first I thought Mancini looked a bit bewildered by it all. I remember his first press conference, when reported fired questions to him about whether he would be sacked if he did not reach fourth. The speed of Mancini’s arrival and the rumours of him being in the stadium to watch Hughes’ final game contributed to the feeling that the owners had plotted to plunge the sword in the Welshman’s back for some time. Then there were allegations from Hughes that the owners had unfairly moved the goalposts, now demanding a top four finish whereas at the start of the season they asked only for sixth. The mud was flying in all directions, but the majority of it stuck to Garry Cook. Hardly any seems to be still running down the faces of Khaldoon and Mansour. But they are the ones with money after all, so perhaps they deserve

After that initial press conference where Cook was took to task for supposedly unfairly raising the bar on Hughes’s performance, I soon became very impressed at the way Mancini acquitted himself. If anything, the Italian was the calming influence that we needed around the club.

The appointment of Mancini has seen our football make a trade off. Clearly more cautious, more defensive than Hughes, Mancini has shored us up at the back. But this has diminished our attacking threat – not fatally I must add – but it is nevertheless diminished. City’s tradition is to play progressive, attacking football, but to do that in today’s game and win (much like United do) you need better players at the club. This season we’ve not had those players and so Mancini has opted for defensive solidity over attacking risk, employing a much more defensive midfield in outlook. Tevez too, seems to expend a lot less energy now than he did under Hughes, where he seemed to pressurise defenders much more through chasing down the ball. I don’t know why this has changed, or who made that decision, but we all like it when Carlos is chasing down lost causes because we know that he’s likely to cause opposing teams problems employing this tactic.

The defensive solidity that Mancini has introduced has made us much more difficult to beat. We now concede less goals and I remember only being comprehensively beaten once under Mancini’s leadership – that being a 2-0 home defeat to Everton where Moyes’ team frustrated us all match, culminating in Mancini losing it on the touchline with Moyes. It’s also the only time I can remember the Italian losing it.

The backing of Mancini – even though he did not reach his target of delivering the club into the Champions League – is most welcome. I have written time and again on this blog of the club missing the ingredient of stability. In truth we’ve not had it since the early 1990s. Stability doesn’t just equal success, but the right personnel and stability certainly does. With the new financial backing, we have brought the right kind of personnel to the club – both in playing and managing terms. It is about time that someone finally backed that talent that we now have, and not only that, but remain fully committed to that talent when things don’t go according to plan. I honestly believe that this is the only way Manchester City will achieve sustained success in the years to come.

Looking forward
So its not really that bad after all is it? We’ve now a Europa League campaign to look forward to with a much better squad of players to attack it with. We must remember that we did well a couple of years back with a set of much lesser players. The Premier League also looms, but I think we are still a way off in terms of securing that title. After next season I think we will have a much better handle on where we are domestically. A lot depends of course upon the trajectory of other teams, but it also depends upon ourselves and the team spirit we forge at the club, which I feel has been lacking for the past year. A key area here is identifying our leaders, and specifically a club captain that can take us forward. At present I am not sure whether we have any of these. These things can only be developed over time, and it is for this reason that I expect the League to be beyond us for a couple of years yet.

A dour encounter gives rise to more twists and turns

2010-04-25T08:01:00.000-07:00

On paper, yesterday’s trip to the Emirates was a potentially explosive showdown, with ourselves continuing to push for fourth and Arsenal looking to regain some face (and keep their own title aspirations mathematically alive) in the aftermath of their complete and utter capitulation at the hands of Wigan. In the end, both teams delivered a dour encounter, a day that, for me at least, was made slightly worthwhile due to the smattering of celebrities I saw attending the game.

Sven, Paul and Jeremy
After a few pints in the volatile Drayton Arms pub, opposite one of the corners of the ground, we made our way to our seats. Approaching the stadium, we soon found that we were walking behind none other than former City manager Sven Goran-Eriksson. The Swede, no doubt here to check on the form of City captain Kolo Toure, was mobbed by a small throng of City fans – myself included. Whilst Sven is far from being a legend at the Club (let’s face it he wasn’t given much chance to be a legend), its clear that he is still loved by some fans at Club, mostly likely because of the style of football we played under him and the exciting players he brought to the club.

Once inside, we saw who I consider to be a true legend of the club – Paul Lake. A player who could have given City and England so much more, a player whose career was cut short by injury. Lake was more than happy to pose for photographs with fans around him – for me this only reaffirms his legend status, given the amount of fans who must ask him to do this whenever he is in the public eye.

And then for good measure, coming out of the ground we saw former Rugby Union England international Jeremy Guscott. Not bad for a day visit to the capital!

The Emirates
Arsenal should be proud of their stadium, surely one of the finest in the world. I felt rather privileged to be sitting on padded seats – not bad a £33 a hit – although the reality was that, as usual, the away support never sat down and so never took full advantage of this luxury.

Although obviously on a bigger scale the Emirates reminds me very much of Eastlands in terms of how the highest seats of each stand slope up and down. Similarities with COMS do not end there. Both stadiums are not quite there in terms of atmosphere, although yesterday the flatness of the home support was probably down to the team’s performance and the fact that, whatever the result, they knew that they were out of the title race. The major difference between the two stadiums seemed to be what food they sell - will we ever see Salmon Bagels for £4.50 a go at Eastlands?

The game
On the pitch, it was another average performance from City where we never really got at our opponents. On the other side of the coin, they never really got at us. This was perhaps an example of when Mancini’s ‘safety first’ tactics served us well. Against United, one blip caused us to lose the game. Against Arsenal, there were no such blips and thus we came through at the Emirates unscathed. Everybody did their defensive jobs as Mancini opted to go with a defensive midfield in the form of Vieira, Barry and De Jong. Pablo Zabaleta, Wayne Bridge and (when he came on for the injured Bridge) Micah Richards did enough to deal with the likes of Walcott and Nasri. The worrying selection of Robin Van Persie never really presented the City backline with any serious problems.

Unfortunately we didn’t create very much at all at the other end. Adam Johnson faintly threatened on a couple of occasions but - as an Arsenal fan observed to me (in more colourful terms) coming away from the game - Bellamy and Tevez were ineffectual. And we all know what happens when our two lynchpins cannot affect the game: we either draw or lose.

This time we drew, and it was a much more valuable point for us than it was for the Gunners. That said, once again with the attacking talent at our disposal, I felt we should have been making more of a game of it against an Arsenal team with no Fabregas, Dennilson or Gallas. The arrival of Adebayor to the thunderous boos of the home support (incidentally the loudest they were during the entire game) upped our tempo a notch, but still we never really got close to causing Arsenal serious damage.

To add to our lacklustre performance, Shay Given dislocated his shoulder whilst saving a shot from Diaby and will now miss the rest of the season. He was replaced by Gunnar Nielsen, a player whom I knew absolutely nothing of but am now slightly more informed about – apparently he’s the first Faroe Islander to play in the Premier League. Stuart Taylor, the regular goalkeeping No.2 was out with knee surgery.

We must now ask ourselves, are we seriously ready for Champions League football?
When all is said and done, the last two results against United and Arsenal tell me that we are not yet ready to take fourth place. The frustrating thing is that I don’t think we turned up in either encounter, and let’s face it, we should be turning up and making a fight of it at this stage of the season.

We have thrown away a good momentum far too easily. The destruction of Burnley and Birmingham set us up nicely for the run in, but we never really gave ourselves the chance to win against the likes of United and Arsenal, and in so doing I feel we have dropped vital points and – most importantly have lost the momentum.

I have never wanted United to win as much as I did yesterday, and they did, so we must take the defeat of Spurs at Old Trafford as a positive, even if we failed to take full advantage of it. But still the narrative of the League issues us with more twists and turns. Today, after their 1-0 victory over Birmingham City, Aston Villa have somehow found a way back into the mix and now have as good a chance as Spurs and ourselves on making 4th position.

If we were to lose against Villa this coming Saturday, mathematically we would still be in the hunt for fourth, but speaking realistically, in our heads we will surely feel as if we have blown it. Anything less than victory will now not suffice as we enter a three game mini season that will have a major impact on the club’s trajectory over the next couple of years.

Watching City from afar

2010-04-20T02:20:00.000-07:00

It has been a strange couple of weeks. I have watched the last couple of City games from Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, from where I now write. I was due back in Manchester for last weekend's derby showdown, but a certain volcano in Iceland soon put paid to that. Whether or not the footballing events of last weekend have put paid to our aspirations on fourth place is another matter entirely.

5-1 at Arthur's

I watched the slow dismantling of Birmingham City from Arthur's Bar in the touristy Puerto Del Carmen. The trip here was a planned excursion to a bar that styles itself as the Lanzarote branch of City's overseas support. Arthur's shows that support through the numerous City strips that cover the ceiling of the bar, whilst the walls are lined with various City memorabilia signed by anyone from Paul Dickov to Ricky Hatton.

Indeed the backdrop to this game proved to be as entertaining as the victory itself. Arthur's Bar - a jovial and very British drinking establishment, can no doubt tell a few stories. Perhaps the most lasting memory I will take from here was the airing of the old song: "City! Manchester City! We are the boys who are playing to win!" very loudly through the Bar's speakers everytime the Blues put one in the back of the net.

As you can imagine, the record got played over and over against Birmingham. Following the demolition of Burnley, we once again showed what we can do when our attack clicks. Going into the game I expected McLeish's men to produce stiff resistance, but Cameron Jerome's strike aside, they generated little in the way of attacking threats until they were smothered by the usual suspects: Tevez and Adebayor, and a slightly unusual one in the form of Nedum Onohua, whose surging run cut through the Birmingham defence to produce and excellent solo strike. Onohua's goal reminded me very much of the way his captain, Kolo Toure, makes forays forward from time to time.

0-1 at Erik's

After the frustration of delays and airport closures due to volcanic ash spreading throughout most of Europe, I wasn't able to make it back to Manchester for what was a bigger than usual Manchester derby. I contented myself with watching the game in a quieter bar in another part of the island, but basked in warm sunlight for good measure. It looked like an equally glorious day in Manchester, a great day for putting the title hopes of our rivals to the sword. The reality of course was a very average derby, a complete and utter damp squib that neither side deserved to win.

The game ended on an all too familiar note, the recurring, unpalatable taste of defeat to United, once again in the dying embers of the game, once again as we thought we had done enough. It pains and irks me like a bone in the throat. Frankly it has been a horrific season for City fans in terms of derby football.

Last Saturday was a day where we suffered rather than benefited at the hands of Mancini's tactics. We gave United too much respect and allowed them too much time on the ball. For me this was the overarching reason for our loss.

I can certainly see the potential fruits of Mancini's thinking. The Italian certainly likes to keep it tight and there are great benefits to be drawn from this. But for me, this is cagey football, suicide against team like United and certainly not what this City team should be about. Call it want you what, but our negativity / defensive-mindedness / cautiousness was our undoing because it sent the wrong messages to the opposition. We dropped back far too early on and we saw little of Tevez's usual efforts to harass and pressurise the opposition backline. At times, it felt like we were almost inviting them to attack, a reckless strategy to pursue against team vying for the title, let alone a team that we want so badly to defeat.

Of course, if we'd have nicked a 1-0 win I would have been singing Mancini's praises. And we certainly did forge openings that could have produced that outcome. Tevez's freekick in the first half, and Barry's breaking run into the box in the second come to mind.

I also don't want to heap the blame solely onto the shoulders of the manager. For 90 odd minutes the team managed to achieve probably the most important element of Mancini's game plan - keep United out. But once again we fell down at the final hurdle because of a glaring individual error, once again a red shirt was unmarked in the box in the final minutes, and once again we capitulated - only this time not Owen, nor Rooney, but to Paul Scholes.

We certainly should not have lost the game, but we certainly did not deserve to win it either. United edged it on performance and and certainly had the better chances, but given our recent experiences with our rivals we should not have been switching off as the game came to a close. It was an encounter that had draw written all over it, and we should have seen that eventuality out.

The tables turn once again

Just as last week ourselves and Chelsea were in the box seats for our respective League battles, this week United and Tottenham have both made inroads. Looking at our own battle, and the small gap that is developing between 5th and 6th position, it is now looking more likely that the race for fourth will be between ourselves and Redknapp's men.

It remains an impossible one to call, but how cruel will it be if defeats like last Saturday's mean the difference between Champions and Europa League football?