They don’t come much sweeter

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.