The kids are alright, surely?

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

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?

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

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

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

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?

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!