The latest explanation for the poor scoring record of Tevez this last season is that, under Mancini's instructions, Tevez dropped back too much into mid-field, in contrast to his "golden years". In fact, the first instinct of Tevez is to run towards the man with the ball. It can be very endearing. [It is one reason I wanted to call our new puppy Tevez back in the summer of 2010! Fortunately my wife would not agree.] Sometimes this involves Tevez running towards an opposing defender - and this particularly delights his fans, even when there is no prospect of him winning the ball. But, more often than not, it involves running towards a City player and demanding the ball.
Tevez has always dropped back looking for the ball. After City's game against Reading in March 2011, Sam Allardyce explained (on ESPN) how he had engineered at draw for Blackburn at the Etihad early that season. The gist was this:
"City play possession football. But they are normally set up with Carlos Tevez up front BUT HE DOES NOT REALLY PLAY UP FRONT. As a result, they have to play a lot of sideways passes to make their way upfield and they hope to create scoring chances with little passes through opposing defences. But if teams are given the time to get 9 men behind the ball, it is extremely difficult to break them down."
The golden years of Tevez were not as amazing as they are often portrayed, particularly given that most of City's attacking strategy was directed at enabling him to score. In his Golden Boot season, if penalties are excluded, he scored just 15 goals at 167 minutes per goal. In 4 seasons for City, ignoring penalties, he has scored 43 premier league goals at 195 mpg.
Over his entire premier league career, ignoring penalties, he has scored 71 goals at 205 mpg. In comparison, again ignoring penalties, Dzeko has scored 94 Bundesliga + PL goals at 140 mpg; Aguero has scored 103 Primera Division + PL goals at 172 mpg.
The international scoring record of Tevez is not great (it is not even as good as Cavani). According to wiki, including penalties, Tevez has 13 goals in 62 appearances, compared to 20 in 50 for Aguero and 29 in 54 for Dzeko.
