Blue heaven: Manchester City ready for title tilt
Stuart Brennan
August 30, 2011
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Edin Dzeko has been in fine form
M.E.N. Sport reporter Stuart Brennan believes Manchester City can eclipse Manchester United in the title race. Here he explains why:
MANAGER/TACTICS
Roberto Mancini has constantly been questioned throughout the 21 months of his tenure as City boss, but everyone can now see how shrewd his buys have been.
Far from collecting players but not building a team, every purchase he has made has built towards this moment, when City have a team with structure and purpose and a squad with very strong cover in every department.
His man-management has been questioned, with grumpy Carlos Tevez and the maverick Mario Balotelli testing patience at times, but he has been firm when he needed to be and cut slack when that was the best policy.
On the field, he has finally got to the point towards which he has been driving for the last season and a half.
The team has a strong spine, stronger even than United’s, with Joe Hart, Vincent Kompany, Nigel de Jong, Yaya Toure and rising star Edin Dzeko.
Mancini can also chop and change his team according to the opposition, but the basic set-up remains the same.
With a couple of holding midfielders – perm two from de Jong, Gareth Barry, Yaya and James Milner – the full backs are released to join in the attack, and in Gael Clichy and Micah Richards he has two players well-equipped for the task.
But that is just the mechanics of it, because what is happening ahead of those seven players is what makes City special.
Journalists obsessed with 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1 and 4-2-2-2 have been scratching their heads trying to pin down the City formation.
They should just sit back and enjoy the fluid patterns being woven by David Silva, Samir Nasri, Sergio Aguero and Dzeko – and of course Tevez, Adam Johnson and Balotelli when they get their chance.
That is where the title will be won or lost – and City have supreme class there, and oodles of it.
SQUAD STRENGTH
City have raced to three wins from three, averaging four goals a game, without even employing the top scorer from the last two seasons – or the man who was second top scorer.
Tevez and Balotelli have looked on as Aguero, Dzeko and Silva have destroyed the opposition, knowing that after the international break their chance will come.
But it is not just in attack that City have depth in talent. Nigel de Jong – without whom City could not win last season – has missed the last two games and is due back for the Wigan game on September 10.
Kolo Toure will also be available for that game, and barring any disasters while on international duty, City will be at full strength for a September schedule which will test their resources to the full.
Mancini wanted two top-class players for every position, and he is almost there – in his own opinion, he needs at least one more defensive midfielder to be truly covered.
But the heightened competition has brought the best out of Milner and Barry so far this season – both have proved they will be valuable squad members during the grind of the English winter.
The Blues now have an international goalkeeper, Romania’s Costel Pantilimon, as back-up to Joe Hart, another area in which they are stronger than the Reds.
Trying to pick a front four for City is a headache in itself, like trying to cram a hundredweight of diamonds into a pint pot.
Perm any four from Aguero, Dzeko, Silva, Nasri, Tevez, Balotelli and Johnson, and you have an attacking force capable of taking on anyone on the planet. United are strong in that department, but without the depth.
KEY PLAYERS
The difficulty in picking out key players tells you what you need to know about City – they have key players almost from 1 to 11.
If I had said three weeks ago that Edin Dzeko would fall into this category, I would probably have been laughed out of a job.
But Dzeko has shown that he is Dimitar Berbatov with work-rate, Wayne Rooney with aerial power, and Javier Hernandez with strength.
The way he has fused together the attacking talents of Aguero, Nasri and Silva, and given them a focal point and a purpose to their ebullient football has been joyful to watch.
Those three are quite a support act, as Tottenham found to their cost on Sunday, with Nasri giving a bit of much-needed breadth and crossing ability, Aguero sharp even at 80 per cent fitness, and Silva simply magnificent whenever he takes the field.
But nobody ever won the title with flair alone, and that is why the next key man might surprise a few, especially those who have not seen him play this season – Barry.
His work rate in the opening three games, his tactical astuteness and his willingness to cover and do the unglamorous stuff allows the artists to paint their pictures.
Kompany will also be important again, the leader of the team and the man who holds the defence together.
But in two evenly-matched Manchester teams, the difference comes down to degrees, and Hart is a league ahead of David de Gea – and details like that win you titles.
Hart is an all-round better keeper. Both are good shot-stoppers, but Hart now has four seasons of Premier League experience behind him, and relishes the physical confrontation something which the Spaniard has found something of a shock.
I feel the title race could be that close it comes down to a goalkeeper’s brilliant save, or a goalkeeping error. If that is so, Hart is the man to win it for City.
PEDIGREE
People keep pointing to the fact that United have years of experience of winning titles, but scratch the surface and the picture beneath looks different.
It is true that the Reds have a manager who knows exactly what it takes, but Mancini won a hat-trick of titles with Inter and has got the Premier League figured out, with the help of Brian Kidd and David Platt.
Also, City have a core of players used to winning titles – men like Yaya, Tevez, Clichy, de Jong, Balotelli, and Dzeko have all won league titles before – and the rest are burning with a desire to do it this season.
What do you think? Have your say.
To portray City as inexperienced and untested in the white heat of a season of Premier League and Champions League demands is a dangerous mistake to make. They also now have the experience of winning together after last season’s FA Cup exploits – and the parallels with United, for whom cup success heralded 18 years of unprecedented triumph, are clear.
