Tonight was the final nail in what has been a terrible end to the season.
As little as two months ago there was talk of a quadruple - but a lack of belief, a removal of all urgency and a plague of muscle injuries have ended this season for good now. Aguero wasn't fit and hasn't been since Spurs away (our last fantastic performance), Negredo's shoulder has been in an invisible sling since the League Cup semi-final and Zabaleta's very gradual tiredness has come about because Richards isn't fit enough. All of this has contributed to a very thin squad getting exactly what it was coming to it: diminuendo.
But that's not all. I've stood by him all season when the arrows have been flying towards him, but Pellegrini got it wrong tonight and has taken our title chances down with him. Leaving Silva out tonight wasn't down to Pellegrini just needing to learn about English football, it was down to him underestimating Sunderland and nothing more. Silva has been our best player for the best part of 6 weeks now - perhaps even the best part of 3 years if you want to look at the bigger picture - but he was left out of the picture completely. And no surprise, as sure as night follows day, a City team without Silva looked like a bunch of strangers in a silent room.
We were unlucky not to win at the very end of the game - and had Nasri's chance not been spooned over the bar from an almost unforgivable distance we'd be back on course for the title - but between minute number 3 and minute number 87 we were nowhere to be found. Kompany wasn't fit, Nasri was anonymous, Milner was a disaster, Aguero was unfit, Negredo was average and Zabaleta, understandably, looked knackered. All key players, all not ready for the fight for one reason or another.
I'm struggling to give a shit about how the season will pan out from this point on- as long as we finish in the top 3, which I'm sure we can, I won't be arsed either way. I just can't wait for the season to end, for the World Cup to start, and for the misery and depleted nature of this season's finale to become optimism and expectancy. I'm sick to the back teeth of watching injured, unfit players get thrown together because our squad either isn't big enough or our fitness experts are terrible at their jobs.
Fight to the end? Nah, I'd rather not waste my energy if the players don't want to.
