So let me get this straight. Mario spends weeks playing with a weakened team, a team missing at various points Kompany, Lescott, Richards, Yaya, Silva and Aguero, against some tough away opponents, in a formation which doesn't suit him at all, and he gets slaughtered for it. In the same period how many was Aguero scoring when he played? Is his return to form purely based on Tevez? I'd argue no because he was in this sort of form earlier in the season when he was playing in a full-strength side which didn't involve Tevez.
That's how you make the comparison. You compare the two men when they're in the same sides playing the same quality opposition in formations which suit the players. However, you'd have thought from the comments on here that Mario was never part of a the City side which ran rampant earlier in the season whilst Tevez sat on the bench, beach or golf course. Some very short memories on Bluemoon.
Anyroad, to sum up my general view. When we've got our full-strength side out, we're an exceptional team that's geared well towards playing tiki-taka. With a few injuries however, the effectiveness diminishes very quickly. A couple of injuries to key players or players essential to making the system work and we look like half the team. Indeed, we did quite often yesterday without Yaya. It was 2-1 and looking shaky until he came on. Our failure so far this season is not changing or adapting well to when that happens or when the opposing defence is having a stormer. Sticking Mario up front with Dzeko unsupported is not any sort of answer. This situation needs to be rectified in summer with some wide forwards who can cross a ball and stretch a defence.
I've got two other gripes as well. Firstly, Joe Hart's distribution. We should always play out from the back. We lose so much possession when he's kicking out. Second is long corners, again, we concede possession too easily. Most of our players who can head a ball are our three main defenders, therefore exposing us to counters, whilst our main attacking threat comes from men who are of shorter stature. That includes Mario who, whilst not short of stature, is more dangerous with the ball at his feet than on his forehead.
