To say this correspondent is a little concerned right now would be an understatement…
I’ve been around when City have been relegated and when the thought of being a top four side was a pipe dream. Yet here we are in that top four as reigning champions, but flirting with dropping out of it.
I hear people saying to me in The Etihad ‘nah, we’ll be fine’ but will we, really? Are we in a crisis?
We are suffering right now looking back across this season’s cmapaigns mainly due to our failures to sign top quality new players in the last summer window and the constant tinkering of not replacing injured players from an often lengthy injury list with like for like substitutes.
City at Everton was a disaster to say the least, not unlike Southampongate. It wasn’t one of our better performances, that’s for sure. It left a Stretford Gap that is just too big to catch up on but it has left our second place spot back in a danger zone. Had we become complacent this season?
The 2011/2012 season saw us thrashing the likes of Tottenham and United resoundingly 1-5 and 1-6 in their own back yards but this time round we have been pretty much average.
I would say that the transfer failure had a massive impact upon us and to be fair, we can’t lay the blame at Roberto Mancini’s feet as he is not the one who signs the contracts. We dragged our feet in the signing saga of RVP and we all know the end result of that! I just cannot believe we did not sign big players before the arrival of FFP. We chose to stand still.
To me it seemed like the lack of signings was a sign that we were still hopeful that we could and would retain the title with the players that we already have, or in the words of Roy Keane, were cocky or complacent. Let’s face it, we fought hard and had ‘pride in battle’ last season. That dogged determination led to us being crowned champions.
We started off this season relatively well in bagging the Community Shield but we have had the proverbial hitting of the fan right the way through the season. Much of which manifested itself from the off in our beloved Mario Balotelli, hot headed, sulky and moody. He had dramas on and off the pitch which resulted in a bust up between himself and Mancini but unlike Tevez, Mario did not come back to us from the summer re-energised. Instead, he ultimately headed off to AC Milan where…he’s on fire.
We suffered an unpleasant time in the Champions League following another hoorible groupo stage draw when we crashed out with just one measly point. As for the Premier League, compared to the rags and their generally improved form since last season, we appear to have lacked control and failed to maintain consistent results.
Pay heed to my words Blues. I have said this once and I will say it again. Is our second place secure? We’d better watch out because Arsenal and Chelsea have stepped up their game and Tottenham are still thereabouts. These sides have stepped up whereas it seems that we have stepped back in pace.
There are too many dramas and too much unrest going on at City in my eyes. Whilst I am on the subject of mishaps and misfortunes of City this season, what the hell is going on with YaYa Toure’s gobby agent and why are we dragging our heels at renewing that contract? Again, this is something that someone does not seem to be paying close enough attention to at the City HQ.
UPCOMING FIXTURES:
all times East Manchester
Sa 30Mar 15h00 Newcastle, The Etihad, PL
Mo 08Apr 20h00 The Rags, The Swamp, PL
Su 14Apr 16h00 The rags or Chelsea, Wembley, FACSF
We 17Apr 19h45 Wigan Athletic, The Etihad, PL
Su 21 Apr 13h30 Spurs, White Hart Lane, PL
Sa 27 Apr 12h45 West Ham United, The Etihad, PL
Sa 04 May 15h00 Swansea, The Liberty Stadium, PL
Su 12 May 15h00 Reading, The Madejski Stadium, PL
Su 19 May 16h00 Norwich City, The Etihad, PL
City vs West Brom To Be Rearranged
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