da bwin： Throughout the Manchester Derby on Saturday lunchtime, I struggled to focus on the game. It wasn’t just because I was having a stand up row with an Irish couple over the merits of holding onto a table for five other people who hadn’t arrived in the pub yet. No, the main reason for my lack of focus is that I have found Manchester City an increasingly difficult side to watch this season.
da lvbet： Often when you watch a team play over a long period of time, it is easy to pick out the players whom the rest of the side turn to in the event of crisis. My concern for the Manchester City fans on Saturday lunchtime was that such players were not in evidence. This is not to say that there aren’t a collection of leaders and inspiring characters amongst the City contingent, but from my viewpoint I struggle to see a player who is quintessentially a Manchester City footballer.
I would wager that this is a concern for Roberto Mancini as he tries to develop a team unity that has been lacking even before the arrival of Sheikh Mansour in August 2008. During the dying minutes on Saturday, Mancini brought on Shaun Wright-Phillips with a view to almost trying to capture the memories of the winger’s goal against the same opposition in 2004, only, looking around the pitch there was no one around to remember it.
You could argue this is a price paid for the recruitment of players based purely on financial reward, sacrificing affection and genuine desire to play for the fans. I would not go so far to say the City players are a group of mercenaries, but the collective team efforts are constantly professional rather than emotionally driven. A team spirit cannot be purchased or developed overnight.
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At the start of this season, Mancini passed the captaincy and responsibility for being that emotional engine room to Carlos Tevez, as much for the Argentine’s whole hearted industry than any great leadership qualities. When Tevez tried to force his way out of the club by requesting a transfer and announcing to the media that he would never play in sky blue again, Mancini was unable to find a more suitable candidate to take over the armband. Such a problem is significant and is indicative of what the manager sees within his dressing room.
To avoid the situation in the first place City would have done well to learn the lessons of successful Premier League outfits of the past. Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson ensured they had a reliable core of players already comfortable with playing together before bringing in outside talent. Even Chelsea, despite spending many millions of pounds, maintained a core of playing staff that pre-dated the Abramovich regime when he took over in 2003.
Some may argue that these other clubs were blessed with extremely gifted players that Mancini and his predecessor, Mark Hughes, have not had the fortune to inherit. However, the players that pre-dated the Mansour takeover have certainly not been well looked after.
Joe Hart, Stephen Ireland, Richard Dunne and Craig Bellamy were all players to have become major fan favourites during their spell in Manchester and showed enough to suggest they could form a nucleus around which other high-profile names could fit, something with which the home fans could identify.
Instead, Dunne and Ireland were shipped out to Aston Villa and Craig Bellamy has gone a season long loan to Cardiff. Hart was very successful at Birmingham last year, but should Shay Given have ever been purchased when the club already had such quality between the sticks? The potential for continuity has been lost and the struggle is to now rebuild it with the expensively essembled cast of the City of Manchester stage.
As time passes, and providing players remain, this unity will develop, and the need for players such as Bellamy and Ireland may decrease. The club are more than good enough to secure Champions League football for next season and should certainly expect to. There will be key clashes in the coming weeks against Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal – the results of which will define the completion of Mancini’s ultimate goal. Growing a sense of team togetherness will be key as future challenges gather on the horizon.
To follow my future ramblings and help me convince Shaun Wright-Phillips to throw a Football Fancast Christmas do, check out my Twitter page.
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