Why Man City Won’t Finish in the Top Four
Posted by Steve Fales | Posted in Champions League, English Premier League, World Soccer | Posted: July 21, 2009 at 6:33 am
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Most Manchester City fans are ecstatic about the clubs prospects for the coming season, and why shouldn’t they be? At the very least, City will score bundles of goals, and be an extremely fun team to watch. But there are several reasons why we will be looking at the same ‘Big Four’ we’ve been looking at for 5 of the past 6 seasons. Its not a bias I may have on teams trying to break into the top four. In fact, on most occasions, I enjoy another team making a top four push, especially when it comes from a team with a modest budget. Seeing a free-wielding City break through doesn’t exactly scream David versus Goliath, but I can respect their effort.
As of right now, City have an incomplete squad. They have purchased a striker for more than £18m, 5 times in the past 13 months. Jo is now with Everton on a season-long loan, and I think he fits well with Yakubu. But aside from the investments made in the attacking third of the pitch, City are left very vulnerable in the other two-thirds. Sure, Gareth Barry will bring some steel to the midfield, but players like Steven Ireland, Elano and Martin Petrov will not flourish under what Mark Hughes is setting up. It is clear that Hughes will deploy a three-pronged attack, much like the one Sir Alex used this past season. With that formation in mind, City need, at the very least, 2, but preferably 3 ball-winners in midfield. Nigel de Jong fits that bill, but if either he or Barry get injured, City will have numerous questions to answer.
Even if City are winning games, things won’t necessarily be peachy. It will be impossible for Mark Hughes to keep all of his attackers happy. I have listed 7 attacking minded players so far, all of whom are accustomed to being valued, and only 4 can start if City wants to keep teams from routinely slotting 3 or 4 past Shay Given. When you think about petulant attitudes like Emmanuel Adebayor’s and, at times, Robinho’s, playing time is everything. If he’s cranky, he simply isn’t effective.
The back four is what caused City issues last season, not the strike force. City scored 58 goals last season, the most outside the top four. How did they finish 10th? Well they conceded 50, which was more than any other team in the top 11. The most goals conceded by a top four club, was Arsenal’s 37. They have yet to make one defensive acqisition thus far. Sure they’ve gone after John Terry, and may be mental enough to consider paying £40m for him. But in truth, their defensive scouting team needs some eye-opening. Terry, Joleon Lescott and Kolo Toure is the best they can do? I know money is no object for the club, but how about going for talent abroad and getting better talent for less money? Phillipe Mexes springs to mind, Giorgio Chiellini could be an option, even Fulham’s big boy, Brede Hangeland, would be a better buy. Nah, not for Hughesy. His central defensive targets raise the question, is he interested in putting together a winning team, or in headlines?
My last point is this: eeeeeeven if all of City’s signings turn out to be good ones in the long term, what are the chances that they gel quick enough to lose little to no ground early in the season to make a sustainable ‘top four’ push past established squads like Everton and Villa, both of which have very savvy managers who know how to sniff out superior teams’ weaknesses. All I’m saying is lavish, flamboyant spending does not equate into onfield success, especially when none of it is spent on the teams’ weakness.
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I think you will find that they scored 58 last season and conceded 50.
Fixed it. Thanks.
Hmmm clutching at straws…. Sounds like you want it to happen rather than having good reasons…
We played 4-3-3 in every game last year and Ireland didn’t suffer… We have Kompany and Zabaleta to cover DeJong and Barry injuries…
and the nail in the coffin… You think that Cheillini (awful defender/maybe most over rated in the world…did you not watch the Confed cup) and Hangeland are better than Terry and Lescott….
City have 2 good players in every position if they get two CB’s… The only thing that will hold them back is getting them to work as a team…. The quality of squad will not be in question….
—————–Given——————
Richards—-Terry—Lescott—-Bridge
—————DeJong——————
—–Ireland————-Barry———
Tevez————————–Robinho
—————Adebayor—————-
Bench:
SWP, Elano, Kompany, Onouha, RSC
Use a spell checker “extactic” duh.
Jazfiction is 100% correct except Bellamy/Petrov/Zabeleta /Bojinov will be on bench as will Richards because Onuha will be playing and Elano will be history
Hughes is bringing in proven premiership performers to get City to a decent level. He hasn’t finished his buying yet and we’re certain to see some defenders brought in.
Just because he’s bought players in a different order than you believe he should does not make him a failure. Your maths is not the only area this article is lacking.
I think its quite clear that Hangeland is better than Terry, yes. And they’re better buys than Lescott at £30m. A player should be judged on his club performances not his sporadic international ones. Did you see Fabregas in the Confed Cup? He was poor too. And to call Chiellini the most overrated defender in the world is an immense exaggeration.
Your analysis is based on whole of last season. At xmas city were 3rd from bottom. Not signed any defenders? Er Given, Bridge, DeJong signed in January and only played 2nd part of season. Kompany bought as a defensive midfielder and/or centre half and has been excellent. Bids in now for lescott and terry. If not successful there will be other bids. If not this window then the next if not then the one after. Get used to it. As for Elano and Petrov they wont get in!In the meantime be as critical as you want but at least get the facts right.
Oh Come on Steve, what a load of TOSH!
We’ve bought Gareth Barry to strengthen our Left Side ie protect Wayne Bridge and support Robinho.
We lacked the presence of an expeienced target man up fornt, now we’ve got Santa Cruz and Adebayor.
Tevez will bring a lot to the right side of the team with his all-round game.
We’re going to buy at least 2 defenders, though why you think Chiellini, Mexes or Hangeland are better than, Terry, Lescott or Toure is anybody’s guess, They are all top drawer proven Premiership defenders.
I think Man City will be competitive with the usual top 4 suspects, we’ve got an added advantage of not having any European distractions this year.
We may ultimately fail to break into the top 4, but seeing as our stated target, set by the owner, is top 6, it doesnt really matter. After 30 odd years of failure I’m looking forward to a team with real resources who can compete with the best in Europe. I’m looking forward to seeing some cracking performances from my team this season.
Read this:
http://tldorc.blogspot.com/2009/07/sparkyisationplus.html
This lad’s got a better idea of what hughes is trying to do
The comment about Ireland not flourishing under Hughes caught me off-guard, I must admit. He had his best season ever, last season. In fact he became possibly one of the top handful of midfielders in the country. How is this “not flourishing”?
If City had turned 10% (4 Games from 12 loses) of thier shocking away form into wins last season, City would have finished 5th. We added a goal keeper and left back to that defence half way through the season. Two of the key defenders had thier worst seasons in a City shirt. We also had a long cup run in europe that we wont be picking up injuries from. We were crying out for a striker for all of last season, all our strikers suffered through injuries so that none of them had an extended run. Cant see that being as much of a problem this season. We will also add at least one quality Central Defender to that squad. As long as we pick up points off of the previous big 4 (only 4 pts last season) we will be in amongst them
Worth pointing out and it seems that everyone has forgotten this little fact, but from this coming season you can name 7, instead of 5 on the bench. So if now’s not the time to have strength and depth, then what is!
Personally I’d have the same team listed above at home, except swap Onouha for Terry and Kompany for De Jong.
Away bring in SWP for Robihno and Zabaleta for Richards.
Hope we don’t lose the Boj, he’s definitely one worth hanging on to!
Like to see Weiss from the bench too.
As a side note, the Owner, Chairman, Manager and fans are all of the same mind that a top six finish is plenty good enough progress, anything else is a bonus! If the opportunity however comes about to shunt out one of the Sky four, of course you’d push on for that….
Kompany and Zabaleta….???
A large portion of City’s goals last season came from Ireland winning the ball in midfield…..
You must be really well informed to know all of Hughes’s transfer targets.
*sigh*
i think they can – villa and everton have been close at certain times but always fade away at the end of the season because of a lack of depth in their squads. now we look to city and depth is certainly not an issue. and keep in mind that the owners aren’t done spending yet – one or two defenders and they could really make a push for it.
i think a lot of fans really want them to do it, no matter their allegiances (except if you’re an arsenal fan because they’re most likely to drop out i would say..).
Nice one Chris, always nice to hear an unbiased comment from a red, makes a pleasant change from some of the bile we usually get. Be interested to hear your thoughts on Tevez, wish he’d stayed, not worth the money, glad to be rid?
Falastur, Ireland did flourish last season, b/c he was attacking. Such won’t really be the case this season.
to me – it was all about the money. at the end of the day we gave him what he and joorabchian wanted. he would have been a legend if he signed that deal. we all loved him to death – that much was clear – but he’s ruined it this summer with his appalling behavior. the reception he gets at old trafford will be very very interesting.
more on this here:http://thebleacherbums.wordpress.com/2009/06/25/the-tevez-departure/