How times have changed, hey? 20, 15, perhaps even
just 10 years ago City fans used to get nervous about whether they were going
to see their team survive an often relegation-threatened season or, similarly, whether
they would attain promotion.
But in recent days I've read comments from Blues who seem
to be getting rather nervous about the campaign ahead…and some other sources seem to
be backing up those ‘wobbles’.
So what’s the concern?
Well I think it boils down to this, the other
title-challenging Premier League teams appear
to be concentrating a lot of their early spending efforts on strengthening
their attacking midfield and striker departments; making them a far more
formidable force next season.
Although Liverpool
will be losing one hell of a striker in Luis Suarez,
they’ve brought in Adam Lallana and a very
shrewd signing, in my opinion, in Rickie Lambert.
And WITH that £75M gained from the sale of ‘Mr Bitey’ you can guarantee that
they’ll be spending a large chunk of that on at least 2 more creative /
attacking options.
Does one
signing make a difference? Well in Alexis Sanchez
I’ll answer that by saying that Arsenal have
now put themselves RIGHT in the
mix of the title chase. They still need to add strength to their defence and
perhaps need an out & out striker (I see Sanchez more of a goal-scoring,
creative wide man) but they now have a formidable attacking midfield at their
disposal.
If they can keep
them fit (often an issue for The Gunners' midfield) then the likes of Ozil, Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain,
Cazorla AND Sanchez marauding forward ahead of Arteta, Wilshere and Ramsey is one hell of a formidable midfield!
Last years F.A. Cup winners are now in serious contention to add
to their silverware this time round.
And then there’s Chelsea
Up front they also
added the threat of Diego Costa and although
they also have Lukaku, Ba
and Torres in their striking locker, I fully
expect them to target another 'front man' before the window closes.
And what about Manyoo? Well they’ve spent in the region of £60M on
just 2 players so far and although you can’t class either of them as an
attacking threat as such, England left-back Luke Shaw
and Spanish midfielder Ander Herrera do have
their creativity attributes and will certainly ‘chip in’ with assists.
And, somewhat
ominously, the team from Stretford
are supposedly wafting away with impunity a hand at the FFP rules; and have another £140M to spend in the next 7 weeks.
You can bet that we’ll see some exciting and dangerous attacking midfielders,
wingers and forwards joining the team from M16.
Tottenham
haven’t spend yet – I’m sure they will soon enough – but with the ex-Southampton manager now at the helm be sure to see a much
improve Spurs side this coming season.
As for us…
Well there’s the
continued doubt about whether we’ll have the goal-scoring, creative, attacking
threat from midfield that is Yaya Toure. If he
DOES decide to pack his bags then it won’t be lost on Manuel Pellegrini and the other City officials just how many goals and assists
he’ll be taking away with him and, so, I’m certain that we’ll be in the market
for a replacement should it come to that.
But all that would
take time; Yaya isn’t due to join his colleagues in the USA
Amongst the growing ‘feelings of dread’ was one City fan who
posted a comment to the effect of, City were letting us down with regards
to not getting enough business done early (as promised, he added).
Then we had Ladbrokes; whose online headline read, “Man City
And if, like me,
you’ve been listening to Talk Sport over the
last few weeks then it may not have passed you by either; that amongst all
pundit-talk of who is going to win the league this season we haven’t been
mentioned once…not even as a possible chance-afterthought.
“Letting
us down”? “Transfer apathy”? No
top-4 finish? Not even in contention?
You don’t have to
look too hard to see that there’s serious, mounting concern about the season
ahead with regards to the defence of our title. Just have a look here (2:00) at the reaction and answer this young City fan, Logan, gave when asked about the season ahead.
But is the doom & gloom justified?
Well I can certainly
understand some of those concerns to some degree. It’s never good to watch your
rivals ‘splashing the cash’, especially when it comes to buying flare,
goal-threat-type players.
 |
| We're doomed! |
For more
reassurance I also say this. The team with the second best defensive record in
the league last season have now added a quality, experienced keeper in Willy Caballero; a
very good and experienced right-back in Bacary Sagna,
an excellent defensive midfielder in Fernando
and we’re about to spend in the region of £32M for a class, solid partner for Vincent Kompany in the form of Eliaquim Mangala.
Huh…our challengers will NEED all the
attacking prowess they can muster!
Not only should the
centre of our defence be far more formidable but the competition in goal and at
right-back should see an even BETTER Joe Hart
and Pablo Zabaleta. Zaba, in particular, should
be boosted simply by the fact that, unlike last season, he can now get
occasional, well deserved rests…and in Sagna we will have more than competent
cover.
The signing of
Fernando (or F. Reges as his shirt will display) also changes the dynamic of
our midfield. It will, for example, give Fernandinho
greater licence to go forward or, on occasions, will allow us to play the
‘Ferd’ pairing as a defensive duo when games necessitate.
We should be a VERY
solid unit next season.
Fear not Blues. Yes
I think that retaining the title will be very, VERY tough next season (especially
with a stronger push in the Champions League I’m sure) but we are still very much a ‘heavy
weight’ in the Premier League make no mistake.
Having said that – and even WITH Yaya staying and, hopefully, happy
to perform to the same levels as last season – I still think our
attacking/creative options should be bolstered before the end of August.
I know we’ve got
the Financial (not so) Fair Play to consider but with further sales of, I’m
sure, the likes of Micah Richards and Jack Rodwell etc., we could rustle something up. And now
that we appear to be getting the centre of defence done ‘n’ dusted soon, I
wouldn’t be surprised if City did pull something out of the hat in the
attacking/creative department by 31st August.
A ‘quick word’ on the new home kit
“Ordinary”.
More words on the home kit
 |
| The controversial shorts... |
Yeah it’s neat /
smart enough…but that’s where the compliments end for me. I don’t particularly
like the collar and the complete absence of white is just wrong. It's very disappointing.
What is that colour
where the white should be? Navy blue? Black? Either way it’s just not Manchester City
And, as it turns
out, the leaked pictures on the Internet WERE correct and so, worrying, this
might be our 2nd strip next season…
 |
| Like a poor Arsenal or Manyoo away top... |
Not the kits of Champions
and I’m counting the months & years until our contract with Nike runs out.
Next up…
We’ve got a game
today…and it’s live on City’s WEB site! Having already trained there, Dens Park
Fortunately the KO 'is when it is' as there’s
just no competition, is there? Dundee v Manchester
City or Argentine v Germany
Now of course it’s
gonna be really hard to predict a starting line-up so please allow me some room
for a lot of errors. But here goes…
V Dundee
4-4-2:
_________________Negredo________
________Jovetic__________________
Nasri_______________________Navas
_______Fernando_____Garcia_______
_______________Hart_______________
Subs: Caballero, Clichy , Boyata, Horsfield, Milner,
Rodwell, Huws, Zuculini, Bryan
I’m not even sure
Milner has returned to the Club for pre-season yet but I’ve stuck him on the bench. I’m pretty
sure you’re not limited with regards to subs in pre-season friendlies such as this one and so
I’ve included a lot of young players who were recently given pro-contracts, as well as some established EDS players.
Result? A good workout, hopefully no major injuries and a win for City.
Thanks for your patience with regards to me posting a blog entry (first for just over a week) and...
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