Dzeko chosen (and endured) once again and a
manager, once again, far, FAR too
slow to change things yesterday.
If it wasn’t already lost before our trip to
relegation-threatened Burnley
then our manager lost us the league yesterday. My patience is warring thin with the Chilean boss…
Mystery
Apart from my sub-heading comments I’ll start fairly
positively about yesterday. Burnley were
clearly up for the fight and went ‘at us’ early on but I thought we coped quite
well. In fact, I repeatedly commented at the time, I thought it was the most
composed and organised I’ve seen our defence all season. But the defence wasn’t
the problem yesterday.
And, in fact, I actually thought a player who isn’t good
enough for us - I’ve absolutely decided
now – had a good game; for the first 60 minutes at least I thought Fernandinho ran & ran, covered and picking up
balls left, right ‘n’ centre yesterday and sprayed them around to good effect. Shame Yaya Toure
wasn’t in a running mood or we might have been in danger of getting something
out of the game!
But that’s enough of the positives…no seriously, that IS all the positives I can find.
Getting past the obvious, which is that Pellegrini CLEARLY
and criminally had Barcelona in mind; what is
it with the man that he just cannot move from 4-4-2…and that one of those 2 has
to be Mr E. Nigma? Nasri
on the bench, Lampard being given no more than
11 minutes of ‘the 90’ and Milner nowhere to be
seen!
And so flippin’ slow to react…AGAIN!
Even by his-own, low standards Dzeko had a shocker yesterday
and yet he STILL managed to stay on the pitch all but 27 minutes of the game!
He had ‘that look’ about him again yesterday whereby he just wasn’t up for it
at all. He was weak on the ball found himself on the left wing too many times
for whatever reason and I can’t even use the word “shot” to describe that
weak-ankled, slap-effort on goal before eventually being hauled off for Bony.
Yaya wasn’t up for it either as I say; largely roaming
around to little effect and providing no more that little sideways and
backwards passes. Where were his monstrous, charging runs into the box?!
Having said that, why on earth at 0-1 and needing the win so
very badly did our manager then replace him? Sure enough his replacement (Frank
Lampard) is decent at free kicks too but even when he’s not firing Yaya is at
least a goal threat.
Replacing Silva with 16+ minutes to go too! Really? And who
does he bring on for him? A player in Stevan Jovetic
rusty through a lack of games and who cannot possibly have any motivation
whatsoever; as he’s all-but-packed his bags for Italy (or elsewhere).
Our manager’s tactics and substitutions just left me cold
& baffled as I sat dejected and shaking my head yesterday evening. The
players’ attitude and lack of urgency is frustrating as well as quite worrying…and
our manger’s actions too have lost us the league this season.
I’m not even commenting on the penalty that wasn’t given – it’d be taking
away from the real reasons we lost the game…
No I’m not
giving Burnley any credit for yesterday; no
I’m not heaping praise on Chelsea for winning the
league this season. We have self-destructed this
season; going out as we did of both the League
& F.A. Cups with a whimper and showing such
tactical naivety in both the Premier League and
Champions League that I just cannot defend the
huge amount of journalistic and TV pundit criticism of our manager.
Still grounded
I’ve not gone all ‘Billy Big Time’ as a Manchester City
season ticket (card) holder of 29 years; I still recall very clearly the bad
and the REALLY bad times as
I've been swept along with thousands of other Blues from those largely-darker days
and into the heady heights of where we are now.
And I still recall the very wise and sensible words of Ferran Soriano who said that although they expect 5
trophies in 5 seasons; that-may-well have to include a 'barren year', as we continue
to ‘build the project’ long term.
But in its own way, and as I say, the situation we find
ourselves in this season is now slightly embarrassing and so flippin’
frustrating, in that it was within us to do much, much better than we have
done.
F(no-so)FP taken into
account - understandably having shackled
Mr Pellegrini this season – it’s been a largely poor showing from the Chilean
and his faltering purchases. For the first time, in fact, I find that I’m
starting to agree with the increasing number of voices who think our ‘charming
man’ won’t be with us next season. A la Mancini;
2 seasons…the second one being largely soulless.
Looking to next
season already – how sad…
So ‘let down’ has this season been for all the reasons
given; it’s even prompted me to do an ‘end of season’ player analysis in
flippin’ March! The colour code goes like
this…
Green - Good enough, in my opinion, and
should remain next season.
Grey - Varying factors could see the player
stay or go.
Red - Absolutely, for whatever reason,
needs to leave in the summer in my opinion.
Joe Hart: Easily good enough to remain our ‘number 1’ despite some
voices of doubt and the occasional ‘wobble’.
Willy Caballero: It’s
hard to judge a player who you’ve hardly seen and I’m sure he’s questioning his
decision to join us. If the manager, who has been his boss at two clubs now, DOES
leave in the summer then this might be another reason in the Brazilian’s mind
to request a move also. Whoever comes in
to compete with Joe, however, surely knows that they’re in for one hell
of a fight to dislodge him.
Dedryck Boyata: Like Caballero, arguable not enough game time to judge him
properly. Unfortunately for the 24-year old Belgium defender I’ve seen enough
of him in seasons-gone-by. Just nowhere near good enough.
Gael Clichy: On his day the
French left-back is good enough at the top level. Sadly he’s often blighted
with one of the most frustrating traits in football – inconsistency.
Martin Demichelis: On the one hand, thank
God for Martin! If it wasn’t for his steady form, for the most part, the
disaster that’s been the summer acquisition of Eliaquim Mangala could have proved even more
calamitous.
However, if, as I flamin-well hope, we sign another
class central defender in the summer; then Martin will become a regular ‘bench
man’ at the very most; possibly only getting the odd early-round League or F.A.
Cup start. And I’m sure he’ll be reasonably happy with that; I’m sure it was a
pleasant surprise for the Argentinean to be offered a new contract that takes
him to June 2016.
However, if a new manager is
indeed on the cards in the summer then he may well be deemed surplus to
requirements. At least with him being ‘in
contract’ we’ll be able to command a small fee for him…
Aleksandar Kolarov: Our Edin Dzeko at the back. So poor at defending 9 times out
of 10 and barely makes up for it in his slightly better wing / attack play.
Provides decent crosses at times and is probably our 3rd best
free-kick taker [behind Frank & Yaya]. Amazed
he’s lasted this long - goodbye…
Vincent Kompany: Slated
by many for a poor season so far. What a joke! Demichelis and a slightly-below-par-himself
Zabaleta
aside; for me ‘our skip’ has clearly been surrounded by – and has attempted to compensate for - largely incompetent
defending colleagues…and has been offered little protection either from a
largely ineffective defensive midfield.
And, for me, people seem to forget
the high-standard-bar he has set himself over the years of terrific service so
far. Good enough to stay? I’m not even
going to answer my own question…
Eliaquim Mangala: Knife
edge – this guy is either going to become, given time and a fresh-season-start,
a monster of a defender at Manchester City for years to come…or we
write-off one of the most expensive flops in our history and try to get back whatever
we can for him ASAP. I just can’t call
it…
Karim Rekik: Like Caballero, I just haven’t seen enough of him to
judge or comment other than saying…I just don’t know if he has a future at our
club.
Bacary Sagna: It says a lot about his future with Manchester City
that, in a season where by his own very high standards Pablo Zabaleta hasn’t
had a very good one; the French right-back has hardly played! I like him…but,
once again, a lot might depend on whether we’ll have a new manager next season.
If Pellegrini stays then I think
they’ll be a knock on his door from this fella requesting a move. Similar to the Hart situation, it would take
one HELL of a good right-back to dislodge Zaba…
Pablo Zabaleta: I’ve
never liked how a World Cup year seems to effect some players whose national side run
to the final stages of the competition. I
think that’s what’s happened to ‘our man Zab’ this season.
But even so, he’s having a…‘fairly
good season’. And although he’s now slipped to 2nd-place in Gary Neville’s rating of
best-current Premier League right-backs to Branislav Ivanovic; Zaba is already in my top-10 list of
best ever Manchester City players. The guys ‘a ledge’ and will continue to be
so for a few more seasons yet I’m sure.
Fernandinho: I still, 21 months on, struggle to get past how
we thought laying out a shattering £34M to £35.2M (depending on your transfer
fee source) was value for money. Sometimes
I have to say that we ARE responsible for our own downfall in upsetting UEFA and suffering FFP
sanctions.
‘World Cup fatigue’ taken into account,
he’s an average Premier League player at best. No disrespect intended; he’d
suit a Newcastle United, Southampton or Swansea City-type team. He’s just not good enough for what we need
in the middle of the park and I really hope we off-load him for something like
£20M. If it meant using the cash wisely
to get a real ‘powerhouse leader’ in the middle then I’d take £15M…
Fernando: This guy is SO borderline red that I hesitated for
some considerable time before deciding. The only – and I MEAN only – reason he
falls into the ‘grey category’ is that this his first season and may, therefore, improve next season.
Brought in for his long-legged
tackling ability and to be our ‘protector’, particularly in Champions League
games and allowing our more-attacking players to ‘do their thing’; the tempo of
most games seems to largely pass him by. Like his ex-Porto colleague that eventually joined him, he’s been largely
disappointing to say the very least.
Frank Lampard: So vital
early on, hardly used since and on his way to NYCFC in the summer. It was looking like a very shrewd move by Manchester City but like our season, it’s all
fizzled out somewhat. Thanks for the
early-season memories Super Frank.
Marcos Lopes: Likely to sign a contract extension and depending on the
managerial situation, will either spend another season on loan or will save us
some money and ‘make it’ in the first team.
James Milner:
Ironically the scene as shifted somewhat in the last few hours in that SHOULD
we dispense with the boss in the coming months; James just might hang around to
have a chat with the ‘new man’ before deciding his future. Hope he stays.
Samir Nasri: For
Samir Nasri read Gael Clichy. Absolutely bright as a button on occasions and
when ‘on fire’ takes that confidence from game to game. Then…splodge (good word), he flops for a few games before picking himself up again.
Full
of talent and, at times, determination but has a complex character that seems
to effect his game at times. Pellegrini’s father-like style has definitely got
more out of him than Mancini ever did. However, even if Pellegrini gets a ‘stay
of execution’ I just wonder that if we ARE to spend squillions on a midfield-rebuild in the summer
then, other than Yaya, will Samir also be sacrificed in order to fund incoming
players.
Jesus Navas: Another
one that almost fell into the red
batch of players. BAGS of pace and reasonable talent but frustratingly doesn’t seem to
use it to best effect. Again…if we lose our Chilean manager in the
summer then a new man might get better out of him. Hope so in a way…but equally
I won’t be crying in my beer if he goes.
David Silva: Firmly entrenched in my top-10
best ever Manchester
City players. Where would
we be without him a lot of the time? And imagine what he’d be like with even
better players around him! ‘nough said…
Yaya Toure: Was ALWAYS going to be ‘grey’.
Isn’t he almost every summer? At
times unplayable and last season, despite personal problems and ‘a dip’, was
bloody brilliant for the most part. Not-so-good to say the least this season
and yesterday, at Burnley, summed up the other
side of the man.
I
just can’t call it with any degree of certainty but my instinct is telling me
that, whether he wants to leave or not, it’ll be City who’ll be ‘moving
him on’ in order to fund an incoming midfielder of similar style to replace
him.
Bruno Zuculini: The
Argentinean, Under-20 box-to-box midfielder is either going to be a future diamond
for Manchester City…or one of those obscure signings where it has fans saying
in a few years, ’Oh yeah, whatever
happened to him?’
Probably
a season or two too soon for him to be ‘the one’ to save us a great wodge of
cash on a midfielder and I can only hope that, at 22 in April, he does make it
with us. Again, though, a new manager
might want to clear the decks…
Sergio Aguero: Another
‘top 10’er’ for me. What a player! Unless it suits us in order to bring
in another stellar name then he’s going nowhere!
Wilfried Bony: Strong, dangerous player who
I’m sure will have a good time as a Manchester
City player. Doubt even a
new manager would move him on so soon after signing in January unless we have
one HELL of a summer re-build under a
new boss.
Edin Dzeko: The stats say, played 125 / scored 50…and I’m sure he’s
got a few assists to his name too. Looks good on paper doesn’t it? And the only
defence I will offer him is that he’s a player who, I’m sure, would thrive in a
team where they play with 2 flying wingers who can cross. End of.
When you
think that those 50 goals include the odd hat-tricks and braces then there are HUGE gaps in the man’s ability to
stick the ball in the net. Far too easily knocked off the ball for a ‘big man’,
little in the way of pace, can barely trap / control a ball and has an
APPALLING attitude a lot of the time. Needs to go - I think his time has finally come…and God I hope so!
John Guidetti: Again
I honestly haven’t seen enough of the chap to formulate a proper opinion of him
as a footballer and striker. However, and
quite sadly, I have HEARD enough of him as both a player and a character. He worries me
a little - there’s a bit of the ‘Billy Big Biscuits’ about him.
It
doesn’t even look like Celtic
WANT him any more regardless of the Swede’s desire (or otherwise) to commit his
future to the Scottish side, I think he’ll probably find himself back at Feyenoord or another team in the Eredivisie league on a permanent basis.
Stevan Jovetic: Similar to Jesus Navas; all the
apparent ability but with very little in the way of ‘end product’. I will give
him the benefit of the doubt in that he has been blighted with injuries and
that inconsistent team selections are hardly the basis for producing good
performances.
However,
he HAS been given opportunities and has rarely taken them. Had a terrific ‘pre’
and early-season and City fans were ‘rubbing their hands’. However, I don’t
think there’s anything more certain in-that we’ll be using our hands only for
Jovetic, now, to simply wave him goodbye in the summer. Will probably do a good job for Inter Milan or someone similar…
Jose Angel Pozo: Most
likely a ‘stayer’ but likely to be shipped out on loan next season to test him
at a higher level than the EDS.
Has just turned 18 today (happy
birthday fella!)
and one that many are tipping for a future at the club.
Manuel Pellegrini: Won the Premier League and
League Cup in his first season. And WHAT a season – some of the very best
football and goal-scoring I’ve ever seen at Manchester City.
And then, through no fault of his own, was hindered so very much by F(not-so)FP
sanctions. Oozes class and never gets drawn into press ‘trickery’ and rarely
with other manager’s mind games (Mourinho
a small exception to that). A ‘father figure’ to the players and a calming
influence all round.
However,
extremely naïve and stubborn in his use of 4-4-2 at times and very slow to
change / react in games. Shows a worrying lack of ideas at Champions League
level and, despite saying that he treats all competitions the same, often
weakens the team far too much for domestic cups and ‘so-called’ easier Premier
League fixtures. Also persists
all-too-often with sub-standard players.
I
just can’t call it but what I WILL say is that a lot will depend on what Bayern Munich & Pep Guardiola do. He is DEFINITELY our
log-term target…and it’s all about the timing.
1. If it looks like Pep is going
to stay for a few more seasons then I recon we’ll ditch the Chilean in the
summer and go for either a Rafa Benitez, Carlo Ancelotti or Diego Simeone-type manager (although I see the latter as a more
longer-term contact scenario as the previous two guys) and then wait our
turn / opportunity to nab the much-sought-after Guardiola.
2. If it looks like Pep is only
going to give Bayern another season and then reassess his situation /
future; then I think this scenario will see our manager be granted another
season with us; seeing his contract out to the very end.
3. If there are any noises that
the German side’s manager wants a change this summer then we’ll ‘bin’ Pellegrini without a seconds
thought if there’s a chance Pep fancies a
reunion with Ferran Soriano & Txiki Begiristain.
It’s all very finely
balanced…
Immediate concerns
As I
sometimes do when watching an away game on TV at home, I listened to the
post-match phone-in on Radio Manchester. Most notably was one Manchester City fan who, somewhat disturbingly, said that he has
a strong feeling that the players are now showing
the very same ‘lack of fight’ as when things ‘weren’t happy in the camp’ under Roberto
Mancini.
I have to say that I sort of agree
with him; something doesn’t feel quite right and others too have started to
note certain players’ demeanour.
On a
personal note, I gave up smoking 5-years ago
this July and although I haven’t exactly started again - and you can’t class the two in the same league as each other –
having already drank a good amount of beer by then; I trudged in contemplative mood
to the local shop last night and purchased a cigar. I then sat in the dark and under
the cold, starry sky in my garden with my brown-leafed friend and 2 glasses of red
wine, wondering quite where it all went wrong.
Barcelona on Wednesday night…but the fight for 2nd place
(or could that even be 3rd place now?)
starts for us at 12:45pm (GMT) on Saturday 21st March 2015 at home
to West Bromwich Albion.
Yikes!
