Armed with the wealth of Sheik Mansour, Manchester City has been able to get their hands on the best players from around the world by offering them astronomical wages in the hope the club’s 34-year wait for professional silverware can finally end.
The club has made some decent signings this season. After purchasing Jerome Boateng, David Silva and Yaya Toure, Manchester City possess a squad full of options, with world class players at their disposal, a great balance of experience and youth and 6 lethal strikers who should be playing regularly.
The team has reliable goalkeepers, solid defenders, hard working midfielders and a lethal attacking front-line. Manager Roberto Mancini has everything any team would desire and require, surely Manchester City will win the title? Maybe if you were playing Football Manager.
Remember the Galaticos?
Manchester City reminds us of the infamous and unsuccessful Real Madrid Galactico era where Florentino Perez signed some of the world’s greatest footballers but made history for all of the wrong reasons. They won the Champions League in 02, league title in 03, sacked their best coach Vicente Del Bosque in the same year and didn’t win a major trophy for 3 years until the president departed.
The team looked like a bunch of stars with diverse personalities, who spoke different languages which were trying to play football for one of the world’s best teams. Furthermore, they let go of important players such as Makelele and Cambiasso because ‘they couldn’t sell jerseys’.
Since the new ownership took over at Manchester, the side is looking almost identical to the Galactico team which failed to conquer and dominate football. Man. City haven’t stopped spending and started developing, they must understand that success is not instant. More players are coming in, more players have to learn English and adapt to life in the country which isn’t easy for Brazilians or Spaniards. The team has no history, home grown players or club symbols. Where is the Raul of Man. City?
They have become a better side with the summer signings and improved their style of play, last season they scored 73 goals but suffered 45 goals. Furthermore, recent reports constantly link Michael Johnson with an exit from the club and Stephen Ireland has been sold to Aston Villa, two talented players who played a key role in the growth of the club. Does this resemble any similarities to Makelele and Cambiasso?
Quality Individuals, Poor Team
Manchester City's squad looks absolutely huge at the moment, and while there is talk of players being offloaded, it's unlikely they'll get rid of every potentially disgruntled bench-sitter over the next month, which doesn't bode well for team spirit. The club appear to be approaching the rebuilding process in the wrong way too.
Midfield is the area where they look most bloated while there are reports that Emmanuel Adebayor and Roque Santa Cruz could all leave, which would leaves them short up front, even after the acquisition of Mario Balotelli.
Despite possessing a quality selection of individuals players, Man City lack the experience, team work, organisation and champion mentality of clubs such as Chelsea and arch-rivals Manchester United. Money can’t buy those factors which take time to be developed and refined.
Furthermore, a team needs hours of correct training and match experience to become a compact unit. The players need to understand each other and most importantly, it takes time for a side to play football as a team with a distinct personality.
Roberto Mancini
Mark Hughes was sacked because he wasn't on course to reach targets, however Mancini hardly fared much better - they were the sixth-best Premier League performers from his first game on Boxing Day onwards.
Hughes’ City side were only going to reach a points total of 64, 6 shy of the desired target, a total that would have got them sixth place in the final Premiership table. Mancini’s finished total was 67 points, with easier games in 5th. He’s failed to stamp his authority on the team, constantly tinkered with positions, tactics and formations.
His policy of playing three defence-minded midfielders was baffling and not exactly successful, his intensive training program left player of the year Carlos Tevez frustrated and he supposedly doesn't get on with another star performer of last season, Craig Bellamy, who has since been sent away to Cardiff on loan. Despite a brilliant record in Serie A, the Italian has yet to shine in England, and another mid-season sacking isn't unimaginable.
Final Thoughts:
The pressure and expectations for Manchester City to perform may not be at the same level during the Galactico days, but it would be a disappointment for the fans, players and owners if they don’t win a competition this year. They are one of the favourites to win the Europa League and are still in contention for a domestic treble.
However, winning the title should be a long term objective for the club. It is attainable for next season once the players develop, begin to gel as a team and finally adopt a formation which allows for more midfield creativity and adventure. Also, each, manager introduces their own project to a team and it’s crucial that Man. City don’t plan on sacking their third manager in 3 years as this will not help development at all as Real Madrid have proven.
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