Can Roberto Mancini deliver? That is the question on the lip of every person who gives a squat about the English Premier League. Can Roberto Mancini with the oil money to back him up, lead Man City to a Top 4 finish? It is such an important question because the answer to that question may or may not signify the emergence of another Chelski Chelsea. If Manchester City do indeed qualify for the Champions’ League, it will mean an emphatic triumph of the Sheikh’s money power over more conventional means of team building.
5 months of football and 20 games played would suggest that Mancini is in with an exactly 4/5 probability of making that Manchester City dream come true. City are 1 of 5 teams who look like vying for the Champions’ League spots – Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham being the others. Judging by their form and consistency in recent years, it is fairly certain Manchester United will finish among the Top2, leaving the remaining 4 teams to fight for the 3 available places. Arsenal have the strongest squad among the 4, but their inconsistencies, goalkeeping woes and lack of confidence means they are unpredictable and consistently inconsistent. Yet, I don’t think they’ll finish below 3. Tottenham are playing exciting, attacking football on the back of Van der Vaart (who has been the buy of the season), Modric and of course the irrepressible Gareth Bale. But their defence is plagued with injuries and they still haven’t got that consistency about them that sets top teams apart from the commoners. Chelsea – ah! How the mighty have fallen from their thrones onto the dusty ground. Ancelotti is paying the price for retaining a side which is getting old and for letting too many important players leave over the summer. If things carry on like this, Chelsea may well find themselves in a situation towards the end of the season where they are staring at a 5th place finish. All of which sets us up nicely to take a look at Manchester City.
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They have a superb squad, no two ways about that. They have a wealth of attacking options. Yet Mancini has often been criticized for choosing to start with 3 defensive midfielders in Yaya Toure, De Jong and Gareth Barry. The accusations are true, Mancini has indeed been overly defensive at times this season. Sticking Tevez alone up field compromises their attacking potential and it is a testament to the guy’s form that he has still managed to notch up 12 goals. Young Italian forward Mario Balotelli is starting to find form as his hat-trick last night against Villa would suggest. Adam Johnson must feel that he is being woefully underutilized and rightly so. Given’s frustrations are no secret and it is very likely that he will seek to move away from City in January. Also moving away would be strikers Emmanuel Adebayor and Roque Santa Cruz, paving way for Edin Dzeko according to strong rumours. The addition of Dzeko would mean City have probably the best striking force in the whole of Europe, a scary proposition for their rivals. Their defence is solid for the most part and would be further boosted by the return of left back Aleksandr Kolarov from a long term injury. With two successively convincing wins under their belts and second place in the table(albeit having played 2 games more than their rivals), City seem to be hitting top form at the right time.
So it looks like the race for 4th spot is going to be as tight as last year again. If you ask me, between Tottenham and Man City, I’d back Tottenham to clinch 4th spot but you never can tell. The difference between Tottenham and Man City is not much and taking into account Chelsea’s poor form and the unpredictable nature of the league this season, City might as well gain that much coveted Champions’ League spot. If they fail to however, I am fairly certain it would mean curtains for Mancini’s career as Manchester City manager.
