This is football - Manchester City MCFC Fans

From exhilaration to deflation in the space of six days. It is tempting to suggest that leopards do not change their spots, even if they become very wealthy creatures.

Following on from an impressive dismantling of Liverpool and the serene negotiation of a European hurdle that befuddled both Aston Villa and Celtic, Manchester City produced an insipid second half display that left them exposed to a stoppage time sucker-punch at Sunderland.

The well worn phrase "typical City" has been trotted out since. For some this is a hankering for the affection once afforded to the club, when the Blues propensity for tragicomedy made them many people's second favourite team. But money, ambition and a highly talented playing squad mean that the bad old days are over, as is the romance many associated with failures both glorious and ridiculous.

On Sunday, City were undone by a team who overrode their technical inferiority with a fierce hunger to claim a big scalp. This is not "typical City". To use a familiar phrase from Roberto Mancini's post-match interviews "this is football".

These are the challenges that Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal are faced with on a weekly basis. The bread and butter they all happily devoured at the weekend against West Ham, Stoke and Blackburn stands as the latest example. By contrast, City and their fellow pretenders Tottenham fell short in perceived formalities. Spurs’ defeat to a previously shambolic Wigan at White Hart Lane was an amusing eye-opener.

As many at Eastlands are already too aware following hysterical coverage of the club’s lavish transfer dealing, knee-jerk scrutiny is now a fact of life, and this extends to the team’s on-field activities. A magnificent performance between the posts from Joe Hart saw Mancini’s side stumble to an opening goalless draw at Tottenham, and numerous commentators dismissed City’s quest for honours this season. A week later, Liverpool were clinically dismissed 3-0 and the Blues were suddenly genuine title challengers in the eyes of many. Then there was Sunderland.

Following his club’s biggest win over the Anfield outfit since 1937, Mancini’s post-match comments were telling. An all-action debut from James Milner, Gareth Barry’s best display in City colours and key contributions from fellow England hopefuls Micah Richards and Adam Johnson were all touched upon.

But the recurring theme was the Italian’s references to mentality and how important this had been in his team’s approach to the game. This is a central factor for City in games such as the one at Sunderland because the array of talent at Mancini’s disposal is beyond question.

Murmurs of discontent justifiably remain about an overly defensive approach from Mancini. City have registered 17 shots on target in their first three games compared to Chelsea’s 27, Manchester United’s 28 and Arsenal’s 32.

Misses like Carlos Tevez’s horror-show at the weekend will happen from time to time, and at present the Blues are not creating enough chances to recover. Against Liverpool, although the team were not flattered by the result, every genuine chance was converted.

On the other hand, during a start that must be viewed as satisfactory and no more, Mancini has established a rock-solid feel at the back, where Vincent Kompany’s form has been imperious. City are still to concede a goal from open play in all competitions, and a solid defence is a hallmark of all successful teams because of the vital mental edge it provides.

As they merrily bellowed “ruining football, but we don’t care” at Sunderland, City’s away supporters seemed to have adapted to their new situation with their famous gallows humour intact.

Mancini’s players must also attune themselves to the new realities of the challenges facing them and eradicate stumbles such as the one experienced on Wearside.

Dom Farrell, MCFCfans

Comments

written on 22-Dec-2010
Pat [http://justmancityblogs.com] says:
Hi mate,

I may have something that could interest you. I am in the process of creating a feed of all the Manchester City blogs I can find in the world, so the fans can check out the posts from every Man City site in the one place. I only have sites from real fans, so there will be no SkySports, Goal, Clubcall or all that "news" and rumours crap.

I have been working on it for a while now and already have eight City blogs added. It is not a list of blogs but a feed of all the various posts on each blog. I am going to contact every Man City blog around that I can find to ask for permission to add them as well.

All it has is a couple of lines of your post, and the headline will go straight to your website, so each post will link directly to you. You will also have a link to your home page on the contributors blogroll. So if nothing else you will gain loads of backlinks to your site.

If you would like your site added to the site, please send me your feedburner or RSS feed url and I will get it added straight away.

All I ask in return is a simple text link to "Just Man City Blogs" somewhere on your homepage so your readers know you are a member of the network.

You can have a look at the site here: http://justmancityblogs.com.

What do you think?

Pat (justblogs@hotmail.co.uk)
written on 27-Jan-2012
wedding gift etiquette [http://www.wexonmart.com] says:
Hello Maybe you love beautiful jewelry as I do. I was looking for some very original necklace and a ring with garnets for my collection. I had luck to find the on-line store which is selling really beautiful garnet jewerly. I got the both pieces there. Best regards Courtney Atkinson Santa Barbara, CA

Blog

Page navigation

Blog » This is football

Comments

Leave a Comment