Odds and Sods

Manchester United played arguably the most exciting, free-flowing brand of football in Europe last season scoring 83 goals en route to the Premier League Title.  Manchester City?  Not so much…

To describe Man City as bad last year would be akin to saying that Michael Jackson was a bit odd.  They were not just awful.  They were historically horrible.  Their measly 10 goals at home in 19 league matches was the lowest tally in 120 seasons of top-flight football.  Their putrid play sent supporters home and television viewers into REM sleep  They managed to scrape together 42 pts and avoid relegation, though, in the name of entertainment, many wish they hadn’t.   The fallout would lead to the sacking of manager Psycho Stuart Pierce and the departure of many players, most notably captain Joey Barton.

There was some optimism, however, as city joined the foreign takeover club with an 81.6m GBP purchase by deposed Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra.  One of his first moves was hiring former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, and giving him a 50m GBP warchest as part of three-year plan to rebuild the squad and challenge for Europe.  The club had serious money on the table, and a manager who (though disappointing for England) has had an excellent record as a club manager in Sweden, Portugal, and Italy.  On paper, they appeared to be heading in the right direction, though that buoyancy has been short-lived.

On his first visit to the squad, Sven was appalled by the state of it.  Not necessarily endearing himself to the players already there, Sven has requested funding for some minor restructuring of the squad, in the form of four new strikers, two wide players, a central midfielder, two defenders, and a goalkeeper.  It is an ambitious target list, to say the least.

Sven is most assuredly right that the squad needs a major influx of talented (or at least competent) players.  They lack depth at every position.  They have no one in the midfield to replace Barton, and no genuine wide players to stretch the opposition.  They also have not even a halfway decent striker.

The problem is that it will be extremely difficult for him to get anyone to go there.  He was initially linked to the likes of Anelka and Owen, but even though City have the money, it is hard to convince ambitious players that moving to a dire city squad would be a forward, or even a lateral move.

In addition, Sven’s pedigree as a former England manager will not exactly help him.  The players who played under him for England are out of his range of targets.  He would realistically have to shoot for players peripheral or maybe just short of International Level (like a Jermaine Defoe).  However, he has already burned bridges with a number of these players by not selecting them for the National Team.

The obvious remedy would be to simply overpay for these players and convince them to come for higher wages.  However, even in doing that they would face competition from West Ham, where they would have a nicer environment in London, more exposure, and, theoretically, a better chance of winning.

Sven’s first, and only, major signing thus far has been 24 year-old Italian striker Rolando Bianchi for a preliminary  fee of 8.8m GBP.  On the surface, this appears to be a decent signing.  Bianchi was the 4th leading scorer in Serie A for Reggina last season, where he scored 18 goals in 38 appearances.  He has been linked to Roma, AC Milan, and Juventus.  It seems like City fans should be excited to have a player of his quality.

But, they should be cautioned by the fact that Bianchi has managed only 4 goals in 69 appearances over his previous six seasons.  Italian strikers in general (Corradi, Maccarone) also do not have the greatest track record moving to England.  Man City will hope that his dramatic increase in form was the result of him getting regular football, rather than merely being a fluke.

Manchester City were absolutely horrible last season, and on top of that had a semi-exodus of bodies and talent that have left the club in a dire state.  They are a big club, with a lot of money, and a high-profile manager.  However, their primary concern this season should be to not get relegated, and they must assume that mentality.

With their takeover and manager saga taking months to sort out, they already lag behind other clubs.  Rather than focusing on big fish like Annelka, they should have been zeroing in on players who were desperate to play in the Premiership and would welcome the chance to go to Man City.  They certainly could have beaten out Wigan for Jason Koumas or Fulham for Kamara.  Those aren’t sexy headline grabbing signings, but they would have added depth and a bit of quality.  The market for Premiership ready players looks slim and deflated, which will force Sven to take some big risks and uncover rocks to be successful.

With the size of the club and the amount of money available, one would assume that Sven will do well enough to at least keep their head above water and in the Premier League.  However, they are just close enough where a savvy better might put some money on them to drop, and that should be worrisome for City supporters.