One of the most brilliant footballers of the modern era in Patrick Vieira, has declared that Manchester City are on track to become one of the biggest clubs in world football.
Having brought an end to his professional playing career at City just last week, Vieira has taken up a coaching role at the club, and is excited by the prospect of being involved in the project taking place at Eastlands.
And the Frenchman has many reasons to be excited about what lies ahead for the blue half of Manchester. After securing Champions League football and winning the FA Cup, this season could finally see the emergence of City domestically, potentially becoming the new English champions.
Quality
When Sheikh Mansour took over Manchester City in 2008, the club had to fight very hard to bring in top quality individuals to the club. Players such as Craig Bellamy, Emmanuel Adebayor, Roque Santa Cruz and Kolo Toure were all brought to Manchester, as the club looked to enhance their reputation.
Those players’ job of making Manchester City competitive domestically has been a success, so much so that they are now building a squad full of top quality stars, aiming for bigger and better objectives.
The widely publicised attempt to land one of the world’s best players at the time, Kaka, was considered laughable by many sections of the football world. Nobody would laugh now. There are very few players remaining in the world that City could not attract.
With David Silva, Yaya Toure and Vincent Kompany to name but a few, manager Roberto Mancini’s squad has more than enough talent to win the English Premier League.
The squad depth is so strong that the potential sale of captain Carlos Tevez this summer would have minimal impact on their ambitions for the 2011-12 season. Mancini has already identified Sergio Aguero as the perfect replacement for Tevez, and City are now favourites to land the talented Argentine.
Maturity
Football fans are still struggling to comprehend how Brazil and Argentina have both been sensationally dumped out of the Copa America. The two sides have such an abundance of talent, yet both were deservedly eliminated.
The fact is that players need time to work together, in order to form a team chemistry that will lead them to being successful. It requires an amount of time that national teams never have, but City have now had enough time to finally gel together. The hard work is starting to pay off, and this will be a major cause for concern for the club’s main rivals this season.
As should be expected of a team that was hastily thrown together, results were hugely inconsistent last term. City thumped Aston Villa 4-0, and they went one better against Sunderland defeating the Black Cats 5-0. But they also lost to Liverpool 3-0, Everton did the double against them, whilst they could only manage a draw in both matches against relegated Birmingham.
This season Sky Blues’ supporters should expect a lot more consistency, and if that consistency is there, City should win the Premier League.
Player improvement
While fierce rivals Manchester United are forced to find replacements for their retiring stars, City can excitingly expect many of their players to improve this season.
Edin Dzeko was signed in the winter transfer window, but he failed to demonstrate why Mancini splashed out £30 million for his signature. Now Dzeko has experience in the Premier League and is currently involved in a full pre-season with his teammates. Similar to the situation of Fernando Torres at Chelsea, Mancini will be hoping that the new season finally reveals the qualities that he originally saw when signing Dzeko.
Enigmatic
The enigmatic Mario Balotelli also failed to impress during his first season at Eastlands, scoring just six times in 17 appearances. But the talent of the fiery Italian starlet is not in question, just his temperament. Mancini appears to be one of the few men who Balotelli will truly listen to, and channelling Balotelli’s energy into producing good performances will be one of Mancini’s biggest tests this term.
Balotelli was man of the match in City’s FA Cup triumph at Wembley, and at just 20 years of age, he can only get better. If things go according to plan this season for Balotelli, then it will be hard for any side to stop City winning the league title.
England’s Adam Johnson is also one player that City fans will hope improves, if they are to win the title. Similar to Balotelli, Johnson has already demonstrated his incredible quality. At his best, Johnson is one of the top wingers in England, but his performances were far too inconsistent last season.
It seems to be an issue currently with English wingers that they fail to fulfil their potential. Theo Walcott flatters to deceive, and despite the big moves of Ashley Young and Stewart Downing, question marks remain over both players. This season Johnson must combine his raw pace with consistent application of skill, if he does so, City will be far better off for it.
Expectation
City have improved each and every season since Sheikh Mansour purchased the club, and this season the expectation should be to win the English Premier League title. Combining quality, maturity and player improvement, then without even considering possible additions to the squad, City have all the title winning attributes at hand.
Can Manchester City win the English Premier League title this season?
- Soccer News Like
- Be the first of your friends!
