The January transfer window shut with a whimper last night, with Manchester City content to watch some of the league’s other sides panic, confident in the knowledge that we have Wilfried Bony. The same Wilfried Bony who scored twice (both headers!) for Côte d’Ivoire on Sunday to fire them into the semi finals of the African Cup of Nations. Bony’s return is keenly anticipated one, with City fans hopeful he can spell an end to their side’s recent striking malaise. However, as has been widely reported in the media today, his return could pose quite a problem. Who does Manuel Pellegrini omit from the Champions League squad?
The MEN seems to think either Edin Dzeko or Stevan Jovetic will feel the force of the axe, however, I’m not so sure. Here’s the case for each player:
The case against Edin Dzeko
Dzeko has had a very stop-start campaign. His early-season form was actually quite poor, and since November he’s suffered with recurrent calf injuries, curtailing his scoring tally this season to a meagre 4 goals in all competitions. However, Dzeko is slowly starting to find his fitness again, with successive substitute appearances against Arsenal, Middleborough and Chelsea. He proved his worth last season with a number of vital goals in last season’s run-in, cementing his status as one of Manuel Pellegrini’s more favoured performers. There’s little chance of him being omitted, and not much a case to do so either.
The case against Stevan Jovetic
Stevan Jovetic is an incredibly gifted player, there’s no arguing that – his technical attributes are there for all to see, but in all honesty he’s struggled to make a real impression at City. He struggled terribly with injury in his first season, suffering a seemingly never-ending amount of niggles, poor lad. But despite this, in his rare appearances in the City blue, he was extremely bright, leaving the City fans wanting more from the elusive Montenegrin. However, despite an improved fitness record this time around, Jovetic has done little more than offer brief moments of excitement. He’s struggled to translate those sparse moments of brilliance into making more telling contributions for the Blues this season. And it’s this lack of consistency that could see him axed from City’s Champions League squad.
However, despite the clamour from many on Twitter to axe Stevan Jovetic, I don’t think it would make any sense to omit a striker from the squad. Yes, he’s struggled to convert his talent into tangible contributions this season, but our lack of firepower in certain games this season is exactly why we’ve turned to Wilfried Bony. Bony has been added to give City that depth up front that they’ve been lacking, so why would they then omit a striker? It makes no sense to me.
A defender then?
When one considers both how fine the margins are in Champions League knockout games, and the injury records of our three senior strikers this season, it would seem foolish to leave out a striker. Therefore, I would argue that omitting a defender is the certainly the most obvious option, with a straight choice between Aleksandar Kolarov and Bacary Sagna.
For me, it has to be Kolarov who misses out. Sagna is much better defensively, and is vastly experienced, having made 47 appearances in the Champions League whilst at Arsenal. Furthermore, Sagna is more versatile, having played as both a left back and a centre back in Europe previously. Kolarov admittedly offers greater width on the left flank, but his defensive susceptibility combined with Clichy’s good recent form means that it has to be the Serb that misses out.
