Since Manchester City were taken over by Shiekh Mansour in 2008, whilst there has been undoubted success, even the most ardent City fan could not deny that the club should have achieved more.
The Liverpool loss didn’t just highlight tactical flaws with our game plan, it also made me wonder about many other games, particularly against the bigger sides, where time and time again, we seem unable to dig out results, or to even show mental strength. Yes, we won the league in added time, which took a monumental effort considering the circumstances, but both title successes have been followed up by trophy-less seasons.
At the end of last season, Khaldoon Al Mubarak spoke about how he deemed last season a disappointment, claiming that not winning a trophy was also a sign of how far we’ve come as a club. Manuel Pellegrini said “we’re going to see a new Manchester City this year”, yet fundamental problems keep arising, we’re not a side who seem to have the capacity to run away with the Premier League, we’re a side who until this year, have struggled to make an impact in the Champions League, often looking in awe at our opponents, rather than willing to impose ourselves.
This season started fantastically, and yes, injuries have been a problem. Any side would miss Aguero, Silva and Kompany, but I ask why a team that has been reinforced with Nicolas Otamendi, Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling can crumble in such spectacular fashion. Is there a collective weakness?
I still believe Manuel Pellegrini is the man to take this club forward, but my belief is that we lack leaders, we lack toughness in the side, we’re far too nice, and this has even arisen from the club in our perception to be well-liked from the media. Maybe if we adopted a more ruthless approach, we’d have more success both on and off the pitch.
Can we win the league? Of course, and I more than expect us too, as well as adding a domestic trophy, and making a lasting impression on the Champions League, but my belief is the club still has a long way to go to reach the level of Bayern Munich and Barcelona, not personnel wise, but mentally, and if we can learn to be more ruthless, we can even more trophies being paraded at the Etihad.
