Roberto Mancini will be the most relieved man in the football world this morning. Following their below par performance against Tottenham on the opening day of the season they beat Liverpool comfortably at the City of Manchester Stadium last night. Many of his new signings are beginning to look a little more settled but they are still short of creativity.
Almost everything that City did well started with Adam Johnson, he continually ran at Agger and beat him almost every time. James Milner (making his City debut) had a lively game but kept drifting more central as the game went on. With the abundance of defensive midfielders Mancini must at some stage reduce the number to 2 to make the side more creative; Yaya Toure was often the most advanced midfielder and he is still short of games. With Adebayor, Balotelli and Tevez fighting for the lone strikers’ role more emphasis must be placed on the link between midfield and attack.
They have added David Silva who is exactly that type of player but he will need some time to adjust to the speed and physical requirements of the Premiership. It is worth noting that when Mourinho replaced Mancini at Inter the first player he bought was Sneijder to link everything together, perhaps this is something Mancini does not deem necessary?
One thing that I did notice last night is that City will certainly compete with Chelsea in terms of the physical stature of the players. They are an imposing side to come up against with the likes of Toure (Kolo and Yaya), Richards, Kompany, Lescott etc. It is still very early to call but they are starting to take shape and the fixture list slightly more straightforward; on the evidence of last night City certainly have enough to become a top 4 side.
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