Can Manchester City win the Premier League or is it a case of too many cooks?

Yaya Toure is one of Roberto Mancini's superstar signings this summer

I’m certainly not the first person to start a discussion as to whether Manchester City will be good enough to challenge for the Premier League title this season, nor will I be the last. Until it is mathematically impossible, and until either Chelsea or Manchester United lift their 4th or 12th respective trophies, people won’t stop debating. Even then attentions will turn to the 2011/2012 season and whether City can strengthen their squad and push for honours again. Since the high-profile takeover of the club in 2007,  the days of questioning City’s credentials as a Premier League club are long gone, and mid-table expectancies are a distant memory. The talk has now switched to top four, Champions League, and champions of England. Last season City came ever so close to breaching the once unbreachable ‘big four’, that thanks to Liverpool no longer exists. It’s now the ‘big three and whoever else is good enough to join them’, but unfortunately for City, last season belonged to Tottenham, and it will be Harry Redknapp’s side that will have the chance to compete with Barcelona and Inter Milan in Europe’s biggest competition.

Whilst it’s extremely possible that Manchester City can go one better this season, I’m still unconvinced that they are potential challengers to Chelsea and their Manchester rivals. Of course, every Manchester City fan and follower will tell you that they have as good a chance as anyone. That’s what they’d like to believe. However, life is divided into two types of people; The idealists and the realists. I have the feeling that every one of those City fans falls into the idealist bracket, and the reality is they are still not a team capable of putting together a serious march to the summit of the Premier League. Indeed, it is a fantastic time for Manchester City and their fans. It’s a very exciting period in their history as a football club and they have every right to be ambitious, optimistic, and idealistic. I’m not here to be an ideal. I’m here to be real.

City’s spending this season has been typically outlandish. Yaya Toure, Jerome Boateng, David Silva and now Aleksandr Kolarov have arrived at Eastlands in big money deals, and you wouldn’t bet on them stopping there. James Milner and Landon Donovan are two other potential signings that could add to the sizeable roster City already have on their books. Those are some fantastic names I’ve just mentioned, and some superb footballers. They arrive at the club with huge reputations to live up to, and face the challenge of integrating into a side that isn’t all too familiar with each other. There’s my problem. The Premier League consists of 38 matches, each of which nowadays is a solid obstacle to defeat. 38 matches is a lot of time for a team to be found out, and for weaknesses to start showing. 38 matches divides the teams from the individuals, and at this stage of their rapid progression as a football club, Manchester City are not yet a fully functional, well-oiled unit. They are a squad made up a number of individual stars, who on their own terms are good enough to play for anyone. Football isn’t an individual sport. It’s not tennis, it’s not golf. It’s a team game. Yes, it may all sound very cliché, but so be it. These are the facts.

You may argue that a 5th-place finish last season was a fantastic effort from a side I’m branding as not yet a team. Nevertheless, you would expect 5th place as a minimum for a team consisting of the likes of Carlos Tevez, Emmanuel Adebayor, Robinho and the rest. To better a 5th-place finish is a monumental task, one which City fans shouldn’t take for granted. I may well be very wrong come the end of the season, but analysing City’s situation at this stage, I would say I won’t be. It takes time for foreign players to adjust to the ‘English way’, and to adapt to the infamous pace of the Premier League. It takes double the time to settle into a team that has not played a great deal of games together, especially when 4 or 5 players arrive at the same time. In a 38-game season, you cannot afford to miss out on 6 or 7 games through the need to gel and bond as a team, especially when your priorities lie at the top. Pre-season friendlies are designed to give the players a chance to do exactly that, but with City bringing in a player a week at the moment, it isn’t an easy task. Having seen the highlights of their first friendly of the campaign against Sporting Lisbon in New York, it is evident that a lot of work needs to be done, and whilst I understand that pre-season friendlies are a useful tool to scrape all the rust off and get the mistakes out of the way, time is ticking before the Premier League season kicks off, and the pressure is on Roberto Mancini and his troops to make sure they are in the best possible frame, both physically and tactically, to make their much expected challenge for the title.

Having assessed what may prove to be the downfall of Manchester City this season, I cannot escape what has to be the catalyst for what they hope to be is their best ever Premier League season. That catalyst would be the strength-in-depth that they clearly possess, a tool that comes to be very useful in football today. With so many matches in a season, particularly with increased European and cup participation, to have 3 or 4 players who can play in every position is a real luxury, and whilst some teams may struggle with that aspect of their dynamics, City have the guarantee that they’re progress won’t be slowed by injuries and suspensions. At least, it is their’s to throw away. If used correctly and at the right times, then silverware is a very realistic objective. If neglected and if Roberto Mancini sees no benefit in using his whole quota of players, Champions League possibilities could slip away.

Shay Given and Joe Hart are two top-class goalkeepers who should enjoy a hefty tussle for the number 1 jersey throughout the next 12 months or so. Micah Richards, Nedum Onuoha, Pablo Zabaleta and Jerome Boateng should keep each other occupied in the full-back slots, whilst Wayne Bridge will have to fight off new signing Kolarov for the left-back berth. Vincent Kompany, Kolo Toure, Joleon Lescott and Dedryck Boyata are all contenders to play at the heart of the defence, meaning that Mancini has at least 10 defensive options at his disposal. The Italian also has his fair share of options on the wings with Silva, Bellamy, Wright-Phillips and Adam Johnson in the mix, plus youngster Vladimir Weiss who may well find himself loaned out of Eastlands for a second consecutive season.

With the arrival of Yaya Toure, Nigel de Jong and Gareth Barry will be kept on their toes, whilst Stephen Ireland, Michael Johnson and Patrick Vieira will be used in a  more box-to-box role. Up-front, the City fans have the joy of watching Carlos Tevez, Emmanuel Adebayor and Jo ply their trade, leaving Roque Santa Cruz to twiddle his thumbs and ultimately look for another club. His injury-corrupted career has done him no favours in the scheme of things at City.

So, there’s a lot to choose from for Mancini, who will have his work cut out to keep everyone happy at City. Still, he’d rather that than have a small group of unmotivated players on his hands, and how he deals with a first team squad containing more than 35 players will be the key to any success City will have this season.

What do we think folks? Are they living in dream land or is it plausible to say they’ll be the new name engraved on the Premier League trophy in May 2011?

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