Man City will become a major force in Europe

A few months ago, manager Robert Mancini was criticized for his tactics that saw Manchester City slip from automatic Champion’s League qualification spot. The Italian now looks well on course of recovering from his disarray by leading City to Europe’s most elite competition. City have now secured European football for next season and most importantly now likely to finish in third position a head of Arsenal and thereby guaranteed place for automatic qualification in 2011-2012 Champions League. At the start of the season, Mancini’s biggest problem was lack of consistency in the performances of his players that forced him to make several changes in most of City’s league games earlier in the season. Striker Mario Ballotelli bought from Inter Milan last season to re-inforce City’s striking power, was more of a problem that a solution on disciplinary grounds. For example Balotteli red card against Dynamo Kiev during Europa League knock-out stage, cost City chance to progress further as they failed to overturn a 2-0 goals deficit suffered in Ukraine during their first leg encounter. There was also confusion in starting place at City especially in defense and midfield. Defenders Kolo Toure, Vincent Kompany, Jeleon Lescott, and Boyata were options for central defense but none was performing at top level and conceded easy lazy goals. Finally, City now look more comfortable at the back with Kompany leading the backline. The Belgium international has been on top form with excellent professional tackles that have helped City clinch the FA Cup and snatching third spot from Arsenal. Manchester City is very rich at the back with the likes of Kompany and Lescot partnering in central defense with Micah Richards and Kolarov or Paul Zabalenta playing as full backs. If these players get used to playing together next season like we have seen in Puyol and Pique partnership in Barcelona, then city will become a hard member to beat in Europe. In England, City does possess the strongest squad but not the best manager and this is why they could not win the league this season. City players are much stronger and experienced than the new champions Manchester United, but then the two managers, Sir Alex Ferguson and Mancini are worlds apart. Ferguson has won games even with a depleted squad than any other Premier League club. He knows how to shape players and have a unique attacking philosophy. At Manchester United there is speed and accuracy in terms of ball control, passing and shooting. If players like Chicharito and Ji Sung Park were at City or Chelsea, I think they could not have proved worth like it is the case with Sir Alex Ferguson. Manchester City possesses a talented squad that can match with any top European football club. What remains is Mancini to sit down and decide who is stronger and fit for the club. Yaya Toure and De Jong perform well in the midfield; they have got Adam Johnson, Spanish international Da Silva and James Milner that provides spark in the wings. Carlos Tevez, Edin Dzeko and Mario Balottelli are capable of scoring the goals to ignite City’s ambitions in Europe. City’s recent achievements will also relieve some of the pressures rising with in the club and owners as they are starting to see some return on the millions of pounds they have invested. By winning the FA Cup this season and perhaps more importantly by securing Champions League qualification, City will become more attractive to best players from Europe. These are kind of players that will give them next step up in quality. josephmunich06@yahoo.co.uk