Hang On! Where's The Football?

One of my good friends is a Manchester City fan and before start of 2006/07 season I listened to him talk up Man City a lot. Granted he had some lofty aspirations for his side, that's what been a supporter is all about, but I had Manchester City finishing amongst the top 10 teams in the league. Fast forward to today and we have Man City in the midst of a relegation battle, six points adrift from the drop zone. Granted they have two games in hand but their current display does not guarantee victories. What even more baffling than City's poor run of form is trying to figure out the cause. Whom do you point the finger at? The players or the coach? Merely looking at the roaster City have better quality than quite a few sides in the EPL - Wigan, Watford, Reading, Boro and the injury hit Magpies to name a few, so that can't be the sole reason. Stuart Pearce is just as fiery and passionate for the game as I've ever seen me so he too can't be solely be the problem.

I believe City's decline can be pegged to a mixture of acquisition that have turned up duds and players not responding to the coach as they used too. What is very apparent from Manchester City's decline is their lack of firepower up front. Vassel is an aging forward who although does not lack speed to have defenders on their back foot,he does however lacks that killer instinct that has served him well in years past. The signing that was supposed to alleviated City striking concerns has been a bust all season, Bernardo Corradi has only managed to polish is ability in disappearing from the field of play once the whistle is blown for kick-off. The other players also are not void of blame as they contimously fail to string passes that last more than three touches, defenders ball watch and midfield fail to place balls at their strikers feet or construct attacking plays. You see Pierce barking orders from the sidelines but it seems as though the fall on deaf ears and the players remain sluggish and uninspiring on the pitch.

Most evident of all this has got to be the FA Cup tie with Blackburn Rovers. Up a man and with 20 mins of play left City could not even muster any good attacking threats. Worse even than the fact they allowed a goal to a ten man side was how they let a goal in. It was a sorry sight as you have four players forgetting their defensive assignments and swarming over one player who then slotted a sweet pass around them to an open man for the goal. I did not need to be a lip reader to understand the colourful words fans were spewing towards the players and coach.

But as with most sports it is the manager who pays the price for poor performance, but I do hope this is not the case for Stuart Pearce and he is given another chase...maybe a win at Chelsea will calm minds.