Manchester City season preview – Will Manchester be painted blue in 2013-14?

Manuel Pellegrini will be expected to take the club to greater heights

Manchester City have become a major force in the Barclays Premier League in recent times, mainly due to the strong financial backing that the club receives from its owners. Ever since the takeover of the club by the Abu Dhabi United Group in 2008, the club have spent heavily in transfer windows to strengthen the squad. After the disappointment of failing to defend the Premier League trophy last season, Manchester City will be expected to come back hard in the 2013-14 season and with a new manager and some big-money signings, their bid for the League title cannot be ignored by their rivals.

What went wrong for them last season?

Beginning the season with the Community Shield victory over Chelsea, the trophy was the only silverware that the club had to show for the 2012-13 season. Finishing second in the league and an appearance in the FA Cup final would satisfy most Premier League clubs, but it was unacceptable at Manchester City who had been investing heavily in the last few transfer windows and were looking to defend and consolidate on their Premier League title win in 2011-12.

Big money (£60 million) was spent in the transfer window in the summer of 2012, but Manchester City failed to get their main targets – Robin van Persie who joined Manchester United instead, and Eden Hazard who preferred to sign for Chelsea. Instead, there were unspectacular with their overpriced signings of Scott Sinclair, Maicon, Jack Rodwell and Javi Garcia, and none of these new arrivals had any significant contribution to show in the season.

The team chemistry that had got them success in the previous year was missing, as they struggled to break down defences. Form of important players like David Silva and Sergio Aguero, who had significant roles in the 2011-12 title win, dipped as the season went on and this reflected in the team’s results. Keeper Joe Hart saw his reputation take a beating, as he committed some high-profile blunders, missing easy saves and letting in unnecessary goals.

Injuries and the African Cup of Nations meant that Mancini didn’t always have his best players available for selection. Striker Mario Balotelli was sold in the January transfer window without having a replacement lined up.

City were drawn in a tough group in the Champions League, but the expensively assembled team was expected to do much better than failing to register a single victory and finishing at the bottom of the group, not even managing to qualify for Europa League.

The lowest point of the season was when Mancini was out-thought by Roberto Martinez’s Wigan side that beat City in the FA Cup final. The fact that the defeat was to a side that got relegated from the Premier League, made the failure all the more embarrassing for the club.

Mancini hasn’t just lost the League and the Cup final, but also lost the plot. This prompted the club officials to conclude that they had no option but to sack him a year to the day since he led Manchester City to the Premier League for the first time in 44 years.

What did they do right in the previous season?

The only silver lining to City’s season was the defence. New signing Matija Nastasic settled down quickly at the club, and formed a reliable partnership with club captain Vincent Kompany as the team conceded the least number of goals (34) in the league in the season. The performance of Pablo Zabaleta was another bright spot in the season as the defender made the right-back position his own with his consistent performances. Zabaleta was the only City player to be named in the PFA Team of the 2012-13 Season.

Winning the Manchester derby at Old Trafford was a high for the Citizens, though it came a bit too late as the title race was virtually over by then. However Sir Alex Ferguson considered the game important calling it as “show of strength for the next season”, but his team was outplayed their rivals, with Aguero scoring a brilliant winning goal.

Vincent Kompany will have to lead from the front

What’s new at the club this season?

Manuel Pellegrini has replaced Mancini at the helm of the club, after being linked with the job for long. The Chilean has spent most of his managerial career at Spain, having managed Villarreal, Malaga and Real Madrid. He has led Villarreal and Malaga to the later stages of the Champions League and his Real Madrid team obtained the second highest points tally in their La Liga history (96) in the only season he was in-charge at the club. Renowned for producing teams that are technically adept and play attractive football, Pellegrini is likely to make the team more flexible tactically than it was under Mancini.

Continuing with the trend of spending big in the transfer window, City have spent over £90million to add quality and variety to the team in the form of Fernandinho (who is likely to partner Yaya Toure in the central midfield), Jeses Navas (who’ll offer pace and width), Negredo (who’ll bolster the team’s attack as a powerful focal point) and Stevan Jovetic (whose intelligence and technical quality will be a welcome addition to the team’s forward line).

Likely tactics and starting XI

Pellegrini is likely to deploy the 4-4-2 formation, with the likely change from last season being that the wide midfielders are unlikely to cut-inside in the final third, and hence the attack won’t be as narrow and the width offered by new arrival Jesus Navas can very well be the X-factor for the team.

It’ll be interesting to observe how the central midfield duo of Yaya Toure and Fernandinho perform alongside each other, whether they’ll complement each other or turn out to be too similar to coexist. The performance of this partnership could be a key deciding factor in City’s success.

The addition of Negredo and Jovetic will bolster the attacking line-up and the duo along with Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero will form a potent strike force.

Likely starting XI: Hart – Zabaleta, Nastasic, Kompany, Clichy – Silva, Fernandinho, Yaya Toure, Jesus Navas – Dzeko, Aguero

Key players

1. Central defence partnership of Kompany and Nastasic

Captain Vincent Kompany leads the team by example and is an outstanding centre-back. He will to continue his partnership with Nastasic, who enjoyed an impressive debut season last year, and repeat last season’s feat of conceding the least number of goals among all teams.

2. Strike partnership of Dzeko and Aguero

Having played together for a while now, the duo is now more familiar with each other’s game and the chemistry has improved. Dzeko has shown excellent form in the pre-season and will look to take it forward to the Premier League campaign. Aguero will hope to have an injury-free season and repeat his good form of the 2011-12 campaign.

Where will they want to finish?

Pellegrini will be well aware that anything less than a Premier League title will be considered a failure. City owners and fans will expect a better showing from the team in the Champions League after two less-than-impressive outings in the past 2 seasons. The team will also look to win at least one of the domestic cups, to erase the memories of the loss to Wigan at Wembley last season.

Where will they actually finish?

With Manchester United determined to defend their League title, and Chelsea spending big money to strengthen their squad and having Jose Mourinho back, Manchester City are likely to be involved in a three-way fight for the title. In Champions League, with some luck from the draw, they should expect to make the knockouts for the first time in 3 years.

Prediction: 2nd in Premier League, Quarterfinals in Champions League, Winners of League Cup