Season Review: Manchester City

Unfortunately, at the end of the ninety minutes of the FA Cup Final, it seemed like they were utter and complete strangers to the trophy, playing like a bunch of remote controlled cars whose remotes had gone haywire, with no sense of direction or ambition. In fact, seldom have more disheartening performances come about under Mancini. However, the road up to the final was clocked in certain style, much as we have come to expect from City when they’re well and kicking. Not a single goal was conceded till the semi-final, and teams like Watford, Stoke, Leeds and Barnsley were dispatched with relative ease and maximum force. The semi-finals were played out against Chelsea, and this too was a performance reminiscent of the grandiose of last season, where Nasri, Yaya Toure, Aguero and Tevez put in a breath-taking shift and muscled past a Chelsea team on a good cup run, on their way to the final. The final itself was as languid and insipid a display as you’ll ever see. Credits to Wigan Athletic and Roberto Martinez, undoubtedly, but Mancini was on the brink before the game, and after the defeat his chances of survival at the club looked nonexistent, and with good reason. It is no secret that Wigan’s starting squad was put together for less than what it cost City to buy Sergio Aguero. Given the woeful Premier League campaign, and the emotional value of the FA Cup to City fans and players, this would indeed have been a golden opportunity for retribution, one they dropped with both hands.

It is perhaps testament to City’s progress over the past few years that a second place finish in the League is being condemned in the way it is. It is not so much, however, the finish itself as the manner in which they went through the thirty-eight game season. The season itself began in a rocky manner, as Southampton rattled the holders, and Aguero was lost to injury in the first game of the season. City eventually came from 2-1 down to win 3-2, but the game was ominous for City in more than one way. Their first defeat came as late as December, to who else but Manchester United, as City (again) put in a remarkably shoddy display and had none of the charisma of old, with United edging their rivals out 3-2 at the Etihad. The losses started there on, but City’s main affliction this season was their inability to kill off games, evidenced by the nine games they drew, and their further inability to turn up at games, evidenced by the six losses. Their away form cost them dearly, as nineteen games bought only nine victories, six draws and four losses. In the end, City ended up a chasmic 11 points away from United, and deservedly so. Roberto Mancini continually blamed his team’s under-performance on the signings made in the summer transfer window, but he can never absolve himself of blame after continually chopping and changing the starting squad, and more worryingly, their formations, often voyaging between 3-5-2, 4-4-2, 4-2-3-1, and a 4-4-1-1.

While it is, though, utterly harsh to lay the blame entirely on the manager, it has to be said that they looked a side disjointed and disinterested for much of the season. The sale of Adam Johnson meant they had lost width and dynamism, and that of Nigel de Jong meant they had lost that steel and unpredictability in midfield. What remained was a fragmented core, and to to top it off, most of the players – in particular Hart, Kompany, Lescott, Barry, Yaya Toure, David Silva, Samir Nasri, Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez - played at a far lesser level compared to last season. Those are nine out of eleven starting players. City’s top scorer this season in all competitions was Tevez with a mere 17 goals. To compare, Aston Villa’s top scorer, Christian Benteke, scored 23 goals in all competitions, and Robin Van Persie of United scored 30.