In my opinion you do not have to look to far for the team I predict to be making the strongest most serious legitimate challenge this season, they are our “noisy neighbours” from the blue side of Manchester! The media have been quick to talk up City’s title challenge following three successive premier league victories, including an impressive win away at Tottenham. It seems that City have now got the correct balance in their squad and their style of play has improved from their negative approach to certain premier league fixtures last season.
Like many Man Utd supporters I was talking down City’s chances of success this season after the Carlos Tevez transfer request threatened to hinder any realistic chances of success. Like the majority of City supporters I realised just how much of an impact this would have on their team, Tevez was the catalyst for them last season, he was the chief and the players around him were his Indians. He single-handedly won City games last season with his all action displays and his 110% commitment.
Citys strongest department now must be their forward line that boasts Aguero, Dzeko, Tevez and the temperamental Balotelli. Tevez is now not guaranteed first team football at the Ethidad stadium which just goes to show the strength and depth in the striking department, something that could have a big say in where the premier league trophy will end up in May next year.
I feel that City are the only real threat to Utd lifting league title number twenty this season, something that I know many reds will disagree with me on. I understand that Chelsea are still a force, but City’s squad is now far more younger, talented and superior when compared to the ageing stars at Stamford Bridge. I don’t see Liverpool providing any threat to us or Tottenham and Arsenal who seem to be going through a rough patch on and off the field at the moment following their humiliating 8-2 defeat at the theatre of dreams.
A sign of the times changing?Man City have always classed the derby fixture with Man Utd as their big game of the season, they live for derby day. The majority of United supporters on the other hand would state that the game they look for when the fixtures come out at the start of each season would be Liverpool home and away. This is where I see things changing in the not so distance future.
We as supporters base the fact we do not consider the Manchester derby fixtures top of our agenda because for years City have never been of any threat to us. If somebody had of told me ten years ago that City in ten years time would finish third in the premier league, qualify for the Champions league for the first time in their history, and win the F.A Cup, I would have called for the men in white coats to take them away !
But I predict that it is only a matter of seasons away before we start to look for the Man City fixture before the Liverpool one as they are making progress and in the process are ready to leapfrog them as our main rivals. City are now able to attract any player in the world as long as the player is willing to move.
I think City coming back from the basement of English football and now backed by the billion pound fortune of Sheikh Mansour, has reignited the hostile competitive rivalry between the two sides. Would you not agree that it has added more importance to the fixture? I think its great that we have two teams from Manchester who will be competing between each other for silverware, Manchester is buzzing with anticipation. City are now starting to believe in themselves that they are not that far away from matching Utd on the field play. And they should be confident, City have spent nearly five hundred million pounds on transfers since the Abu Dhabi takeover of the club in 2008.
On a positive note I am confident that Nemanja Vidic will lift the premier league title in May next year, but City will not be far behind them. One thing that could go against them is the fact they will be playing Champions League football for the first time, in the middle of a gruelling premier league calendar. Tottenham had a fantastic Champions league campaign last season but then fell short in qualifying for this years tournament because of it. Who’s to know how City will cope with the demand of playing both Premier and champions league football or what a footballing lesson at the Camp Nou , San Siro or the Santiago Bernabeu could do to City and their confidence? We will just have to wait in anticipation and see how they respond to the challenge.
I also think that Manchini will be City’s downfall this season. On three occasions last year he settled for a draw in a game before the players had even come out onto the pitch, his negative tactics will be a problem. And trying to manage the pampered, overpaid millionaires in that outspoken City dressing room will mean that Manchini will have his work cut out this season!
One thing is for sure, any Utd fan that tries telling me that City are not serious contenders for this years premier league crown, please take off your rose tinted glasses because the threat from the blue half of Manchester is there for all to see. It is Sir Alex Ferguson’s job to make sure that we keep them quiet.
So Prepare yourself for what I believe will be one of the closest and most entertaining premier league seasons to date.
Kevin Ashford
@kevinashford7
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