Evaluating the Premier League title contenders: Manchester City

MANCHESTER CITY 

Can the Engineer be Man City's fix to the broken engine?

From the outside looking in, the sacking of Roberto Mancini was ludicrous and the fans let the club knew it. Having delivered City's first FA Cup since 1969 and their first top league title in 44 years (in spectacular fashion too), the Italian's departure looked very harsh indeed. However, the arrival of Manuel Pellegrini could be a masterstroke from the club owners. There should be no doubts in the Chilean's abilities who took Villarreal and Malaga on unlikely Champions League adventures and breaking Real Madrid's points record in a La Liga season. Now he's arrived in England for the first time in his career, hoping to make the Citizens champions again after a disappointing 2012/13 and cast his own revolution of dominance at the Etihad stadium.

The summer so far

Manchester City have been unsurprisingly been the heaviest spenders out of the title chasing rivals this season. The Citizens have opted to bulk up their attack which seemed to be the thorn in their side last year. In their 2011/12 winning year, City scored an astronomical 93 goals. Last year, they could manage just 66, an approximate 30% decrease in goals from just 12 months earlier. Ouch. In come Spanish superstars Álvaro Negredo and Jesús Navas. Negredo provides another proven attacking option upfront having scored 31 goals last season for Sevilla. As many saw in the Confederations Cup, Navas is scarily fast down the flank and will guarantee to cause slow left backs nightmares. Jovetic from Fiorentina is a second striker and isn't a prolific goal scorer but he takes the creative burden from David Silva and will attempt to link up a lot with his striker ahead of him. Finally, Fernandinho acts as a defensive rock of the central midfield who will give Yaya Touré more license to go forward. Overall, I believe City have spent far more wisely than they did last summer, bringing it genuine quality to the side (as opposed to Scott Sinclair). The new strength in attack should turn some of the 9 draws last season into wins this season.

Despite having the ability to be one of the best goalkeepers in the world, Joe Hart will want far less mistakes this season. The Englishman kept the most clean sheets in the league last year, but preventable errors cost the side a few goals last year, with some of those proving fatal (e.g against Southampton). I believe City should sign a good backup goalkeeper that can keep Hart looking over his shoulder throughout the season, hopefully leading to less errors. On the upside,  City had the strongest in the league last season, only conceding 34 goals. Matija Nastasic was excellent in defence last year, and at only 20 he is still developing. Quite an improvement from Stefan Savic! Also, fan favourite Pablo Zabaleta was awarded Player of the Season last year for his performances as right back. The strengthening in attack is obvious as that was where City were lacking last season, whilst if the defence ain't broke, don't fix.

Possible lineup 

  

Verdict 

I don't want to give off the wrong message when giving this prediction. I believe Manchester City will do far better than last year with a more experienced and tactically inept manager and a more prolific attacking force thanks to the summer signings. However, I believe that all these new arrivals will take to gel and get used to the English game, whereas Chelsea already has a manager who knows how to win the Premier League with players who have played in England before and Manchester United don't have to deal with any transitioning due to their lack of transfer activity. Therefore, I predict Manchester City to fall slightly behind those two, maybe by just a point. It will be an extremely close title race and third place won't do this team justice 3rd

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Fan's verdict

Shannen Marie @Shannen_MCFC

1) What is the general feeling amongst the fans?

I'd say that there is generally an optimistic feeling about the season ahead under Pellegrini, a man who managed to get a record number of points whilst finishing second with Real Madrid. I'd say the feeling of optimism is added to by the fact there has been a change at both Chelsea and United as well.

2) Which player will be the one to watch?

I'd say the player to watch would be Stevan Jovetic, as he's already played with confidence such as in the Audi Cup semi-final against AC Milan. I reckon he'll breathe new life into our attack force, by putting in shifts that create an abundance of chances, or by simply putting them away. Which I think was a problem we had last season, especially with Agüero being out for a number of games due to injury.

3) What are City's strengths?

I'd say that our main strength is our defense, last season we had a solid back four, and although Nastasic will be out injured, I feel Micah and Lescott are more than capable of a solid defense.

4) What are Citys weaknesses?

I'd say that our main weakness, certainly last season, was sloppiness in midfield at times. Last season, we missed De Jong, someone who wasn't hesitant when it came to actively seeking the ball, and taking it off the opposition, our defensive errors last season were mainly in the midfield, and we didn't seem to be proactive enough when trying to create chances, but intact seemed rather lethargic.

5) What will happen in the ideal world?

In the ideal world, we'll come out of this season having seen a cohesive team gain invaluable experience in Europe outside of group stages, and comfortably secured the premier league title.

6) What will happen in reality?

Realistically, I'd say we'll certainly be in contention for the title, but it'll be a hard battle with very little in it. I'd say we have a good chance of getting out of European group stages, but that'll really be determined by the group we draw and whether or not we're hit by a string of injuries