City makes it three in a row

When Rooney said he was unhappy at United there were only three other clubs mentioned as possible homes. These were the only clubs considered to have the resources to give Rooney what he was looking for. The usually suspects linked to the transfer of big players are Real Madrid and Barcelona. The third club that was listed as having the money to give Wayne what he wanted was Manchester City and the deep-pocketed owner Sheikh Mansour.

We know there are not enough oil sheikhs and Russian oligarchs to go around (exhibit A – Coventry City) in the Premier League and Championship.

The fact that Man City’s spending power is now ranked by the press along side Real Madrid is astounding, especially when you look at the results.

Tonight City got hammered 3-1 in Europe by Lech Poznan, a game that should have been very winnable considering the talent on show. That made three losses in a row. Last weekend was to a Wolves team made up of no real marquee players, was just ugly to watch.

After the loss at Wolves Adebayor and Kompany, both sublime footballers, were blaming each other before they had left the pitch.

Two weeks ago City lost to an Arsenal side that is playing some very good football right now.

It’s a cliché, but good sides beat the sides they are supposed too. Man City have no excuse for not beating Wolves and giving Arsenal a better game of it. Next week City have a winnable game when they visit West Brom. The following week is the big one, Man United at Eastlands.

The stated goal of the owner and manager is to win the Champions league in 2012. This side may have the money to spend, but Roberto Mancini is struggling to get the best from the players he has brought and devise a system that plays to their strengths.

Fail o win the next two games and eyes are going to start turning towards Mancini; the owner has two very straightforward goals, the Premiership and Champions League.

Today Mancini is unable to deliver either. This is the man who won three Serie A titles and a European Championship for Inter, I’m clear the refereeing scandals gave him an advantage (here is the Serie A piece I did about it months ago), but they still had to win.

It’s very fair for Mancini to say he should be judged over a far longer period than three months. The obvious similarity is Chelsea. Abramovich brought the club in 2003. The club had some success under Ruud Gullit prior to the Russians’ take over, but it still took 4 years and a pot of money to build the team that won the Premier League.

Compared to the Chelsea, Mark Hughes and Roberto Mancini have done very well at City.

However the rules have changed in the last seven years. UEFA has introduced regulations that will penalize clubs that can’t balance the money going into and out of the club. Under the proposed rules, clubs that can’t sustain them selves will be banned from European competition from 2015, it sounds like a long way away, but it’s only 3 seasons away.

With the UEFA deadline closing in how much patience will the deep poked owner have for the under-achieving manager? Should Mancini not deliver this year, will he get another?

With the way the Mark Hughes was disposed of by the ownership it’s hard to imagine that they would tolerate not winning for long.

To be fair, while Chelsea look exceptionally good this year; they have not yet won anything yet. And City is in almost as good a position as Arsenal and United to chase them down.

It makes me sound absolutely certifiable to say it, but City could prove the often quoted theory that every manager is two or three players short of what he needs to win everything. It sounds absurd after all the money Mancini has spent, but the team has looked like it’s lacking something.

When you have $33 million players like Joleon Lescott on the bench when a manager struggles, his team had better look good doing it. And I don’t think City have this year. I know this pisses off friends of mine (sorry Dave), but it’s true.