Sunderland v Manchester City: Post Match

How on earth did City manage to lose that game? It was the kind of end to the game that City fans of a certain standing will have been fearing, virtually the last kick of the game from a goal that was offside.

That's the way City have generally gone about their business for more years than I care to remember. In previous years fans would have just laughed it off as 'typical City', but with the squad City now have and the money that has been spent it's more difficult to accept results like that when there is so much to play for. Still, it's something we have to do. Perhaps not laugh it off, but accept the result and move on.

City had round 60% possession of the ball, 10 corners, and 25 attempts on goal. Sunderland had their backs to the wall on a number of occasions and played almost entirely on the break which is something City are going to have to quickly learn to overcome if they are to continue on their title challenge.

Mancini was clearly unimpressed that the opportunity to go 3 points clear wasn't taken as several players simply did not perform up to the required standard that Roberto has come to expect from his players despite the match stats. In fact Mancini was so unhappy he left the touchline and headed down the tunnel after the goal was conceded and before the game ended. He looked like a man who had been let down in a big way.

Most of the players in question are those that have had to watch from the sidelines in recent weeks and you would have thought they would have grabbed the chance with both hands, but that didn't happen. The passing in the final third of the pitch was pretty poor almost throughout the 90 minutes and it got worse the closer to goal it got.

Yaya, Nasri, Johnson, Kolarov and Kompany were all guilty of playing the ball into the box with little to no conviction or purpose. Dzeko's passing was pretty bad throughout too, and unfortunately his shooting was even worse. 1/3 of his passes were wayward and only 1 of his 10 shots were on target.

One player who can hold his head high despite the defeat is Gareth Barry who was as dependable as ever. Despite losing, Kompany and Lescott also played well defensively overall.

I'm not sure I can recall feeling this disappointed about a result in the last 12 months or so, and we're still top of the league! Perhaps the result against Everton last December was as close to the same frustration many have exhibited after this result. I suppose that's an indication of just how far City have come in the last 3 years.

City may well be going through the sticky patch that all teams go through at some point in the season, although the results themselves other than this one against Sunderland haven't actually been that bad. A loss at Stamford Bridge, a draw at the Hawthorns and two wins at home isn't too much to be worried about at this point.

A big kick up the backside is needed after this performance before Liverpool in 2 days, and some players will be kicking themselves as they have missed an opportunity to really show their worth to the squad today. Plenty of games are coming up though in the next couple of months so they will get another chance. Lets hope they take it.

In brief summary of the game it was a story of poor passing in the final third, extremely poor finishing from all involved, some good defending from Sunderland and an offside goal that stole the 3 points at the death. I probably should have put that first so you didn't have to read all of the above. It'd have saved a minute or two of your time anyway.

Thankfully, most other teams in the title and top 4 challenges also slipped up this week. Manchester United lost at home to Blackburn, Chelsea lost at home to Aston Villa, and Spurs drew away to Swansea. Only Liverpool and Arsenal picked up 3 points so it's not all bad.




Twitter: @MikeWalsh1880
Facebook: David Silva's Left Foot

West Bromwich Albion v Manchester City

The season's festivities climaxed yesterday but as joyous as the occasion may be, many Blues throughout the land will have had a portion of their thoughts on something other than the Turkey; Boxing Day Football. City travel to the Hawthorns to take on West Brom in the next game of a tightly packed Christmas and New Year schedule.

After the rather unexpected cake walk that was City v Stoke earlier at the Etihad 5 days ago you would expect and maybe hope West Brom to put up a little more of a fight with them being on home turf. Sadly I half expect them to play like the away side and sit and defend in the hope they can withstand City's attacks for 90 minutes. I hope I'm wrong.

Woy Hodgson is tasked with stabilising the somewhat yo yo existence seen in recent years at the Hawthorns and at this stage of the season they are mid-table, and around halfway to safety with 21 points.

Unfortunately for West Brom, their home form isn't exactly exemplary, having lost 5 of their 8 games there this season. West Brom have also failed to get any points from any games against teams in the top 6. City have won 5 of their away games, only losing to Chelsea with 10 men 2 weeks ago. Unsurprisingly, the odds are clearly stacked heavily against the Baggies in this fixture.

Shane Long and Peter Odemwingie bare the majority of the responsibility when it comes to scoring goals. Both have scored 5 and 4 league goals respectively. England international Ben Foster will be hoping his defence can limit the number of chances City create, but I would think he may be a little busy.

His opposite number, and England number 1, Joe Hart, will also be hoping for a clean sheet which would be the 3rd in succession after shutting out Arsenal and Stoke prior to this game. Kompany returned to his imperious best in those games too, and will be wanting to continue and build on that form.

After impressing against Stoke, possibly partly due to the lack of defending he was required to do, Adam Johnson will also be hoping for another start. Mancini was clearly pleased with his contribution during the game though. Whether he gets his start or not is another matter. At the moment I would think he would take any time he can get and has a habit of coming on from the bench to score late on in games.

Who starts up front is a mystery and will partly depend on whether Dzeko is fit enough to play after turning his ankle in training before the Stoke game. Both Aguero and Balotelli have been in fine form though so either one should be able to do a job up front.

Micah Richards is the only other injury concern and with the number of games coming up it may be once again down to the man for all seasons, Zabaleta, to fill in at right back.

With all due respect to West Brom, I hope they put up more of a fight than Stoke, but unless they play out of their skin or City have a really off game then City should have another 3 points by the end of the day.




Twitter: @MikeWalsh1880
Facebook: David Silva's Left Foot

Manchester City v Stoke City: Post Match

That could be the easiest 3 points earned by any team at any point this season. Stoke seemingly arrived at the Etihad with only one plan; not to get smashed. They certainly didn't want to have a go at City's back 4 and in the first half they rarely managed to get the ball out of their own half. I'm not sure whether or not 3-0 is getting smashed either by City's recent standards.

As predicted, Mancini was set to give Dzeko a starting role but an ankle injury before the game put an end to that. Lescott did return at the centre of defence though, and Adam Johnson also got a rare start.

The first 45 minutes may as well have been a training match of attack vs defence. Stoke's lineup started as 4-4-2 but ended up more like 6-3-1 for the vast majority of the half as City passed the ball pretty much at will, looking for an opening in the tightly packed Stoke defence.

It was Adam Johnson who got the first meaningful shot. Cutting in from the right at the edge of the area there was only ever one thing on his mind but his curling shot ricocheted off the woodwork.

Tony Pulis was constantly barking orders at his players from the first whistle, but whatever he was trying to convey helped very little, if at all as the entire half was all about City. Even when Stoke managed to get the ball out of their own half it was picked up by either Kompany or Lescott without much trouble.

After 15 minutes the possession stats flashed up 65-35 in the Blues' favour, and it didn't get any better for Stoke. Nasri and Toure went wide with shots of their own around the 20 minute mark as City continued to completely dominate the play.

The first goal came just before 30 minutes after a nice bit of play between Silva and Nasri out on the left wing. Silva found Yaya with a cutting ball into the box with the Ivorian hitting a shot/pass across the box met initially by Kompany, parried by Sorensen, tapped home by Aguero. A brilliantly worked goal.

City didn't have to wait too long for the next goal either, and what a goal it was! The home crowd were still thinking they should have had a penalty when Silva was blatantly pushed in the area and Stoke were looking to get the ball back out. They did get it out, only to the top of the 18 yard box before City had the ball again. Adam Johnson found himself in plenty of space and struck a beautifully driven shot from around 30 yards that rocketed into the bottom left of the goal. 36 Minutes, 2-0, absolutely nothing for Joe Hart to break a sweat over.

That's how it continued in the second half although Stoke put up a bit more of a fight. I say a bit, and I mean a bit. In fact Stoke were lucky that City appeared to be taking it easy knowing the number of games they will be playing in a short space of time.

Stoke conceded a third less than 10 minutes into the second half in a way that merged the first 2 goals together. Stoke were pinned back and managed to clear the ball from their own area but only by a couple of yards before Toure and Barry stole the ball back for City. Nasri received the ball off Barry and hit a low cross across the goal which was met once again by Aguero who tapped the ball home.

Much of the second half was City asking Stoke "go on then have a go" and then taking the ball off them and knocking it about for a while in no real rush to extend their lead. Not to sound cruel on Stoke, but they had absolutely no idea either in defence or attack and very rarely managed to keep the ball for a reasonable length of time. It's not often that stats give you the full story in a game, but these few really do;

Posession

Man City: 76% - 24% :Stoke City

Passes

Man City: 937 - 292 :Stoke City

Pass %

Manc Cit: 91% - 72% :Stoke City

Shots on Target

Man City: 11 - 0 :Stoke City

Shots off Target

Man City: 3 - 3 :Stoke City

Shots Blocked

Man City: 8-0 :Stoke City

After the electric pace of their game against Arsenal, City were quite content in taking it a little easier, keeping the ball and making Stoke do all the running. Stoke managed 3 shots in the whole of the 90 minutes, and not one of them was on target. Joe Hart may as well have sat in the stands for all the work he needed to do.

Another 3 points, Manchester City sat at the top of the tree at Christmas for the first time in Premier League history, and the first time since 1929. Just another tick in the Club's record breaking season so far.

Merry Christmas and here's to a happy Blue year




Twitter: @MikeWalsh1880
Facebook: David Silva's Left Foot

Adam Johnson on his time at City.

It's relatively quiet in the media on the City front today, Certainly nothing new anyway. So I'll visit yesterday's news again. I would have a look at Rooney's little piece about the Community Shield actually being an important game, totally contradicting United's 'official' stance on it. And is it any wonder why they've played down the game so far? Lets face it, it'll be an important game if they win it. So I guess it will just have to remain a 'meaningless friendly' then eh ;) 

To be honest after having a look through United squads and youth policy over the last 20 years yesterday I got a massive headache through over exposure to the colour red so I wont be delving into what Looney has been saying. So back to blue I go with Adam Johnson in the MEN.

After that pathetic article in the Telegraph telling us that AJ "has not progressed at Manchester City" we get quite an honest and open interview with the young winger from Rob Dawson at the MEN.

In recent weeks we've seen stories about how Johnson is ready to quite City, or that he is going to be loaned out or even sold, none of which you should have believed for a second after listening to Mancini when Johnson was injured last season.

City went through a difficult patch and the City boss stated that the injury to Adam was one of the reasons for City's inability to make an impact on other teams at the time. Talking about Johnson's ability to come on and change a game Mancini stated; "After Adam was injured we had a big problem because he is different to the other players. We don't have anyone else like that"

More recently Bobby has rubbished talks of Johnson leaving City and has categorically stated that he sees the tricky winger in City's long term plans.

It's been no secret that AJ and Mancini haven't seen eye to eye over everything and Johnson reiterates that again saying; "I've had conversations with the manager and there are some things we agree on and some things we disagree on. He just wants to win every game."

But he admits that his manager knows best and that Mancini "focuses on everything, down to the last little thing, and that's probably one of the reasons we did so well last season." And with reference to his apparent lack of progression at the club Adam clearly disagrees completely, stating; "Since I signed, everything has changed for me. It's given me the chance to play for England and express myself in a massive team."

Since swapping the Riverside to Eastlands in January 2010 he notes his appreciation of the increased ability to show off his attacking prowess in games; "Now I'm at City I get the chance to attack more and that's what I like doing. Since I've come to City I think I've definitely improved.

"When you play with top players it brings you on. You probably learn more from watching the players in training than you do from the coaches sometimes."

I'm surprised no one's jumped on that last part and ran with an article saying Johnson learns nothing from Mancini and hates the coaches. But anyway...

Adam is keen to stress that he wants to play more games as he wants to try and ensure his selection for the European Championship at the end of the season after missing out on being selected for the World Cup.

The prospect of Champions League football is also at the forefront of his mind; "The Champions League is a massive thing. I haven't played in it and it's another thing I'd like to do in my career." That should scupper any more rumours of him wanting moving away from the club in the next twelve months anyway, but I wont hold my breath on that one.

If you've not already seen it, you can catch the full article here: http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/sport/football/manchester_city/s/1454561_manchester-city-winger-adam-johnson-tells-rob-dawson-he-just-wants-to-be-on-roberto-mancinis-teamsheet

Adam has all the ability to be a big star for the club, as long as he can keep his head down, continue to learn from those around him. What ultimately kept him out of the starting 11 for most of last season was his lack of consistency, often coming off the bench to make a massive impact only to star next game and go missing for most of it.

If he can address this issue either by pacing himself over 90 minutes or improving his stamina so he can play at the higher tempo for longer he will be one of the best winger in the premier league, and given another year or two, maybe even one of the best in the world.

His future is in his own hands now, he has been given the biggest stage to work on with some of the best players in the world, it's up to him to make the most of it. Lets hope he does.

Hated or adored but never ignored.

Yesterday was a big day for Manchester City, and as you would expect it produced a tremendous amount of bitter, jealous and hateful ramblings from certain journalists and opposition fans alike. It does seem that whenever City do something impressive there's someone else there to slate them or bring up some rumour in an attempt to put City back down a peg or two.


There's 3 in particular that have gone into print between yesterday and this morning that I'll pick out, and I don't normally do this but they need naming and shaming for the complete and utter tosh that they've produced. Araiz Baqi (SportPulse), Sami Mokbel (Mail Online) and Luke Edwards (The Telegraph), take a bow.

Lets start with the bitter nonce from SportPulse who went with "Manchester City sign Aguero - Football in desperate need of Financial fair play" as a headline. Now far be it from me to be the grammar police but you can figure the kind of intellect we're facing when someone starts to use random capitals in a sentence. You can also immediately feel the bitter hatred simply oozing from a headline like that.

Baqi kindly points out in bold letters that City have purchased Aguero for £38 million and is said to earn €225,000 per week. Thanks for that, I'm sure we wouldn't have been able to read those figures otherwise. And after the usual spiel about his scoring record and past clubs we get down to the good part.


The article goes on to mention the problem Mancini will have in choosing who plays as striker and then lists the players he believes to fill that role at City. "Mario Balotelli, Alex Nimely, Craig Bellamy, Carlos Tevez, Roque Santa Cruz, Adam Johnson, Emmanuel Adebayor, and Edin Dzeko are all players who will be competing" for the striker spot apparently.


Where do you start with that rubbish? Ah yes, I'm sure you've spotted one of the most glaring mistakes here, Adam Johnson is not a striker, never has been and never will be Baqi you fool. Next in line is Alex Nimely, yes he is a striker but the young lad is hardly a first team regular after making one appearance is he? Add to that RSC, Ade and Bellers who are all on their way out of the club and Tevez who is also heading for the exit and that leaves Edin and Mario left on the list to compete with and John Guidetti trying to break into the squad.


That's 3 'main' strikers with 2 young lads coming through the ranks once all the players have been sorted. Hardly excessive is it considering United had 4 'main' strikers in 1999 is it?


So where does he go now? The only natural progression is to list City's signings in bold print since Sheikh Mansour took over and jibe that this has only managed to 'buy' a solitary FA Cup. 


"All City could manage with these spendings was a single FA Cup" so gleefully stated before continuing "If such a huge amount of transfer budget was handed over to an intelligent mind, like that of Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho..."


By Christ what is this idiot dribbling on about? The money spent took a side from being relegation fodder to joint 2nd in the league and ended a 35 year trophy drought. And City still haven't spent what certain other teams have, the only thing people don't like is how fast they've been able to spend it. I can guarantee that he wouldn't be complaining if his club (probably the rags) were given an open cheque book like City have. And of course he's conveniently leaving out the ridiculous transfer sums other clubs spent on players over the years. It's total hypocrisy with a massive dose of jealousy on top.


After banging on a little more about City being the footballing equivalent of the Antichrist he then urges FIFA to get control of the amount clubs (he means City of course) are spending because, and wait for it, "Football is about how a Club can achieve glory by team work, not by spending power." And I agree a football team has to show team work to achieve glory, but how many leagues or trophies are won by teams that aren't in the top 3-4 biggest spending clubs in any given league? At the end of the day you can buy as many players as you like but if they can't play together you wont get anywhere. He's obviously not thought this through.


The idiot them witters on about how many 'targets' City have because Mancini has mentioned them in passing at some point over the last 12 months as though we're actually looking at buying them all. Clearly not the case and appallingly misleading.


To end his pathetic tirade the buffoon then calls upon Platini and Blatter to implement the FFP rules immediately "before more damage can be done." Damage done to what? The status-quo that has been in place since the wide commercialisation of football meaning the rich get richer and the poor just look on in despair?


The funny thing about this is that almost every top team in Europe wouldn't be able to get a European licence to play football because very few of them actually meet the criteria in the FFP rules at this moment in time. The person that wrote this article is a total cretin.


Click here http://sportpulse.net/content/manchester-city-sign-sergio-aguero-football-desperate-need-financial-fair-play-1330 to let him know what you think.

Now we get to another Aguero induced piece of diatribe. The Mail Online (the internet version of the Daily Mail) greets you with "City rebellion! Stars seething over new boy Aguero's mega-money deal" using the usual excitable and sensationalist terms.


"Nigel De Jong, Vincent Kompany and Micah Richards are unhappy with the new deals offered them, especially after learning that City a paying a club record signing Aguero £200,000 per week" ... apparently. I wonder how they know that seeing as his signing was only confirmed yesterday evening? Have they spoke to any of these players? Do we have any new quotes from them? Errr no.


At least Sami Mokbel uses quotes from thep layers themselves to back up this nonsense so a little credit is due. Oh hang on, sorry, scrap that last part. They use a single word from and old quote to back up this utter tosh.

De Jong mentioned that contract talks had stopped for now (this was whilst he was on the American tour and the fellows that deal with contracts were already in talks with Atletico and Aguero) and he used the word 'frustrated' once. This is the only bit that has any solid links with a player being supposedly unhappy with this story. Although De Jong said he wasn't worried about the negotiations and he was enjoying playing for the club.  

The writer even states that Richards has dismissed talks he is unhappy with contract negotiations (which he did on Twitter) but that hasn't stopped him being included in the article of players on the cusp of revolting against the Club. And god knows why Kompany is mentioned there's nothing even linking him with the article at all!


And it wouldn't be complete without the trusted old 'source' at the club spilling the beans would it? The good old Daily Fail doesn't disappoint us; "While efforts to bring the club's wage bill into line are commendable, it doesn't wash with the key members of the squad being offered less than half of what some of the top earners...will earn."


Honestly the guy who cleans the windows could have come out with a statement like that. There's nothing revealing, there's no exclusives, there's nothing of any note in what is said. They don't call it the Daily Fail for nothing you know.


Again, here's the link if you'd like to let them know what you think: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2020036/Sergio-Aguero-causes-Manchester-City-rebellion-wages.html

And finally we come to the third piece, and I'm not sure if this fellow has actually seen a game of football in his life and just got his information off a Liverpool fan.


"Adam Johnson's move to Manchester City has gone badly for him and England" says Luke Edwards in the Telegraph.


Right from the get go you just know this is going to be one ugly article and hopelessly anti-City when he mentions competition for places at "the Etihad Stadium. Or, as it is known elsewhere, the-most-ludicrously-generous-sponsorship-deal-anywhere-in-the-world-in-the-history-of-the-game-ever."

Dear oh dear, jealous much? This guy clearly has an agenda and is of the opinion that Johnson, "once considered a modern day Sir Stanley Matthews" but who's career "has not progressed at Manchester City."

How many England caps did "the new Stanley Matthews" have before moving to City at 22 years old? None. Hardly a glowing record is it? But since joining City in January 2010 he has featured 6 times for England's full international side and become an established Premier League player. He would have featured more for England had it not been for Capello's quite frankly worrying selection process. How is that not a progression for a player? 


Although Luke acknowledges that City fans (rightly) point out that AJ makes more of an impact from the bench he fails to acknowledge how much game time Johnson has actually had, instead making it sound like he is almost forgotten about.


Johnson was missing for a good portion of the latter stages in the season through injury and Mancini openly stated that City missed him. That's hardly anything like being forgotten about is it? In fact AJ featured 39 times last season, around half as a sub, scoring 8 goals in the process. It is no secret that Adam needed to work on his stamina to warrant a regular starting place and that was the only reason why he didn't start more games.


There is no doubt that Johnson has talent but it's hardly City's fault if he was more  interested in going clubbing in the first half of last season prompting Mancini to publicly address the young wingers behaviour (amongst others in the squad). It's blindingly obvious Mancini wants Johnson to become the best he can be, it's up to Johnson to work at it now.


Once again here's the link: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/sport/lukeedwards/100018007/adam-johnsons-move-to-man-city-has-gone-badly-for-him-and-england/


It truly is astonishing the lengths some journalists are going to to discredit City at the moment, and it's not getting any better. The higher up the league City go, the more they seem to revel in taking wildly inaccurate swipes at the Club. All this is without mentioning people within the sport (usually other managers who either see City as a threat to their status or ones jealous they don't have the same transfer funds) who contribute to the ever mounting pile of turd-like objections to what City are doing.

Player of the season 2011-12?

Since Sheikh Mansour took over, Manchester City have embarked on an immense task of developing a mid table side into a team that can seriously contend not only domestically but also on the biggest stage in the Champions League.

There have been a lot of players brought into the club since the takeover. Some have survived the journey and are considered part of the backbone of the team, while others have fallen out of favour and are considered surplus to requirements.

Last season saw the fans truly spoilt for choice when it came to choose their player of the season which was eventually awarded to Vincent Kompany. But who will shine in the 2011-12 season? We’ll take a look at some of the likely candidates.

Joe Hart: The 2010-11 season saw the emergence of Hart as one of the best keepers in the Premiership, solidifying himself as City’s and England’s No.1, pushing several far more experienced keepers out of the running. Perhaps the most impressive was that he was chosen ahead of Shay Given for City’s No.1 spot, as Given has been widely regarded as one of the best keepers in the Premiership for some time. Hart also broke City’s clean sheet record and was awarded ‘Performance of the Season’ at the MCFC Player Awards in May for his outstanding display against Spurs. There is still room for improvement in his game and at 24 he has time on his side. Deeecent.

Vincent Kompany: Mr dependable, player of the season and considered by the vast majority of fans to be next in line for club captain. In fact many believe he should already be captain, such is his composure, consistency and attitude both on and off the pitch. After coming to City as a defensive midfielder under Mark Hughes’ reign he has shifted into the back four with ease and has become arguably the Premiership’s best defender. Kompany, just like Hart is still relatively young for his position and we have certainly not seen the best of him yet. And what thought that is.

Pablo Zabaleta: The ever ready utility player, Zabman has become somewhat of a cult hero amongst City fans for his sheer determination and willingness to put his body on the line for the cause (literally). Pablo was treated for cuts to his head more times than he would care to remember, having who knows how many stitches over the course of the season. Amongst his other injuries were a gash to his thigh as a result of a standard Paul Scholes tackle and breaking his nose multiple times during the season. Don’t believe me? Check this out...  http://mcfc.co.uk/Video/Features/Social-Media-Choice-9-Zaba-the-indestructible

Nigel De Jong: After being vilified the world over after his ‘kung fu’ style challenge on Spain’s Xabi Alonso during the 2010 World Cup, followed by the hounding he got after Breaking Hatem Ben Arfa’s leg in what was ultimately a fair challenge, you could have forgiven De Jong if he didn’t have the same drive in the rest of the season. But no, the midfield general continued with his no nonsense approach to tackling, breaking up the opposition’s attack before neatly passing the ball back out to someone to build an attack of their own. He even bagged a goal for himself, the first since joining the club in January 09.  

David Silva: Signing for City during the 2010 World Cup, many pundits and so called experts gave the diminutive Spaniard little chance of adapting to life in the rough and tumble of the Premiership. But after a relatively slow start the man described by former Spain Manager Luis Aragones as “small with big balls” quickly became a fan favourite claiming the Player of the Month award for three months running from October to December. He became instrumental to the team’s performance, possessing world class vision and ability to pick a pass, providing the vast majority of City’s creative midfield spark throughout the season. Although a little goal shy, always preferring to pick out a fellow player than take the glory for himself, David Silva is set to light up the Premier League again next season.

Adam Johnson: Bought for £6m from Middlesboro in January 2010 he has become a favourite with fans for his pace and dribbling ability causing full backs no end of troubles. Although due to the pace he likes to play the game he often makes less of an impact when starting games than he does when coming on as a sub. But he has provided his fair share of goals and also broke into the England squad since joining City. Considered to sometimes run himself into trouble and lacking end product, he certainly has room for improvement, but like most other players at City he is still young and still developing as a player. AJ certainly has the potential to be a formidable winger in the years to come.

Mario Balotelli: Perhaps the most controversial player on the face of the planet, Mario has divided audiences the world over with his antics both on and off the pitch. He has racked up a number of bookings and red cards, been derided for his lack of effort and his moody countenance even after scoring, been in trouble for throwing darts at youth players, crashed his Audi R8 and when asked by police why he had £5k in cash on him his reply was “Because I am rich.” It doesn’t stop there, he got into trouble after driving into the grounds of a women’s prison because he was curious as to what it was like, has an allergy to certain types of grass, and had bust ups with players and the manager. Oh yes, he can’t’ put on a training bib, heckled one of Wayne Rooney’s (ahem) escorts, has racked up £10k in parking fines, and uses San Carlo’s as you would use Domino’s Pizza, and swore live on TV saying “My whole season has been sh*t, can I say that?” Just for the record, no Mario, you can’t. Have I missed anything out? Oh of course, he’s been accused of having connections to the Mafia and wound up Rio Ferdinand by winking at him. But between these antics he has also sorted out a school bully after signing an autograph for a young boy outside the training ground, gave a homeless person £1k of his winnings outside a casino, regularly tips Big Issue sellers £20, affectionately calls Roberto Mancini ‘papa’ and has several charitable causes that he contributes regularly too. He is such an enigma with masses of potential which we were given a slight glimpse of at the end of the season. Just how will he get on in 2011-12? Time will tell.

Edin Dzeko: After signing from Wolfsburg in January for £27m the Bosnian diamond failed to make the impact that was expected by many. Although in his defence he arrived after the German winter break so lacked match fitness in the toughest league in the world, was played out of position at times, didn’t get the service he needed and appeared to have a distinct lack of confidence as the season progressed. Even so, it was a smart business move by Manchester City as Dzeko is a national hero in his home country and his inclusion in the squad instantly increased City’s fan-base by several million. The true test of his worth will be in next season when he has had time to settle in the squad and has a good pre season under his belt. Will the Bosnian diamond sparkle like his countrymen believe he will? Opinion is divided amongst many City fans.

Well there are eight players with the potential to be Player of the Season come next may, although there are others who could seriously contend for that crown. It certainly shows the kind of squad City have put together since the takeover and who knows, someone not on this list may outshine the rest, Carlos Tevez (if he’s still here), Yaya Toure, Micah Richards James Milner etc. Or could it be a player bought during the current transfer window? Whatever the outcome, the 2011-12 season is set to be on hell of a ride.