Premier League Betting: Man City not winning matches or friends

Premier League / Mike Norman / 03 August 2009 / Leave a Comment

Mark Hughes and Caros Tevez should forget about winning the title and instead concentrate on qualifying for Europe

"With so much money to spend, manager Mark Hughes cares little for who he upsets as long as he puts together a squad that can challenge the Big Four… and ultimately… keep him in a job."

First it was Sir Alex Ferguson calling them a small club with a small mentality, now it's David Moyes accusing them of lacking respect and class. Mike Norman reckons Man City should just get on with playing football.

So it appears that - in Manchester City's case at least - money doesn't necessarily buy you love; nor does it buy you friends, popularity, or even success if their pre-season friendly results are anything to go by.

But the question is, why should anyone be surprised?

Ever since the Abu Dhabi United Group took over at Eastlands in September 2008 we've known that City would become one of the biggest spending football clubs in Europe... and along the way get up a few people's noses. With so much money to spend, manager Mark Hughes cares little for who he upsets as long as he puts together a squad that can challenge the Big Four... and ultimately... keep him in a job.

What Hughes and his players must do is get on with the job in hand and distance themselves from the childish PR antics designed to rile the red side of Manchester.

Too much is being made of the fact that Carlos Tevez used to play for Manchester United. True, you should never get into a mind-games slog with Sir Alex Ferguson - and by displaying a huge poster of Tevez in the city centre that's exactly what Man City have done - but the facts are that Tevez no longer felt wanted at United, he is a proven Premier League player who performs on the world stage for Argentina, and the chance to play for a rich and hugely ambitious club was one he didn't want to turn down.

Of far more concern to the image of football is City's disgraceful pursuit off Everton's Joleon Lescott. Despite insisting the player is not for sale Everton have already had to fend of two approaches from their Premier League rivals, and are likely to have their patience tested again via an improved offer.

David Moyes is absolutely correct to condemn the way City are going about their business, insisting that the moneymen of Eastlands are showing a complete lack of respect by continuing to pursue the defender.

On the pitch Man City have so far proved extremely disappointing, not only failing to win pre-season friendlies, but looking completely disjointed in the process. You'd have to be completely insane to back them at [14.0] to win the Premier League title this season, and just slightly less insane to back them for a Top 3 ([4.3]) or Top 4 ([2.82]) finish.

Their problem of course, is that they have far too many 'first choice' strikers and not enough 'first class' defenders, resulting in a completely unbalanced team. True, the likes of Robinho, Tevez and Craig Bellamy can play in less advanced roles but you're then sacrificing a midfield position for someone who is not going to work as hard as a Gareth Barry, Vincent Kompany or Nigel de Jong.

Then you've got the problem of nationalities and language barriers, togetherness and morale. Right now, City's squad consists of players from no less than 18 different countries including Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Israel, Togo, Slovakia, Nigeria and the Ivory Coast. How are they going to communicate and get on with each other? More to the point, how are any of them going to communicate and get on with Bellamy?

All in all, City are a rich club and very ambitious - there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. But you can't build a title-winning team overnight, you can't expect so many different types of players from all corners of the globe to gel straight away, and you certainly can't get above your station and act all arrogant and disrespectfully towards your rivals.

Manchester City and everyone involved with the club should simply concentrate on football - aim for a Top 6 Finsih ([1.41]) and move on from there. When they're scrapping for a point at Stoke on a cold January night, only then will we find out exactly how good they really are.