SOCCER: IN A season-long talent parade that has led Manchester City to the verge of a first title in 44 years the prime factor in their vital late surge has been a surprising esprit de corps.
For his €1.2 billion investment Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan got the club and produced a squad bulging with cash-soaked, garlanded performers. Less guaranteed was the intangible yet critical element of the will to win evident in a spring charge led by Yaya Toure and Vincent Kompany.
Eight points behind Manchester United when losing 1-0 at Arsenal on Easter Sunday, City enter tomorrow’s final day ahead of the champions by a goal difference of eight. When Carlos Tevez refused to warm up for a Champions League group game at Bayern Munich in September the Argentinian became the symbol of the guns-for-hire tag that has been the prevailing criticism of the Mansour project.
Tevez’s subsequent six-month absence summed up why City were frequently depicted as mercenaries who lacked the strong dressingroom that was seemingly keeping United in the hunt for a 20th championship.
Mario Balotelli’s serial misdemeanours enhanced the view. In episodes ranging from fireworks going off in his bathroom on the eve of the derby in October – City won 6-1 – to an early-morning exit from a Liverpool strip club, the Italian was at times seen as all that was wrong about the set-up at City.
Micah Richards’ alleged training ground bust-up with Balotelli and Yaya Toure’s half-time row with him during the defeat at Swansea City on March 11th appeared as evidence that even Mancini’s stalwarts were succumbing to the air of chaos.
However in control Mancini may have been, the impression was of a squad studded with renegades who might not turn up on any given day.
As Alex Ferguson hinted, this would damage City’s title aspirations, with United’s manager saying: “It’s obvious what he’s had to deal with.”
Yet, in truth, City were never lower than second, and led the league for the majority of the season. They had championship winning form until a month-long stumble that began with that defeat at Swansea and continued through draws against Stoke City and Sunderland, with only a 2-1 win over Chelsea breaking up a sequence that closed with the Arsenal defeat.
Cometh the hour, cometh the men. Eight points behind a resurgent United, City’s refusal to give up was headed by Mancini’s clever management – the champions were still “favourites” even with each point clawed back – and those perennials of all championship-winning teams: the hardcore and unsung heroes.
Mancini’s most played league XI is Joe Hart, Richards, Joleon Lescott, Kompany, Gael Clichy, Samir Nasri, Gareth Barry, Yaya Toure, James Milner, David Silva and Sergio Aguero. It is that backbone of Hart, Kompany, Lescott, Barry and Toure that has most impressed during these past six weeks or so.
When City required it, Mancini got the right tune from this band. He says of the fightback: “In that moment it was good for us because all the pressure lifted and for three games we played free. We always believed, even when we were eight points behind.”
Following the defeat at Arsenal, City beat West Bromwich 4-0, Norwich City 6-1, Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0, United 1-0 and Newcastle 2-0: an aggregate score of 15-1 as QPR walk out at Eastlands tomorrow with the second most porous travelling defence – 38 goals conceded in total.
In those five victories Aguero contributed five goals, Tevez four, Toure two and Silva, Nasri, Adam Johnson and Kompany one apiece. A rearguard breached only once also shone. Pablo Zabaleta, who missed only the West Bromwich win, leads the tackle count with 18 while Kompany and Clichy have 12 and the midfield shields Barry (11) and Nigel de Jong (nine).
While Silva and Aguero were voted, respectively, the players’ player of the year and fans’ player of the year, picking City’s stand-out performer is difficult.
As Ferguson says: “City, quality-wise, are very similar to the Chelsea of Jose [Mourinho]. They have a lot of good players in their team, they are very hard to beat and several have had outstanding seasons. When you win the league you need five or six players who are consistently good and they have had that.”
Yaya Toure has the strongest case as City’s best, with Kompany close behind, as his headed winner in the recent derby and season-long leadership illustrate.
Aguero has 30 goals in his inaugural English season, Silva is the on-field magician but Toure’s swashbuckling performances blazed the trail back to the top, his double in the 2-0 win at Newcastle on Sunday continuing the Ivorian’s knack of scoring when most required.
As Mancini said: “Yaya is really important. He is fantastic”
Pride, never-say-die spirit, a hatred of losing: these characteristics have shone through during the crucial phase – perhaps not expected when Mansour splurged on salaries headed by the €310,000 -a-week of Yaya Toure and Tevez.
Manchester City v QPR: Time: Tomorrow, 3pm Venue: Etihad Stadium On TV: Live, Sky Sports 1
Guardian Service
