Man City begin to shed their skin
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The unofficial title of 'World's richest club' sat uneasily with Manchester City last season. It provided opportunities for mockery from their detractors whenever Benjani or Darius Vassell found themselves the supposed spearhead of a blunt attack, when a creaking Dietmar Hamann or a labouring Gelson Fernandes was handed a pivotal role in an overpowered midfield or when Richard Dunne was at his blundering worst in an error-prone defence. Wealth provided City, no strangers to embarrassment, with new indignities.
All that should change. City being City, it was perhaps apt that the moment to start taking them seriously came on Saturday, around the time they were being beaten by Orlando Pirates. It was another reminder that this is a club where achievement and ignominy can go hand in hand. Yet more significant than the pre-season setback in South Africa was the signing of Emmanuel Adebayor. The arrival of the giant Togolese, subject of interest from AC Milan in the recent past, represents something of a coup. More significantly, it completed a grand slam of sorts at Eastlands.
It means that each of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United now have first-hand experience of City's new-found power. Chelsea were gazumped for Robinho on transfer deadline day in September; Liverpool, to Rafa Benitez's evident displeasure, discovered that their long-term target Gareth Barry had opted to sign for City rather than waiting for a possible move to Anfield; Manchester United belatedly concluded they were willing to spend £25m on Carlos Tevez, only for the Argentine to opt for their neighbours instead; Arsenal, at least, acquiesced in the transfer of Adebayor, though as the most fallible of English football's ruling quartet, they appear to have the most to lose if City can convert pounds into points.
If Adebayor proved as awkward to team-mates as he was to opposing defenders, his sale nonetheless involves an element of risk. City's new No. 25 scored 46 goals in his final two seasons in North London. His addition shows City's recruitment drive has a dual impact, strengthening them and weakening potential rivals in the process.
Aston Villa finished four places ahead of City last season, but their midfield fulcrum, Barry, has swapped the Midlands for Manchester. Everton, fifth to City's 10th, are displaying the sort of defiance that David Moyes' side frequently show as they seek to prevent Joleon Lescott joining him in Mark Hughes' side. West Ham lost Craig Bellamy in January.
But given the objectives involved in such hefty expenditure, there is greater intrigue in a possible change in the balance of power with the established top four. It is a reason why the squabble for John Terry's services is more than simply a search for a central defender. The battle of the nouveau riche can leave some disenchanted with both clubs, plus a multi-millionaire footballer who stands to become still wealthier, but it is a sign of City's growing stature.
Their desire for an injury-prone player can be questioned, but the ridicule has ceased. Bidding for Kaka merely proved City had a surfeit of money. Now ambition has been blended with realism. Unlike the surreal conclusion to the transfer window last summer, when City's haphazard attempts to sign a star were coupled with Robinho's desperation to leave Real Madrid, now there is a sense that targets have been identified and pursued with a purpose.
Forwards have been secured - some would say too many - leaving Hughes to focus on the defence. With Dunne enduring his annus horribilis last season, it represented City's soft underbelly and a principal cause of City's defeats to less fancied opposition. Yet with a new partnership at the heart of the back four, the solidity Hughes clearly covets could give them a platform to attack.
Amid the debate about how the many strikers can be accommodated, the statistics alone suggest they should be prolific. Adebayor's best haul in a Premier League season is 24, Roque Santa Cruz's 19, Tevez and Robinho have both mustered 14 and Bellamy 13. With a combined cost of around £110m, they have not come cheap, but while there is an inevitability about City often having to pay a premium, Sir Alex Ferguson's verdict that Tevez was overpriced does not rank among his more convincing criticisms, given that he was willing to pay the same fee.
It has caught the eye of Ferguson, among others, that City now possess 10 strikers. Yet the squad has been pruned and presumably will continue to be; without last season's interminable Uefa Cup campaign, a more select core of players should suffice for the majority of the season.
It is telling that such players have spurned ostensibly more successful sides. It helps, of course, that the remuneration packages at the City of Manchester Stadium are attractive (and it can't have hindered City's cause when they made Chelsea's second-choice left-back, Wayne Bridge, the best paid full-back in the world in January).
But even as City continue to pursue Terry and Lescott, the summer amounts to a demonstration of substance. Credibility is not a word that tends to be associated with them but the cumulative effect of their signings might be that, while Real Madrid attempt to reclaim their reputation as the wealthiest club around, City shed the still more unwanted tag of a joke side.
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Only know how to copy and paste? Is that the best you can do?
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Originally posted by chrisbenoit:
Only know how to copy and paste? Is that the best you can do?
only know how to kpkb? is that the best you can do? -
Originally posted by chrisbenoit:
Only know how to copy and paste? Is that the best you can do?
can you grow up?
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Originally posted by duanyuqiao:
can you grow up?
Only know how to grow up? Is that the best you can do? Lim pei 73, still want to grow up?