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Manchester City: Adding credibility to the money?

Published by Ian John on October 19, 2010

Whisper it quietly in Manchester but could the balance of power that has existed for so long, be finally about to shift?

Of course, Manchester City will take some time, even if they do become very successful, to get anywhere near the achievements of their city rivals, but there are signs that they may be set to out perform United this season, if not in Europe then certainly in the Premier League.

While United threw away, literally in Edwin Van Der Sar’s case, a two goal lead at the weekend at home to West Brom, City took on Blackpool on the road and despite having a good slice of fortune with two of their goals, they emerged with a 3-2 victory. The win took city clear of United, Arsenal and Tottenham in second place and moved them within two points of Chelsea, who could only manage a 0-0 draw with Aston Villa at Villa Park.

Of course, it is early days but with United looking far from imperious at the moment, especially in defence where they have been leaking goals with worrying regularity, Wayne Rooney’s problems and United lacking the creative impetus of Luis Valencia to accompany Nani down the left, United are finding goals unusually difficult to come by. Indeed only the tremendous form of veterans Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Dimitar Berbatov has been keeping the perennial title chasers on the shirt-tails of Chelsea.

City, meanwhile, are emerging as a dogged and awkward team. Mancini’s men are far from the finished article at present, but with Milner and Adam Johnson in wide areas, they look to have real quality in the wide areas and Carlos Tevez unselfish front-running play is the kind of player that United are sorely missing at present. In addition City seem to have come up trumps, moving Vincent Kompany from a defensive midfielder to centre back with outstanding results and with Jerome Boateng coming into the side at right back, the defensive unit looks very strong.

Then of course there are the relative merits of the respective benches. Wayne Rooney graced the United bench on Saturday, but other than that it has been the usual blend of older professionals and up-coming youngsters. City however have a bench packed with stars that would grace the first team of any other team in the Premier League on a weekly basis. When the likes of Shay Given, Micah Richards, Shaun Wright Phillips, Emmanuel Adebayor, Patrick Vieira and David Silva are usually on the bench, you must have a decent first team.

Of course, the season is young. United have had sticky patches in the past and come roaring back. If the Red Devils tend to struggle in a season, it tends to be earlier on in a season. It also remains to be seen if Manchester City can sustain their early start and begin to overhaul Chelsea at the top of the table.

However, looking longer term. Is it reasonable to expect a club that has untold riches will not eventually overtake a club that is, at the moment, crippled with debt?

For a long time, people have sneered at Manchester City and their wealth. After the start they have had, are they now adding a degree of credibility to their money?

Victory in the forthcoming Manchester derby would be a perfect way to prove that.

Image Courtesy of ***Fletch XI *** on Picturebox.com

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