Watching City in the Barclays New York Challenge was painful- they got dismantled by Sporting Lisbon comprehensively and then marginally improved against the Red Bulls but still lost. It was obvious what they lacked was a creative playmaker, not a striker, or a holding midfielder. Mancini threw in his lot of part time players/loaners – Jo and Craig Bellamy to name a few.
Right on cue after Roy Hodgson announced that Fernando Torres had “a beef with the club” they come up with a £70m offer for Fernando Torres. Look at the difference in price between the end of April when Torres was a City target and valued at £50m and now!
In three months the figure has jumped £20m – tell me again how many matches did Torres play and how many goals did he score in this period? On what planet does an injured player command a 30% jump in price. That’s right- the Eastlands is the Neverland of football nowadays.
Look at how much they are willing to pay for James Milner, a good player, solid and serviceable down that right channel but worth over £20m? Which begs the question- why do you need him when you have Adam Johnson doing exactly the same thing and better?
You have to question Roberto Mancini’s decisions. He is an extremely conservative coach – his ultra defensive approach is overcompensated for by his reflexive purchase of strikers. City looks imbalanced with its installation of a fleet of holding midfielders and strikers.