(Sir Joe celebrates on learning he has now been injury-free for half an hour!)
David Silva, Vincent Kompany and Wilfried Bony are the three main casualties for Manchester City. Samir Nasri is a longer term injury. Fortunately they have a decent replacement for Bony as Sergio Aguero is fit for the game against Liverpool at the French looking Etihad.
Now that City have Kevin De Bruyne to pull some strings, Silva isn’t missed as much as he once was. Make no mistake though, City are a better team with Silva than they are without him.
Vincent Kompany also isn’t the miss he used to be. Since buying Nicolas Otamendi and the return to form of Eliaquim Mangala City actually have an embarrassment of riches in the middle of defence where once, whenever Kompany was missing, they just had an embarrassment.
They also have Demichelis sitting on the bench and felt so confident in their backline that they let Jason Denayer go out on loan. He is already a full Belgian international which shows the quality at the disposal of Manchester City when one of their players can get into the best international team in the world, but not into his own club team.
I still get a little concerned with the full backs at City. Clichy has always been careless and prone to losing the ball. The same could be said of Kolarov although he has more skill and is better at set pieces. Sagna is proving to be quite steady which has surprised me a little as I wasn’t at all impressed with him at Arsenal. If he could play left back convincingly then, along with Zabaleta on the right, I think this would be City’s best pairing.
In midfield Yaya still seems to blow hot and cold. Looking like a world beater one minute and a pedestrian the next. With the likes of De Bruyne and Sterling playing alongside him he should be inspired and indeed, occasionally, he is.
The Brazilian pair of Fernando and Fernandinho always seem too alike to play together, but it seems to work when they do. Fernandhino is a class act though, whoever he plays with.
Jesus Navas is another enigma. He has all the pace in the world and plenty of skill to go with it, but just seems to hold on to the ball a fraction too long meaning that many chances to create end up as a corner, a goal kick, or in him losing the ball.
Back to the maestro though. Any team with a half decent defence which doesn’t concede many goals, having Sergio Aguero up top, will win more than they lose.
Put it this way. I feel fairly sure that, if Aguero played for Manchester United then they, not City, would be top of the league. He is so good he deserves an honorary knighthood.
Manuel Pellegrini will eventually have a fully fit squad to choose from. This is when other teams may have more of a chance against City. He seems to relish the challenge of putting out a team from a selection which is injury hit. He appears to revel in working out the tactics for an unexpected starting eleven. He is very good in these situations. When he has a fit squad, he has a very big squad. This is when team selection can be a headache and, believe it or not, easier to get wrong.
When all said and done, Manchester City should win the Premier League this season. Their only challengers are Arsenal, Leicester and United, at present. I don’t expect Leicester to stay the course, although I would like them to. I don’t expect Arsenal to catch City. I expect them to finish second, but quite a way behind. I think United will get third which, with all the money they have spent is not that good. Success, for them, will be measured by how far they can go in the Champions League as well.
So, if this is to be Pellegrini’s last season in charge, it looks as though it could be a successful one, but it isn’t yet!
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 