Pete Tong?

“I don't think so,“ replied Manuel upon being asked the inevitable questions regarding City's ultimately doomed return from an Abu Dhabi friendly only 19 hours before losing to Middlesboro.

All good things come to an end. Fourteen games unbeaten stretching from QPR in November to Everton in January is, by any standards, a great run. Catching EPL champions elect Chelsea in the process, from being nine points behind. All very satisfying.

Now three games on from that Everton 1 v 1 draw, City could again be eight points behind if we lose against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge this weekend. Roller coaster is inadequate to describe how quickly the outlook has changed in the last two weeks.

So why is it looking so bad? Playing without a striker is no longer a requirement, with the return from injury of Kun, Edin, and Stefan. City's stalwart skipper Vincent is back in the side. Surely it should be onwards and upwards?

Unfortunately football is not so simple. Certainly not at the Etihad. The loss verses Arsenal was somewhat forgivable. Possession and chances created were not converted into the one meaningful statistic, goals. Arsenal turned into Stoke for the day, playing "rope a dope" football and doing very well with the tactic. Cazorla played a blinder, and of course Vincent Kompany's nemesis Mike Dean was referee; giving an unwarrented penalty and following that up with a decidedly unbalanced interpretation of the laws of the game throughout the 90 minutes.

In discarding possibly City's best chance of silverware for 2015, the Middlesboro game was not forgivable. Despite totally dominating the first half, and missing out on at least one, possibly two penalty
decisions, City disappeared in the second half. It was awful to watch. Milner, Fernando and then Fernandinho in turn proceeded in a master class of bad midfield positioning. Kompany was a mile off the pace. Jovetic wasteful, and Navas seemed hell bent on proving his critics right with an utterly wasteful performance. Only Silva and Boyata could honestly say they were worth their starting spots. The journey 24 hours previously had sapped energy, but it was the lack of fight and ideas which was more worrying. The loss of Toure and Nasri, to AFCON and injury respectively, has had a far bigger impact on City's performances than the losses of Silva, Kompany, Aguero x2, and Fernandhino earlier in the season. Without them City look one dimensional. Also of big concern is how James Milner (a player with my utmost respect) was incapable of establishing himself in any meaningful way as a central midfielder. If this is the sticking point to his contract extension then he needs to take a long hard look at replays of this game and decide if he's being honest with himself and the club.

In conclusion I don't believe the theories of total implosion from certain quarters, any more than I believe this is just a blip.
City have been very unlucky with injuries, where Chelsea (save for one game) have managed to field one team throughout the EPL fixture list. Also, as previously blogged, and noted above the refereeing at City games has been atrocious. However the squad is carrying players which unless they play to their potential will not take City to the levels demanded by the owners. Sunday verses Chelsea will be interesting...