Adam Dennehey WAFU manager
As another Premier League season draws ever so closer and with our title rivals improving their squad, the excitement now is really setting in amongst not just United fans but fans of the beautiful game in general.
Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal all seem destined to dominate the Top 4 again this season. However there are loudening murmurs coming from Anfield that Liverpool may yet sneak in after their rebuilding which has been made since Kenny Dalglish’s return.
Just like United, City and Liverpool have both spent big this off-season and the expectations really are high for them. But despite that, no United fan should be fearful as we begin the defence of our crown.
After assessing Chelsea earlier on today – in an article which you can read here, next up I take a look at the team who finished 3rd last season who will defiently be up there this season.
Manchester City
The noisy neighbours seem hell bent on making a real challenge for the league this year but from putting it all together they must not get ahead of themselves and should focus more on cementing a top 4 spot other than jumping the gun to Premiership winners.
As we all expected there City have come on leaps and bounds in recent seasons with Mancini finally delivering Champions League football last season after narrowly being piped to the post by Spurs the year before.
There has been business this summer with City bringing in Serbian defender Stefan Savic and Athletico Madrid superstar Sergio Aguero joining the ranks. These are two huge signings for City more so Aguero who at £38 million has huge weight on his shoulders to replace the controversial Carlos Tevez.
Aguero though, who scored 20 La Liga goals last season, is one of the most exciting young stars in the world and will be interesting to see how he will cope with the physicality of the Premier League. Tevez has again engineered another situation at City for himself and while he stays a City player – as good as he is – he is bad for the club but his departure seems likely with Inter Milan favourites after a failed bid for Corinthians.
The biggest concern for City which in my opinion is where they will falter is time and time again i have referred to City as a ‘project’ and they indeed are. The manager is not stable and very unconvincing in his authority controlling the players most notably Mario Balotelli. There is huge pressure and multi million pound signings left right and centre and with such huge ego’s at Eastlands one must wonder that this will eventually implode in their faces.
A bad run of results will put huge pressure on Mancini which no doubt will happen at some stage next season which highlights such narrow-mindedness at Eastlands. I often refer to City as a ‘football circus’ and it’s a pretty decent observation. Still I expect City to challenge but not in the enthusiastic way the most biased City fan would suggest.
By @DHick92
