Man City Report - Start of Manuel Pellegrini Era

There has been a fair amount of turnover for Manchester City this off-season following their second place finish in the 2012-13 English Premier League and 2013 FA Cup final loss 1-0 to Wigan.  Despite manager Roberto Mancini leading City to their first trophy in 35 years when City won the 2011 FA Cup and their first EPL title in 44 years when City won the EPL in 2011-12, even if City won the 2013 FA Cup, the writing was on the wall that Mancini was on the way out.  City brought the Mancini era officially to a close with two matches left in EPL season.

Besides Mancini, a number of players left City during the off-season: Wayne Bridge (free transfer, D, Reading), Kolo Toure (free transfer, D, Liverpool), Jeremy Helan ($500,000, D, Sheffield Wednesday), Maicon (free transfer, D, AS Roma), Karim Rekik (loan, D, PSV), Carlos Tevez (F, Juventus), Roque Santa Cruz (free transfer, F, Malaga), and Reece Wabara (loan, D, Doncaster Rovers).  The only real loss was Tevez.  It is symbolic that Mancini and Tevez left the club at the same time because despite clashing on a number of occasions, both were important figures in shepherding City from being a second tier EPL side to a world class side.

Even while Mancini was still in charge of City, rumors were swirling that he would be replaced by Manuel Pellegrini.  Once the former Villarreal, Real Madrid, and Malaga manager (among other stops) officially signed on as manager of City, the club's pocketbooks opened up.  The transfer window is open until the end of August but as of the start of their 2013-14 season, City already added four quality players: Fernandinho ($50 million, F, Shakhtar Donetsk), Jesus Navas ($30 million, M, Sevilla), Stevan Jovetic ($35 million, F, Fiorentina), and Alvaro Negredo ($27.5 million, F, Sevilla).

Given the quality City already had on their roster before signing the four players just mentioned, they start their run towards an EPL title with their strongest roster ever.  Taking into account the transfers above, the current City depth chart heading into the 2013-14 campaign looks like this:

Goalkeeper:
Joe Hart
Costel Pantilimon
Richard Wright

Right Back:
Pablo Zabaleta
Micah Richards

Center Back:
Vincent Kompany
Matija Nastasic
Joleon Lescott

Left Back:
Gael Clichy
Aleksandar Kolarov

Central Midfield:
Yaya Toure
Fernandinho
Javi Garcia
Jack Rodwell
Gareth Barry
Abdul Razak

Winger:
David Silva
Samir Nasri
Jesus Navas
James Milner
Scott Sinclair

Striker:
Sergio Aguero
Edin Dzeko
Stevan Jovetic
Alvaro Negredo
John Guidetti

After spending in excess of $125 million on four players, I would be surprised if City purchased any more players before the transfer window closes.  In fact, it is much more likely that Man City will sell or loan out some of the younger players (Scott Sinclair, Abdul Razak, or John Guidetti) since playing time will be scarce given the quality of their current roster.

I hope you enjoy the start of City's run towards the quadruple (Capital One Cup, EPL, FA Cup, and UEFA Champions League) as they host Newcastle in their first match of the 2013-14 EPL season. 

Make sure to check back after the transfer window closes on Monday, September 2nd for a full review of all the moves made by City this off-season.

Man City lose 2013 FA Cup Final to Wigan

Rumors swirled before the start of the 2013 FA Cup Final that even if Manchester City beat Wigan, current Málaga manager Manuel Pellegrini would replace current City manager Roberto Mancini.  City lost 1-0 to Wigan, a side that will most likely be relegated from the EPL, so there is almost no chance Mancini will retain his job.

I had hoped to be writing a retro-diary of City defeating lowly Wigan but after City's demoralizing loss I could only muster up giving a recap of all the tweets I sent during the 2013 FA Cup Final:

I love Gus Johnson but he has to temper his excitement, every scoring chances doesn't mean he has to start screaming. #2013FACupFinal
— CheeseheadSportsNut (@CheeseheadSN) May 11, 2013

Close calls but probably the right no calls on the two potential penalties. #facup
— CheeseheadSportsNut (@CheeseheadSN) May 11, 2013

Finally #mcfc comes to life with their first real scoring chance of the match, great kick save Hextall-style to keep it 0-0. #facup
— CheeseheadSportsNut (@CheeseheadSN) May 11, 2013

Shocked no PK was give to #wigan, looked like @pablo_zabaleta took down Espinoza in the box. #wigan clearly the better side right now #facup
— CheeseheadSportsNut (@CheeseheadSN) May 11, 2013

Entertaining first half of #facupfinal tied 0-0, #wigan was slightly better than #mcfc. Hope to see Milner in & Barry out to start 2nd half.
— CheeseheadSportsNut (@CheeseheadSN) May 11, 2013

Good start to 2nd half for #mcfc but still time to get Milner in the mix at the expense of either Barry or Nasri. #facupfinal
— CheeseheadSportsNut (@CheeseheadSN) May 11, 2013

Not too sure if @aguerosergiokun could have gotten to that ball, looked like a dive on the replay, but he almost "earned" a PK for #mcfc
— CheeseheadSportsNut (@CheeseheadSN) May 11, 2013

#wigan looks the better side in the 69th minute, #mcfc needs to pick things up. Rodwell enters for Tevez, horrible decision by Mancini.
— CheeseheadSportsNut (@CheeseheadSN) May 11, 2013

With 10 minutes left, #mcfc is starting to look more confident and #wigan looks like they are on their back foot a bit. #facupfinal
— CheeseheadSportsNut (@CheeseheadSN) May 11, 2013

That might have been a straight red on @pablo_zabaleta actually, #mcfc down to 10 men.
— CheeseheadSportsNut (@CheeseheadSN) May 11, 2013

And Mancini is looking for a new employer as #mcfc goes down 1-0 in stoppage time on a header from #Wigan substitute Watson #facupfinal
— CheeseheadSportsNut (@CheeseheadSN) May 11, 2013

Hate zonal marking on corner kicks and Watson's goal shows why. #facupfinal
— CheeseheadSportsNut (@CheeseheadSN) May 11, 2013

With increased expectations thanks to the influx of petro dollars, City face an important off-season as they try to re-group to make a legitimate run at "The Treble" (win the UEFA Champions League, the English Premier League, and the FA Cup) like their Manchester neighbors did just over a decade ago. Check back later this month for my thoughts on how management should proceed before the start of the 2013-14 season.

City beats United at Old Trafford

Manchester City entered their regular season Manchester Derby played in the red half of Manchester trailing United by 15 points with just eight matches to play.  Thus no matter what happened in the match, United will most likely win the EPL.  That made this Manchester Derby more of a litmus test on City manager Roberto Mancini's ability to motivate his team since there are rather loud rumblings emanating from the dressing room that players are becoming increasingly frustrated with Mancini's managerial approach.

The opening 45 minutes turned out to be quite entertaining despite ending with a 0-0 scoreline.  City midfielder James Milner put the visitors ahead with a thunderous strike that benefited from a slight deflection off a United defender to beat United keeper David de Gea.  United defender Phil Jones pulled United level by heading a ball that looked destined for goal away from goal but fortuitously into City defender Vincent Kompany's back en route to the back City's net.

With the score tied 1-1 it looked like City might go into a shell and possibly even lose their first match of the season after leading until substitute Sergio Aguero's impressive individual effort.  Aguero summoned memories of his title clinching strike from last season against QPR to put City up 2-1 with less than 15 minutes left in the match.

Things got chippy toward the end of the match with five yellow cards getting issued following Aguero's strike: two for United (Rafael and Antonio Valencia) and three for City (Carlos Tevez, Gareth Barry, and Pablo Zabaleta) but the score line finished 2-1.

Who can forget the beat down City put on United at Old Trafford last season?  That means thanks to their win last season (6-1) and this seasons (2-1), City prevailed at Old Trafford in consecutive years for the first time in 41 years.

In typical "Sir" Alex Ferguson fashion, the United manager blamed the referees for the result claiming that Milner's opener should have been disallowed due to City players being in an offside position.  As usual, Ferguson looks like the petty little man that is nitpicking things instead of taking the high road despite the fact that his club is almost assured to win the EPL this season.

City possessed the ball for 60% of the match thanks to completing over 100 more passes than United according to Opta.  Thus even the more biased United supporters would have to admit that City was the better side despite Ferguson's assertions.

Even after defeating United, City still trails United by 12 points with only seven games to play so absent an absolute meltdown it looks like City will finish second after winning the EPL last season.

City now has to focus on the FA Cup. On Saturday Millwall plays Wigan with the winner set to face the winner of Sunday's match between City and Chelsea in the 2013 FA Cup Final on May 11th.  As crazy as it sounds, despite winning the EPL last season and just beating United on the road to essentially guarantee that City will finish no worse than second in the EPL this season, Mancini is still not guaranteed to hold onto his job past this season unless he can hoist the FA Cup for the second time in three seasons.