Season Preview – Man City: A season of progress should beckon

2007/8 In A Nutshell Sven Goran Eriksson’s arrival initially brought a fantastic spell of results, and superlative home form. Amongst a plethora of new signings, Martin Petrov and especially Elano dazzled at first, although this became less frequent as the season progressed. Ultimately the lack of a potent striker proved costly, and Man City’s form gradually deteriorated – not helped by the constant speculation surrounding Eriksson’s future. Ultimately ninth place, including a double over Man Utd, represented an improvement on most pre-season predictions, leaving a sound base for Mark Hughes to inherit.

Summer Activity The most important activity concerned the managerial change. Eriksson’s sacking was fundamentally unjust, for he did as well as could have been reasonably expected. Many would have feared a puppet in his place; instead City fans could celebrate the appointment of Mark Hughes, who did a terrific job at Blackburn and is not the kind of man who would let the owner do his job for him. The signing of Jo had Thaksin’s hallmarks, admittedly – but the forward is a high-class player who most managers would relish signing. He is joined by Tal Ben Haim, so impressive for Bolton if not Chelsea, whilst a series of high wage-earners and low-quality performers, including Georgios Samaras, departed.

Key Men City’s strength lies in their defence; in inspirational club skipper Richard Dunne, the commanding Micah Richards and highly promising goalkeeper Joe Hart, they have the best back three outside the big four. However, the real problems lie further up the pitch: relegated Birmingham City mustered more goals last season. Hence much will rely upon Jo, who arrives for £18million. Can he live up to the price-tag and hype? His excellence for CSKA Moscow, including two Champions League goals against Inter Milan, suggests yes. Realistically, however, at 21 he will surely take a while to show his best form, especially as he will miss the start of the season due to Olympics commitments.

Rising Star Joe Hart began last season out of the side, but made such an impression that he ended it making his England debut. A superb shot-stopper and supremely athletic, Hart has all the attributes to be England’s number one for a decade. Then again, he will have to cope with increased expectations this campaign, something which recent English goalkeeping prodigies – Paul Robinson, Scott Carson and Chris Kirkland amongst them – have struggled with. Do not be surprised to find Man City’s fantastic youth structure unearth another gem too.

Coach Mark Hughes has proved he has the attributes to succeed with four years of sterling Premier League work with Blackburn. Unobtrusively, he is a man who commands instant respect. His Blackburn side was tenacious, certainly, but also surprisingly attractive, helped by Hughes’ dab hand in the transfer market. In short, Manchester City could not have hoped to recruit a man more suitable to the job. The only real doubts concern his ability to handle big-name players and a weight of expectations greater than that encountered at Ewood Park, regardless of what recent performances might suggest.

Prospects For 2008/9 The club have retained the key players from last campaign. Aided by the two new signings – effectively three, if 22-year-old poacher Valeri Bojinov is free of the injuries which decimated his ‘07/08 – and with several young players gaining in experience and confidence, all signs point to an improvement on last season. City’s depth of squad should be adequate to survive a Uefa Cup campaign, too; and, injuries permitting, they have the calibre of players to go far in the competition. Fundamentally City fans have much to be hopeful of, even though concerns over Thaksin ‘doing a Romanov’ will serve to check their optimism.

Footballing World Prediction 6th