Following the opening fixtures of this year’s Champions League, all eyes were on Manchester City to see how they would respond to playing midweek against Napoli. A 2-2 draw away to Fulham this past Sunday will bring the City fans back down to earth a little bit.
It is too early to say whether or not Mancini’s men will struggle every time they play after Europe, but the manner in which they threw away two goals against Fulham to drop two points, could have a psychological impact on the team.
Arsenal went down 4-3 away from home to Blackburn and it looks as though they will continue to struggle in their fixtures after playing midweek games in Europe. The same cannot be said however for Manchester United who eased past Chelsea this past Sunday.
They were a different class against Chelsea and they never really looked like they got out of second gear. After scoring early in the game, United did not create too many chances and it was Chelsea who had the more attempts on goal. However, after soaking up a bit of Chelsea pressure, United out of nowhere found themselves 3-0 up at half time and left everyone wondering whether Rooney would fire home another hat-trick.
Although Chelsea were stronger in the second half and Fernando Torres finally looks like he is finally getting somewhere near being back to his best, the London side still look nowhere near as strong as Manchester United. Sir Alex’s men travel to Elland Road to face old rivals Leeds United tonight and the Scotsman has an embarrassing array of unused talent to call upon.
Berbatov, Owen, Giggs, Carrick, Valencia – these are just a few of the names of players who need some much needed game time after struggling to break into Ferguson’s squad so far this season. This is where United most definitely have the edge over Chelsea and Arsenal, while it remains to be seen whether or not the City squad will be strong enough to compete on all fronts this season.
Mancini is already pointing to his lack of central midfield options as he has as couple of injuries in that department. But Mancini is the only man to blame for this as he had an open check book all summer. It is therefore that I believe Owen Hargreaves may prove to be an important signing for City after all.
Mancini has stated that Hargreaves will play 45 minutes in the Carling Cup this week, should he come through unscathed, he may find himself thrown right into the mix of things at Manchester City. Heaven knows he deserves a break.
The games are starting to come thick and fast and this is where the squad depth of the top four teams will be tested to the max. The Carling Cup will provide much needed game time for the players struggling to fit into the top teams in the Premiership. However, it is hard to see any squad outside of Manchester not struggling to cope with the upcoming fixture list.
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