Life changed for Manchester City fans the minute their club was taken over by the ultra wealthy Oil Billionaires. Out went experienced Premier League manager Mark Hughes and in came a big European name with a big European reputation in Italian Roberto Mancini. Mancini has spent a lot of money, on both transfer fees and wages to his star signings but things are not going quite so swimmingly for Man City with severe clues from the outside that the club could be imploding on the inside.

This summer saw Man City, un-surprisingly, being the leagues biggest spenders. In came Yaya Toure from Barcelona, World Cup winner David Silva, German Jerome Boateng, James Milner from Premier League rivals Aston Villa, Mario Balotelli from Mancini’s former club Inter Milan and Serbian left back Aleksandra Kolarov. That sort of money and the intent it displays suggest nothing other than owners who want to be competing and succeeding in the best company, a team to win the Premier League and go onto to Champions League success.

City’s recent results do not live up to these lofty expectations with consecutive defeats against Arsenal and Wolves. There has always been a feeling that Mancini is on a short plank at Eastlands with an immediate expectation on success leaving no time for him to slowly bed in a team to his philosophy and to allow his side to evolve in personell as oppose to the revolution of this summer. The form and results of Chelsea at the top end of the league shows no signs of slowing and therefore it could be argued that the Premier League title is out of reach for Mancini this season with a top 4, Champions League qualifying place likely to be the minimum accepted standard for City this term. However a trophy of some sorts would do well to appease the owners and indeed the fans who have gone more years than they care to remember without a trophy to call their own. For that reason the Europa League can become an important competition for City this year. It is also true that teams that have won the Premier League title have done so after winning a succession of other trophies first, harbouring a winning mentality.

City move into the Europa league for their upcoming matches with a very tricky tie to Poland to face Lech Poznan. This is now almost a must win tie for Mancini, especially seeing as they have the Manchester derby looming with only an away trip against the Premier League’s surprise side West Brom. If City do not take serious results from these three matches then Mancini will be left in no doubt that he is under pressure in his job. Mancini already looks a man under pressure as he publicly apologised for his side’s poor performance against a spirited Wolves side. To see an upward curve he needs to address issues around the system which Wolves highlighted as having limited width, choice of personnel from his bulging squad and issues around who can score goals in the team. Top scorer and star player Carlos Tevez is back in Argentina on a family related break and is seemingly at loggerheads with Mancini. The Italian clearly has a lot on his plate.

Author Bio: Adrian Bryan writes for The Football Merchandise Store the web’s finest collection of Football Souvenirs and Football Merchandise

Category: Sports
Keywords: Football Merchandise, Football Souvenirs, Football, Premier League, Premier League Football