On Man City ....
This is somewhat similar to what I feared back in September when City signed Robinho, that they acquired a very talented player who didn't fit in with the squad and would be a disruptive influence despite his best intentions.
I thought City were on to a great thing with their team coming into the season. I thought they had a solid back four. Then they should play two defensive midfielders to provide that back line a lot of protection - Kompany and Hamann - with those two players giving City a well organized side that was hard to get at. Up front ... I loved the width, pace, intelligence, and goal scoring ways of their three attacking midfielders - Petrov, Elano and SWP with Ireland acting the super sub - with one player up front who'd be willing to do the donkey work in order to allow those three midfielders play with freedom and reckless abandon (hopeful Jo could be that). Someone who'd hold the ball up, bring players into play, win a few headers, run into the channels, and then score the odd goal every once in awhile.
I thought that would have been a typical Mark Hughes team. A hard working team that goes after it hard on both ends of the pitch and doesn't give up an inch to the opposition, a tough team who'd be hard to play against.
I felt City would be right outside the Big Four or possibly up where Aston Villa are now. Instead they scrapped what's best for the team as a whole and tried to fit in a very talented player Robinho, and in the process they've limited players like Elano and SWP and taken the squad away from what they could have been.
Robinho has been very impressive this season with 11 goals and 3 assists in 15 games this season. I've come away impressed with his effort more often than not too (surprised at that) ....
But he just doesn't fit into what the overall squad. I think this team would have been much further up the table (15th now) if Robinho hadn't of been signed.
Hopefully City can make a lot of additions in this transfer window and build an actual team. Then put 11 players on the pitch who complement one another and can play together with good balance. If Robinho is their future then they need to build a squad around him properly.
I don't want to see this misshaped team for another 5 months .... reminding me every day of what I felt they could have been if they put their best team on show instead of their best player and 10 guys.
