Its that time of year again as the club football world starts to get geared up for another season.
Groundskeepers are putting the final touches on the pitch, players are back at training, and once again Manchester City is linked with just about every player known to man.
Previewing the season for Manchester City is a difficult task for any analyst or expert. Give their past, life as a Blue is a roller coaster with its peaks and valleys. The 2008-09 season will be no different as City embark on another season, with yet another manager.
This year Mark Hughes returns to Manchester—this time with City—replacing Sven-Goran Eriksson who was sacked after the club's collapse in the second half of last season. One new face (Jo) has joined City and there are surely more on the way.
Manchester City bring many from a side that last season finished ninth in the Premier League. A double of Manchester United was the highlight of a season that saw a great start only for the Blues to trip over themselves down the stretch.
The new faces brought in last season seemed to be working well until the rest of the Premier League figured out how to stop them and former manager Eriksson had no answers.
Mark Hughes brings in a totally different style of football to Eastlands. A tougher, more rugged brand will be what supporters can expect to see from City. Hughes will look to makes a good European run this season and hopefully solidify a spot in Europe next season. He is off to a good start after the 2-0 win over EB/Streymur of the Faroe Islands.
Today, we look at the tools at Mark Hughes expense as he embarks on his first season at City.
Goalkeepers — Kasper Schmeichel started last season as the number one keeper for City and did fairly well until a lackluster performance at Fulham cost him his slot. He is still a very promising keeper but, with the emergence of Joe Hart, Schmeichel found himself on loan for much of the rest of the season and seems to be wanting his exit from City.
Joe Hart took the number one slot and ran with it last season and hopes to avoid any kind of drop in form this season. The job is his to lose for now as rumors of Brad Friedel joining City continue to swirl. Hart is young and talented and should be the England number one in the near future. However, City need to acquire a more experience keeper to take some of the load of Hart if they are to be successful.
Rating: 7
Defenders — For the better part of the last three or four seasons the strength of Manchester City has laid in the back. Richard Dunne anchors a young corps of defenders who are very capable of shutting down many of the Premier Leagues elite squads.
Micah Richards, Vedran Corluka, and Nedum Onuaha will look to improve on the progress they made last season. Until injuries struck Richards and Onuaha, both were enjoying very good campaigns.
What cost City dearly last season was the lack of depth of the position which has yet to be addressed. With the current crop of defenders City are very good, one injury however, could bring doom to the Blues unless the depth is improved.
Rating: 7.5
We're going to send you the most entertaining Manchester City articles, videos, and podcasts from around the web.
3 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete