4 Reasons Manchester City Is Still Underachieving

Despite sitting just a point adrift of league leaders Manchester United, Manchester City are yet to realise their full potential.

Nine wins, five draws and no losses sounds ideal, but for the most part they've been a shadow of their dominant selves from last season.

Here's four reasons they're underachieving and how fixing these issues could lead them to the English Premier League title.

UEFA Champions League

Manchester City are unbeaten so far in the English Premier League, but remain fighting for the chance to even compete in the UEFA Europa League come February.

Adverse results against Ajax, both home and away, have cost them a place in the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League. It may now even benefit them to finish fourth.

A lack of European commitments and extra travelling could give them an edge in what looks to be a close-run title race.

The Curious Case of Samir Nasri

Nine games in and Samir Nasri still hasn't found any semblance of form.

The Frenchman endured a similar poor spell at the start of last season, following his big-money move from Arsenal, but snapped out of it to become a key figure during the title race's latter stages.

Roberto Mancini recently dropped the midfielder and could look to purchase in January in order to apply pressure.

Striking Indecision

Amid all the formation changes, competitions and squad rotation, it seems Roberto Mancini still hasn't decided on a settled, first-choice striking partnership.

At one stage, it seemed Edin Dzeko would be left to a super-sub role, but he has recently received a chance to stake his claim for a first-team spot at the expense of Carlos Tevez.

Sergio Aguero appears a constant fixture, but Mario Balotelli's availability is becoming less predictable by the day.

When Mancini stumbles upon the perfect combination of strikers, midfielders and formation, it promises to be a bad day for whoever Manchester City play.

Clean Sheets

While the Manchester City attack may be mouth-watering, their strong campaign last time out was built on the foundations of an impenetrable defence.

Things are starting to look up for Vincent Kompany and co.—and long may that continue—as the Citizens have recorded five clean sheets in their last eight games, but their early-season form was below par.

Should this continue, they'll regain the fear factor they carried throughout last season and cut out costly mistakes.

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