Manchester City in Desperate Need of a Left-Back to Fix Their Ailing Season

As the international break brought Manchester City’s stuttering season to a welcome halt, their players can be forgiven for breathing a sigh of relief. The games had been coming thick and fast, with City’s form showing little sign of improvement. Manuel Pellegrini’s squad, with the odd exception, looked woefully out-of-form and lacking in confidence. It was a break which appeared well-timed.

Sergio Aguero’s brilliance had been keeping them in games, highlighted at Loftus Road in City’s last Premier League game, a 2-2 draw against Queens Park Rangers which could easily have ended in defeat without their brilliant Argentinian. Whereas as last season City looked confident and expansive in every area, there’s now a serious crisis of confidence sweeping through their squad, one which threatens their title defence.

There are a number of concerning areas, particularly left-back. City have a significant problem which surely now needs amending, either in the coming transfer window or the summer. The club’s coffers will be then boosted by Alvaro Negredo’s permanent transfer to Valencia being sealed with a £25 million payment from the Spanish club, a non-negotiable element of the loan deal the two clubs agreed in September.

Aleksandar Kolarov is currently out injured after suffering a calf injury earlier this month, but even before that he was a problem. In fact, since his move to the Etihad from Lazio in 2010, in a deal which cost City £16 million, his form has been patchy at best, with only last season coming close to being considered a successful one for the Serbian.

Pellegrini’s arrival added some confidence to the attacking side of his game, but the defensive frailties that characterised his first three seasons under Roberto Mancini have been on show again this term. He’s not a top-class left-back and, at 29, it appears unlikely he ever will be.

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That leaves Gael Clichy as City's only other recognised first-team left-back, but with the exception of one or two decent showings, he has been dreadful for much of the season. He looks completely shorn of confidence, and it's a sign of City's limited options that they have persevered with him whilst so clearly out of form.

Clichy has the ability to be a very useful player for City. He, too, is 29 and by no means a long-term option, but he is two-footed, incredibly quick and has shown in the past he is capable of bringing solidity to City’s left-hand side with his defensive qualities.

He was handed a new contract in the summer of 2013, a fitting reward for what had been an impressive season from the Frenchman. While many others had lost their way during the dying embers of Mancini’s reign, Clichy had impressed, and with his home-grown status another advantage, the new four-year deal he signed seemed sensible business from the club.

But if last season saw regression, this one has been a full-on disaster for the former Arsenal man, who has been poor for much of the campaign. Eliaquim Mangala, a 23-year-old centre-back who has played just a handful of games in a new league and country, has faced a raft of criticism for his nervous displays, but his progression into the first team has hardly been aided by supposedly experienced heads in the City squad.

City need to add some quality. There are a couple of options within their own ranks, with two young players on City’s books both showing promise. However, with their lack of experience counting against them, it’s unlikely they’ll be risked as starting options on a regular basis.

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Karim Rekik, on loan at PSV Eindhoven for the second consecutive season, is highly regarded by those at the Etihad, yet they clearly felt he needed another season in the Dutch Eredivisie to continue his development before trusting him to be a starter.

Likewise Jose Angel Tasende—or Angelino, as he’s known—a 17-year-old impressing hugely for City’s EDS team. He, perhaps more than any other player in City’s youth setup, looks capable of making the grade long-term, but it would take a huge leap of faith to include him now.

It means the chances of City scouring the market for a player capable of coming straight into the side and adding quality is increased. There aren't too many around who look both available and capable of doing a job at the highest level, but Ricardo Rodriguez, Wolfsburg's Swiss 22-year-old, and Alex Sandro, Porto's Brazilian international, are possible candidates.

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Txiki Begiristain, the club's director of football and the man in charge of finding players that can improve City, will need to be creative if he is to fix what is clearly a problem area for the struggling English champions.

Rob Pollard is Bleacher Report's lead Manchester City correspondent and will be following the club from a Manchester base throughout the 2014-15 season. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter: @RobPollard.