It was a season of missed opportunities and immense frustration for Manchester City. Time and again, the side found ways to scupper its chances of defending the league title. Only when City was pushed against a wall did it retaliate. However, this wasn’t enough as Chelsea remained consistent enough to run away with domestic honours.
Continentally, City remained tactically naive and was once again dumped out of the competition by Barcelona in the round of 16. A season bereft of trophies and full of problems on the pitch seemed to have sealed Manuel Pellegrini’s fate but a lack of options meant that he will be in the dugout this season.
City’s hunger was questioned on numerous occasions last term and the 2014-15 campaign wasn’t different from 2012-13, when the club had last defended a league title. The players who had helped the Manchester side to its second title in three seasons were woefully short of form or fitness, with the sole exception of Sergio Aguero.
Yaya Toure’s dip in form was representative of the side’s troubles. His goal tally of 20 in the 2013-14 title-winning campaign was halved last term. Creator-in-chief David Silva suffered injuries at crucial junctures; Samir Nasri and Jesus Navas became unreliable operators in midfield; Vincent Kompany’s leadership and defending skills left him at the same time.
City’s decision to sell Alvaro Negredo proved to be unwise as well since Stevan Jovetic once again failed to overcome his injury troubles and Edin Dzeko gained notoriety for his inconsistent displays.
The worry lines and solutions
City’s major area of worry is the lack of homegrown players in the squad. With the departure of James Milner, Frank Lampard, Micah Richards, Scott Sinclair and Dedryck Boyata, the club needs at least five players to meet the quota of eight.
This requirement has seen the club pursue the likes of Raheem Sterling, Fabian Delph and highly-rated youngster Patrick Roberts.
The club has finally found success in its pursuit of Sterling but Delph refused a move to the club. Hence, it’s likely that the club will fulfill the requirement by blooding some academy players this season.
However, Pellegrini knows that he can’t afford another trophy-less campaign and needs to follow Sterling’s signing up by adding more top quality players. That’s why the club has been frequently linked with Belgian Kevin de Bruyne after his stellar season for Bundesliga runner-up Wolfsburg. Alternatively, City may pursue Isco.
A striker could be acquired if City are able to offload Dzeko or/and Jovetic. After last season’s problems, signing a defender or two should be the club’s priority too.
Transfer targets
Raheem Sterling (Liverpool), Kevin de Bruyne (Wolfsburg), Isco (Real Madrid), Patrick Roberts (Fulham).
Stats
34: With 26 goals and eight assists, Sergio Aguero was involved in more goals than any other PL player
83: City scored the most goals in the league last season
83.1: Yaya Toure recorded the highest average of passes per league game
