As much as it feels awkward to say, everything I’m seeing and reading points to Manchester City being the media darlings this season.
From their new manager looking for redemption, to the dozen or so foreigners who’ve landed unannounced on English soil and lit up the Premier League with their technical ability, to the owner accused of corruption to the heroic defending of Dunne and Richards and even down to the complete turnaround in morale and capabilities of a club that stank up the place last season with its problems.
It’s a bitter pill to swallow for a Manchester United fan, especially considering how my club has fared in the opening fixtures.
No other team has players that have such potential to be heroes. Richard Dunne, captain and no-nonsense center-back who is perhaps one of the most under-rated defenders in the Premier League today. Micah Richards, boy wonder, marauding right-back and the best defender to come out of England for a long, long time. Kasper Schmeichel, son of the most famous goalkeeper in the Premier League era, perhaps too short to be a goal keeper but with such an amazing attitude and commitment that you can’t help but admire him (Craig Gordon, please take notes). Bianchi, Petrov, Elano, Geovanni and Johnson – just 5 more names who are expected to shine brightly over the course of the season.
Of course, I can’t deny my United nature for too long. Manchester City still has it’s share of cunts and their luck seemed to run out finally against Arsenal, so I don’t see them staying near the top of the table for too long. I’m still not convinced about them going forward nor am I convinced of Eriksson’s ability to compete with the top four, but one thing is for certain – Manchester City are genuine contenders for a Uefa Cup spot this season, their manager is better than almost all his peers and City are one of the few teams with the genuine attacking ability to rip the other team to shreds. Unfortunately for them, they don’t have the midfield to make it work, and for my money they will stumble a lot this season especially against the Readings and Boltons.
Oh, and Arsenal fans? One thing Manchester City has better than Arsenal: they can play a more direct brand of technical football, which kind of proves what we’ve been saying all along – Arsenal waste too much time passing the ball around.
I must go wash my mouth and drink a gallon of whiskey to wash out this icky feeling inside. And then I’ll find out a way to get Schmeichel and Richards into my fantasy football team.
PS – I’m still looking forward to Eriksson being massacred in the press – not sure if it’ll happen while McClaren is still such an obvious target though 🙂
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