Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini believes that he has a good collection of strikers at his disposal required who will help him mount a serious challenge for Premier League and the Champions League as well.
City sold ex-skipper Carlos Tevez this summer to Serie A champions Juventus and filled the void with two quality forwards in Alvaro Negredo and Stevan Jovetic.
Previous manager, Roberto Mancini noted last season that lack of goals from his side was the main reason, why City couldn’t defend their title against bitter rivals Manchester United. They were 20 goals short of the Premier League champions last season that made all the difference in the end. No wonder, why Pellegrini was keen to improve that department at the earliest.
“I think we have very good strikers with Dzeko as well. They can play together or we can play one of them with Jovetic or Agüero,” said the Chilean after his side’s 1-0 victory against South China, as quoted in The Guardian.
“We have four very good strikers and that’s very necessary if we want to play in the Premier League and Champions League as a competitive team.”
Aguero and Dzeko are already proven stars in the league, but with the addition of Negredo and Jovetic, City have added more quality in the striking department than their fellow rivals. While Negredo brings a more direct approach to the game, Jovetic brings versatility – as he can play as main striker, behind the striker, or wide forward both on the right and left side of the pitch.
Manchester United also have a quartet of strikers, along with problems of their own. Wayne Rooney’s future has been well speculated and the Englishman might leave the club in the summer. Javier Hernandez and Danny Welbeck are more than able deputy to Dutchman Robin van Persie but neither of the two brings versatility to the game to a rich extent.
Likewise, both the London clubs – Chelsea and Arsenal – are in search of a quality striker and even if they do land Rooney and Luis Suarez respectively, the overall quality can hardly match the collective attacking might of Manchester City.
Probably, what stands out for Manchester City, which has also been acknowledged by Mourinho, who says that ‘they are more than ready’ is – the overall balance, both in attack and defence, of the team.
Defence was always the biggest strength of City and Pellegrini should be thankful to his predecessor for handing him a defensive unit that probably doesn’t require any major reinforcement.
City boast the record of having the best defence in the league for the second year running, even though the form of Joe Hart and Vincent Kompany dropped considerably last season. While it might take more than just possessing a strong team to win back the title from the clutches of United, but certainly Pellegrini can feel lot comfortable with the attacking ‘arsenal’ he has at his disposal at City.
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