After ending Manchester City’s long wait for silverware and tipping English soccer’s balance of power to the blue half of the city, Roberto Mancini established the perfect platform to dominate the Premier League — and perhaps Europe — for years to come.
The Italian had wealth beyond his rivals to draw on and a collection of the best players in the world at his disposal. So how did it all go so wrong in the space of 12 months?
Poor dealings in the transfer market, the appointment of new personnel in the club’s technical staff and an apparent lack of motivation among the players were the underlying factors in City’s regression this season, ultimately costing Mancini his job on Monday.
From a position of strength, City are now back behind Manchester United and likely to face fresh challenges next season from a Chelsea team set to be revitalized with the hiring of Jose Mourinho, as well as from Liverpool, widely expected to continue their improvement under Brendan Rodgers.
Lucrative new commercial deals signed this season could see Arsene Wenger finally spend some money at Arsenal, too.
It has been one step forward and two steps back for City. A golden opportunity could have been lost and it may be hard to recover.
All the signs are pointing to City appointing Manuel Pellegrini as their new manager.
The Chilean is highly respected after his impressive body of work at Real Madrid, Villarreal and Malaga, but he will be new to the demands of the Premier League. It remains to be seen how long it would take him to settle in England and how he would cope with the egos of City’s dressing-room millionaires.
The fact that City have been in talks with Pellegrini is an indication of the work behind the scenes undertaken by executives Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain.
The former Barcelona officials both joined in October last year — Soriano as chief executive and Begiristain as director of football — and were entrusted with developing City’s long-term strategy, with an emphasis on producing young talent to fit in with the demands of financial fair play and an ability to attract the cream of established players.
The Spaniards’ arrival immediately left Mancini in a vulnerable position. Throw in City’s slump in fortunes, and ultimately their failure to land a major trophy, and Mancini was always unlikely to last.
Mourinho is another possible candidate that City could hire this summer — his likely move to Chelsea is yet to be finalized — although it is improbable that two men with previous ties to Barca would turn to the current coach of Real Madrid to take the club forward.
Whoever does take over from Mancini must improve City’s goal threat, which has plummeted this season compared with last and is only the sixth best in the Premier League, and improve the team’s performances in the UEFA Champions League, which have been woeful under Mancini.
Having conquered the Premier League once, City’s Abu Dhabi ownership want to see the club established as a force in Europe.
City have failed to make it out of the group stage in either of their two seasons in the Champions League, with an embarrassing three points from six games this season.
Pellegrini has shown by guiding Villarreal to the semi-finals in 2005-2006 and Malaga to the quarter-finals this season that he knows his way around the Champions League.
He only lasted a year at Madrid, but he was hardly a failure there, losing out to Barcelona in a tight La Liga title race, despite winning 96 points — a record number for a second-placed team.
With the club’s resources and ambition, the City job remains attractive and the task of knocking United off top spot once again will provide the new manager with all the motivation he needs. With Sir Alex Ferguson gone, the chances of that happening surely improve.
If he goes on to achieve that, it is imperative he builds on that success and does not stagnate, like Mancini’s side did to his cost.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two