Shock for Manchester City, but they’ll cope
It’s clear that Carlos Tevez is on his way out at City. He’s not happy and despite the best efforts of the club to keep their captain and best player, it’s in nobody’s interest for Tevez to stay at City if his heart is no longer there. It is churlish to reject Tevez’s transfer request. The best City can do now is to recoup as much money as they possibly can from the Argentine’s sale.
Tevez is going to leave. When this happens, it’s clear that there will be quite a void in City’s team. On the pitch, Carlos Tevez has easily been City’s best player this season: He has the most goals at the club, the most shots on and off target and more man of the match awards than any other player. He already has 10 goals this season. The stats speak for themselves. Yet, they communicate nothing of Tevez’s bullish tenacity and will-to-victory. He’s a motivator and a man who leads by example. City will miss him, as would any other club who lost a player of Tevez’s quality.
City do have a rather unfortunate habit for picking up strikers with temperament problems. Adebayor is notoriously disagreeable, Balotelli is petulant at best and Tevez was downright mutinous at times. City seem to favour the passionate, but unruly type, whilst calm, controlled and able players like Roque Santa Cruz get left behind.
I can’t help but feel that as important as Tevez was to City, they will cope just fine without him. City will not win the Premier League this season, but I don’t think they would have done so even if Tevez was fully committed to the club. This squad is too ‘thrown-together’ for us to start expecting big things of them just yet. It will take at least a season for all the infighting to stop and for Manchester City to be a proper, unified team. That’s when they’ll be able to keep a sustained Premier League title challenge alive throughout an entire season.
It’s not like City aren’t capable of scoring goals from all areas of the pitch. Their midfield in particular is spectacularly strong. Balotelli, for all the bad press, is a supremely talented player who will provide goals by the shed-load. It’s not like City don’t have the funds to buy a decent striker should they struggle to find goals in a post-Tevez world. Life without Tevez wouldn’t be as glum as many of the naysayers are keen to suggest.
If handled correctly, the loss of Tevez could engineer a shift in City’s focus. City could wave goodbye to the desire for immediate glory and instead concentrate on building a team that functions as a unit rather than a collection of egos. For all his talent, Tevez was bad-tempered and I’m sure Mancini would testify, damned difficult to manage. Forgetting all the reports of dressing room mutinies, we all saw the altercation between Tevez and Mancini. How dare Mancini dare to sub Tevez off the pitch with a minute or two still left on the clock? City need a leader who is as passionate as Tevez – but in the right way.
If City are to be a genuine force in the Premier League, Tevez’s imminent exit should be viewed as a new and enterprising beginning. The squabbling and undercutting must stop – it’s time to band together.
What’s your take? Can City still be title contenders without Tevez? For more football debate and discussion, please follow me on Twitter: @ThePerfectPass
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Tevez has caused a lot of fuss and bother since joining the Premier League. I get that he’s a fantastic player, but some of his antics really put me off him. Would I have him on my team? No. I also wonder who has the cash to buy Tevez. Real Madrid? Swap deal for Benzema?
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In each of City’s last three games they have had a possession percentage of about 60%. In my eyes you can only achieve that level of possession by having a team that functions as a unit. Your view of City as a collection of egos is out of date and plain wrong. City are performing as a team right now. They will get better and better but with or without Tevez City have a strong functioning team. Mancini is gradually creating the team he wants. His full-backs are only just beginning to function the way he wants them to but time will see them improve. His forward options Silva, Balotelli, Toure, Johnson and possibly Tevez are improving their understanding match by match. Have you actually seen any of this squabbling and undercutting you write about? Or are you just writing your view about what you have read about City. City are OK with or without Tevez. Just let them get on with it please.
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anybody who tries to defend this city side is clearly a deluded city fan. the backbiting has been clear for everybody to see on the pitch. with the players city have they should win the title. but they wont because they are not a proper team. they are falling apart at the seams
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