Football FanCast columnist David Mooney feels it time that Manchester City started to experiment with the fringe players and youngsters at Eastlands.

In my opinion, City's football has been pretty flat on occasions. Granted, before Christmas, the incidences of such football and poor performances were very few and far between, but after the 2-2 draw at home to Blackburn and the disallowed allowed equaliser, our seasons seems to have turned.

In all honesty, the standard of the football between last season and certain times this, has been very similar in my opinion. The major difference, though, is that last campaign is that it was a necessity - a device used to get as many points as possible to stay in the division. This season, though, it smacks of players who have just lost form and confidence.

In this instance, I think we need to look at the manager. Let me make it clear to begin with, I'm not trying to start a "Sven out" campaign, nor do I want him to lose the job because he's turned the club's fortunes round massively in his short time in charge. What I do want, though, is for the man to mix it up and bit and change it round.

Sven thought he'd put his finger on the problem in early March, when he said to the press that he felt his 4-5-1 had been rumbled. However, he has persisted with the system since and the performances have been, aside from one or two instances, on the poor side.

While Benjani made an explosive impact in the City team by scoring against the enemy, it would be fair to say he's not particularly impressed since. He's worked hard, but the problem is that there hasn't been any end product.

Without getting into the logistics of whether or not the midfielders are creating enough chances, it's obvious that something needs to be done. At the moment, when that golden chance in the game comes along, we need it to be falling to the centre forward. Unfortunately, in recent weeks, they haven't and it's been clear all season that we've not scored enough.

Since we're now into the final stages of the season, and with there being little chance of a European place via the league, I would think it a major disappointment if Sven didn't experiment with a new formation and some of the younger or fringe players.

I think that we need to look at all of our options for next season, especially as Bojinov is looking to be back fit soon and we've seen very little of him before his unfortunate injury. My worry, however, is that, because Bojinov hasn't had a chance in the lone striker role, Sven might give him a try there instead.

In my opinion, strikers feed off each other - and I think we would have scored a lot more goals this season with two strikers instead of one. It says something when your leading scorer for a season is a midfielder, and that the total is not above 10.

The owner, Thaksin Shinawatra, has expressed his desire to have more fans in the stadium and one of the ideas suggested has been a big name signing. Talk recently has been of Ronaldiniho joining us, something that I'm wary about - not because I don't want Ronaldiniho with us, but because I don't want to get ideas ahead of myself, allowing dreams and desires to get in the way of something that is, in reality, unlikely to happen.

However, one player that we have been linked with a lot is Michael Owen. While seemingly injury prone, he is someone I'd definitely take a chance on. He has always known where the back of the net was and his record speaks for itself. Just imagine what he could do, when fully fit and playing with a strike partner in the City team.

I certainly think a cheeky bid in the summer is something worth considering. Michael Owen and Benjani (or Bojinov, Sturridge or Mpenza) over Samaras and Corradi? You bet!

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