ok, am I supposed to be positive about this?

By: j | September 18th, 2008

I’m fairly sure a healthy amount of the mainstream Football media is either (a) blind (b) has no idea what they are talking about or (c) paid quite quite well by Man City after I’ve read positive reviews of the 2-1 victory over AC Omonia. However in my ever-so warm and fuzzy delivery, a come from behind victory over a Cypriot First Division squad doesn’t rank very high with me.

With the Brazilian beat strike-force of Elano, Jô and Robinho on the pitch, AC Omonia kept Man City in check and took the lead when Klodian Duro gave the home club the lead four minutes after the break on a close range free-kick. Jô brought the match level ten minutes later and added his second at the seventy-second minute for the victory.

I’m sorry but I don’t find this impressive and in-fact I’ll emphasize my prior point that it it takes more than money to win. Clubs are made on the field and regardless of how much money you put into a group of players, if you don’t play like a team, its dreary. What was running through Omonia’s claret was light years ahead-of City’s and they are the story of this match, not a group of under-performing “name” players who looked like they won the Champions League when they scored. While some might note City was “close” to scoring on numerous occasions, effectively they didn’t have the focus and the mettle to finish properly. That may sound harsh to you but if this club is going to filling the bank vaults of Footballers, they are also going to need to get players who have a killer instinct and know how to finish off a weaker opponent fast.

Mark Hughes commented after the match:
“I thought we gave a professional performance in Europe and got the job done in the end.”

Sparky, I think highly of you. You’re one of the best young managers in the sport but you’ll have the biggest budget in the sport and its time for you to stop issuing clever press releases, laced with cliches and start demanding more of high-priced talent. The finishing of Jô and Robinho was miserable and for £50m price-tag I hope you expect more.

Man City faces Portsmouth on Sunday at Eastlands.