MANCINI AND TEVEZ FACE THE SACK AT MAN CITY
- AS MOURINHO LOOMS IN THE BACKGROUND
FRANK WORRALL reporting for your Weekly Sport.
IT was hardly the outcome the sheikh had anticipated: a 2-0 humbling at the hands of Bayern inMunich, and a strop by two forwards he had shelled out a combined £65million to spearhead the brave new world ofManchesterCity. A world in which the richest club in football would conquer every tournament and be worthy winners of the European Champions League in their very first campaign. A world in which City – and as a spin-off, the sheikh himself – would be respected and admired across the globe, not just in the east end ofManchester.
No, that dream has all gone sour and the plan for world domination lies in tatters today. City returned toManchesterearly this morning as the laughing stock ofEurope, rather than the acclaimed new force in world football. And that has certainly hurt the pride of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the brother of the ruler ofAbu Dhabi, the biggest of theUnited Arab Emiratesand the man who has bankrolledManchesterCityto the tune of almost £500million.
I am told by sources at City that public opinion and being seen in the right light is almost as important to the sheikh as winning every major trophy. Just as Roman Abramovich loves the kudos that being owner ofChelseaFC brings, so the Sheikh also wants to be respected and admired inEngland.
But Tuesday’s disastrous outcome in the Allianz Arena blighted all those ambitions. His football team looked naïve and outclassed and their behaviour was a disgrace. Argentinean Carlos Tevez led the way in the strops, refusing to come on as a sub, allegedly because his boss Roberto Mancini had not picked him from the start. And another big-money signing, Edin Dzeko, had a tantrum when Mancini substituted him, throwing his boots about in anger like a spoilt brat.
My feeling is that at least two of the three will not survive this night of mayhem inMunich, a night that stained the reputation of the club – and, consequently, the sheikh himself.
Dzeko (or Dzeko and Hyde as he might now be referred to after his strop) will probably get his head right and be given another chance. Having said that, he was out of order and Mancini was right to sub him – he was a lumbering, unconvincing presence and, arguably, should not have started in the first place.
Which brings us to Tevez and Mancini. Tevez has been peeved for weeks because Mancini has relegated him to City’s third choice forward. Mancini himself was angered by Tevez’s insistence in the summer that he wanted to leave the club at any cost – but the manager was stuck with him as no one could afford his £50million transfer fee. So Mancini punished him by sticking him on the subs’ bench.
Was that good man-management? I know that Tevez is a player who needs the arm-round-the-shoulder approach rather than the big stick – but I don’t see what else Mancini could have done to assert his authority. Remember, this is a player that even Sir Alex Ferguson could not tame!
But inMunich, I think Mancini got it wrong – he should have started with Tevez inMunich. Against a disciplined, hard-working, physical side like Bayern, busy-bee Tevez would have surely put in a better shift than the lumbering Dzeko. He would have been here, there and everywhere – and could have formed a devastating link-up with fellow Argentine Sergio Aguero.
I also believe Mancini also messed up with the make-up and tactics of his team. He went against his natural, defence-first Italian instincts to send out an attacking line-up that was too fluffy and lightweight in midfield. He should have used Nigel de Jong, Yaya Toure and James Milner as an energetic, biting, in-yer-face defensive shield and left slowcoach, Gareth Barry, on the bench.
And what was Mancini doing throwing Kolo Toure in for such a key match after six months out? Naturally, he looked rusty and struggled to keep up with the pace.
It means that City are unlikely to make the next stages of the Champions League. To do so, they will certainly have to beat Villarreal at home and away, beat Bayern at home and get a high-scoring draw in Naples. That is a tall order.
The fall-out will probably be that Tevez is swapped for another player – InterMilan’s want-away Wesley Sneijder being the best City could hope for – and that Mancini will pay the price for failing inEurope with the sack. Don’t get me wrong – he is a good manager, but is he a great one…like aFerguson, a Mourinho or a Guardiola? The stats suggest not. He came to the City job because he was out of work. Yes, he had been sacked by InterMilan – despite winning three consecutive Serie A titles for them – because he could not cut it inEurope.
Inter decided he never would, cut their losses and brought in Jose Mourinho, who then went on to win the Champions League within two seasons. Maybe history is about to repeat itself…Jose for City anyone?
