Sunday 18 November 2012

Reflection: Five star City claim top spot

Aguero fires back at City critics
Photo: Alex Livesey/Getty Images Europe

City 5 - 0 Aston Villa

By Archie Barnett

Manchester City, a club in crisis. After only 11 games gone, City were second in the league, yet labelled a club in crisis.

Of course, there seems to be a Champions League exit on the horizon, barring a miracle, but does that really warrant the media reaction we have been receiving?

However, after a prosperous weekend for the Blues, where both Manchester United and Chelsea lost against Norwich and West Brom respectively, those same critics seem to have been very quiet as City claimed top spot off our neighbours for the first time since lifting the trophy in May.

So, where have those critics gone? There were many that were justified in saying we were not at our best, but a brilliant 5-0 victory over Aston Villa seemed to have stopped the ridiculous "club in crisis" and "Mancini out" claims as City look to hit top form.


Even Alan Hansen appeared to praise our beloved team last night on Match of the Day, however that could be down to the presence of our skipper Vincent Kompany who has been criticised for performances at the back. A clean sheet means that City now have the best defence in the league, statistically.

In recent weeks, the media have been so preoccupied with the current Champions that they haven't noticed that in fact, Manchester United are facing huge issues at the back. Our neighbours have conceded a substantial 17 goals in comparison to 'crisis' club Manchester City's ten.

But, lets not talk about them at a time where we take that top spot. A top notch performance from City saw us easily brush aside relegation threatened Aston Villa with five goals. This just shows that the players can produce what we feel they can and that win last week against Tottenham Hotspur certainly helped to kick start our season.

With the return of the brilliant "Merlin", City fans really have something to look forward to again. With Silva in the side, we are starting to look solid again and are converting our chances into goals. We saw last season that goal difference is a huge factor and victories like this really help when it comes down to pushing over the finish line at the end of the season.

It is also great to see the Argentine duo that is Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero working together to get a combined four goals in one game, with every City fan knowing that it was only a matter of time before these two started firing on all cylinders and this is hopefully the start of a season packed full of goals from the Argentinian strike force. 

On the back of a victory reminiscent of those that the City fans were so used to seeing last season, the Blues go into a vital game against Spanish giants Real Madrid to try and save our Champions League dream. A huge game that will determine whether we still have a chance in the prestigious competition or whether we go crashing out.

The Champions League dream is definitely not over for this season and with two wins and other results going our way, we can certainly claim qualification. Some may have lost hope, but I certainly haven't  in a team that we saw come back to win the title from eight points behind with just five games to go. We need to get behind the team on Wednesday night and get that much needed victory!

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(c) The Sky Blue View 2012

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