Manchester City Must Find A Cure To Jekyll And Hyde Problem

Whilst they currently sit three points ahead of their bitter rivals thanks to last weekend’s derby win, Manchester City must regain some sort of consistency if they are to mount a serious challenge for the title.

Saturday saw Manuel Pellegrini’s side continue their winless streak on the road so far this Premier League campaign with a 3-2 defeat by Aston Villa.  That means a draw at Stoke two weeks ago remains the only point the Manchester club have taken away from home, having lost against Cardiff on their first away day of the season.  What will be more concerning for their Chilean manager, however, is that City originally led at Cardiff before losing and threw away the lead not once but twice at Villa Park.

City lost just six Premier League games last season, with four of them being away from the Etihad.  The fact that they are close to reaching those figures so early into this campaign means that they really cannot afford to slip up much more.  It is significant to remember that even if three of last season’s defeats had been victories, City would only just have been level on points with United and would likely have had an inferior goal difference.  In short, United won the league fairly comfortably and City’s lack of resilience merely made their failed title defence more disappointing.

A new manager and new players arriving over the summer provided a fresh feeling to things on the blue half of Manchester, whilst a 4-0 win over Newcastle on the first Monday Night Football of the season sent Pellegrini’s side to the top of the table.  After the match, pundits talked about City being a dominant force in this year’s Premier League, but they have so far failed to produce such a performance again, with the possible exception of their emphatic derby victory last week.

Football is a results business and City are in desperate need of them.  Underdog stories such as those of Cardiff and Villa seem to be becoming more frequent and, therefore, less shocking.

Pellegrini’s job is to ensure this trend stops so that teams will once again fear playing Manchester City.

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