Where's the so-called Strength in Depth?

For many, the deciding factor between Manchester City and Manchester United has been the former's strength in depth, but where is it?

After this weekend's results City have slipped to second place allowing bitter rivals United back on top of the Premier League for the first time since October - bar a 24 hour stint in the middle of February. 

Roberto Mancini's side lost 1-0 to newly promoted Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium on Sunday, whilst simultaneous to their loss the Red Devils were cruising to a 2-0 victory over in-form West Bromwich Albion. 

A glitch, you might say, it happens to everyone, but there is an all too familiar pattern to City's 'glitches', and the correlation revolves around captain Vincent Kompany and Ivorian Yaya Toure, with the latter being labelled "irreplaceable" by his manager on City's official website.

With copious amounts of cash to acquire virtually whoever from wherever Mancini has arguably the most enviable job in world football. However, the sterling hasn't out-classed the wily old fox that is Sir Alex Ferguson, with City's supposed strength in depth drowning in the stormy waters of injuries, suspensions and internationals, whilst United cruise on making those waters seem timid.

Prior to the African Cup of Nations (and subsequent loss of Kolo and Yaya Toure) Manchester City's form painted a barely blemished masterpiece: Two loses, one draw and five wins. Those two defeats game against a resurgent Sunderland side under new manager Martin O'Neill - guiding his side to five wins from six games - and away to Chelsea, who hated Andre Villas-Boas considerably less than they do now.

But when you remove the £24 million man Yaya Toure their form takes a dip that only weakens their seven point lead over Manchester United: Lost three, drew one and won four. Not a dramatic change you may conclude, but when the victories come over bottom half of the table (at the time) sides in Wigan, Aston Villa and Fulham, it looks less positive. They did manage a 3-2 win over Tottenham, but that was an anomaly in an otherwise difficult spell without Toure. 

In addition, the five victories prior to the midfielder's exit included several big names, beating Liverpool and Arsenal in the Premier League before dominating Bayern Munich in the Champions League. Convinced yet?

Granted, Manchester United didn't lose any players to the African Cup of Nations, but they have battled with an injury list capable of matching almost any A & E across the country. Captain and defensive stalwart Nemanja Vidic has been absent since December, whilst defensive partner and former England captain Rio Ferdinand has been on the treatment table five times this campaign, handing over the reins to youngsters Jonny Evans, Chris Smalling and Phil Jones - who has just one full season under his belt. 

In fact, United's 'reserve' defenders have done extremely well, with the pairing of Evans and Jones overseeing victories over Spurs, Chelsea and Arsenal, three of the top five. 

In comparison, during a five game stint without Vincent Kompany earlier this season Manchester City lost two, won two, and drew one. They lost matches at Liverpool and Everton, before allowing two sloppy goals in a 2-2 Carling Cup draw with the Red half of Merseyside. 

If that still appears a coincidence to you, then Kompany's absence in City's last two games has seen two defeats: away at Sporting Lisbon and away at Swansea, both games where they were outplayed for large spells of the game. 

Despite boasting a bench worth over £80 million, Mancini could only look behind him and see players deprived of any real Premier League success, and in some cases, any success at all - Sergio Aguero and Aleksandar Kolarov haven't won a title in a top European League. 

However, Sir Alex Ferguson could glance behind himself to find players with 20 Premier League titles combined, most notably Ryan Giggs with 12 and Park Ji-sung with four. It's this 'been there and done it' attitude and mindset that sees United win games the other 19 sides ordinarily wouldn't, a mindset that sets them above City in terms of their squad. 

The Red Devils are currently without nine first team players, including regulars Nani, Anderson, Vidic, Darren Fletcher, Antonio Valencia and Smalling. City, comparatively, have no injury concerns. When Mancini is without Barry or De Jong he must then turn to injury plagued Owen Hargreaves, whereas United in recent weeks have called upon Paul Scholes, a player now rumoured to be attracting England's attention once more. 

Whilst Roberto Mancini and Manchester City have the star-studded line-up and slim-line squad, Alex Ferguson and Manchester United have a quality starting eleven and expansive squad. Perhaps lacking the glitz and glamour of City's but bulging in success and experience. Quality over quantity they say, but in a game not played on paper, consistent quality and almost unending depth wins trophies, as City may well find out. 

Alex O’Loughlin   @AlexOLoughlin18

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