Manchester City’s Manuel Pellegrini faces reality of buying a striker
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Version 0 of 1. On Friday the question for Manuel Pellegrini was whether Manchester City would sign a goalscorer in the January transfer window. Such was the fallout from this game, the answer is surely now a given. The champions left the King Power Stadium with the satisfaction of having completed their fifth successive Premier League victory but with no fit strikers in their first-team squad. Edin Dzeko, named on the team sheet, pulled out after injuring a calf during the warm-up, while Stevan Jovetic apparently suffered a reaction in his suspect hamstring after coming on as a substitute during last Wednesday’s crucial Champions League success over Roma, and was unavailable. With Sergio Agüero out for six to eight weeks with knee ligament damage and Álvaro Negredo unable to be recalled from a season’s loan at Valencia, Pellegrini had to play the 18-year-old José Ángel Pozo on his own up front. When the willing but noticeably lightweight Pozo was withdrawn, exhausted, in the second half, the diminutive David Silva took on the role, though he spent as much time defending in and around his own penalty area as providing an outlet. Given the opposition, it did not matter. Frank Lampard’s first-half goal was always likely to be enough against a Leicester team whose work rate could not be faulted but who never looked capable of breaking down City’s defence, in which the much-criticised Eliaquim Mangala was impressive, even after the captain, Vincent Kompany, added to Pellegrini’s woes by pulling his hamstring. Before the transfer window opens, however, Pellegrini must also find a way to beat Crystal Palace, West Bromwich Albion, Burnley and Sunderland. “We will have to find another way to play,” said Pellegrini, going on to mention Silva, Samir Nasri and James Milner as possible stop-gap solutions, and then have a little moan about the perception that the vast resources of City’s backers will make the problem go away soon enough. “It’s not easy in January to make a good transfer. I think maybe this year all of you keep [saying] we have the best squad in the Premier League. I’m not very happy about that. You must remember we have important restrictions about the amount of players we have and also, of the big teams, I think we’ve spent the least money, but we continue being the favourite, we continue being the big-spending team.” The reference to the conditional £49m fine and transfer restrictions imposed on City under Uefa’s financial fair play regime in May was pointed but not altogether relevant, the restrictions applying to their European squad only. By the time the Champions League resumes, in February, Agüero may be back, let alone Dzeko and Jovetic. In the meantime, however, Swansea’s Wilfried Bony is among the many names – Saido Berahino, Christian Benteke, Papiss Cissé, you pays your money – being touted as possible targets. More certain, in terms of Pellegrini’s intentions, is his focus on retaining the services of Lampard, whose loan from New York City is scheduled to end at the end of the month, and whose goal (his sixth for City) was his 175th in the Premier League, drawing him level with Thierry Henry. New York’s coach, Jason Kreis, has been quoted as saying the decision will be “best for Frank, best for Manchester City and best for New York City”, an order of priority that will encourage those hoping to see the 36-year-old add to that remarkable tally. How Leicester’s manager, Nigel Pearson, could use a goalscorer in Lampard’s mould. He did bring in a high-quality veteran midfielder in pre-season but although Esteban Cambiasso almost sneaked a 30-yard free-kick inside Joe Hart’s left-hand post, the Argentinian’s promptings were almost entirely fruitless. “Teams don’t easily get out of this,” said Pearson, who like Pellegrini surely has little choice other than to be active in the January transfer window. “I can’t see there being too much criticism of the way the players performed; we just did not find the answer in either penalty box. That remains a conundrum for us. I can say we have money to spend and lots of targets and lots of throwaway lines you might develop into a story. The bottom line is, if we have our eye on players we’re interested in that we can’t achieve, we will work with the players we’ve got.” Two points from their past 10 games mean Pearson (whose response on being asked whether he intended to contest an FA charge relating to his alleged foul-mouthed altercation with a supporter during the Liverpool match was: “That’s none of your business”) must make changes if Leicester are to have a realistic chance of retaining their Premier League status. The club’s Thai owners will not readily accept an immediate return to the Championship. Terry Robinson was sacked as Leicester’s director of football on Sunday, apparently paying the price for an ineffective summer transfer window. Man of the match Eliaquim Mangala (Manchester City) |