City must go shopping as weaknesses exposed

With so much going on down south at Chelsea, Manchester City’s problems have probably been under-estimated — or at least under-reported — for most of this season; but they were finally put into sharp focus yesterday as Manchester United ended their two-year unbeaten record at the Etihad and gained a major advantage in the title race.

It has been two years and 37 games since anyone last beat City on their home ground; and for that reason alone this was a landmark day. But there was far more for manager Roberto Mancini to think about despite his side’s spirited comeback that saw them come from 2-0 down to level at 2-2 — only to succumb in the end to Robin van Persie’s last-minute free-kick.

City may not have endured the kind of managerial upheaval and supporter-led revolt that has gripped Stamford Bridge recently but nevertheless there has been an undercurrent of dissatisfaction with the way their campaign has gone; and now it probably needs to be addressed.

Their embarrassing departure from the Champions League highlighted just how the development of Mancini’s side has been surprisingly stunted at a time when really, with the huge financial backing available at the Etihad, they should be thinking about dominating both at home and abroad.

It wasn’t just that they failed to qualify from a difficult group; that was bad enough. But becoming the first English club to go out of the Champions League without winning a game must have been hugely uncomfortable for everyone involved in the club, not least owner Sheikh Mansour.

This result, despite the sheer drama and entertainment it provided, won’t help; and although City showed tremendous character in the second half there were some big issues to discuss — not least injuries to both Vincent Kompany and Yaya Toure, the team’s two most important players.

Mancini’s decision to play Mario Balotelli, too, alongside the excellent Sergio Aguero in a bid to increase his team’s goal tally unfortunately backfired; because the controversial striker was as ineffective as he was petulant and didn’t even last an hour.

We have become used to the ‘why always me’ headlines that dog Balotelli; but even so this was not a good day. He was fortunate to escape punishment for a tackle on Johnny Evans in the first half, left his stud marks on Rio Ferdinand after the break and was angrily hauled off by manager Mancini after 52 minutes, the City boss irate at a wasteful and unnecessary back-heel that halted a home attack. True to form the Italian stormed off down the tunnel as Carlos Tevez arrived to replace him.

Defensively as well City have worries. They were extremely vulnerable on the counter-attack — as highlighted by the way Ashley Young broke so freely to set up the opening goal for Wayne Rooney. And they were not helped by an injury to Kompany that could make life very difficult over the next weeks .

The Belgian was replaced by Kolo Toure, who is not at the same level, and having ignored the consistent Joleon Lescott recently, leaving the England defender hurt and disappointed, Mancini — who continues to stick with Matija Nastasic despite evidence that he is struggling to come to term with English football — is short of options.

Maybe that explains why City, who have been so unpenetrable at home, had drawn five times at the Eithad already this season (six if you include a League Cup tie against Villa which was level at 90 minutes but won in extra-time) and kept only three clean sheets even before losing their unbeaten record to their deadly rivals yesterday afternoon.

Their clean sheet this time disappeared after 16 minutes thanks to Rooney’s sliced finish from Young’s pass on the break; and the second goal arrived in a similar fashion when Rafael crossed low to find Rooney unmarked for 2-0. It should have been 3-0, too, because Young was incorrectly flagged offside when he tapped the ball home after Robin van Persie’s shot hit the post in the second half — and in truth United looked dangerous whenever they broke with pace from the halfway line.

City retain the spirit and character which was so important in last year’s title triumph, that much was evident as Aguero and Tevez led a rousing second-half comeback in which Yaya Toure and Pablo Zabaleta made it 2-2 before van Persie finally won it with his free-kick from 25 yards.

But are they a better side than last year? There’s no doubt United are — a fact that Mancini acknowledged even before kick-off by saying: “I agree because they were a strong team last season and they bought van Persie and Kagawa. They put another 25 goals into the squad.”

You cannot say the same about City. Even when they have won this season they haven’t reached the heights of last year — and haven’t spent large sums of money since winning the title and certainly haven’t added 25 goals to the mix. That may need to change in January — because Chelsea can’t keep them out of the headlines forever.