Exactly how good are Manchester City?

Manchester City deservedly sit pretty at the top of the Premier League and are still unbeaten. After seven wins and one draw in their opening eight games, Man City have impressed everybody with the quality of their football and the ease of some of their wins, which has led to many experts predicting this could finally be the year City win the league.

But City have not been so good in the Champions League so far and after they laboured to a fortunate 2-1 win over Villareal last night, it should raise the question, just how good are Manchester City?

Despite being unbeaten in the league, both Manchester United and City got their first wins in Europe last night and this has, to some degree, exposed the lack of quality sides currently in the Premier League.

The Manchester derby this weekend will test just how far Manchester City have come and how good they really are, but if they play the way they have been doing in the Champions League so far this season, they could be in for a heavy defeat.

After a lacklustre draw with Napoli and a defeat to Bayern Munich in their opening two matches in Group A, Roberto Mancini’s men were expected to come out all guns blazing against Villareal, with a great atmosphere expected at the Etihad stadium.

But instead it was the Spaniards who started better, taking the lead after just two minutes and the crowd were left flat and in silence for the majority of the game. Despite City equalising before half-time, you could hear a pin drop in the stadium and the City fans failed to create any sort of atmosphere.

Is this because they are turning up expecting to see a win in every home game this season? Have they become so accustomed to seeing their side win that they don’t need to encourage them? It certainly seemed that way last night.

City can’t be judged on how good they really are the moment, as they have only faced one of the sides who finished in the top six last season, Tottenham Hostpur. They beat Spurs 5-1 at White Hart Lane in a dominant performance but they haven’t replicated that performance against any of the good sides they have faced in Europe.

City easily brushed aside Aston Villa last weekend with a ‘weakened’ team and they beat Wigan, Everton, Swansea, Bolton and Blackburn Rovers previously, with relative ease.

In the past it has been proven that winning the league isn’t about beating the ‘big’ teams, it’s all about picking up vital points against the so-called ‘smaller’ teams, which is what City are doing well at the moment.

But for the amount of money they have spent in order to get to the Champions League, it would be a huge failure if City were to fall at the group stage. That win over Villareal last night wasn’t impressive, but it was vital.

With players such as David Silva, Sergio Aguero, Samir Nasri, Yaya Toure and Edin Dzeko, City should be setting the Champions League alight the way they are in the Premier League but it just isn’t panning out that way.

This shows that City are maybe better equipped to winning the Premier League title this season and that they are still a few years away from challenging on the European front. Beating Manchester United to the league title is a realistic aim that City can and must seize this season.

Twitter: @TariqSaleh21

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