The gap Yaya Toure leaves is easier to be filled; however, his class and ability is unlikely to be matched in his absence and the Italian boss, Roberto Mancini, may go back to his nation’s defensive philosophy and adopt the displays of last season with Manchester United and Tottenham edging closer and closer and unaffected by the tournament.
Newcastle and Arsenal both lose two men each in Demba Ba and Cheick Tiote and Yao Gervinho and Marouane Chamakh: however, the losses of them have already been suitably dealt with, in terms of Arsenal, or unlikely to threaten the title race, in terms of Newcastle. Whilst the Gunners have Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Andrei Arshavin and Thierry Henry all able to fill the void left by Arsenal’s losses, Alan Pardew won’t find covering Tiote and, especially, Ba as easy.
December was arguably Demba’s best month among many good ones and he was rightly the recipient of the Player of the Month award: Ba has scored 15 of Newcastle’s 29 Premier League goals, also meaning he has scored 15 in his last 15 appearances for Newcastle and he has scored 22 goals in 26 appearances in the top flight of English football. Tiote’s ability in midfield has been pivotal to Newcastle’s past 18 months and this season’s impressive start, and in a testament to his talent, he had himself linked with a move to Manchester United.
Down the wrong end of the league, Mark Hughes will have to wait to see what Adel Taarabt has to offer: we can all tell him how incredible he can be with the ball at his feet but limited playing time under Warnock where a clash of considerably sized egos had occurred, saw game time limited in the first half of the season and his captaincy stripped and given to Joey Barton. Wigan will lose Mohamed Diame in the middle of the park; however, that is merely another hole in a slowly sinking ship. Without any correlation, when Wigan lost Richard Kingson to the Africa Cup of Nations in 2010, Wigan’s form actually improved and climbed two positions, where they then remained until after his return.
With Manchester United and Tottenham only three points off of Manchester City and both unaffected by the Africa Cup of Nations, January may well become vital in deciding the title. Sir Alex Ferguson has already expressed a sentiment that, despite having the funds, he is yet to be persuaded that buying is the solution to anyone suggesting his boat is rocking and whilst his boat is in fact wobbling somewhat, Harry Redknapp might just pull off a bit of VDV-esque magic once more, to capitalise on a stubborn Ferguson and a depleted, as depleted as an Oil magnate’s company can be, Manchester City.
Written by Jordan Florit for www.maycauseoffence.com/ For more articles visit my website or my Twitter @JordanFlorit
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