WHILE there’s life, there’s hope but last Sunday’s home defeat to fellow title challengers Tottenham – on the back of the 3-1 loss to Leicester, also at the Etihad – has left Manchester City with an awful lot of work to do to retain their Premier League crown.
The double setback sees Manuel Pellegrini’s men six points behind frontrunners Leicester but Vincent Kompany, as you’d expect, is far from conceding.
As the City skipper rightly pointed out, his side were in far worse positions in both 2012, when they were eight points behind leaders Manchester United with six games left, and 2014, when they were seven adrift of Liverpool with five games remaining, but still came back on both occasions to clinch it on the final day.
The Daily Express reports:
“Vincent Kompany has reminded Manchester City’s title rivals not to forget their recent title history. “There is not a chance we will give up on the title,” said Kompany.
“We would be stupid to forget our history and how we react in those moments.”
“It’s a setback, but we wouldn’t know our personal history well if we didn’t expect us to kick on from here.”
Fighting words but there are two big differences this time around. Firstly, they’re not just chasing down the one team. Leicester, Arsenal and Tottenham are all ahead of them and, while one or even two of them might stumble in the run-in, it’s expecting a minor miracle for all three to slip up – even in this most unpredictable of seasons.
Kompany's message to rivals Leicester, Arsenal and Tottenham after Man City defeat#MCFC https://t.co/21o2Vrkcje pic.twitter.com/bUwI1ivUtu
— Express Sport (@DExpress_Sport) February 15, 2016
Fighting words but there are two big differences this time around. Firstly, they’re not just chasing down the one team. Leicester, Arsenal and Tottenham are all ahead of them and, while one or even two of them might stumble in the run-in, it’s expecting a minor miracle for all three to slip up – even in this most unpredictable of seasons.
Secondly, City are just not playing well enough to overhaul their rivals – and haven’t been for several weeks now. They’ve lacked that sparkle and creativity they had in 2012 and 2014, they looked devoid of ideas against both Tottenham and Leicester.
And then of course there’s the ‘X-factor’, the possible destabilising effect following the announcement recently that Pellegrini will be leaving in the summer to be replaced by Pep Guardiola – in hindsight perhaps something City regret going public with so far out from the end of the season and with the club still involved in four competitions.
Title success from this position would arguably eclipse their achievements of 2012 and 2014 but we think the back to back home losses to Leicester and Tottenham will prove too much to overcome.
Do City fans agree or are there some who share Kompany’s optimism?
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