In the midst of Manchester City’s 4-2 humbling at the hands of bitter rivals Man United this afternoon, ex-Red Devils skipper Gary Neville observed: “There are too many weeds in the garden” during his Sky Sports commentary.
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Manuel Pellegrini laments Man City’s ‘garbage’ season
The Blues slumped to another damaging defeat as they face up to a scrap to simply secure Champions League qualification, with boss Manuel Pellegrini under intense pressure.
His players’ second-half surrender did nothing to aid his cause, and we predict the four players to whom Neville may have been referring.
4) Eliaquim Mangala
The error-prone centre-half came on as a half-time substitute for the injured Vincent Kompany, and he was at fault for Chris Smalling’s goal, which made it 4-1. Mangala lost concentration and kept several opponents onside when Smalling nodded home.
Mangala has falled woefully short of justifying his £32million price tag, and previous club Porto are presumably laughing all the way to the bank.
3) Gael Clichy
Former Arsenal man Clichy was a steadying influence for the Blues in their title-winning 2011-12 campaign – a safe pair of hands in comparison to the more attack-minded Aleksandar Kolarov. Sadly for City, those days are long gone.
Clichy was at fault for Marouane Fellaini’s first-half goal and has been torn to shreds on more than one occasion this term, most notably in the Champions League.
2) Yaya Toure
Neville failed to hide his disappointment in Toure’s performance throughout today’s derby, claiming the midfielder consistently failed to perform his defensive duties, leaving his team-mates vulnerable.
Toure’s influence on City since his arrival five years ago has been immense, but the 31-year-old’s powers are diminishing and he no longer seems to have the engine to make a significant impact over the course of 90 minutes. Prepare for another summer of fun and games with his representatives.
1) Samir Nasri
Following the morale-sapping loss to Liverpool at the start of March, Nasri fell out of favour completely and one assumes he was only introduced to the action today because the visitors were chasing the game.
The Frenchman flatters to deceive season after season, with fleeting glimpses of genius usually followed by a five-match slump. He is surely in the ‘most at risk’ category if City embark on a clear-out this summer.