The Final Countdown: Buzz Lightyear

Buzz Lightyear is the next VMCer to take a step back and pause for thought as the season enters the final straight...

'Manchester City were among the favourites from the start of the season, although the pre-season matches were not awe inspiring and over the Summer months, again it was a question of will he won't he go for Tevez.

'No-one wanted to pay the wages and he was not prepared to drop his lucrative contract for lesser money, but others left for loan contracts elsewhere and of these probably only Adebayor and Guidetti have taken the eye, the latter because of his goal scoring prowess in the Dutch League for Feyenoord.

'The season started with a bang in the Premier league and we were on top in October with a 1-6 at Old Trafford that will live long in the memory for many City fans, especially those that managed to get a ticket to watch the demolition.

'City were fairing well in the Carling Cup, but were faltering badly in the Champions League. Was this was down to Roberto Mancini's team selections where he tended to pick fringe players for the Euro games and save his best team for the league?

'Away at Bayern in September, Tevez infamously refused to warm up a second time and the talented Argentine was destined not to play in a City shirt for another 7 months. However, City continued to dominate the league and it was in fact away to Chelsea in December, that City finally suffered their first defeat.

'January was not a good month, losing Kompany - controversially sent off in the defeat by United in the FA Cup and knocked out of the Carling Cup by Liverpool, out of the Champions League and into the Europa Cup, which came to and end in March when Sporting won on the away goals rule.

'City were missing Yaya Toure who had gone off to the African Nations Cup and did not recover. They lost their lead in the Premier League to United after a series of poor results and with games running out, the gap remains at 5 points.

'All City can do is win all their games, but they have to rely on the Stretford based team to slip up, and much as I would wish this to happen, my feelings are that they have the easier of the games remaining and City will finish in a valiant second place.

'Had Tevez played all season, would City have won the title is purely hypothetical, because during his absence City did well. We felt the loss of Yaya and Captain Vincent Kompany more and it showed.'

VMC is giving the front page floor to the VMC Forum posse during the Premier League run-in through a mini-series offloading on what's gone before and what's to come...

Click Here To Join The Debate In The VMC Forum

UPCOMING FIXTURES:
all times East Manchester
TOMORROW 16:00 Wolves, Molineux, PL
30 Apr 20:00 The rags, The Etihad, PL
6 May 14:00 Newcastle, St James' Park, PL
13 May 15:00 QPR, The Etihad, PL

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.