Roberto Mancini’s newfound faith in attack can secure top four finish, but has his hesitation cost Manchester City the title?

Roberto Mancini, Manchester City (Getty Images)

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By Steve Hewlett at Eastlands

£81,000,000. It’s a huge sum of money. It’s also the value of the attacking weapons Roberto Mancini fielded against Sunderland on Sunday when they demolished the Black Cats 5-0.

David Silva, Yaya Toure and Mario Balotelli were all brought to Eastlands for fees of over £20 million, Adam Johnson was signed for a relatively frugal £7m, while uncertainty remains over the figure paid for Carlos Tevez.

Manchester City fans everywhere must have been jumping with joy watching their team dismantle Sunderland with an urgency and lethality seldom seen from the club this season. Which poses a pertinent question. Why, with such quality at his disposal, has Roberto Mancini been so reluctant to let them off the leash this season?

In a number of games this term, City haven’t punished teams in a manner which would be expected of a serious title challenger. Home matches against Fulham, Birmingham and Blackburn have yielded two goals and three points.

Compare this to league-leading Manchester United. They are still to play Fulham at Old Trafford, but the other two games produced six points and 12 goals. Five against Birmingham and seven against Blackburn.

This is the reason United will win the Premier League title once again and City will continue their 43-year drought for the title. Had City matched United’s record, they would sit in second spot and only four points behind Sir Alex Ferguson’s men, not the 10 they find themselves trailing their rivals by now.

It’s frustrating for the City faithful to have a stable of wonderfully talented attacking players at the club and not see them do what they do best week in, week out. Could it be argued that had Mancini employed this philosophy earlier in the season, then United would be fighting tooth and nail for the title rather than the comfortable canter they have now?

Five star | Mancini’s side demolished Sunderland with free-flowing football

Speaking of the City fans, the mood inside Eastlands on Sunday was strikingly different from many home encounters this year. The home faithful were expecting City to control the game throughout and give them plenty of attacking action to savour. The team delivered right from the very start. Selecting the team he did, Mancini sent a clear message that he wanted to throw everything he could at Sunderland, and this paid off in spades. One-nil up after nine minutes, 2-0 up after 15 minutes. In previous games frustration built quickly and this radiated onto the field.

With Sir Alex Ferguson casting an eye over affairs from the stands, they continued to heap misery on Sunderland as a glut of second-half goals sent a clear message that when City feel like it, they can be ruthless.

When Roberto Mancini was brought in to replace Mark Hughes in December 2009 his remit was simple, get the club into the Champions League and ultimately win the Premier League trophy.  City were close last season to achieving the first part, but this year their Champions League qualification is now firmly in their own hands.

Of course in any game, a team must work hard and execute a plan to earn three points, but it seems strange that on a number of occasions Mancini has only fielded one true striker and left the rest on the bench. He played Tevez on his own up front in both the aforementioned Birmingham and Blackburn games which highlights his cautious tactical thinking. Or maybe his defensive awareness is the foundation on which games can be built.

Hindsight is a beautiful thing. It’s easy to pass judgement after the fact but perhaps Mancini will see this result as a clear indication that his players are capable of dominating the majority of the teams in the Premier League and perhaps prise the trophy across Manchester to Eastlands. It is probably too late this year, but if he is still at the helm in August for the start of next season, will we see more of this attacking freedom or cautious and rigid play?