Most likely formation : 4213
---------------------------------Shay Given-----------------------------
Richards-------------Toure-----------------------Dunne------------Bridge
--------------------Barry------------------------Ireland-----------------
--------------------------------Robinho---------------------------------
----Tevez---------------------Santa Cruz--------------Adebayor-----------
Shay Given: One of the best keepers in the EPL.
Richards: decent at going forward but suspect in terms of defending.
Toure: hasn't been the same in more than 2 years, odds are not favourable for him to regain his former glory... but you never know.
Dunne: Nothing special, decent at best.
Bridge: a lesser version of Richards.
Barry: good as he maybe, he will be under immense pressure and countless responsibilities such as: playmaking, holding and defending. To be honest, even if they had 2 Barrys it might not be enough to bring balance to their mid.
Ireland: Average player.
Robinho: great striker no doubt about that, but rarely if ever tracks back or helps defensively... also he tends to like to dribble the ball more than he should and results in losing posession.
Tevez: He is a better version of Dirk Kuyt, and in my opinion every worldclass team needs such a type of player, don't know what whiskey nose was thinking favouring rooney or even worse berbatov over him.
Santa Cruz: good striker, i personally think they weren't sure they would get better strikers when they bought him, i don't see him moving to city to warm the bench either.. so it would be interesting to see what they gonna do with him.
Adebayor: although there is no doubt that his performance for the last two seasons is not up to his usual standards, he got tons of EPL top flight experience and is always a goal threat.
Conclusion:
i can see them score alot of goals and might dominate lesser teams with brute attacking power. On the other hand, they will concede alot of goals as well the team is seriously lacking defensively.
good news for them the top 4 teams are much weaker this season in my opinion. ManU are not as strong as last season with an aging midfield and the loss of their scoring cash cow.
Arsenal seem to be heading towards free fall mode, i wonder sometimes is Wenger that blind thinking he can challange for trophys with a bunch of kids and not having to spend money on proven experienced ones?
or is it beyond his control and the management board are just not willing to spend? i think the first assumption might be accurate, cause i don't see why Wenger would not leave if he is not getting enough
support from the upper management. Either way, if not this year maybe the next Mancity will break into the top 4 no doubt about that.