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Disappointments from this week’s Premier League fixtures 4-02-2011

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Disappointment from this week’s Premier League fixtures 4-02-2011 
Midweek fixtures in the Premier League brought many surprises; mostly pleasant one as the new recruits for clubs helped them register crucial wins, but on a sad note Manchester City’s title bid faltered at St Andrew Stadium where the Citizens twice
threw away a goal lead to return home with a disappointing draw.
Like City there were many others this week who I classify losers after the latest round.
Following is a list of what I believe to have been the biggest disappointments from this midweek’s fixtures:
Manchester City
Just a couple of weeks ago City were at the top of the points table but they had played a couple games more that their rivals, but now that contenders for the number one slot have played their games, City find themselves dropping down to third on the
table.
At a point in the season where the incredible depth of their squad should have been to their advantage, City has floundered to a grinding halt. City have only taken five points from the last possible 12 and now find themselves closer to fifth than
first place.
Roberto Mancini
The Italian manager was never known for his attacking endeavours and his team selections over the past couple of months has shown this. Mancini always opts for a safe approach rather than going in for the kill, even when the situation calls for it.
He prefers to play three CDMs out of a locker room laden with attacking talent; as a result his team has been made to pay for his mistakes.
His most recent mistakes include the over use of his keeper Joe Hart and belief in Patrick Vieira’s ability to carry on doing the job he once did so masterfully at Arsenal.
He has made matters worse, first with his statement about Chelsea winning the title easily and secondly his belief that City can still maintain their place in the race even if they draw their head to head matches with their direct rivals.
Although his theory of drawing against rivals seemed to be working when they drew with the Spurs, Arsenal and United but that theory required him to win against lesser teams like the Wolves and Birmingham, which his side failed to do and now the manager
finds himself playing catch-up with the league leaders and bitter city rivals Manchester United.
Stoke City
It is no wonder that some teams feel compelled to field weekend sides in the FA Cup when they believe that their participation in the competition is only to make up the number and secondly a tight fixture schedule runs the risk of mess up fitness of
A team stars.
Stoke City did remarkably well to survive in the league last season but they seem to be struggling this season. Although they are still edged towards safety, their recent run of form is not helping their cause at all and a tight yet mind boggling fixture
schedule only makes matters worse.
After an eight day gap they had to play three games in a space of just seven days against the Wolves, Liverpool and Sunderland and unable to score any points from the first two games their meeting with Sunderland holds immense importance.
Newcastle United
After the sale of star Andy Carrol to Liverpool; the Magpies seem to have a long road ahead of them, from here to the end of the season, there existed a very thin nine point cushion between them and the drop zone. That cushion has already reduced by
a third and with no recognized goal scorer left in their ranks their survival this season seems unlikely.

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