This week Kolo Touré and Emmanuel Adebayor came to blows in the latest bout of infighting at Eastlands. Why do Roberto Mancini’s side have such disciplinary problems?
One of the main problems City face is the obvious one of having attracted players who are naturally inclined to follow the largest offer on the table. In Adebayor, Carlos Tevez, Mario Balotelli, Yaya Toure and company, they have signed a number of players whose main reason for signing for the club was down to the money on offer.
Adebayor is a case in point in himself. Having performed above himself in the 2007-8 season for Arsenal, he earned himself a huge pay rise, and as a result, his performances waned the following year. On £80,000, and having scored half as many goals as the season before, he was soon shipped off to City, who doubled his wages. The problem this creates is that there is no burden on a player receiving such lavish treatment to take responsibility. If a player lacks a sense of responsibility, they are more likely to take part in behaviour which could affect the club they play for. In Adebayor’s case, this has manifested itself in the row seen this week with Kolo Touré and previously this season with Vincent Kompany.
Aside from Adebayor, there is Mario Balotelli, a player with a chequered disciplinary record and a notoriously short fuse. Isolated from the group, Balotelli did not even attend the club’s Christmas party with the rest of the players. Balotelli represents something intrinsic about this City team; the cult of the individual. Throughout the team City have a number of strong and talented individuals, but whose inherent characteristics lead themselves towards egocentric behaviour. In this sense, City’s problems are as much to do with the character of the players as anything else.
What is so ironic is that Mancini himself is known as being a disciplinarian, and a strict operator. Even he found himself in a row earlier this season with Carlos Tevez, after withdrawing the Argentine towards the end of the team’s win over Bolton. But worryingly for Mancini, even James Milner and Yaya Toure, two of the seemingly calmer members of the squad, were involved in an argument during the defeat to Arsenal earlier this season.
That Mancini has failed to instil discipline in a squad made up of such egos perhaps is not surprising, even given his management style. But the blame for this is largely down to the owners, who sacked Mark Hughes last season and in doing so, sent the message to the players that it will not be them who take the responsibility for the club’s failings. It is a story which reminds some observers of the behaviour of Chelsea’s English players, who are generally perceived to conduct themselves poorly compared to their compatriots from other clubs around the country. In particular insiders in the England camp have noted the difference in the behaviour of Chelsea and Man Utd players, the latter who receive strict guidance from the master disciplinarian Sir Alex Ferguson.
Therein lies the crucial difference between City, Chelsea and their rivals. These have become clubs where, if the players under perform, there are no consequences for them, but only for those tasked with getting the best out of them on the pitch. Given the loyalty shown to Mancini so far, it seems plausible that the Italian could remain at the club for some time, in which case discipline may improve at Eastlands. The Manchester City boss is also becoming used to his squad, learning who he can rely upon and who he deems surplus to requirements. By and large, the likes of Adebayor are set for the exit door, whilst he was able to manage the volatile Balotelli at Inter, and should be able to master his temperament in Manchester. In many ways, City are lucky to have one of the few managers who could potentially control such a volatile and vain squad of players, though it is unlikely that this week’s scenes will be the last sparring we see between their players this season.
Until then though, the club are unlikely to see a drastic improvement in the behaviour of their squad.
