Football Season Guide

After a season that brought the first ever silverware in the club’s history, but also bitter disappointment in the play-offs, City decided to change managers in the summer. The ex-Man United U21 coach Warren Joyce is in charge now and he had to deal with a massive blow even before the season started. Weeks before round 1 the team’s captain and scorer of 42 goals in his 56 games for City Bruno Fornaroli broke his ankle and he will be out at least until January. However, the great scouting system of the club saw them reacting quickly and a week before the opening match Ross McCormack joined from Aston Villa to replace Fornaroli until he is fit. The Scottish striker is very similar in build and style of play so City shouldn’t be changing their approach and game plan. Veteran Tim Cahill will continue being used in the big derbies as he remains very reliable to deliver when it matters most but, even without him, City have an abundance of talent in the middle of the park. Brandan, Kamau and Fitzgerald will be terrorising the defences from the wings, while the arrivals of Carrusca, Mauk and Budzinski provides Joyce with rich choice for the playmaker’s role. Brattan and Kilkenny will be the feared duo of hard-tacklers in the middle of the park, while on goal Galekovic will be the new number one, with Jakobsen tipped to form a partnership with Schenkeveld in the heart of the back four. That said City might opt for a formation with three at the back as they also have Malik and Tongyik as options, plus Jamieson has shown in the past that he could be very useful as an aggressive wing-back. Basically City have a nice squad that lacks depth only in the wide defensive positions, but the main concern is how the Sky Blues will deal with the loss of their big star Fornaroli. That said the Uruguayan should be fully fit when it comes to the business months of the season and, if City are to show improvement compared to last year, they will need to be much more ruthless in March and April when everything will be decided.