Wenger: Get tough with City
Title win would help silence critics
ARSENE WENGER has demanded that UEFA crack down hard on Manchester City for breaching Financial Fair Play rules. City were this week found to have broken the rules set up to stop clubs spending more than they earn — and it is expected they will have their Champions League squad wage bill capped next season. Arsenal boss Wenger said he would feel ‘let down’ if UEFA did not punish City severely. ‘There are rules to apply for Financial Fair Play,’ said Wenger, whose club posted a £6.7million profit this year. ‘If you don’t respect them, you have to apply the rules. ‘One of the rules is that normally you should be banned for the excess of the financial amount that is not justified. If you are £100m overboard, you should be punished for £100m of your wage bill in the Champions League. ‘I want to see that respected. If that is not respected, the Financial Fair Play will have problems being respected in the future because everyone
AS MANCHESTER City await punishment for breaking UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules, they continue their struggle to break free from the vulgar, big-spending stereotype with which they were saddled when Middle East riches saved them from oblivion almost six years ago.
While this fight for reputation goes on, the least manager Manuel Pellegrini and his team can do is to continue to show a sceptical world that all the investment has been worthwhile.
Three games from the end of their season and City once again stand within touching distance of the ultimate domestic prize. Three wins — starting today at Everton — and the Barclays Premier League trophy goes to the Etihad Stadium for the second time in three years. Three wins and everything else becomes mere background noise.
The importance of the next week for City cannot be overstated. When you spend money like they have, it is imperative that results follow.
For City, second place is largely irrelevant and now that Liverpool’s defeat by Chelsea last Sunday has opened the door for them once more, it is important that they walk through it.
Pellegrini will not be judged by City’s owners in Abu Dhabi on the back of the next eight days. They like the Chilean and consider him an upgrade on predecessor Roberto Mancini. He has won the Capital One Cup already.
Nevertheless, Pellegrini knows he has to bring the Premier League title home sooner rather than later and this would certainly be an opportune time to do it as City’s domestic rivals and those across Europe await UEFA’s pronouncement on FFP with interest.
Pellegrini is too shrewd to get involved in that particular debate. Yesterday he refused to respond to some rather pointed remarks made by Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger earlier in the day.
‘I don’t think it is an issue we know all about,’ said Pellegrini. ‘I don’t know what Arsene Wenger said. It’s not an issue I want to talk any more about.’
Goodison Park tonight will certainly present City with a challenge. Everton have lost only once to City in the league there since 1992 and only twice at home in the league all season.
Roberto Martinez’s team still have an outside chance of qualifying for the Champions League. Everton’s form has waned a little but victory for them tonight would hand the initiative in the title race back to Merseyside neighbours Liverpool. Rarely has the narrative of a fixture carried so many conflicting messages. ‘Every time two clubs from the same city are involved in something, that feeling for the fans is strange,’ said Pellegrini. ‘It is not going to affect what Everton are trying to do on the pitch, though. ‘They will try to win the game because they are fighting for a lot of things. They can still end up in the top four so I don’t think the feeling in the stadium will decide the match. The Everton players will try to win the game.’
Boosted by the return of his playmaker David Silva, Pellegrini will perhaps take encouragement from the manner in which his team followed Liverpool’s defeat last Sunday with a win at Crystal Palace that carried an authoritative air.
Pellegrini also has players who have been in this situation before. Only two years ago City won their first Premier League title on the final day.
France forward Samir Nasri (below) played that day and said: ‘It’s crucial because we won it in the same way it’s looking this time.
‘It’s the same kind of thing that’s happening. Liverpool just lost a game at home, we won against Palace. Now we know if we win our games, we’ll be champions. We have this experience, Liverpool don’t and that can be good for us.
‘We know how to deal with this. Liverpool have played really well but they don’t have it. They have young players. It could be the difference.’
Though he perhaps didn’t know it at the time, Nasri has already scored one of the season’s most important goals. His injury-time equaliser at home to Sunderland last month gave his team a point that appeared inadequate at the time but now looks pivotal.
‘Now we cannot hide any more,’ he said. ‘We are three games away. We have to play like champions and show we deserve it.
‘We have to understand that now we are in this position, it’s a miracle. We thought that Chelsea would beat Sunderland — they didn’t. We thought Chelsea would go to Liverpool with a second team and lose — but they beat Liverpool.
‘Now that we are here, it doesn’t matter where we are playing, we have to get a result and win it because it’s a miracle we are still here. We have a league to win. We cannot fail.’
Tonight at Goodison, Europe will watch with interest for many reasons. Victory will take City within touching distance of the title. Anything else and the spotlight on the numbers will just get brighter.