Having witnessed Steven Gerrard hand their team the Premier League trophy on a silver platter last season, Manchester City’s rational followers knew not to get too carried away going into this campaign.
Their confidence in their title-winning coach, Manuel Pellegrini, was only at 67% as we approached the first game, and confidence in his very expensively assembled squad was only 72%.
Both figures will have had as much to do with the 3-0 Community Shield defeat to Arsenal as any sense of trepidation, and two quick league victories soon bumped the percentages up to 77% and 82% respectively. From that point forth though, it’s been a slow descent.
Spiking briefly following the derby victory (81% squad confidence and 78% Pellegrini), City’s Champions League failings and unconvincing league form have taken their toll on the fans’ confidence. On the back of a very fortuitous draw at QPR, confidence in the team now sits at just 68%, while confidence in Manuel Pellegrini is 10% less, on 58%. Hark, the sound of sharpening knives?
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