Can't show mental weakness vs. Man City
Ian Kington/AFP/Getty ImagesCarlos Tevez's April hat trick is an unpleasant memory for Norwich supportersIf Premier League football is the focus on mind as well as body then there is a fascinating subplot to Manchester City's Saturday visit to Norwich City.
The champions make their first return to Norfolk since delivering a chilling statement of intent in the final weeks of last season's triumphant campaign.
Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez were sensational at Carrow Road in mid-April - as close to unplayable as you are ever likely to witness as Roberto Mancini's men romped to a 6-1 league win. The Canaries had already shipped five earlier in the campaign at the Eithad.
At the hour mark on home soil Norwich trailed by one before the visitors went into overdrive. It was computer football; breathless interchanges and blurring speed of thought. Norwich were fortunate not to concede double figures as the blue half of Manchester re-discovered the ruthless attacking edge which looked to have turned the title race into a procession until a late season wobble or two.
Tevez struck a hat trick in a footballing parable of the prodigal son's return following the protracted fallout from his non-appearance in a Champions League tie at Bayern Munich. Aguero was the reliable foil with a clinical brace.
Norwich’s more-modest ambitions to survive following their elevation from the Football League had never seriously been in jepoardy during a stellar campaign fighting the odds. But those two league mismatches against the champions were a stark reminder of the financial disparity and the gulf in class between the elite and the rest.
Much has changed on both sides of that divide ahead of Saturday's fixture. Chris Hughton replaced Paul Lambert in the summer and set about arming the Canaries with the sort of defensive resolve his predecessor treated as an optional extra. ‘You score, we score’ was the philosophy Lambert instilled in his players; Hughton takes the concession of goals as an affront. After ironing out inevitable early-season teething problems, a club-record Premier League 10-match unbeaten run ended at West Brom on the cusp of this festive period. Chelsea prevailed by the narrowest of margins on Boxing Day, but Arsenal and Manchester United have both left Carrow Road goalless and pointless.
Mancini's array of striking talent heads to Norfolk in staccato goalscoring form. Twelve on the road in the league this season from nine games contrasts starkly with last season’s fusion of South American style and continental flair.
The productive supply lines from David Silva and Samir Nasri have become disrupted. Tevez and Aguero look pale imitations of the men who terrorised top-flight defences. Edin Dzeko remains a bit part player and Mario Balotelli is, well, Balotelli.
On Boxing Day in Wearside, Sunderland exposed the brittleness at the heart of Manchester City's title defence. Reading were only despatched at home deep, deep into stoppage time.
But for those survivors in the rump of a Norwich squad embarrassed by the same City players last season, they will need little reminding of the Blues’ capacity to click in such devastating fashion. Seven points behind bitter neighbours United in the title race and dumped out of the Champions League at the group phase for the second consecutive season, you might expect the visitors to be battling demons ahead of their Norfolk trip. Yet the bigger imponderable is whether the Canaries' mental scars have healed from last season's Man City maulings. Time will tell.
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