Games development company Sports Interactive got together in 1992 and created a game series that would single-handedly keep the company ticking on without the requirements for another franchise – Football Manager. The thought process was brilliant. Tap into that mindset that every football fan has experienced at least once in their life, and indeed often once every week, that of “I could do a better job than this clown!” With minimalistic year-on-year updates and near-assured success, it was a less a game and more a money printing machine, the gift that would keep on giving.
So, obviously, in any of my games you can expect not to see my Manchester City featuring Wilfried Bony. I dare say I’m not alone in that selection. Indeed, even the infamously slow to react, softly softly, Manuel Pellegrini may be getting the hint. Bony, as we’ve discussed before, is more than offensively inept, he looks like a lost dog at least the front of the park. It’s been an age since I’ve seen a striker wearing a sky blue shirt who I genuinely don’t expect to score in every opportunity he’s handed. That’s Bony.
One player you can expect to see however is Kelechi Iheanacho. We’ve talked about the 19 year old Nigerian wonderkind in the past, but his 9th start of the season against Stoke City in which he delivered goals 10 and 11 of the season brought him to the fore again. The kid is prolific. He always looks dangerous simply because he is, his goal scoring record is so far beyond fluke that it behooves Pellegrini, and you as well, to seriously consider Kelechi to start in every other game this season too.
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For Manchester City it doesn’t, and hasn’t, come much bigger than Tuesday nights Champions League semi-final first leg against Real Madrid. The obvious time to through out the obvious team, the one a majority of folks would select in their Football Manager game, would be then, or so you’d think. So it is that I suggest Pellegrini should play Kelechi, but he more than likely won’t.
Why? Too afraid to risk using a youngster from the EDS in such a mammoth clash? Too stubborn to admit giving Bony the crack of the whip over Iheanacho this season was a mistake? Too emotionally invested in veteran players to embarrass them in City’s biggest game in modern history? Perhaps, for Pellegrini, it’s a little bit of all of these reasons.
Either which way, it’s obvious Iheanacho is the top choice for an offensive-minded City looking to take the game to a perennially dangerous Real Madrid. Sergio Aguero is the obvious target man up front, with Kevin De Bruyne sneaking in behind, but the addition of Kelechi provides freedom for all three and much needed pace to snatch a goal on the break. It makes sense, no matter how you look at it, but I honestly can’t see it happening. It just hasn’t been Pellegrini’s form up until now.
As for Kelechi, well, he’s up for it and then some. As reported by the Daily Mail, Iheanacho may be unlikely to find himself in Manchester City’s starting 11 but he still holds hope:
"“I think I should dream about that because it’s a great team to dream about.If I was picked I would feel very great, I would feel very happy. I would grab the opportunity and really work hard.”"
He’s certainly showed more than enough to instill confidence in even in the most cautious armchair City manager, but the jury is still out whether it’s enough for the actual one. Probably not though, because, well, that’s Manuel Pellegrini. He’s a great manager who could still yet steer this Manchester City to the top of the world, but he’s not shown himself to be one to trust the younger talent on the bigger stage. Indeed, his mismanagement of the quality on offer in the EDS would be borderline shambolic, but for Kelechi’s continual presence.
In the end, it remains to be seen. Real are the favorites, Iheanacho playing or otherwise. Statistically they are superior in almost every way to the sky blues, but that doesn’t always mean anything in football. Pellegrini may surprise us all with a line-up featuring the three headed hydra of Aguero, De Bruyne and Iheanacho, or likely he’ll be more conservative with his team selection. You can, however, expect to see all three in my line-up for many seasons to come.