Originally Posted by
The Lone Gunman
I'm not entirely sure that there has been a downturn of form as such. I just don't think this squad's good enough at this level over the course of a season.
In December, City were comfortably beaten by mid-table West Ham and outclassed by Watford and Manchester United. They managed to scrape a fortunate victory against a struggling Southampton side whose new manager had only been in charge for a couple of days and who gifted City the winning goal with a defensive howler, and the Bluebirds somehow emerged with a point at Palace when 3-0 or 4-0 to the home side would have been a fair result. That was an amazing game. The win at Leicester was certainly a good one but came courtesy of an injury time worldie from Camarasa after the home side had missed a penalty.
City were pretty much hopeless throughout January, but they got the breaks at the right time against a Bournemouth side that had put in a huge effort against Chelsea a few days beforehand and were missing a couple of their most influential players, and also against Southampton despite playing pretty poorly for most of that match.
The Watford, Everton and Wolves defeats have maybe been a bit heavier than expected, but most people would have had those down as defeats anyway.
In my opinion, City have definitely overachieved so far this season. They usually have tremendous spirit and they are generally tough for most opponents to play against, but the lack of genuine quality was always going to make things extremely difficult in the long run. The fact that Warnock's men are only two points adrift at present is a testament to their character and they may even save themselves yet, but it's going to be a huge struggle with a squad that, if we're being honest about it, consists almost entirely of Championship-level players.
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