How did Manchester City get their offbeat squad dancing to same tune? | Jamie Jackson

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<div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.24.1.1/98503?ns=guardian&pageName=How+did+Manchester+City+get+their+offbeat+squad+dancing+to+same+tune%3F+%7C+%3AArticle%3A1744349&ch=Football&c3=Guardian&c4=Manchester+City+%28Football%29%2CRoberto+Mancini+%28football%29%2CFootball%2CSport&c5=Premier+League&c6=Jamie+Jackson&c7=12-May-11&c8=1744349&c9=Article&c10=Comment&c11=Football&c13=&c25=Sport+blog&c30=content&c42=Sport&h2=GU%2FSport%2FFootball%2FManchester+City" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Roberto Mancini has had his work cut out with City this season, from Carlos Tevez's 'holiday' to Mario Balotelli's erratic behaviour</p><p>In a season-long talent parade that has led Manchester City to the verge of a first title in 44 years the prime factor in their vital late surge has been a surprising <em>esprit de corps</em>. For his £1bn investment Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan got the club and produced a squad bulging with cash-soaked, garlanded performers. Less guaranteed was the intangible yet critical element of the will to win evident in a spring charge led by Yaya Touré and Vincent Kompany.</p><p>Eight points behind Manchester United after losing 1-0 at Arsenal on 8 April, City enter Sunday's final day ahead of the champions by a goal difference of eight. When Carlos Tevez refused to warm up for a Champions League group game at Bayern Munich in September the Argentinian became the symbol of the guns-for-hire tag that has been the prevailing criticism of the Mansour project. Tevez's subsequent flight to his homeland and six-month absence summed up why City were frequently depicted as mercenaries who lacked the strong dressing room that was seemingly keeping United in the hunt for a 20th championship.</p><p>Mario Balotelli's serial misdemeanours enhanced the view. In episodes ranging from fireworks going off in his bathroom on the eve of the derby in October – City won 6-1 – to an early-morning exit from a Liverpool strip club, the Italian was at times seen as all that was wrong at City.</p><p>Micah Richards' alleged training ground bust-up with Balotelli and Yaya Touré's half-time row with him during the defeat at Swansea City on 11 March appeared as evidence that even Mancini's stalwarts were succumbing to the air of chaos hovering over the club. However in control Mancini may have been, the impression was of a squad studded with renegades who might not turn up on any given day. As Sir Alex Ferguson hinted, this would hobble City's title aspirations, with United's manager saying: "It's obvious what he's had to deal with."</p><p>Yet, in truth, City were never lower than second, leading the league for the majority of the season. They had Championship winning form until a month-long stumble that began with that defeat at Swansea and continued through draws against Stoke City and Sunderland, with only a 2-1 win over Chelsea breaking up a sequence that closed with the Arsenal defeat.</p><p>Cometh the hour, cometh the men. Eight points behind a resurgent United, City's refusal to give up was headed by Mancini's clever management – the champions were still "favourites" even with each point clawed back – and those perennials of all championship-winning teams: the hardcore and unsung heroes.</p><p>Mancini's most played league XI is Joe Hart, Richards, Joleon Lescott, Kompany, Gaël Clichy, Samir Nasri, Gareth Barry, Yaya Touré, James Milner, David Silva and Sergio Agüero. It is that backbone of Hart, Kompany, Lescott, Barry and Touré that has most impressed during these past six weeks or so. When City required it, Mancini got the right tune from this band. He says of the fightback: "In that moment it was good for us because all the pressure lifted and for three games we played free. We always believed, even when we were eight points behind."</p><p>After defeat at Arsenal, City beat West Bromwich 4-0, Norwich City 6-1, Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0, United 1-0 and Newcastle 2-0: an aggregate score of 15-1 as QPR walk out at Eastlands with the second most porous travelling defence – 38 goals conceded in total.</p><p>In those five victories Agüero contributed five goals, Tevez four, Touré two and Silva, Nasri, Adam Johnson and Kompany one apiece. A rearguard breached only once also shone. Pablo Zabaleta, who missed only the West Bromwich win, leads the tackle count with 18 while Kompany and Clichy have 12 and the midfield shields Barry (11) and Nigel de Jong (nine).</p><p>While Silva and Agüero were voted, respectively, the players' player of the year and fans' player of the year, picking City's stand-out performer is difficult. As Ferguson says: "City, quality-wise, are very similar to the Chelsea of José [Mourinho]. They have a lot of good players in their team, they are very hard to beat and several have had outstanding seasons. When you win the league you need five or six players who are consistently good and they have had that."</p><p>Yaya Touré has the strongest case as City's best, with Kompany close behind, as his headed winner in the recent derby at the Etihad and season-long leadership illustrate. Agüero has 30 goals in his inaugural English season, Silva is the on-field magician but Touré's swashbuckling performances blazed the trail back to the top, his double in the 2-0 win at Newcastle on Sunday continuing the Ivorian's knack of scoring when most required. As Mancini said: "Yaya is really important. He is fantastic. There are other players, though, who have played less games and have done very well."</p><p>Pride, never-say-die spirit, a hatred of losing: these characteristics have shone through during the crucial phase – perhaps not expected when Mansour splurged his petro-billions on salaries headed by the £250,000-a-week of Yaya Touré and Tevez.</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/manchestercity">Manchester City</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/roberto-mancini">Roberto Mancini</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/jamiejackson">Jamie Jackson</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. 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