Renaissance of Manchester's City

The 'united' force of the new breed of City players this season is giving a tough time to their bitter rivals in Manchester United. So, no matter how much Mancini says that he respects Ferguson and flatters him with all those praises for what he has done as a coach for United, he surely sports a little smirk in isolation - all due to his side's continuous dominance over Fergie's boys this season.

A little comparative study of the two teams shows how City have come up from the 14th position in the 2008 season to the tip of the iceberg in this season with a strong foothold on their chances to win the league title. Even though Roberto Mancini should get all the praise for being the coach he has been, one realises that a lot of credit also goes to the players that were bought this season.

Even though the Red Devils defeated their "noisy neighbours" in the recent FA Cup clash, the match was turned around by City in the second half. The match seemed to be one-sided after an opener by Danny Welbeck and a double-strike by United star Wayne Rooney. But they were pulled back to ensure a thriller of a game after Kolarov and Aguero struck a goal each. Manchester United even brought back Paul Scholes from retirement but unfortunately, he was the one who gave a wrong pass right before City's first goal.

So Manchester City have moved on from their previous position and have taken the path of resurgence. The credit for this, quite obviously goes to the money this club owns and not to forget, the successful coach in Roberto Mancini. So, when one takes a sneak-peak into the transfers of this season, the picture becomes clear - the ones who are putting together the major pieces to get the club closer to the league title are the ones who were bought this season.

To name a few of them, one can never skip Samir Nasri, David Gonzalez, Kun Aguero, Emmanuel Adebayor and Gael Clichy. All of them, including some from the previous year's transfers, namely, Mario Balotelli, Edin Dzeko, Aleksandar Kolarov and James Milner, have collectively played an instrumental role in bringing Manchester City to the top of the Premiere League table this season.

But the man who has stood behind all this success and literally set the 'stage' for these 'actors' on the field, is the 45-year old Roberto Mancini from Italy. After his successful years as a coach in Italian Serie A, he joined Manchester City in the year 2009 to produce nothing but improvement in terms of both results and standing of this club.

The team has literally doubled up their standing from 10 to 5 in the Premiere League table in the year that Mancini joined as coach. The next season, they were holding the 3rd position and now they have come to the top of the table. In other words, Mancini and his boys kicked out the 0 from the 10 in a matter of just 3 seasons.

What most football fans are now waiting to see is whether these City "dwellers" are able to finish the season the same way they have started it. Bitter rivals Manchester United have already struck back with a 3-2 win over them in FA Cup. Besides, the Red Devils are also catching up fast on the points table as they are just 3 points behind City as per the current standings. What needs to be seen is whether City can overcome the fear of letting things slip away and finish the season on a high - creating nothing short of a history when and if they win the English Premier League title.