All Hail Adam Johnson

Mister Johnson
From up in the Gods at a rainy Eastlands you could see the machinery of the Mancini 4-3-3 as it cranked out a disappointing 1-1 draw with Blackburn Rovers.

With that Ian Curtis mono-brow and perma-ghosted grin never far from his chops he looks like a man who fancies himself rotten and with good reason.

With Gareth Barry taking a post international duty breather Yaya Touré and - yes - Patrick Vieira were tasked with marshalling the sky blues’ midfield. With their reversible squad numbers (Vieira 24; Toure 42) and rangy physiques they resembled basketball players trying to muscle a juniors’ game on a neighbourhood court.

Ahead of them, Milner busied himself in the link-up role between the two midfield enforcers and the shock-haired minotaur figure of Carlos Tevez, up front.

Behind them, the back four (Kompany and Kolo Toure in the centre; Lescott back where he began his playing career, on the left; Richards at right back for the time being at least) looked a more serious proposition than they did under Mark Hughes.

City close now teams down more. They’re better organised. They’re tighter at the back.

So they say.

“Just wait until we gel,” says King of the Kippax.

Just now in Adam Johnson the club possess a potential superstar who may be hurtling towards his mega-moment. Of the six Man City players to finish England’s Euro 2012 qualifier in Switzerland last Tuesday night it was the Wearsider who absconded with the plaudits, capping a strong display with a second classy finish in as many games for the national team.

On Saturday Johnson followed his England brace with a Man Of The Match award - despite the fact that he was much more peripheral to the action than the industrious Milner, for instance. Yet whenever the ball came to him he contrived to create something which looked dangerous, unpredictable, and invariably classy. A new angle made by checking back, left-footed, from the right hand touchline. A mazy, Kinky-esque run into the box. A sweetly curling strike on goal like a billiard player punching check side onto a cue ball (to be seen most perfectly in his debut goal for the club against home town team Sunderland at the end of last season).

With that Ian Curtis mono-brow and perma-ghosted grin never far from his chops he looks like a man who fancies himself rotten and with good reason.

There’s a swagger to City as a whole right now which is hardly backed up by results. Five points from four games is a measly return for a club with ambitions such as Roberto Mancini’s men.

I'm good me. Really good. I'm talking about me

Faced with a draw-hungry Blackburn at the weekend, Kolo Toure and Joe Hart conspired to make a comedy from a defence that was supposed to be coming together. Those midfield enforcers could work the ball through to Tevez, but only at times when he could least effectively use it.

In the end it fell to Vieira, shortly before he was withdrawn, to force home the Argentinian’s own low cross and spare City’s blushes – against a side who were clearly there for the taking.

You don’t need to be a maestro di catenaccio to know that that isn’t good enough.

Ranger Danger
Did United cave in on Saturday because Sir Alex Ferguson chose to rest Wayne Rooney?

It makes no sense, does it? Yet in sport a single person going ‘missing’ can be the psychological flaw that causes a team to unravel. It’s a concept which the Australian cricket team have exploited over the years, not least in their contests with England. Who knows how many English tail-enders have been skittled because the front order were hoodoo-ed?

In withdrawing Rooney from the 3-3 draw at Goodison Park Fergie seemed to go against his own instincts. It makes sense, though. A media flap like the one going on at the moment is the kind of problem with the potential to cause ructions, trigger transfer requests and, at its worst, cause the dismantling of a lovingly-assembled team/ squad. Ferguson needs that kind of problem like a hole in the head.

In order to retain control over the situation and the various players, he’s been wise to be so demonstratively supportive of Rooney in public and (reportedly) incandescent in private.

But when it comes to resting a player in order to spare him the flack, there’s the suspicion you could be asking for trouble, however justified the wider reasoning. Rooney will have to be back some time. Reportedly it will be on Tuesday night, when United entertain Rangers in the Champions League. No doubt Ranger’s fans are rehearsing the Rooney songs right now. On Saturday there’s the visit of Liverpool.

Somehow it all sounds like a recipe for a hat trick, a fracas or a broken leg.

Manchester United v Rangers [Champions League Group C]: Tues 14 Sept, 7.45pm, Sky Sports HD2