mancityblues.com

We face a tough time in the run up to Christmas, in the league and in the cups. Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea are all away fixtures in the league, following a home fixture against a resurgent Newcastle. In the Champions League, Napoli away and Bayern at home are both tasty fixtures that Mancini believes we can win, and our results since that drubbing in Munich show that he could well be right. Two fixtures at the Emirates, one in the League and another in the Carling Cup, that's a big ask!

City have made great strides since that night in Munich, showing a resilience and desire that has been missing all too often in the recent past. Although we can win any game any time, it's far more likely that we will drop some points in the next month or so and as per usual the press will want to bury us. The important thing we will need to remember is the strength in depth we have in the squad, two players at least for every position, and so far minimal injuries. If Man U regain top spot it will only serve to spur our lads on, that much is certain. There is obviously a great spirit in the team in spite of Tevez's best efforts to queer the pitch.

What we see now is good football, determination and grit. We may still lack certain strengths in midfield perhaps and in defence, but we can never be accused of lacking value for money, other teams find us hard to break down and resort to lumping long balls forward or forcing errors, and up to now we have been the side most likely to score one more.

My heart tells me we will win every game, but my head tells me we can't. Or can we?

CLEVBLUE