The Manchester City false dawn looks pretty overcast right now.

Remember all that excitement in the early stages of the season with Shinawatra splashing the cash Eriksson picking up some jewels from the continent that few had heard of and even fewer could pronounce?

On top of that there were the homegrown talents such as Stephen Ireland, Michael Johnson and Kasper Schmeichel to get excited about, and even a derby win over the red side of Manchester. The City dream was well past the REM stage.

Wind forward, and how depressing it is to find how short seven months in football can be. Fergie's men are at their effervescent best having amassed 28 points more than the blues side, while the 'Eriksson burnout factor', which so decorated his time with the England set-up, is down to its last firelighter.

On the playing side, Elano now plays more like Ronaldo (the Brazilian one, I mean) Schmeichel wants out for good, Johnson still has bad hair, and as for Ireland, well this lad is clearly a few screws loose of a toolkit.

Though he does love his grandmother. Both of them. Even though they're dead.

Where's Shaun Goater when you need him?

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