The Pre-Match Preamble – Gameweek 6

While the Manchester clubs are currently struggling to dominate the early running in the league, there’s little doubt that both Sir Alex Ferguson and Roberto Mancini have shot to the top of the rankings when it comes to the lesser known pastime of “Fantasy manager bothering”. They appear to be taking it in turns to furrow our brows, passing the baton of anxiety each week as they conspire to spin us dilemmas and toss camouflaged banana skins at every turn.

This weekend it appears to the be the Italian’s shift – our main worries are certainly in sky blue. Carlos Tevez goes into the encounter with Fulham at Craven Cottage having put in 120-minutes in Wednesday’s Capital One Cup defeat to Villa and with his manager’s criticism freshly ringing in his ears.

Mancini’s comments on Tevez’ fitness in yesterday’s press conference certainly stirred the pot ahead of today’s game, without really shedding light on whether we’ll see a twin Argentinian strike force at the Cottage…

“Carlos was better in the first month. Now after the international break, he slow down. [This is] because he works well for one month in pre-season. He was fantastic for three or four games he played always. After he went to Argentina maybe for one week he lose his condition.”

From that, I personally get the impression that Manicini is almost hinting at punishing Tevez for “relaxing” whilst in Argentina – presumably amongst friends and family. Given the checkered past surrounding Tevez and his claims of being homesick back in 2010, this does seem a risky smack-down on Mancini’s part.

The big question for us Fantasy managers, however, is whether Tevez can possibly play his part at the Cottage. That query was met with a predictably cryptic response from Mancini…

“Probably, but we have four [strikers]. We play tomorrow, Wednesday [in Champions League] and Saturday.”

That “probably” says very little; certainly the majority of our press are backing a bench role for Tevez, no doubt swayed by the fact that he was forced to see out the entirety of extra-time in midweek. However, regardless of Mancini’s concerns on his fitness, we’re well aware that Tevez is a tireless bull of man who is more than capable of turning out in two matches in quick succession. There is hope.

The key is that Champions League clash with Dortmund on Wednesday – if Mancini has him earmarked for this, then surely we’ll see Edin Dzeko or even Mario Balotelli in line for a start with Sergio Aguero today. That would also put Tevez at risk for the Gameweek 7 clash with Sunderland.

Interestingly, both The Sun and The Times offer us a chink of light – they have both slotted Tevez in alongside his compatriot in their teamsheet punts. Elsewhere, the vote is for Dzeko, a starter against Arsenal: he’s widely tipped to retain his place with just The Guardian backing a Balotelli appearance.

Selling Tevez is the obvious route, then, and one I’ve previously discussed, most recently in last week’s “Knee Jerk”. It’s been a popular move this week, with Tevez suffering a big loss of ownership – second only to Fernando Torres amongst the forwards. Dimitar Berbatov’s injury perhaps forced some to offer Tevez a stay of execution but it remains to be seen if that is rewarded with some unlikely returns in West London today.

Before we dismiss Tevez and begin our search for a new City attacking asset, there is further intrigue and complication to be added. Tevez’ omission from Argentina’s squad for their World Cup qualifiers in October will see Sergio Aguero travel for matches against Uruguay and Chile. With that last fixture taking place just four days before City’s away trip to West Brom, we perhaps have to consider that Aguero is not the most viable answer to our quest for City coverage just now. With Tevez presumably handed a tight leash by Mancini over the break, we’d expect him to be in fine fettle approaching the Hawthorns trip, which leads into a spell of very decent fixtures for City.

Maybe, just maybe, this will all work out. Perhaps Mancini will offer Tevez pitch time at the Cottage. Perhaps he’ll be used sparingly against Dortmund and given the opportunity to go at Sunderland next weekend. Then perhaps he’ll have his cylinders firing after a rest and take City’s promising list of fixtures apart.

It all rests with Mancini. In a few hours we’ll get a glimpse into his thinking as the Fulham teamsheet is revealed and that will either hammer the final nail, or offer an unlikely glimmer of hope that Tevez could continue to be a “too good to be true” Fantasy option.

Next week it will doubtless be Sir Alex’s turn to concoct concerns; the cynic in me imagines him quite happy that the tormenting goes on and that we’re hanging on their every word and whim.