Well, this week we’ve had two evaluations of Manchester City from a City supporters and I thought both of them were quite fair-minded. The first was a realistic view of the club and team’s potential, while the second was a little more gung-ho but still fairly cautious.

As a born and bred Manchester United supporter I find it a little bit difficult to view our blue neighbours in an unbiased manner and I reckon that will come across in my own views of Manchester City’s potential and probable performance this season. I am going to try, however, to at least forget my own allegiance and assess them as a neutral…

The first thing I’ll say is that given the amount of money City have spent, some of it well, some of it not so well, they HAVE to be focussed on winning the title. I don’t believe that Champions League qualification is enough for a club that spends well over £200 million – plus wages. It wasn’t for Chelsea and it shouldn’t be for City.

So right off the bat let me say this – they will NOT win the title this season. As much talent as they have in that bloated squad, they are still not good enough to challenge Chelsea or Manchester United and it remains to be seen iif they are good enough to finish ahead of Arsenal.

That said, there is no doubt at all that City have taken huge strides in the right direction. While the 0-0 draw with Spurs showed that this team needs time to gel and that they haven’t quite got the mix right on the pitch, the 3-0 destruction of an ailing Liverpool was a sign of what they are capable of doing.

Consistency is always key to challenging for the Premier League title. Chelsea and Manchester United, through experience as much as talent, have it. Arsenal, through inexperience as much as lack of talent, have lacked it in recent seasons. City have never had it, at least since the Premier League was created.

They have addressed the talent, no-one can argue against that, but consistency and real belief is not there – yet. City will still travel to a far-flung football outpost like newly promoted Newcastle and drop silly points in my opinion. If anything, it’s against the top three they will show their improvement, taking points you wouldn’t normally expect them to.

I’ll get to where I DO think they will finish later. Right now I want to look at the signings they’ve made over the summer and the one area I think is their biggest weak link.

The players City have signed that I think will do a very good job for them are Yaya Touré, David Silva and Jerome Boateng. Touré already has a wealth of experience at the very top of the game and should find it relatively easy to settle into the hustle and bustle of the Premier League. He looks a little below fitness at the moment, but that will come with games and it seems Roberto Mancini is going to give him those.

Silva will find it much harder to settle I think. His style of play will have to adjust to be a bit more robust (hey, that rhymes!) but if or when he manages to do so, he’ll shine. The problem he has at the moment is that Mancini doesn’t seem keen to throw him in from the start.

Boateng is more one for the future I imagine, not to mention injured, but he does look a talent. A very good long term investment for City.

I also have high hopes for Aleksandar Kolarov at left back as well actually. This guy is tough and skillful and he is one player I wouldn’t mind having at Old Trafford, though only as back up for the outstanding Evra, of course! It’s a shame he’s injured at the moment, I’d like to see more of him.

Those signings I just don’t get are Mario Balotelli and James Milner. The former is supremely talented, no question, but who needs that sort of disruptive influence knocking around the dressing room? And as for Milner, as a big fish in a comparatively small pond in Aston Villa he was good. At City, amongst the likes of De Jong, Touré et al, I just don’t think his somewhat limited skills will make much of an impact. I’ve been wrong before and his start so far has been good but over the course of a season I just don’t get it. I certainly don’t get the price they paid – it’s ridiculous and purely down to the fact he’s English. For Villa, it was a dream deal, especially picking up Stephen Ireland in the process.

Back to Balotelli though – can Roberto Mancini, who does know him well, get him focussed less on himself and more on his game and his club? I have my doubts. And it’s here we find City’s weakest link – the manager. For some reason I can’t quite put my finger on, Mancini does not strike me as a top class manager. When Chelsea spent millions they grabbed Jose Mourinho and he had the capability to mould a bunch of mercenaries into a team, a real, proper team. I don’t see that in Mancini or in City.

Like Hughes before him, I don’t think Mancini will see out the season at City unless he’s in the top two by Christmas and that, as I’ve said, is beyond them for now. Sheikh Mansour, who would have been pleased when he paid his first visit to the City of Manchester stadium this past Monday, is clearly not a man blessed with patience, or Hughes would still be there. Top four is the bear minimum, top two MUST be the target.

Mancini will find the City hot seat that much hotter if he fails to be challenging for it come January. Then he’ll be out in the cold.

So where do I think City will finish this season? Well, and here’s where my bias does come out, I can’t see them finishing higher than fourth. The thing about City is that they ALWAYS endeavour to scupper whatever plans they have. Last season, with a Champions League spot relatively firmly in their grasp they managed to mess it up and hand it to Spurs by losing to their rivals.

Even if, by some miracle, they are in with a shout of the title come January they will find a way to throw it all away and when they do it will be in such spectacular fashion that they drop to fourth, possibly even fifth if Spurs manage to retain the form they showed last year or the likes of Everton or Villa mount a challenge for the CL spot.

That is the way of City and, though none of their supporters will openly admit it, it has always been that way. In private the fans all know it. They have every right to be excited at the moment, and hopeful too, this is their best chance and it’s a damn good one. But it’s City and at the back of their minds they will have that fear that, once again, City will find a way to throw it all away.

Will the banner at Old Trafford tick over to 35 years? That remains to be seen. A Cup would be enough to banish that constant reminder for good. And a Cup is well within their grasp. Not the League Cup, unless they really focus on it which they won’t. But the FA Cup? Yes, definitely a possibility. And for City, despite the understandable expectation for the League, it would be a major achievement.

That’s this season. In the next three to four years they damn well should win the League with the amount of investment that’s gone in over at Eastlands and the time to allow those superstars to become a team. I even, regrettably, expect it. IF they find the manager with the right credentials that is…