Once again, photos and reports out of Manchester City's training ground show two of the club's players fighting. During a light, no-contact training session the day before the Citizens are scheduled to take the field for a match with Arsenal, Kolo Touré and Ammanuel Adebayor had to be pulled apart by teammates after getting a scuffle.
Manchester City: Always Fighting Or Does The Media Care Too Much?
This is hardly the first time that two City players have had issues with each other. Four weeks ago Mario Balotelli and Jerome Boateng came to blows and earlier in the season there were been problems between Adebayor and Vincent Kompany, as well as between James Milner and Yaya Toure. That doesn't even get into the Carlos Tevez does he want to stay or does he want to leave drama.
Needless to say, Eastlands has not been the home for hugs and kisses this season. Toure and Adebayor’s fracas is just another one at City and had it been the only incident all year it could easily be written off, especially since Adebayor is expected to leave the club before long. It would seem as if there are a lot of problems at Eastlands and that the club is in a state of disarray, but three points behind Manchester United for the league lead, that doesn’t look to be the case.
The question that has to be asked is whether or not there really is a problem at City. Are these scuffles really an issue or is is a matter of the media focusing on the wealthy club making its way up the table and blowing things out of proportion?
Anyone who has played sports knows that in the heat of battle, players scuffling is not rare. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing in a World Cup, training for your pub team or just playing a pick up game with friends. When people start to compete, emotions run high and there will be a little pushing and shoving, but a few minutes later, both people involved are usually over it. The players move on and if they’re on the same team it is not rare to see the two players involved in the training scuffle joking around with each other in the dressing room after training.
There has been a lot of talk about Manchester City’s players fighting with each other in training, but you can bet that the same has gone on at several other Premier League club’s training ground at some point this season. It is the nature of competition and bound to happen. So, knowing that, are all of the reports about City’s player’s coming to blows a matter of the media blowing things out of proportion?
If other clubs have had a scuffle or two in training as well, why don’t we hear about them? Well, City is a natural for extra media attention with the money behind the club and big names. Their run towards the top of the league table just adds to the intrigue, but is the media making something out of nothing with the fighting at Eastlands? After all, all of the training ground fights this season have not been at Eastlands, but it is what we keep hearing about.
It is possible that the media is making more of it, but City could also just have a problem on their hands. Their drama is not limited to training ground scuffles or players fighting on the way off of the field. There is tension within the club and their infighting could be as unusual and concerning as most believe. While some would argue that it can’t be too much of an issue because of their second place standing despite the drama, other would argue that when the season really gets tough in the final months and the pressure ratchets up, the atmosphere at Eastlands will come back to haunt them.
What we are looking at here is speculation, though. Is this is a matter of the media making too much of things? It’s very possible and it is not as if the media has a sparkling record of keeping things in perspective. On the other hand, it could be a matter of a tense and inharmonious atmosphere that should have the club’s supporters in doubt. Both are very possible so is City’s fighting a real problem or just the media making too much of nothing?
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