One of Manchester United's longtime, but newly-rekindled rivals seems to be already giving up on their season as their manager has been in the press this week complaining about his team.
Manchester City, which invested nearly £100 million this summer, has had their boss Roberto Mancini come out in the papers TWICE this week to blast not only the commitment of his players, but the club's inability to only finish second in the Barclays Premier League this season.
Some might say that Mancini is trying to take a page out Sir Alex Ferguson's mind game book, but this has to be worrisome for their supporters, who can only fill their stadium when United comes to play them.
This goes to show that all of the money in the world cannot buy success or happiness, and that is precisely why Dimitar Berbatov moved to Old Trafford rather than the City of Manchester Stadium.
It is not shocking about how much press City is getting this season, because of the massive amounts of money that is being spent by their new oil-rich, foreign owner.
But what is shocking, though, are the words that are coming out of the manager and the player's mouths, which proves that the City is still second-class club in the City of Manchester.
Ahead of their Carling Cup exit, which is one piece of silverware City set their hopes on winning this season, he belittled some of his players for complaining and whining about the lack of playing that they are getting.
Shay Given, Emmanuel Adebayor and Mario Balotelli have all stated their dislike to be left on the bench, but the latter of the three stating this is very troublesome - since he is not even fit to play!
Lesson
Even their new captain, Carlos Tevez, has said that he has lost the burning desire to play football - and he never once uttered that during his two years at Old Trafford.
Tevez has harshly found out that the grass is not always greener on the other side - especially on the other side of Manchester.
Also, besides the money is in his pocket, the only other thing that is green in his eyes has to be the envy that he has for his former teammates and the success that they will enjoy this season.
United have some of the best young, energetic players like Rafael, Federico Macheda and Darron Gibson who all want to play every week, but they would never think of speaking out against the manager's decision.
They know that if they leave United in search of regular first-team football, like Richard Eckersley did, it will be a step down. Eckersley shunned Sir Alex and turned down the chance to sign a contract at United, and now he cannot even get a game at Burnley and is out on loan at Plymouth Argyle.
Getting back to the point, Gibson was told by his Irish boss, Giovanni Trapattoni, to find first-team football if he wants a chance with the national team.
The 22-year old responded, "To what club, other than Manchester United, could I go to improve my game? To be honest, if he's trying to say that I should move somewhere like Stoke City and change my game to winning tackles and not winning games then he's having a laugh." Well said, Gibson.
Out
Now ahead of their biggest Barclays Premier League match so far this season, Mancini is saying that his opponents, Chelsea, are going to win the league, because they are far "superior," which is something that Ferguson would never say or do!
Guess Mancini should have spent an extra £150 million bringing in players than just the measly £100m that he forked out.
Yes, the United boss said that United's stiffest challenge will come from Chelsea, but in no way did Ferguson mutter that they will win the league.
If anything, he said that it is far from over and listed the teams that would be competing until the very end of the season, and yes, City was one of those five clubs.
On top of the previously mentioned, Ferguson said that the North London rivals, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotpsur, will also be in the mix for the league title and Champions League places.
Pitiful
Another thing that Mancini said, is that he only has 11 players that are fit ahead of their game - which could either mean that they are really injured or their frail personalities have taken a beating since joining the club for the money that was thrown at them.
Just imagine their manager coping with the injury situation that Sir Alex faced last season when he only had one fit defender for the best part of a month, which happened to be also one of the busiest stretches of the season as well.
Now that City is involved in more competitions, and playing three days a week, they are starting to understand what it feels like to be United and the selection headaches that Sir Alex faces for nine months.
It's been barely a month into the season and Mancini is crumbling at the knees and pleading mercy, which shows how massive it is to have a robust manager like Sir Alex has been for 24 years.
Roberto Mancini must be bracing himself as he thinks he may get sacked after the Chelsea match, but at least the person he replaced, Mark Hughes, went on with his job until the very end, which goes to show how different the mentality is at big club like Manchester United and British managers.
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