Tevez ready for big showdown

The Carlos Tevez bandwagon hits the trail again tonight against his former team, writes PAUL WILSON

IF ROBERTO Mancini’s honeymoon period ended at Everton, so too did the Carlos Tevez bandwagon. With 11 goals in his previous nine games since the beginning of December, Manchester City’s summer capture from their local rivals had been building towards an explosive contribution to tonight’s Manchester derby in the first leg of the League Cup semi-final. At Goodison, though, he was becalmed with the rest of a non-existent City attack.

There were no ironic chants of “Fergie, Fergie, sign him up”, and the worry for City was that Tevez was not on his own in failing to make any impact. Little was expected of Robinho, and little was certainly received, though it must have been a disappointment for City supporters to see hitherto impressive performers such as Craig Bellamy and Martin Petrov so easily sidelined.

The defeat on Merseyside and the magnitude of tonight’s game means that Mancini must now make a stab at naming his strongest attacking line-up. His options are compromised by the absence of Emmanuel Adebayor, further injury to Roque Santa Cruz and the abysmal form of Robinho, so it is not difficult to imagine Tevez being the first attacking name on the teamsheet.

Not only has the former Manchester United striker been among the goals, he badly wants to play in the derby and has a habit of doing well against his former clubs. He scored twice against West Ham United this season, and though he did not get on the scoresheet in the epic 4-3 defeat at Old Trafford in September, he rushed back from injury to take part in the game and his persistence caused problems for the United defence.

“He wasn’t properly fit for that game but nothing would stop him playing,” said Pablo Zabaleta, another Argentinian in the City camp. “That’s the kind of player he is. He makes people happy. When we lose the ball he always tries to win it back. He never stops, and people like that.”

City supporters certainly do. According to Mike Summerbee, a former favourite, Tevez has already made himself popular at Eastlands and not just by preferring City to United. “City fans will always take to players like him who give 100 per cent,” Summerbee said. “He is a hard-working player but he has top-flight ability as well.”

That is the nub of the issue, for were it merely a question of work-rate and application Tevez might still be in favour at Old Trafford. The player never let anyone down at United and Alex Ferguson repeatedly praised his energetic contributions, yet the manager found it difficult to offer him a regular starting berth and eventually decided, or at least did not come to sufficiently decisive a conclusion to convince Tevez that he meant it, that €28 million was a lot to ask for a striker whose misses were as notable as his goals.

Particularly when United already had Wayne Rooney, who covers much of the same ground as Tevez, and, like the Argentinian, prefers to play just behind a more advanced striker. Ferguson decided to stake everything on a partnership developing between Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov and let City work out how best to utilize Tevez. Tonight’s game could be regarded as something of a showdown to prove which side showed the better judgment, even though Tevez has had more attacking partners than City have had free flights to Abu Dhabi.

The player himself regards it as a showdown, and that is the most important thing. “I want to play in this match for many reasons,” Tevez said. “The squad is confident, morale is high and if we get a victory over United it will be sensational.”

The money was not an issue for City, indeed it is likely they paid significantly more than the stated fee, and they have been rewarded by 15 goals this season for keeping their promise and play him regularly. That total looks even more impressive next to Robinho’s miserable record of none. All City fans have seen from their €37 million signing this season is a succession of anguished gestures and eye-rolling histrionics after alleged near-misses. Even allowing for the Brazilian’s time out through injury, Tevez looks conspicuously better value for money, though anyone is going to be flattered by having his attitude measured against Robinho.

The bigger question is where Tevez fits into Mancini’s first-choice attack. The Italian has said he would like to play with a big man up front but will have to put those plans on hold until Adebayor returns from Africa and Santa Cruz recovers from injury. When that happens City may have to make an overdue decision about which player starts alongside him.

“For me, Carlos is one of the top 10 players in the world,” said Mancini, who also put Shay Given in the top five goalkeepers and seems to occupy his spare moments by drawing up such imaginary lists. “He played well for United but now he plays for us and it is important that he concentrates on the game and doesn’t think about the past. He is a world-class striker who is in top form, but he is not just putting the ball in the net, his team ethic is fantastic. His movement and pace worries defenders, he is clever and is now playing with confidence. I do not like to pick out individuals but Carlos has been outstanding.”