EXCLUSIVE John Barnes: Have City got the spirit to handle Anfield?
Published 22:59 26/11/11 By Anthony Clavane
The real Manchester City will have to turn up today when they take on Liverpool at Anfield, says John Barnes.
Roberto Mancini’s men have swept almost all before them on the domestic front — but the Liverpool legend wonders if they have the mental strength to recover from their Napoli defeat.
City’s Champions League hopes are in shreds after the Italians gave them their hardest moment of the season at a vibrant Stadio San Paolo earlier in the week.
And as they visit another cauldron on Merseyside, Barnes isn’t sure how they’ll cope with another feverish atmosphere. “Have City got the spirit, the togetherness, the desire?” he asked. “Forget about individual ability. That’s what teams need.
“In the Premier League, certain players have got bigger than their team-mates, bigger than the manager. And once that situation arises, you can’t win anything.”
Having spent £1billion in transfer fees, wages and improvements to the club’s infrastructure since buying the club three years ago, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan’s team are now five points clear at the top of the league.
But Anfield was the scene of perhaps their most traumatic experience of the last campaign — they lost 3-0 — and Kenny Dalglish’s side have already beaten both Chelsea and Arsenal.
Barnes, who won two titles and two FA Cups at Liverpool, said: “We have seen them be a team when they win. But the real test is when they lose a game.
“Then we will see if they have what all great teams have — team spirit.
“City are the best team in the country when things are going well. But when things aren’t going so well, will they have problems of character? I like the way Liverpool are being run now. But at City, with a billionaire who wants to spend his way to success, if it doesn’t work, he spends more money.
“Money brings you great players, but we will see, through the course of the season, whether it brings team spirit. “
Mancini has taken City clear at the top of the Premier League, but Barnes added: “There is always a dip with top teams.
“Then we find out what they are really like. My biggest achievement — forget about player of the year and the goals — is when I won my first championship with Liverpool. It was the best game I’ve played in.
“It was not my best game, but Liverpool’s. That was the ethos at Liverpool — the team.
“That’s the Liverpool way, which Kenny is bringing back. But it takes time.
“That’s what Graham Taylor taught me when I was at Watford. Humility to the game of football. Not being boastful.
“Look at Barcelona. Iniesta, Xavi, Messi, those players respect Barcelona, their team-mates, the fans. At Barcelona, Messi doesn’t see himself as a superstar.
“He’s not ‘I’m Messi, look at me, I’m a superstar’. He has a reverence and respect for the club.”
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