City’s superstars look distraught as they get ready to start the game once again following a Spurs goal

300 Spartans took on thousands of Persians in the Battle of Thermopylae, and won. This feat however, could not have been possible had the Greeks not had a King like Leonidas. Similarly, Vincent Kompany is Manchester City’s very own Leonidas because evidently, when he doesn’t play well, or doesn’t play at all, Manchester City look baffled, uninspired, and in general, clueless.

It all started from the UEFA Champions League match against Juventus. That loss hurt less than the loss of Kompany to a thigh problem, which resulted in a cascading effect in the matches against West Ham and, as we saw last night, Tottenham Hotspur. Although City started the scoring with club record signing Kevin de Bruyne finding the net, the Blues went on to fall apart as Eric Dier, Toby Alderwireld, Harry Kane and Erik Lamela all took advantage of our hapless defence.

Joe Hart missed out on the match due to a niggle and thus, Willy Caballero got his chance to prove to the manager that he is worthy of being City’s number one. Caballero did make some good saves but the result was never in doubt. Pellegrini’s boys though, have every right to feel hard done by because Spurs’ first goal had an offside involvement by Kyle Walker on the right flank.

Kevin De Bruyne got the game started as he scored his second goal in as many games for Manchester City

The past is beyond us and there’s nothing we can do about what’s already done. But looking back at the match, all I ask is where did it all go wrong for us? It can’t only be Kompany’s absence, though it seems easy to think that way since every City campaign that did not end in a title win, had Kompany reeling under expectation and playing in a quite underwhelming manner. Having said this, I feel that it’s not at all correct to put the blame on one head. When the team wins, the team played well, when the team loses, it was all because one player had a bad day at the office or was absent from it entirely? I don’t think so.

Many people are blaming the manager, but I feel that Manuel Pellegrini cannot do anything more than what he already has done. He’s splashed insane amounts of money and brought in two of the most highly rated attackers in Europe at the moment in Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne. And to be fair to them, they have not disappointed either. Both these young lads have scored two goals each and are making their presence felt really well. Yaya Toure and David Silva have also started the season in sumptuous form. But then, what is amiss?

Eric Dier lashes home Tottenham’s equaliser past Caballero in the City goal right on the stroke of half time

Nicolas Otamendi has shown great promise in place of Kompany but again, he isn’t Kompany, the fearless, passionate leader that every team needs on the pitch. Elaquim Mangala also has been astute with his play. Sergio Aguero has looked sharp as well, the problem being that he has not been among the goals as of late.

So, the crux of the Cityzen’s problems can be narrowed down to two things. The first would be the dry spell of their ace striker, and the second would be the absence of their leader. A team as big as ours cannot depend on just one or two players two pull us through, especially after we’ve spent fortunes to build up an entire squad. Yet, we cannot help but wonder what  the situation would have been, had Kompany not received an injury and Aguero not lost his composure in front of goal. This situation that we find ourselves in right now, has put one thing beyond doubt.  An influential King is always needed in battle, to emerge victorious and the sooner we have ours back, the better off we’ll be.