As with all cup exits it is time to trot out the old maxim that "it is time to concentrate on the league". Any team can use it. Usually the ones with a relegation fight on their hands, but title-contenders also benefit from fewer extra-curricular activities. Only perhaps the very mid-table teams are left wanting some more, unless they have the problem of "too many games". Yet City, with so much riding on champions league qualification really could do without a quarter-final trip to Chelsea. Yes, the wait for silverware continues, but City could really do without the ultra-busy schedule that they have gone through in the past few weeks.
Champions League qualification is the last obstacle in the way of attracting the calibre of players that match the ambitions of the owners and Mancini. Mancini said when he arrived that the goal, arranged with the owners, was to finish fourth this season and to challenge for the title next season. Realistically, City are probably only one player in defence, midfield and attack away from being capable of challenging at the top, but players like Chiellini, Luis Fabiano, Gerrard, Balotelli, et al, won't be interested in summer moves if it means missing out on playing on the top of the world stage.
It wouldn't be the end of the world to have a consolidating season playing in the Europa League and making the top-four our own, but I fear it wouldn't fit in with the owner's ambitions for the club. The top four is very much within City's grasp at the moment and hopefully, after the Chelsea game perhaps, we can start to make a real push to hold on to it.
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