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| David James doesn't think Manchester City will even make the top four this season |
MANCHESTER CITY have been told they will fail to make even the top four this season despite a mammoth £71million worth of new players.
That is the verdict of former City and England goalkeeper David James, who is convinced that under-pressure manager Manuel Pellegrini will fail to take the Premier League title back from Chelsea because City are simply throwing together a collection of big-money players - and will not even qualify for the Champions League.
James, now a pundit for BT Sport, said: "I can see Liverpool qualifying for the Champions League at the expense of City this season.
"City have got all this talent but they have tripped over the line twice to win the title. Look at Chelsea last season - the title was won in November.
"If Arsenal had started better, Chelsea would just have carried on longer and won by 10 or 15 points."
Pellegrini finished eight points behind champions Chelsea last year after spending £81m in that campaign.
James, who played 100 games for City between 2004-06, is adamant that all the spending is not going to make his old club any better this year - but is predicting a top-10 finish for Bournemouth.
"I don't see the City model being right," he said. "Just spending loads of money and acquiring players. It isn't necessarily the model of continued success.
"I have seen changes elsewhere and at the moment I'm not seeing that at City. It is just spend a bit more and expect success."
Pellegrini has spent £49m on Raheem Sterling this summer but James believes his old club Liverpool will actually do better without him.
"You can't spend £250m on players and have no success," said James.
"I am encouraged Liverpool have changed around their coaching staff. With all the acquisition of players and no success, there had to be a reason. Now with the new coaching staff Liverpool will be winning far more games.
"Brendan Rodgers has had three years and now he is looking at a different way of doing it.
"Manchester United have had to change. They have had to restructure the side and financially they can afford that. That first year was about getting into the Champions League. Now it will be about trying to win the league. I think Man City, of the top four, are the weak link."
James played 19 games for Bournemouth in 2012-13 and added: "I wouldn't be surprised if Bournemouth finished in the top half, because Eddie Howe is such a good manager.
"I was there and saw him operating and I was like, 'wow, he is as good as I thought he was'. Everything was organised, his manner around the players was great and he had a vision. He was pedantic.
"He is special, but not the Special One - I don't want to give him that title. He is very very different, in a good way. He is class."
Gael Clichy, meanwhile, admits that City will have no excuses if they fail to deliver a trophy for the second season running after the vast sums of money their Abu Dhabi owners have invested in the club.
City have followed their £28m signing of Wilfried Bony in January with a £65m summer outlay on English trio Raheem Sterling, Fabian Delph and Patrick Roberts. And the players should reap the benefits from the £200m training facilities at the Etihad complex, which they have been using since December.
Defender Clichy said: "This year one of the objectives will be to get the title back because last season was not a fantastic season for us. We didn't win anything. Like we said about the facilities, we have everything to be successful, so we have no excuses not to be successful."
Edin Dzeko has joined fellow striker Stevan Jovetic in Italy by completing his long-anticipated move to Roma for £14m.
Dzeko lost his place to Bony last season and the arrival of Sterling meant he fell even further down the pecking order. Jovetic joined Inter Milan last month.
• BT Sport 1 has the first game of the new Barclays Premier League season with Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur this Saturday from noon, the first of 38 exclusively live Barclays Premier League games this season on BT Sport. This season BT Sport Europe is the new home of European football with all UEFA Champions League matches and UEFA Europa League matches exclusively live, visit btsport.com/europe.
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