Wilfried Bony’s disappointing start to his Manchester City career is into an 11th month as he prepares to lead the attack against Sevilla at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium on Tuesday night.
The 26-year-old retains the full support of Manuel Pellegrini, who signed him for an initial £26m in January from Swansea City, although the manager issued a warning: “He must demonstrate why he’s here.”
Sergio Agüero is recovering from a hamstring tear and Bony is struggling to convince he can fill the void left by the Argentinian. In Saturday’s 2-1 defeat of Norwich City the Ivorian missed two clear chances. The finishing ability that allowed Bony to score 25 goals in 54 Premier League appearances for Swansea again deserted him in City’s colours.
There have been only four in 19 league games for the club. “I’m trying everything to score goals but they did not go in for me on Saturday,” he said.
At Sevilla’s stadium on Monday night Pellegrini said: “Maybe he’s been criticised about his last game but he scored two in his last three games in the league.”
These came as a double against Bournemouth. He drew a blank at Manchester United the following weekend, as well as on Saturday, despite a goal against Crystal Palace in the Capital One Cup in between. Bony might have been helped by his team-mates when City won a second penalty late-on against Norwich. Yaya Touré converted the first moments earlier but he had been substituted, and Bony seemed the natural candidate to take it. Instead Aleksandar Kolarov stepped up and missed.
“To get the penalty at the end would have been good for my confidence,” says Bony. “I’d like to have taken it, I wanted the ball. I asked if I could be allowed to shoot and they said OK.I think Fernandinho came and said it was someone else [who should take it], so I left it. Kolarov came and he missed it. Luckily it didn’t affect the three points.”
Despite the absence of David Silva due to an ankle problem, this is a team that bristles with attacking intent. Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling, who won both of Saturday’s penalties, Jesús Navas and Touré can all load the bullets for the striker to fire. Bony understands he must start adding more goals to his count of three from 12 games this season.
Victory over Unai Emery’s side would take City to nine points in Group D and would seal qualification with two matches left should Borussia Mönchengladbach fail to beat Juventus.
Bony is desperate to be the man to secure a third consecutive win for City after an opening-day defeat by Juventus. “I hope soon the goals will arrive. It would be great to get one in the Champions League,” he added.
“I thought I had a goal in the last game against Sevilla but it looks like maybe not [as it was deflected] so perhaps I can get one in this game instead. I am here to score goals. I just want to do my job, do my best in training and score when I get my chance in the match. A striker is happy when he scores, especially when the team wins.”
Since joining City there have been injuries – three separate problems – and a bout of malaria that ruled Bony out of the summer tour of Australia and Vietnam. Yet now he is fully fit and enjoying an extended run as the main striker, Bony remains short of confidence.
“Maybe he needs to score because he is missing some chances,” said Pellegrini. “The way he plays and the striker he is, he normally doesn’t miss them. But I think he needs trust. He is playing after many months of not being able to work normally, for different reasons.”
Missed chances were among the prime factors in last year’s disappointing Premier League title defence. Bony’s growing catalogue is causing frustration among some City fans.
Before the defeat of Norwich Mike Summerbee, the City great and now club ambassador, used his column in the programme to implore supporters to display more patience. “I don’t like it when our fans are too quick to judge and start picking on one player. We are better than that,” he wrote.
