Manchester City beginning to pay for lack of defensive depth

Manchester City fell agonisingly short of a superb comeback against Sporting Lisbon last night

Some Manchester City fans may try to pass off yesterday's Europa League elimination by Sporting Lisbon as almost unimportant, but the Portuguese side's triumph emphasised Roberto Mancini's team's vulnerability at the back.

Vincent Kompany is a superb defender - perhaps the best in the Premier League - but City have nowhere near enough strength in depth in the position.

Joleon Lescott and Kolo Toure are decent, but beyond that there is a worrying lack of options for Mancini.

The sight of Stefan Savic at the back must strike fear into City fans as he is prone to more than the odd lapse in concentration and sheer poor errors, and this lack of quality back-up could cost them dear this season.

When you add the defensive frailties to the way goals have dried up markedly since City's swashbuckling early-season form, the signs are worrying for City.

This campaign started full of hope and expectation with routs against some of England's top sides, but looks set to end without a trophy unless Mancini can somehow inspire them back into form.

If the past few weeks have taught the Italian anything, it is surely that he needs to get his priorities right in the summer.

While he has largely concentrated on signing attacking players in recent transfer windows, he must sign at least one world-class defender as well as another more-than-decent back-up if he is to avoid these problems cropping up again.

Kompany can't be expected to save them time and time again and he needs someone alongside him who truly merits playing for a team of title challengers.

The Belgian's recent absence has laid bare City's frailties and proved they are still far from the finished product.

City have badly missed Kompany's influence in the last three games

A club with the resources of Manchester City should not be exposed like this after the loss of just one player to injury.

In contrast, they have an embarrassment of riches in most other areas, most notably in the full-back positions and in attack.

Mancini has swapped his full-backs around all season - perhaps to the team's detriment - but at least he has options there.

Joe Hart is a superb goalkeeper but can't have any confidence in some of those in front of him, particularly Savic.

If it wasn't for Hart, City probably wouldn't be in the title race and now Kompany is on the sidelines, their contention for the league may not last too much longer.

Chelsea, surely buoyed by their extraordinary Champions League progression against Napoli, are next for Mancini's men at Eastlands next Wednesday and a defeat for the Citizens would leave them looking desperate in the title race.

They have seen their lead slashed in recent weeks and now city rivals Manchester United have taken the lead it is hard to see them surrendering their title, particular given the respective remaining fixtures of the two sides.

City, almost unthinkably, could end up potless this season and seem to have ran out of gas.

Their early-season form is a distant memory and their elimination to Sporting has to be seen as a major disappointment, despite the way they regained respectability by coming from 2-0 down to win the second leg 3-2 at the Etihad Stadium.

Their fightback proved the quality is still there in attacking areas, with Sergio Aguero still the menace he has been all season and City still capable of scoring goals aplenty.

Aguero has the ability to win matches for City on his own

However, as a team, they have fallen far below the standards they set in the early months of the campaign.

This is where Mancini needs to earn his money.

His squad is certainly talented and deep enough - in most areas - to still win the Premier League but they appear to be low in confidence. Mancini must find a solution.

Reintroducing Carlos Tevez to the scene could provide some fresh impetus, and it would be intriguing to see how he would link up with compatriot Aguero.

Tevez has - albeit reluctantly - apologised for his refusal to warm up against Bayern Munich and his self-imposed exile is over, so it's time for him to show just what a fine player he is again and attempt to inspire City to the title.

The Europa League may have just been a sideshow to City but last night's elimination will have hurt them and showed they still need significant strengthening to get where they want on the European stage.

That has also been underlined in the Premier League recently, with Sunday's 1-0 defeat at Swansea not the first time they have lacked ideas in recent weeks.

They need Kompany back - and quick - and must bring in a top player to play alongside him this summer.

Their defensive record has been impressive this season in terms of goals conceded but they look worryingly weak without Kompany.

It may seem strange to question City's defence given the fact they have conceded the fewest goals of anybody in the Premier League so far this season, but it looks nowhere near as solid when Kompany is unavailable.

They may have conceded just one at Swansea, but with Kompany's leadership and solidity they would have probably kept a clean sheet and taken home a valuable point.

City must have more than one defender in his class and that is what needs to be addressed this summer rather than splashing out tens of more millions on strikers.

Savic is still very young at 21 but lacks confidence and has made silly errors when he has been called upon, so City should not be in the position where they need to rely on him at this stage of his career.

Savic has looked sloppy at times this season

If Mancini can bring in one or two quality defensive reinforcements in the summer, that would allow him to loan Savic out - preferably to another Premier League club - and the Montenegrin could then get accustomed to the pace of the league and understand better what is expected from him at a club the size of City.

They also need more confidence going forward - like they had in the early stages of this season - and Mancini must alter his tactics slightly to ensure his attacking talents are given the chance to express themselves.

The likes of Aguero proved in the second half against Sporting that when given freedom they can cut teams apart, so Mancini has to ensure they are given that freedom from the start of games if they are to return to the form which lit up the Premier League a matter of months ago.

Time is running out for City to turn their form around and now they only have the league to occupy themselves with.

A short-term solution to their defensive problem could be to switch Micah Richards to the centre of defence - he played there impressively earlier in his career - until they bring in a world-class defender in the summer.

Without Kompany, they look disjointed, and if City are to somehow turn their form around and wrestle the title away from their neighbours, they need him back fit. Fast.

It seems strange City can only truly rely on him defensively given the resources they have and that should be a lesson learned for Mancini and the club's owners.

They cannot afford to find themselves in this situation again a year down the line so their priority this summer must be to bring in a defender.

City can afford to buy pretty much whoever they want, so there will be no excuses for not supplying Kompany with a partner come the summer.