2010–11 Manchester City F.C. season
The 2010–11 season was Manchester City Football Club's 109th season of football, its ninth consecutive season in the Premier League, and its 14th season in the Premier League since it was first created with Manchester City as one of its original 22 founding member clubs. The team finished fifth in the previous season, thereby qualifying for an opportunity to compete in this season's Europa League. The club was managed by Roberto Mancini who had been appointed as manager midway through the previous season. Season review. In the summer transfer window, the club, one  of the richest in the world since its 2008 takeover by the Abu Dhabi United Group, spent £126 million on players, including Jérôme Boateng from Hamburger SV, Yaya Touré from Barcelona, David Silva from Valencia, Aleksandar Kolarov from Lazio, Mario Balotelli from Inter Milan and James Milner from Aston Villa. Popular City midfielder Stephen Ireland was transferred to Aston Villa as part of a player exchange agreement in the Milner deal. The team began this season's campaign well, collecting four out of a possible six points against "Top 7" opponents Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool, which was three points  more than City managed in the comparable fixtures last season. City then stuttered for a couple of games against Sunderland (away) and Blackburn Rovers (at home), bagging only a single home point out of the six despite completely dominating both games, with (according to manager Roberto Mancini) at least 25 missed chances in the Blackburn game alone. City got itself back on a winning track again with a 0–2 away win against Wigan Athletic, which was the first time the team had ever won at the DW Stadium, breaking what some supporters had labelled a jinx for this fixture. After  the previous season's run to the semi-final of the League Cup, the team's performance in that competition this season was very disappointing, with the "Blues" falling at the first hurdle, losing 2–1 to West Bromwich Albion in the third round tie played at The Hawthorns. The team began its Europa League campaign in much better style, clocking up three back-to-back wins in its first three games. In the first leg 1–0 away victory over Timișoara in the play-off round, Mario Balotelli scored the single winning goal on his debut, but also incurred a serious  knee injury that required surgery, putting him out of action for the next three months. Balotelli was not the only one of City's new crop of high-profile summer signings to fall victim to an early serious injury, with Jérôme Boateng missing out on the first six weeks of the new season due to a knee injury he picked up playing for Germany in an international friendly match against Denmark back in mid-August, while Aleksandar Kolarov seriously damaged his ankle ligaments in the opening match of the season against Tottenham Hotspur. The loss of Boateng and Kolarov – taken  together with recent injuries to Micah Richards (hamstring), Wayne Bridge (thigh injury coming right on the back of a prolonged absence due to a cracked foot bone) and Joleon Lescott (groin) – meant that Roberto Mancini found himself without five of his eight main back four defenders going into City's home match against Chelsea, causing him to claim that he had a defensive injury crisis for that game, which nevertheless City still managed to win convincingly due to a stellar defensive performance from the back four (Dedryck Boyata, Kolo Touré, Vincent Kompany and Pablo Zabaleta) that Mancini was able to  field. Manchester City ended their 35-year trophy drought by beating Stoke 1–0 in the FA Cup Final at Wembley, courtesy of a Yaya Touré goal in the 74th minute. Kit. Supplier: Umbro / Sponsor: Etihad Airways Kit information. Umbro made a new set of kits for Manchester City whilst they were in their second year of contract with the club. On 2 February 2011, there was a minor "kit "faux pas"" when the Manchester City team wore its regular home team kit for its away fixture against Birmingham City at St Andrew's, a fixture that usually required the visiting  Manchester City team to use one of its alternative strips (in this case, its third team kit since the midnight blue away kit also represented a colour clash) as the primary home team colours of both sides combined a blue shirt with white shorts. No explanation had ever come as to why this mix-up occurred (because as per which kits were to be worn in which fixtures was determined before the season even began), or why the referee, Kevin Friend, allowed two teams so similarly clad onto the pitch rather than insist that one of them first change its  kit, although Birmingham's 2010–11 home shirt features large elements of white. Since then, there have been several instances of City wearing sky blue against teams in royal blue. Competitions. Premier League. Points breakdown. Points at home: 43 Points away from home: 28 Points against 2009/10 Top Four: 9 Points against promoted teams: 18 Biggest & smallest. Biggest home win: 5–0 vs. Sunderland, 3 April 2011 Biggest home defeat: 0–3 vs. Arsenal, 24 October 2010 Biggest away win: 1–4 vs. Fulham, November 2010 Biggest away defeat: 3–0 vs. Liverpool, 11 April 2011 Biggest home attendance: 47,393 vs. Arsenal, 24 October 2010  Smallest home attendance: 43,077 vs. Fulham, 27 February 2011 Biggest away attendance: 75,322 vs. Manchester United, 12 February 2011 Smallest away attendance: 15,525 vs. Wigan Athletic, 19 September 2010 Awards. Premier League "Manager of the Month" award. "Awarded monthly to the manager that was chosen by a panel assembled by the Premier League's sponsor" Premier League Golden Boot award. "Awarded to the player who scored the most goals in the 2010–11 Premier League season" Barclays Golden Glove award. "Awarded to the goalkeeper who kept the most clean sheets over the 2010–11 Premier League season" PFA Team of the Year . "The combined best 11 from all teams in the Premier League chosen by the PFA" Etihad "Player of the Month" awards. "Awarded to the player that receives the most votes in a poll conducted each month on the MCFC OWS" Tuttosport "Golden Boy" award. "Since 2003 awarded annually by the Italian daily sports newspaper to the young player (on an initial short list of 40 'under 21' players) that receives the most votes from a panel consisting of 30 sports journalists selected from across the whole of Europe" Best Groundsmen of the Year award. "Awarded annually at a meeting of  the Institute of Groundsmanship organisation as a result of voting by professional football grounds management teams from the whole of the U.K." Transfers and loans. Loans out. This 'loan watch' report provides the latest progress update on most of the players listed above that are currently still out on loan at other clubs.