Perhaps saving their delirium for more high-profile arrivals, the City supporters decided to stay at home instead of welcoming their latest signing in person.
But with a flash of Chris Foy’s red card, Savic was thrown into the spotlight this week. Not as the man on the receiving end, but as the player manager Roberto Mancini would have to turn in a defensive crisis.
After the FA rejected City’s appeal on Tuesday, Vincent Kompany last night began his four-match ban for what Mancini labelled a ‘nothing’ challenge on United’s Nani in Sunday’s FA Cup tie.
He resisted the temptation to further criticise the decision in his programme notes, saying simply that he ‘did not agree’. He might wish he could be as forthright as Mike Summerbee, who, without threat of repercussions from the FA, used his notes to call the Belgian’s suspension ‘ludicrous’.
Already without Kolo Toure, who, along with brother Yaya, has been summoned to Gabon and Equatorial Guinea to take part in the African Cup of Nations with the Ivory Coast, Mancini’s squad has been shorn of its two most experienced centre-halves.
A lack of experience didn’t stop Mancini throwing a then 19-year-old Dedryck Boyata in at the deep end for a Carling Cup semi-final with United two years ago, just as it didn’t stop him picking Savic – who turned 21 on Sunday – against Liverpool.
Savic made his full debut in the Carling Cup, against Birmingham in September, and also appeared as part of the City reserves in the earlier rounds against Wolves and Arsenal.
But he lined up against Liverpool as part of Mancini’s best available XI, the Italian’s desire to reach Wembley and bounce back from defeat in the derby overriding his need to rest key players during a hectic month.
Mancini has long said January, with two games a week and the loss of the Toure brothers, would prove pivotal to City’s season.
That belief has been compounded by Kompany’s enforced absence until February 1, meaning he misses both legs of the Carling Cup semi-final and league games against Wigan and Tottenham.
And despite having a squad full of polished gems, Mancini is being forced to rely, in this most important of months, on a rough diamond.
Savic has the attributes to one day become a fine player but he’s not yet in Kompany’s class, not many have been in the last season and a half.
But he is by no means a rookie either. He kept Wayne Rooney quiet during Montenegro’s goalless draw with England in a Euro 2102 qualifier and has started in both the Premier League and Champions League this season.
He looked assured as City kept a clean sheet against United’s 11 men in the second half of Sunday’s cup tie. But a battle of might and muscle against 6ft 3in Andy Carroll, short on confidence or not, was an altogether different part of his education.
The Liverpool striker shrugged off Savic to draw a smart save from Joe Hart as early as the third minute. And a nervous opening half an hour was punctuated by a clumsy challenge on Daniel Agger, to give Steven Gerrard the chance to score the only goal from the penalty spot.
His arrival at City might have been low-key but as he disappeared down the tunnel at half-time, bloodied and bedraggled, with almost every camera inside the Etihad Stadium trained on him.
He was reduced to a spot in the audience in the second-half as City flooded forward in search of a goal to take to Merseyside in two weeks’ time.
Further auditions, against Wigan and Spurs, will determine whether the youngster from Mojkovac is promoted from the supporting cast and thrust back into the limelight at Anfield. Tweet
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I wonder if Cty rehearse these tactics in training
IMO City should play Richards at centre back with Zabaleta coming in, Savic looks to green for the EPL at the moment.
The most worrying aspect of Savic's performance last night was his evident diffidence and lack of self belief. He seemed a bag of nerves from the outset and there was a pervading sense of anxiety whenever he had or was anywhere near the ball. His own apparent lack of confidence then undermined the whole teams sense of wellbeing. He is undoubtably a talented young footballer and it is important that we as City fans support him but that not mean that his continued selection is in the best interests of the side. Like I say he is a talented young player but there are plenty other talented centre backs who would have gone out there with the right state of mind. There is too much resting on each game for us to go into a match with our fingers crossed about a player in a key position.
Whatever we might think about Boateng's mystifyingly brief stay his departure was unfortunate as on the evidence so far, he is a better player than Savic. I also feel that Onouha has been harshly treated and had he been properly nurtured could have become a key member of our squad and maybe even a full international...
As for Kolarov....
Another so called magical signing by Mancini. The lad just simply is not good enough and if RM continues to utilise him then we are in for more misery over the next few weeks. It seems Mancini is getting it all wrong again.
For Wign, Liverpool and Spurs it's got to be Micah at centre half with Joleon plus Zab or Nedum at right back. That's tough on Savic but it's a tough world
You'd have to say nedum looks the safer option at the moment.
I'm looking forwards to seeing more of Stefan.
I'm sorry but Savic is poor at best. His passing is appalling, his tackling reckless and his positioning and intelligence are abysmal. He's like David Luiz but more aggressive. He's supposed to be a back up player but thanks to Rooney and Chris Foy (who should never referee again) he's forced into the starting line up, and he just isn't good enough.
We should buy a CB NOW, ASAP while we can. What happens if Kolo gets injured abroad, or Kompany gets a long term injury? We need an experienced PL defender and soon. I'm baffled as to why we haven't shown any interest in Alex. He could step in and do a great job, but it looks like that joke at QPR is gonna get him instead.
We also need a striker, I've been saying it all season, and either a new central midfielder or someone to teach Barry and de Jong how to make at least one solitary successful forward pass between them. Chipping it forward to the box from central midfield against a ten man defence is never gonna work Barry mate, seriously, sort it out for crying out loud.
Also Nasri is massively overrated, I said this from day 1 when we showed interest. Ridiculously over priced and not the answer.
We need to hurry up and sell Tevez and sign a CB and a striker ASAP, minimum. We should go all in for Drogba, Cavani and Demba Ba and see what happens. As for a defender I'm struggling to find someone, but I don't see why our scouts couldn't find a good CB who'd be available in January.
I don't think we'll beat Spurs, in fact it wouldn't surprise me if they win. I can't see us stopping them or outplaying them without Kompany or Yaya, especially if Silva is still injured.
Also, nobody is talking about Balotelli, but what the hell happened with him last night?! His touch and decision making were woeful, then he threw a strop, started limping around then just went home in the first half! Mancini seriously needs to sort him out, he's the kind of player who will win us games when he's on form....
Savic needs to gain experience and he's having to gain it at the highest level so City fans should get behind him. Vinny gave away a needless penalty against Wolves when we were 3-0 up (and got a red card), Nobody slated him in similar fashion at the time.
He should have been sent off as he nearly took Agger's head off with that high kick!
He was the centre of attention because of Kompany's suspension. Then Shearer and Hansen convinced all those of you having a go that he was a weak link. He didn't let Carroll go past him, Carroll hed him back by the shirt, Savic recovered, resisted the temptation to bring AC down, Hart did the rest. He gave away a penalty, but Agger made the most of it; he should not have dangled a leg, careless. We have given one daft goal away all season, nobody notices when we score 4 or 5 at the other end. After that, he looked strong enough. He's not first choice, he's 21 ... what DO we expect? He came out ahead of Kolarov, Johnson, Balotelli, did as well as Lescott, Barry and Milner. Savic was not the best player we have ever seen out there last night - but neither was he as bad as TV pundits tried to make out.
Chris Samba is about to sign for Spurs. He's a solid premier league defender, can score goals and can captain a team. We should scupper the move and get some cover in otherwise we could be looking at Spurs being above us by Feb.
If you move Richards from fullback you will lose his forward play down the wing as in the last two games giving him the MoTM awards. For all those slating Savic are the ones who probably said the same about Silva and Dzeko when then came!!
Can't play Micah at Centre Back. We miss his power and attacking strength going forward. I love Zab but just isn't the same sort of right back. Lescott needs to help Savic along more in the next three games but I'd stick with the same back 4 for at least one more game.
I feel too much is being blamed on Savic and his inexperience. These are cup games and he needs game time. He hasnt played much and is learning life in the Prem league, not getting consistant games one after the other and not being led by our captain wonderful Kompany. The defence all looked out of sorts for the first half last night and that is more down to the fact that our captain wasnt there organising them all.
Savic is young and needs games and experience. If and when he gets the run out in the team and if he doesnt cut the mustard then he will be on his way, but it is not fair to judge him and state he is not good enough when he is so young and inexperienced at present.
Cup games are a chance to blood the younger fringe players and you have to take the rough with the smooth. If he had stood like a rock at the back and played a blinder, everyone would be stating a star of the future. Unfortunately on this occasion he wasnt and gave away a needless dubious penalty and so he is pointed at as to blame for a lack lustre perfomance and the reason things were wroing last night. To be honest apart from a shaky 15 mins at the start he did ok in my eyes and I would say played no worse that De Jong, Dzeko, Ballo, Barry, Milner or majority of others on the pitch last night. We just had an off game, a bit of a hangover from such a tough game on Sunday and lost our 3 best players in Ya Ya, Silva and Kompany.
Our little dip guys and to be honest we were rubbish, but if the Mighty Liverpool can only beat us by a dubious penner as did Utd and Chelsea, then defensively we aint that bad, even without the super Kompany.
Chin up boys and girls, heavy fixture list, injuries and loss of players in the last 2 weeks, one poor performance ( 2 first halves in the last 2 games). We are still in the Cup and I have no worries about us going to Anfield. We can still do this. We are still 3 points clear in the league and we will get players back soon. Wheels are hardly falling off are they.
One final note, poor crowd reactions last night. First 15 mins and it was silent and to make it even worse, I could hear people stating typical city and thats it, fun is over for another 35 years......You sad fickle fans who state this tripe...go and watch the scum coz you aint a real City fan if you even consider these thoughts.
CTID.......Come one Blues..
Throw £1om at Blackburn and take Chris Samba immediately. Savic is a bag of nerves!
Please buy Chris Samba immediately!! Savic is a bag of Nerves
Savic the new scapegoat? Yes he didnt look great last night but people need to give the lad a chance. He should have been played more than he has. You get 5 mins here and there, then suddenly you are in a Cup Semi Final , live on TV with everyone saying beforehand that he is no substitute for Kompany and guess what, he looked a bit nervous. I have no idea if he any good or not, what I do know is that because we have no reserve team any more, many of these fringe players never get chance to play in games and training is not the same as games. Stuart Taylor travels first class around the world and plays one game a year...guess what if we ever need him, I think he will be a tad rusty. Savic was not the only problem last night. I would say that only Hart and Richards played remotely well, a couple of others were ok (milner) but most of others were shocking. As a team we overpass at times and not direct enough in final third, we do try and walk the ball into net. I thought Adam Johnson was truly awful last night...vitually every time he starts he convinces us all, he is a 20 minute impact player coming off the bench.
Play Richards CB and Zabaleta RB simples! Onuoha and Boyata are ahead of Savic.
he is a good player give him time
I wonder why Mancini put Savic up against Carrol when he had a much bigger figure in Lescott who would have been a stabler person in the middle or even Richards, if only to pi his muscle against Carrol.
I say this wa a bad decision by Mancini.
There are more blue negative and silly posters on this subject than I like, these people will be suggesting soon thst we should be re - signing Richard Dunne
Give the lad a chance
All you lot are doing is knocking his confidence
If you are true supporters then support - don't knock the players
It was one nil, not four or five. We need to hold the nerves. Half the season is still to go....the rags would fancy coming back at Anfield from a goal down.
Of course he was nervous - he's barely played all season. I do wish that Mancini would give more of the squad playing time so they are ready when needed.
What about Gareth Barry at CB with Zab and NDJ in midfield. Keep Micah at RB, Clichy LB and of course JL partnering GB. May just work for the 3 remaining games of vinnies suspension.