STUART Pearce landed in Shanghai convinced that he now has the firepower and nous at his disposal to surprise the Premiership title favourites.

Didi and Dabo may sound like a European comedy duo or the first words you might utter to a non-speaking toddler but Herr Hamann and Monsieur Dabo are both battle-hardened tough cookies who have been brought in to harden up City's core.

Boss Pearce believes his summer of bartering has left him with a better-balanced squad and one more equipped to fulfil his lofty ambitions for the club.

His aims, like last season, will be unuttered in public but fans can rest assured that his targets remain a top-six place and a twin assault on the two domestic cup competitions.

In have come experienced internationals Ousmane Dabo, Didi Hamann, Paul Dickov and Bernardo Corradi for a combined fee of approaching é1.5m and promising England youth international Joe Hart for an initial é600,000 and most of that modest outlay has been recouped by the sale for é1.3m combined of youngsters Bradley Wright-Phillips and Lee Croft.

What's more, Pearce knows he has two young stars in Micah Richards and Joey Barton signed up for the foreseeable future.

Contented

It's little wonder then that he wore the look of a contented man as he stepped off the plane into China.

"If we roll the clock to this time last year, there is no doubt that I would have liked to have done more transfer business," reflected the upbeat manager.

"This time I have been busier and I am delighted with the five players that I have brought in. They will all give the squad something.

"What the poor run of results at the end of last season highlighted was the thinness of the squad. One or two lost a bit of form, a couple of others were injured and we came to a standstill. I cannot afford for that to happen to me this year. I need to have options for most positions."

Pearce knows that the spotlight will be on him in the opening weeks of the season. He is fortunate that he is blessed with a temperament that doesn't fluctuate wildly at the highs and lows of a game that can carry a manager on its shoulders one day - touting him for England coach - and then kick him where it hurts most the next.

Most of the pressure that he feels will be self-inflicted because he is adamant that City have what it takes to be in the European qualifying mix.

"The longer you stay in management the more the pressure builds up," he shrugged.

"You have either achieved well the year before and people expect you to build on that or alternatively you finish badly and people are bolting last season's results on to this season's.

"There was a tail-off in optimism in the fans at the end of last season and that is natural given the run of results but people will hopefully have a balanced view and, after seeing who we have signed, will recognise that the dividing lines (between success and failure) are extremely thin.

Stronger

"I am looking forward to the season immensely. We will be a stronger side. The new lads all add something and the likes of Georgios Samaras have had their six months to bed in.

"There will be lots of competition for places this season, both up front and in central midfield, two things that I didn't always have last season. Through the spine of the side we look strong."

Pearce is convinced the players he now has around him will give the side much more flexibility and, when the time for serious business on the pitch comes, different playing formations.

Blues fans can expect to see plenty of variation on the standard 4-4-2 employed virtually throughout last term. With fresh faces on board, the manager has already been contemplating a 4-3-3 set up, a 4-1-4-1 shape for away from home and a 3-5-2 if the occasion demands it.

"Our targets remain the same, without a doubt," he emphasised. "We have to drive on into the top half of the league.

"Didi and Dabo operate in positions that are the heart of any football team. Central midfield is often where games are won and lost. Come the end of last season when we lost Joey Barton and Claudio Reyna to injury, we were down to the bare boards in that department and when they were both fit those two picked themselves and that can't be right. You can't have automatic choices in any position.

"We now have competition and it gives me the option of changing formations. We have good options up front and in the middle.

"I have signed experienced players who all know their way around the top leagues in Europe. We will not lack for know-how and it is the ability to turn what look like 1-0 defeats into draws and draws into one goal wins that make the difference at the end of the season."

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