OUSMANE Dabo admits he has struggled to adapt to English football following his summer switch from Lazio.
The French midfielder showed his commitment to City by signing a three-year deal on his arrival from Rome in June, but has spent a large part of his first half-season kicking his heels on the sidelines.
First, a contentious sending off at Reading in September resulted in a three-match ban, and then a medial knee ligament injury kept him on the sidelines for six weeks.
But even though he is fighting his way back after injury, rediscovering his form, his full fitness and his place in the City 16 is proving tough.
"So far, I've not had too many chances," he said. "When I won a place in the team, I was suspended for three matches, then I injured my knee. So I've not played since October. It's been a difficult period to get through.
"I need to start from scratch to win back my place in the starting line-up.
"At the moment, the coach is finding that the team works well. He doesn't want to change things around too much. He's asked me to be patient.
"So I'm going to have to push myself, but I'm keeping my confidence. When I come back, I'll be even stronger. I'm determined to get through this."
Peak
At 29, Dabo should really be approaching the peak of his powers as a midfielder, which makes his enforced spell on the sidelines all the more frustrating.
But he is not regretting his decision to leave Serie A after eight years in Italy.
"I needed to see something else," Dabo said. "But the pace of the game here is crazy!
"Even when you are defending, you can quickly find yourself on the attack. There is hardly any time to rest. It's completely different to the style of play in Italy.
"But I had played in Italy for eight years, and I wanted to discover another way of life, and another type of football. And the financial aspect was also a factor in my decision too."
Having started his career in France playing alongside United defender Mikael Silvestre at Rennes, Dabo has since spent most of his career in Italy.
Interrupted
Only a half-season back in Ligue 1 with Monaco six years ago interrupted Dabo's eight years in Serie A with Inter Milan, Parma, Atalanta and Lazio.
Dabo had been offered a long-term contract to stay at Lazio, but had already left for a new challenge in England. But happy as he is to be making a fresh start, Dabo is still not satisfied with City's season.
"Our season has been disappointing so far," Dabo said. "We've lacked consistency."
Nonetheless, he feels his game can only improve for being in the Premiership. And age is no concern for Dabo, even though he will turn 30 in February - as he takes inspiration from his fellow countryman Claude Makelele, still able to lead Chelsea's midfield to the Premiership title at the age of 33.
"Claude Makelele is 33, and continues to improve every day," Dabo said. "When he arrived at Chelsea, he was a year older than I am now."
But however much he improves, Dabo does not expect to add to his three caps for France.
"I've not been under any illusions about the French team for a long time," Dabo said. "As long as Raymond Domenech is picking the team, it will be difficult for me to get back in there."
Do you think Dabo will force himself back into City's side? Have your say.
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would have him in ahead of reyna any day. we're not bad for midfielders at present - it's just finding an actual playmaker. hope Ireland is given a chance now to show how good he can be
"And the financial aspect was also a factor in my decision too"
What a cheeky get! He's just shown himself up for what he is now. Even though eveyones knows it he hasn't the barains to keep his mouth shut!!
I like his attitude about knuckling down and earning the right to get in the first team!!! Need more with his attitude.
Totally agree there Mr Pope.
Didnt really impress me at the start of the season. Hopefully he can show us what he can do after Crimbo. We have loads of midfielders I agree but they are all defensive and cant provide that killer ball (Ireland aside but he's only a youngster)
Get him in the team. We need players like Dabo to release Barton from his defensive duties. He also needs time to bed in but I think he will be a good buy in the end.
Mr Pope, do you not look at the financial side of things when you are looking for a new job or do you just move for the love of the company? So what if he said it, its true isnt it? You didnt actually believe he came here because he was a born and bread City fan who would play for the shirt for free like either me or you would did you? He is French, he wasnt born in Manchester, he has probably never even been to Manchester before we signed him! Stop picking up on the petty little negative side of things. There was a whole article there to choose from and you chose that.
Well said Lorcan....we have a range of DM but need a Creative Midfielder...unfortunately I think Stephen Ireland has the ability but not the stature to compete at the moment in that area of the field but he will and could be the answer in the loong term....as for The Pope, much as we all wish it to be true, unfortunately not everyone has the desire to play for the blues enough to play for free....I have no problems in him admitting that the money had an influence on his decision, he wants to play and is willing knuckle down to get into the side, he's no Winston Bogarde/marcelino willing to take the mnoey and sit on the bench
most decent players would find it tough settling into English football being at a club like City.Our manager is naive his backroom staff dont have a clue and there is an alarming lack of winning mentality around the place. Perhaps at a better club Dabo would prosper with his performance SIBIERSKI is a prime example of just that!
Here we go again... So called City fans backing our team. Mr Pope, you are forgetting that he also said he wants to knuckle down and get into the team and play better, you are also forgetting that he could have easily stayed at Lazio where they offered him a very long contract - 7 years I think and finally you are also forgetting that he is not native English and very possibly this has been mis quoted or has not come out the way he meant. For once get behind the team and stop the eternal moaning.
Rik (unhappy)
Give the guy a chance. he has a good attitude, good track record (why would Lazio have wanted to have kept him otherwise) and has done well when he's played for City. He was superb against Arsenal.
Ted - all players would struggle to fit in when there is a section of their own fans constantly moaning and getting on their back. And Sibierski really IS a prime example of that.
PEARCE WILL YOU PLEASE GO AND GO BEFORE THE SHEFF WED GAME PLEASE PLEASE!!!!!!!!
Rick its not the players I'm moaning about its our management and backroom staff I just dont think they are up the job,its an opinion and on observation of the period since Pearce came in and recruited Wigley the results are doing a lot of talking,furthermore the attendances have plummeted from around 43000 down to 36000 and the Spurs game could see a further drop.How much longer have we to put up with this appalling adversity which the club themselves have inflicted on themselves? some of our players are decent but Pearce apparently hasn't got the ability or know how to get the best out of them,furthermore all this creeping round the match officials and in affect the FA wont help the cause,its stupid and I wonder what Pearce is trying to prove,sorry Rick but in my opinion SP will never hack the Premiership MUCH to our disappointment and further adversity and failure should he be allowed to captain the ship for much longer,it isn't moaning its just comments based on a very poor and incompetent set up leaving the long suffering fans with more dismay AND THAT IS FACT.
Ted, IT'S NOT FACT, IT'S OPINION. Your opinion as it happens. My opinion is that the team is beginning to gel and
the new signings are beginning to look like more-than-useful acquisitions. The team looks solid. In addition too big a deal is being made of the drop in our attendances - still 6th biggest in the prem incidentally. Pre-Keegan our attendances were generally 8-9k less than the 36-39k of our last 2 Prem games - that incidentally is a fact. It is the floating supporters we are losing presently. Should we drop to 30k I'll start to worry. Can you also please stop citing Sibierski as a player SP failed to get the best out of. He was distinctly average in well over 100 appearances for the club (including a vast number under Keegan, I hasten to add). The team is solid if unspectactular. It is this solidity which will keep us in the Premiership and enable Pearce to strengthen again this summer. Not a fact - merely an opinion.
Hear, hear, GS!
GS, interesting comments however under Keegan the crowds were less than 43/44000 because we were still at Maine road ie capacity around 38000. Merely opinion u write ok I'll respect that but realisticly u r an eternal optimist and with DO GOODERS such as u around City will NEVER get any better! and that FACT not your opinion OBVIOUSLY.How on earth can u state and on what grounds we are starting to gell? WHAT A LOAD OF POPPYCOCK,sorry buts its my opinion as well PLEASE RESPECT IT,ted knot is spot on under Pearce WE ARE GOING DOWN THE PAN! come back on after the Tottenham game and we'll discover a different view I expect besides the general concencus of OPINION is SP is PATHETIC THATS FACT!!!!!!
GS? does giving away three goals by means of schoolboy defending and unable to hit a barn door from 10 yds suggest city are begginning to gell? I dont think so,have you ever played football at a decent level? mmmmmm interested to know cos all your comments seemed to be just trying to get one back on a correspondent (ted knott) hitting home with the stark realties of truth,get real GS whoever you are your heads buried in the sand,your judgement is clouded with bias and perhaps not brave enough to criticise something that needs to be (MCFC)
Pete, opinions, opinions. Not facts. What exactly do you want from Pearce? What are your expectations? I expect City to finish anywhere from 8th to 14th. I believe these to be realistic goals considering the lack of investment. What DO YOU expect from a team which has had little investment over the past 2-3 years? before you cite Allardyce, O'Neill etc - i'd like to point out each spent in excess of ¿¿10m this summer. Why should we expect more? When I started supporting City I dreamt of more - I've never expected it. 2-3 teams win trphies in this country. We are no better or worse than the majority of teams in this frankly poor Premiership. Pearce in my opinion is doing all he can with a limited budget. Citing our performance against the league leaders is unrealistic. We performed well given the blatant gulf in class and expenditure. That WAS a solid performance - with some unfortunate mistakes against a very good side. If you go to OT expecting City to take all three points I would suggest you are more deluded than me and the other "happies". SimonBlue - stop frothing at the mouth. the fact remains our tradtional hardcore support is somewhere around 30-34k.
Teams no longer tend to have a "creative" midfielder as everyone on here seems to want. For teams to play with that type of player you need to play with 5 in the middle as they are a luxury. I'd go for a defensive player like Dabo with Barton able to get box to box. With that kind of system you can then play with wingers but the problem is we havent got any of those either.
Another Pearce mistake. Didn't take this into account with his inexperience. Go now.
Rik,Sale,Dabo was never offered a 7 year contract, who would offer a 30 year old a contract of that length,pure agent talk, he was in fact offered a 2 year deal at well under our wages.
Fine post by Kippax Kid. And
get off Ted Knott's back - he's
spot on when it comes to
SP's lack of coaching acumen.
Oh, and we get a lot of
Newcastle matches here in
the States, and Sibs has been
quite good for them! I snicker
every time I see him play
well......
Sticking to the comments about Dabo, I thought he played well in the games he played and looked like first choice for midfield with Barton. His passing was better than Barton's and he showed more tackling ability than Reyna. A class player whom we have missed recently. Get him back in the squad SP, it's not like the current squad is any great shakes. Replace the ageing Reyna.
Billy, Strettford,so there are City fans that understand football,spot on pal.