Manchester City need a centre-back

It is not just Joe Hart that is giving Pellegrini cause for concern Neither the 32-year-old Demichelli s nor the 20-year-old Nastasic seem capable of holding the fort.

Joe Hart is going through a tough time.

Every goal Manchester City concede is analysed through the microscope to find what the English goalkeeper did wrong.

Though it is safe to say that Hart himself caused this state with a series of blunders panning over a year, the goalkeeper can surely argue that he alone is not responsible for the City's leaky defence.

Hart's miscalculated forward runs and unconvincing punches may have been the signal for opposition to pull the trig ger, but in many cases, it was the City centre-backs who armed them.

However, luckily for them, the focus of the British press is Hart, the only Englishmen to feature regularly for City, that is until Manuel Pellegrini started trying out the Romanian bean pole named Costel Pantilimon.

While City's young but promising centre-back Matija Nastasic was equally responsible for a couple of silly goals City conceded early in the season on Wednesday experience Argentine Martin Demichelis gave his manager some anxious moments against Viktoria Plzen.

In one instance, Demichellis sprang forward to break a Plzen move higher up the much. A good idea, except that at 32, the Argentine is no Thiago Silva.

With City's other centre-back in a c t i o n , Englishman Joleon Lescott, who is far from being an epitome of calmness and accuracy, also giving some tense moments, it is clear that the blue half of Manchester clearly misses the sidelined Vincent Kompany.

Kompany may be getting closer than ever from returning from his niggling thigh injury, but it is no secret that the Belgian has started showing te side affects a very busy few years.

If City, really need to arrest their slide away from home, then Pelligrini perhaps should invest on a centre-back. Nastasic is for sure a promising talent, but during the business end of the Premier League, a much more composed figure would do be helpful.