A couple of good results for City with the 3-0 victory over the Greeks of Aris Salonika following on the 5-0 win over Notts County in the FA Cup. What caught my attention was the reaction to the win over County coupled with Manchester United's win over Crawley. And yes this is going to be another of those pieces where I say something positive about Old Purple Nose.

Why? Well primarily because there are some things that the United manager does well and it would behoove City to take notice. But I digress for the moment.

Almost universally the response to the City win in the FA Cup was that City were flattered by the final score. I couldn't disagree more. That City scored three goals in the last 10 minutes is something you would expect as a natural course of superior fitness and skill as their lower league opponents became worn down.

In situations such as these one of a number of scenarios usually play out. It is reasonable to expect that players from an under dog will rise to the occasion. Sometimes this leads to an upset victory, more often it leads to a pesky resilience and ultimate defeat. However a quick goal from the favoured side can lead to doubts and frustration from the lower league side and with their confidence shot, the goals flow.

So yes, you can see large one sided victories where the Premier League scores numerous goals. More often, after a fairly uninspiring performance, the victory comes by the odd goal or two and is generally forgotten.

What we saw against Notts County was indeed a club of under dogs rise to the occasion. Paul Ince's side played well and with a slice of luck could have scored early to make things more interesting. But they didn't and City's fitness and skill took over as the game wore on. That's what you would expect. The natural adrenaline push gained by Notts County ultimately fades and you end up with Premier League players playing League One players and realistically there's only one outcome. 5-0 may not have been a "fair" reflection based on the 90 minutes of play, but it was on the basis of the respective league positions of the clubs.

Which brings us to United or in fact Arsenal. A number of years ago Arsene Wenger started playing his youngsters in League Cup games. While initially this was criticized the performance of this young team generally won over their critics. But you'll notice that I used the key word, "team." Because Wenger didn't use a second team or back ups but rather it was a collection of youngsters who were already playing together as a team. I can't stress the importance of team rather than an assortment of 11 players.

Today we see in the League Cup and FA Cup clubs send out back up teams that really aren't a team. Not surprisingly these group of players struggle against clubs who have played together regularly. Crawley were by far the better team against Manchester United whilst of course United had the much better players.

This is the difference between Wenger and Ferguson and in many ways explains the Scotsman dominance over his French counterpart the past few years. Wenger had built an almost shadow first team of youngsters that played well, phenomenally well, together. But of course not all of those players made it through to the first team and in some cases found it difficult to integrate into the senior team. United on the other hand had and has squad pieces that fit the needs of the first team. Ferguson didn't play a second team against Crawley; he didn't play a team at all. As a unit O'Shea, Brown and the Da Silva brothers are a joke as a back four. Their value, at least the three back ups, comes in their ability to fill in and fit well with the normal starters at the club when required. Similarly Carrick, Gibson, Anderson and Obertan aren't going to scare anyone collectively. You can argue, as many United fans do, that Carrick and Gibson are a liability. That may be true but generally they have value as squad players.

Clubs today do not need two teams, but rather a first team and recognizable squad components that can fill in as needed. I've said this time and again, United win titles because Ferguson has understood this for years. Chelsea, Liverpool two years ago and even Arsenal have had better starting elevens, but United keep winning because they have by far and away the best built squad.

This is the lesson that City have to learn; must learn. The money has been spent, more wisely recently by Mancini, and City now have almost a very good group of players. As this group work together and become a team, City could really be something special. But that's half the battle. The challenge will be in adding the complimentary parts that create a great squad. Only then will City consistently challenge for honours.

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