Manchester City last night managed to beat the imperial Bayern Munich in Manchester, but the brilliance of Sergio Aguero once again papered over the cracks of a weak City team.
After a brilliant start which saw City dominate the German giants, they took the lead through a penalty. Mehdi Benatia got the wrong side of Aguero and cut him down, receiving a red card in the process. It should have been plain sailing, from there, as you’d expect a team of Manchester City’s quality to dominate against ten men, but that was not the case.
Bayern came back into the game with ten men and, if anything, looked a much better outfit. Alarm bells rang when Xabi Alonso coolly slotted home a free kick from just outside the area as though it were a penalty, but it was Lewandowski’s goal which displayed a snapshot of City’s problems.
City were too narrow, leaving Rafinha way too much room to pick a chipped ball towards Lewandowski. Sagna allowed the Polish striker to shrug him off and bundle the ball into the net. Two soft goals in 5 minutes left City behind at the break despite such a promising start.
Fortunately for City, they have one of the best strikers in the world at their disposal, and he got them out of a tough situation. Aguero rolled a tidy finish off the inside of Manuel Neuer’s post to equalize, before capitalizing on a defensive error before composing himself to slide the ball past the imposing figure of Neuer.
City will, and obviously should, enjoy this victory – after all, it’s not so often you beat a Guardiola team, or the champions of Germany, but it’s not all perfect just yet. It could, and should, have been so much easier.
Many people talk of Liverpool’s defensive frailty, but not of Manchester City’s. Not only do City have big problems at the heart of defence, a big issue against better teams seems to be the midfield balance.
Yaya Toure is a wonderful footballer, but what he is not is a terrific defensive player. His strengths lie in his technique, passing range and ability to carry the ball, but as he is a big, strong player it is often assumed he is strong defensively. Against lower Premier League teams you can often afford to drop him deeper and control the game from deep, but playing him in this role against better teams can be dangerous.
Fernando is the opposite and does his best to shield the defence, but due to City’s system, a double pivot is required to shield the defence, as the wingers push high up. Whilst Fernando does a very good job in that role, he requires a little bit of help to stop teams who will play more than one player in an attacking midfield role.
To Pellegrini’s credit, he has at times tried a pivot of Fernando and Fernandinho and this should, in theory, make the team more solid. However, Fernandinho’s poor from has meant that relying on him is becoming a less enticing prospect.
Not all the blame can be put on the midfield, though. Vincent Kompany is a terrific player, but he makes a lot of decisions that can put his team in danger. Maybe it’s unfair for an outsider how to tell Kompany how to defend, but his insistence on defending on the front foot can cause him to be out of position and often give away silly fouls. For Lewandowski’s goal last night, he let the striker get in behind him and sit on the shoulder of Bacary Sagna, though this could have been a breakdown in communication.
It could also be argued that he has to defend so aggressively to cover up the issues behind him. Mangala again put in an unconvincing performance and though he looked impervious against Chelsea, he has really struggled since. Joe Hart is a little bit error prone for somebody so key and should have done better for the first goal.
While this all sounds a bit bleak, it’s criticism that is fair considering the talent on show. These players are not bad players despite what I have said, it’s just that at the top level these slight flaws become exaggerated. It must also be said that Sergio Aguero is utterly brilliant.
Aguero had 3 chances last night against one of the best teams in the world and took all 3 of them. My only criticism of him 2 or 3 years ago was he seemed to miss a few too many chances to be considered one of the best. Now, he not only retains his ability to create chances and beat defenders, he is absolutely deadly in front of goal too.
In fact, all of City’s forward talent will make them a great team regardless. Little has been said of Jovetic last night, but his introduction was key in changing City’s fortunes. He assisted the last 2 goals, through industry more than guile, but he has the ability to be a key player for City if he can avoid injury. Silva and Nasri can carve the best defences in the world open like the Red Sea and with Aguero up top, they can outscore anyone on their day.
While there are a few issues for Pellegrini to address, they have just beaten one of the best teams in the world and have probably the best striker in the world on current form. City fans should be optimistic, if a little tempered with their expectations.
Article contributed by: Elliott Griffiths
Blog: Just Like Watching Brazil
Twitter: @ElliottBCFC
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| Sergio Aguero |
Bayern came back into the game with ten men and, if anything, looked a much better outfit. Alarm bells rang when Xabi Alonso coolly slotted home a free kick from just outside the area as though it were a penalty, but it was Lewandowski’s goal which displayed a snapshot of City’s problems.
City were too narrow, leaving Rafinha way too much room to pick a chipped ball towards Lewandowski. Sagna allowed the Polish striker to shrug him off and bundle the ball into the net. Two soft goals in 5 minutes left City behind at the break despite such a promising start.
Fortunately for City, they have one of the best strikers in the world at their disposal, and he got them out of a tough situation. Aguero rolled a tidy finish off the inside of Manuel Neuer’s post to equalize, before capitalizing on a defensive error before composing himself to slide the ball past the imposing figure of Neuer.
City will, and obviously should, enjoy this victory – after all, it’s not so often you beat a Guardiola team, or the champions of Germany, but it’s not all perfect just yet. It could, and should, have been so much easier.
Many people talk of Liverpool’s defensive frailty, but not of Manchester City’s. Not only do City have big problems at the heart of defence, a big issue against better teams seems to be the midfield balance.
Yaya Toure is a wonderful footballer, but what he is not is a terrific defensive player. His strengths lie in his technique, passing range and ability to carry the ball, but as he is a big, strong player it is often assumed he is strong defensively. Against lower Premier League teams you can often afford to drop him deeper and control the game from deep, but playing him in this role against better teams can be dangerous.
Fernando is the opposite and does his best to shield the defence, but due to City’s system, a double pivot is required to shield the defence, as the wingers push high up. Whilst Fernando does a very good job in that role, he requires a little bit of help to stop teams who will play more than one player in an attacking midfield role.
To Pellegrini’s credit, he has at times tried a pivot of Fernando and Fernandinho and this should, in theory, make the team more solid. However, Fernandinho’s poor from has meant that relying on him is becoming a less enticing prospect.
Not all the blame can be put on the midfield, though. Vincent Kompany is a terrific player, but he makes a lot of decisions that can put his team in danger. Maybe it’s unfair for an outsider how to tell Kompany how to defend, but his insistence on defending on the front foot can cause him to be out of position and often give away silly fouls. For Lewandowski’s goal last night, he let the striker get in behind him and sit on the shoulder of Bacary Sagna, though this could have been a breakdown in communication.
It could also be argued that he has to defend so aggressively to cover up the issues behind him. Mangala again put in an unconvincing performance and though he looked impervious against Chelsea, he has really struggled since. Joe Hart is a little bit error prone for somebody so key and should have done better for the first goal.
While this all sounds a bit bleak, it’s criticism that is fair considering the talent on show. These players are not bad players despite what I have said, it’s just that at the top level these slight flaws become exaggerated. It must also be said that Sergio Aguero is utterly brilliant.
Aguero had 3 chances last night against one of the best teams in the world and took all 3 of them. My only criticism of him 2 or 3 years ago was he seemed to miss a few too many chances to be considered one of the best. Now, he not only retains his ability to create chances and beat defenders, he is absolutely deadly in front of goal too.
In fact, all of City’s forward talent will make them a great team regardless. Little has been said of Jovetic last night, but his introduction was key in changing City’s fortunes. He assisted the last 2 goals, through industry more than guile, but he has the ability to be a key player for City if he can avoid injury. Silva and Nasri can carve the best defences in the world open like the Red Sea and with Aguero up top, they can outscore anyone on their day.
While there are a few issues for Pellegrini to address, they have just beaten one of the best teams in the world and have probably the best striker in the world on current form. City fans should be optimistic, if a little tempered with their expectations.
Article contributed by: Elliott Griffiths
Blog: Just Like Watching Brazil
Twitter: @ElliottBCFC
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