On Tuesday night, we all witnessed a tough game for Manchester City when Roma came to Manchester and left with a 1-1 draw, making it a lot more difficult for The Blues to qualify for the knockout stages in 2015. However despite all the domestic success, this failure on the continental table is nothing new – our performances in the top competition since the first qualification in 2011 have been underwhelming to say the least – but why?
The old excuse we’ve been reeling off for three or four years now is “lack of experience” or “it shows we can compete at the top table”. Is that really what we should still be contenting ourselves with? Most of the current starters have played with each other for a few seasons now and know each other well – there’s some new additions, but they’ll settle in with time. It can’t still be experience causing us a problem – not to a huge extent, at the very least.
To me, it doesn’t feel like it’s a lack of quality in the squad either. Looking at players like Sergio Agüero, Yaya Touré, Vincent Kompany, these players are world-class and wouldn’t look out of place in any Champions League-winning squad. Yet, they aren’t in one. Some improvements are definitely still needed where players are ageing or moving on but on paper there’s no reason the current squad isn’t able to get to at least the knockout stages on a regular basis.
On a tactical note, we seem to just be lacking that cutting edge on the pitch when we play in Europe, which we display so often in domestic football. That eye for the defence-splitting pass, or the overlapping run from a full-back, or a powering surge from Yaya or Sergio; it just seems to disappear when we play in the Champions League, like we play within ourselves almost. On Tuesday night – especially in the first half – there was a lot of sideways passing between the defenders with no real progress. There could be 10 or 15 passes, with no movement forward.
Compare that to Roma who controlled the ball well on their visit to Manchester. They passed it around a lot in City’s half, just in front of our defence whilst when we had the ball it was staying in our half before being passed to Hart, who usually has to hit it long due to the pressure he’s put under from an attacker. If we want to Champions League in the coming years, that slowness is something that definitely needs to be fixed.
Moving to off the pitch matters for a moment, the atmosphere can easily affect a player’s performance. On Tuesday there was very little of one, and lots of empty seats. However this is no fault of any City fan; prices are increasing every year and almost 30 home games a season can be too expensive for many of the loyal fans who’ve stood by City through thick and thin and are now having to sacrifice games like Tuesday night.
Compare that the Borussia Dortmund and their famous “Yellow Wall”. Their massive South Stand is revered for its atmosphere that spurred the German side on to the Champions League final a couple of years ago, but City don’t really have anything like that unfortunately. Not to the extent of that. If the club took the example of ticket prices instilled in German football, the atmosphere would likely improve in turn.
In terms of City winning the Champions League, it’s still almost certainly a long way off. The ingredients are there, but not quite in the right quantity. Looking at other English clubs, the turnaround from winning the first Premier League title to winning the first Champions League wasn’t exactly quick. Manchester United took seven (first Premier League in 1992, first Champions League title in 1999) whilst Chelsea under Roman Abramovich won their first title in 2005, and the first Champions League in 2012. Slow performances in the Champions League now is nothing to worry about – there’ll be more chances to win it, the owners are here to stay.
