Manchester City secured their place in the Champions League knockout stages with a spirited performance in Rome on Wednesday night. One would have never expected such a tale of triumph to follow from City’s underwhelming start to the season. Now, sitting second in the league and awaiting their fate in Europe’s most celebrated club competition, the Premier League champions are beginning to show the form that earned them two pieces of silverware last term.
Read Man City’ Adam Bailey spoke with the Guardian’s Manchester football correspondent Jamie Jackson to assess City’s season so far and to ask him whether he thinks the club’s position in both competitions gives a fair reflection of how they’ve played.
“The last five or six games City have been very good, but I still have some doubts about the approach. In Mancini’s last year at the club it kind of fell apart a little bit, even though they still came second and lost in the FA Cup final, but with the players he had, I thought they should have probably won the league again and I thought the same sort of thing was happening this year.
But it’s not what’s happening and they’re showing what good players they are. For me, it’s between City and Chelsea for the league and City have now proved they’re not going away. Fair play to them.”
The Blues subjected Roma to only their third defeat in 33 home games to reach the last 16 of the Champions League, but Jamie wasn’t completely convinced by the performance on Wednesday night. He may be a supporter of Nottingham Forest but he still holds high expectations of Pellegrini’s men.
“The atmosphere in that stadium on Wednesday night was pretty good, it was pretty alive, and if you’re the away side, then you know… But I didn’t think City played particularly well, especially in the first half, but you won the game. I think you should be beating a team like Roma. Obviously you lacked Silva (phenomenal), Agüero (phenomenal), Touré (phenomenal), Kompany (phenomenal), but what I would say about that is that Kompany, for me, has had the odd mistake in him in the Champions League, for example the game at the Etihad against Roma where I felt he was at fault for Totti’s goal.
What they always say at the club is that they want two world class players for each position, so whatever team you put out, within reason, should be winning. I’d like to see City control a game in Europe and I’m not sure against a half decent team that City have done that. I didn’t think you looked comfortable on Wednesday.
I looked at that Roma team and I thought, they’ve got a 38-year-old up top, De Rossi didn’t start, Strootman came back from injury at the weekend – I just thought you should win there. But I don’t think City should have been in that position going into the game. Pellegrini thinks the performance at home against Roma was the worst of the season and I won’t argue with that, but you should have picked up points against CSKA.
City always say to us that they want to be a force in Europe and to do that you have to control games. they got a great result on Wednesday, showed a lot of spirit and scored two great goals, but I think there’s a difference between that and giving a really good performance and that’s what the club want. At the moment that’s lacking, but that can come. I just think that with the amount of money that’s been spent, (and that applies to other clubs, not just City), I think they should be doing slightly better at this stage.”
It’s difficult to disagree that given the amount of Investment City have received in the last four years, the club’s conduct in Europe has been disappointing. However, the Guardian journalist did have praise for Samir Nasri and Joe Hart whom he has been impressed by since being dropped from the side after a run of poor performances last term.
“I think Nasri played really well (vs Roma). Before I had this job I was down South and I covered Arsenal quite a lot. Nasri always wanted to play as a number 10 and he had one season there where he looked like a proper player. I think he’s got it in him to do that and play like Silva and he really impressed on Wednesday.
I also thought Joe Hart did very well and gave a Captain’s performance. I was pleased for him because he’s had a bit of stick and obviously got dropped last season. But I’m not so sure about the defence in front of him. Zabaleta is a great right back, but I think the rest of the back four is a little shaky, and I’d include Kompany in that, especially in Europe.”
Roberto Mancini’s failings in the Champions League contributed to his dismissal two years ago and it wouldn’t be ridiculous to consider that Manuel Pellegrini may have narrowly escaped the axe on Wednesday night. There is no denying that the Chilean has had a calming and positive effect on the club ever since his arrival in 2013, but Jackson questions whether he is among the world’s elite and offered his own theory on who City’s next manager could be.
“I think Mancini put himself in a pretty difficult position when City didn’t do too well in the Champions League in 2012, but I don’t think he got on with the staff or the players because of his style.
What Pellegrini has in his favour is that people do like him. The need for City to publicise themselves as a big club has now gone, they are now after winning the cups and the league, and now they just want to win stuff, so Pellegrini is ideal.
What is interesting, though, is that they haven’t given him a new contract even though he’ll only have a year left in the summer – that surprises me. My theory is that the ideal thing for City would be to let Pellegrini see out his contract and then get Guardiola.
If City had gone out of the Champions League having lost at Roma, I think his job would have rested on how good the title defence was. But it’s all about who is available. I think you have to ask the question of whether Guardiola or Mourinho would do better with this bunch of players, and I would say the answer is yes. You could probably say that about any team, but that’s what the bench mark is.
I’m not completely sure Pellegrini is the right guy to win the Champions League for City. Obviously Di Matteo did it and Avram Grant got the final, Pellegrini’s far better than those two, but I just don’t know if he’s in the elite. No disrespect to him, but it’s a ruthless business.
The club is set up on Barcelona lines with Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain, so I think Pep Guardiola would fit into that perfectly.”
City face last 16 ties against either Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Monaco or FC Porto and will be hoping to avoid the fate they suffered last season when Lionel Messi and co shrugged off the Blues with a 4-1 aggregate win.
They’ll be hoping to avoid the Catalan side and their Clásico rivals this time round, but Jackson believes the Spanish giants will be having similar thoughts about the Manchester club on the 15th December.
“Real Madrid have won 20 on the trot which is a record, we all know how good they are. Barcelona and Bayern are also top teams, but I don’t think they’ll particularly fancy playing City.
I thought last season City had a great chance against Barcelona but it didn’t quite happen. Silva said he’d like to avoid all the Spanish teams, obviously he’s a Spanish player and knows the score and he’s probably City’s best player, and I’d agree that it would be practical to avoid those sorts of teams. But I think if City were to get through another round they’d have a better chance against the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona because they’d have more experience.”
Sergio Agüero is expected to be back for City’s last 16 clash in February, but Manuel Pellegrini will have to rely on Edin Džeko for goals in the next six weeks as the Argentine recovers from a knee injury. The Bosnian striker has often divided opinion between City fans, but Jamie believes the 28-year-old has what it takes to propel the Blues through a relatively gentle looking Christmas fixture list.
“I think Džeko has proven that he can step up to the plate. As David Platt said, he scores heavy goals. He scored the equaliser in the QPR game that you really needed, he scored 9 in 10 in the league at the end of last season, and I think he’s a good player.
It’s a shame about Agüero. I know he’s the goalscorer, but I remember watching a clip where the ball was clipped into the box, not in his direction, but he ran towards the defender anticipating a mistake. It’s just things like that that show he’s on another level this season, so he is a big miss. I’d agree with Pellegrini when he says Agüero is just behind Messi and Ronaldo at the moment.”
And it’s highly likely that Manchester City could be producing the new Messi’s and Ronaldo’s of the footballing world in the very near future. The club showcased their new £200m training facility, City Football Academy, to the media on Monday and it’s fair to say that they were impressed.
“I’ve had a look round it a couple of times and it is phenomenal. I’ve been to St.George’s Park, the England training facility in Burton, and I would probably say City’s is better. It’s just unbelievable, like nothing I’ve ever seen in my life. You go in there and you know the club are serious.
Two thirds of the facility is devoted to developing youth players, and when you’re there, you believe it. I’ve spoken to people at the club and they have said that within two or three years, they will have not just developed squad players, but first team players that will be playing in the Premier League every week.
Considering the detail with which the club have explained the facility to us and how serious they are about it, I would be staggered if you don’t start producing. It’s not just PR, they’re deadly serious.”
Jackson admitted that the new state-of-the-art complex could be a powerful tool in not only attracting young talent to the club, but also already established stars of the game. A discussion regarding the summer transfer window ensued and we both agreed that City should be targeting a particular Swansea City striker in January’s equivalent…
“Financial Fair Play regulations had an affect on the number of quality signings Pellegrini was able to bring to the club in the summer. The club firmly believed that Mangala was top draw, but I think they would have wanted to bring in probably three or four top draw players.
In January I think they’d love another central defender because Mangala and Demichelis raise various different question marks. Demichelis is getting a bit older, even though he’s played well for City, and Mangala has looked shaky at times, but it could be too early to make a judgement on him. Also, with Yaya Touré going to the African Cup of Nations, I think Lampard will definitely stay on.
I think City need another striker and Wilfried Bony could be a great addition. He did well against City in the 2-1 win and he’s quite a strong player. I think, being a top four club, they could get him and I wouldn’t be surprised if the club looked at him in January.
I’ve worked out that City have a bit of cash left over, around 20 odd million, from the summer because of the players you sold so I wouldn’t be surprised if City went into the market.”
The Guardian’s Manchester football correspondent then offered his support to City’s quest for more silverware.
When asked about where he thinks City will finish in the Premier League and Champions League, Jamie gave a response that will encourage the sky blue faithful and even shed light on a Bulgarian wonderkid who could be playing in the sky blue of Manchester City very soon.
“Whatever I say, I’ll get an absolute bashing on Twitter(!), but I’d definitely like to see City win both of them. I think they’ve got more of a chance in the Premier League and if Agüero stays fit, I think you might win the league again. In the Champions League the club want progression and they’d like to see the team get to the quarter finals. They’re not demanding the trophy this season and I think they’ll probably get to the quarters.
Just so you know, I wrote a story today about a Bulgarian kid called Bozhidar Kraev who’s been asked to do a trial at City. Check him out.
You can follow Jamie on Twitter here: @JamieJackson___
