After what was a fairly one-sided affair this afternoon, City eventually ran out staggering 8-1 winners against the Vietnam national team. The only minor caveat here being that it was only a pre-season friendly. That in mind, here are 3 things we have perhaps hastily learnt from the tie today. This sort of piece would usually be a ‘top 5’ kind of thing, but the game was such a non-event that I’d probably spend 4 of the 5 talking about the fact that numerous Vietnamese seniority making speeches delayed kick off by 15 minutes, being the talking point of what was an utterly dominant City showing. Nevertheless, here goes…
1. Manu Garcia is a special player.
Having seen Kelechi in particular impress against Roma two games ago – now was Manu Garcia’s time in the spotlight. Having been compared in style to his Spanish overstudy David Silva by those who watch him, today the young midfielder actually got the opportunity to play alongside Silva- and they seemed as similar in play as they were in wavelength. Garcia can turn on a dime and has the agility seen by very few at his age, something David Silva is synonymous with too. He was busy throughout and got into some excellent attacking positions, all that was missing was that final ball. Twice he blazed over from shots inside the box and various times he was involved in attacking interchanges with the likes of Sterling and Navas in what was an impressive display from such an unheralded individual. Here we have a player who seems, along with Kelechi, right at home in the first team. Whether Pellegrini see’s Garcia and co. as part of his future plans remains to be seen, but they’ve most certainly left an impression on those of us who watched.
2. Sterling is raring to go.
The England winger was at the double this time in an excellent cameo that included a superb first time, curling shot into the far corner and another which he took in his stride with ease before dispatching with aplomb. Most pleasingly for City supporters is that he turned provider once again, having won the penalty against Real Madrid in the previous game he racked up two more assists this time round. He was felled, for what must seem like 100 times already in pre-season, in the opposition box for Kolarov’s penalty and rolled the ball into Silva’s path for his deft chip and City’s sixth, just after. He ran with directness and vigour once again and along with Silva was the magisterial player for the blues. He is undoubtedly ready for West Brom on the 10th of August and is exciting City fans all over the world for what he has in store for us next season.
3. We have fantastic depth.
Kolarov, Sterling and Silva all got themselves braces this afternoon and it was Marcos Lopes and Spaniard Angel Pozo who rounded off the scoring, but what strikes me the most about the side, after what has been an interesting but exhausting pre-season for the club, is the large amount of depth City have going into the new season. Pozo, Lopes, Delph, Fernando, Nasri, Navas, Denayer and Kelechi are names I cite who most likely won’t make the starting XI next season but will most definitely get game time with rotation depending on competition and should key players get injured – and this is a fairly skilled pool of players we’re talking about. Our problem last season was often that lack of hunger in the ‘smaller’ clashes; with new competition at stake could this lead to a change in fortunes as players up their game? Hopefully.
