Whilst results in pre-season friendlies predict very little, they can reveal how prepared and cohesive a side are ahead of the approaching domestic campaign.

There is a long-standing myth that says pre-season has no importance. But of course it does. It enables coaches to dabble with different players, to provide academy products with an opportunity to impress and to assess how effective a particular formation or shape can be.

Manchester City’s shape on their pre-season tour of Australia and brief stays in Vietnam and Germany can be likened to the frame of your stereotypical international men’s physique model; laden with muscle at the top, but comparatively fragile at the bottom.

City scored 14 and conceded 10 goals over their five pre-season friendlies. A 1-0 victory over sister club Melbourne City kicked off the tour of Australia in nervy fashion – a late Samir Nasri volley rescuing Manuel Pellegrini’s blushes.

An encouraging performance against AS Roma followed and could only be bruised by two exceptional strikes from Miralem Pjanić and Adem Ljajić. A debut goal from £49m signing Raheem Sterling silenced national newspapers who had been chattering like pigeons over the large fee and his provider, 18-year-old Nigerian forward Kelechi Iheanacho, scored a goal of his own later in the game. Both players continued to impress over the two weeks.

Next up was Real Madrid who had no sympathy for the fact that Cameron Humphreys, 16, and Jason Denayer, 19, would be doubling up in the centre of City’s defence. Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo led the line for Benitez’s side and, rather unsurprisingly, helped their side to net four goals in a game where Fabian Delph marked his debut with a hamstring strain after just 18 minutes. A complete mismatch, perhaps, but Pellegrini’s dedication to facilitating the development of his younger players won the applause of most Blues.

The defeat was remedied rather swiftly in the Mỹ Đình National Stadium where Sterling (2), Kolarov (2), Silva (2), Marcos Lopes and José Ángel Pozo bagged eight goals between them. Sterling’s first, a delicious first-time curled finish into the top corner, displayed a glimpse of why City chiefs forked out so much cash for the 20-year-old and his link up play with David Silva gave fans a taste of what may come this term. The Vietnamese national side offered scant resistance, but it was the confidence booster City needed.

But preparations were brought to a halt when the Blues capitulated in Stuttgart. The German side, who finished 14th in the Bundesliga last season, feasted on a banquet of comical defensive blunders to take a 4-0 lead within 35 minutes. A back-line of Bacary Sagna, Vincent Kompany, Eliaquim Mangala and Aleksandar Kolarov, Manuel Pellegrini’s first choice defence at present, took turns to escort Stuttgart’s forwards towards Joe Hart in perhaps the most catastrophic defensive display under the Chilean’s reign. Pre-season or not, this was humiliating, and Vincent Kompany was hooked at half-time and replaced by the much calmer Jason Denayer. City improved in the second half, Mangala gained composure and the Blues reduced the deficit to two.

Largely unconvincing, but promising at times, City’s 2015/2016 pre-season was spoiled by the absence of Sergio Agüero, Pablo Zabaleta, Martin Demichelis and Fernandinho who will all play significant roles in the upcoming campaign. Vincent Kompany, a cult hero at the Etihad Stadium, will still receive the support of fans who fully expect him to return to form, but his partnership with Eliaquim Mangala has been thoroughly disturbing thus far. However, Jason Denayer, one of the success stories of City’s pre-season, has shown enough to suggest he may one day fill the captain’s boots. He was one of the goodies, but there were plenty of baddies, too.

The Goodies:

Raheem Sterling

• Three goals
• Frightening pace and dribbling ability
• Willing to take on his man and draws in fouls – won over five clear cut penalties in pre-season
• Outstanding movement off the ball into dangerous positions
• Link up play with David Silva exceptional
• Will offer the side width and will not be expected to be a main source of goals, like he was at Liverpool, with Sergio Agüero in the team

Kelechi Iheanacho

• Two goals
• Excellent vision – set up Sterling for his goal against Roma
• Composed finisher
• Physical strength makes him a perfect target man and he often lays the ball onto passing runners
• 18 years of age – a bright future ahead of him
• Likely to start against West Brom in the absence of Agüero

Jason Denayer

• Reads the game brilliantly – makes vital interceptions
• Height and physical strength make him tough to wrestle with in the box
• Possesses composure beyond his years – calmed Mangala down when he replaced Kompany against Stuttgart
• 20 years of age – plenty of years and development time ahead of him

The Baddies:

Aleksandar Kolarov

• Poor defensively, often loses his man
• Losing his speed and crossing effectiveness
• Attempts optimistic strikes from 30-40 yards regularly – team loses momentum
• Often too far up the pitch to provide any protection to Mangala

Vincent Kompany

• Looks unfit
• Dives into tackles, often missing them, leading to fouls or exposing the rest of his back line
• Relies on his strength to hold onto the ball, but when he is tackled, he currently lacks the pace to retrieve the ball

Jesus Navas

• End product too often lacking
• Seems reluctant to take on his man
• Often wrestled off the ball by more physical opponents
• Insertion of Raheem Sterling into the side highlights his flaws and creates an imbalance on the flanks