Four things we learnt – M’Gladbach 1 City 2
Manchester City’s Champions League campaign got off the mark on Wednesday evening as The Blues won 2-1 at Borussia Monchengladbach to record a vital three points in Group D.
A Lars Stindl goal shortly after the restart gave the Germans the lead, but City fought back through Nicolas Otamendi’s rebound strike and a last-gasp Sergio Aguero penalty to steal the points.
So, as ever, what did we learn from this? Plenty of things…
Our front four look dangerous; our back line looks weak (without Kompany)
In what is perhaps City’s main problem at the moment, the difference between our back line and the corresponding front is evidently very large. On more than one occassion we were, at one point, sat on the edge of our seats drooling over the attacking qualities exhibited by the likes of Kevin de Bruyne, and on other ocassions; found our head in our hands as we became vulnerable at the back.
This was the first time this season that we have seen the attacking quartet of Kevin de Bruyne, David Silva, Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero together on the field of play, and they certainly didn’t disappoint. Despite Robbie Savage’s rather questionable commentary at times on BT Sport, he was right when he said that whenever City attacked; they looked menacing. Aguero had a number of chances in the first half to help City on their way to a more comfortable win; and both Sterling and de Bruyne found themselves in behind the Monchengladbach defence on a number of occasions. City had real pace and creativity going forward and on another day would have grabbed five or six, but the attacking talent on show really is one to savour, and is certainly the best City have to offer at this moment in time. That’s what £150 million gets you these days!
However, this would be appreciated so much more if the defence put in as much of a shift. At times the back line looked sloppy and disorientated; sometimes dis-interested as Monchengladbach continuosly broke in numbers and, on a number of instances, got in behind the City back line and perhaps should have scored at least three before half time, if it wasn’t for some Joe Hart heroics in the City goal. There is no doubt that our defence is one hundred times more stable when the big Vincent Kompany is at the heart of it; but we need to have enough adequate depth to cover for his absence.
Aguero goal is huge for more than one reason
Not only did the Aguero penalty in the last minute help us gain a much-needed three points to kick-start our Champions League campaign; it was also huge on a personal level as the little Argentine had seemingly struggled leading up to this fixture. He was in fact the only recognised striker in the squad with the absences of both Kelechi and Wilfried Bony, and it looked like his poor form was going to continue as he spurned a number of oppurtunities wide or in the way of Sommer; when he should have perhaps done better.
Some fans were calling for the old ‘Aguero #16’ back, but it is evident that our new #10 is still capable of stepping up on the biggest stage as he completed the turnaround with a well-taken penalty in the 89th minute to ensure City could let off a huge sigh of relief in our quest to perform on the European stage.
This goal is huge for the club in terms of credentials and confidence; but it is also huge for Sergio as he looks to kick-start his season. Lets hope he carries on in the same way he left off; starting against The Magpies this Saturday.
Hart knows how to play
After missing the Tottenham match through injury, Joe Hart returned to the side for the Champions League game against the Bundesliga outfit, and perhaps showed everyone why he is considered one of the best shot-stoppers in world football.
He was the man that kept City in it for large portions of the game; saving well to deny a number of point-blank Monchengladbach attempts, and keeping out Raffael’s penalty to ensure the score remained 0-0 in the first half. The England No 1 really was at his best throughout the match to keep City’s European hopes alive, and makes that £600,000 fee we payed for him back in 2006 seem like even more of a bargain. What a top performance from the big man.
City can play in Europe, then
It looked like City’s normal European fate was going to continue when the German side took the lead just before the hour, and you got the impression that it might well be just one of those nights for us again, a feeling made even more depressing by the fact we had been defeated in three of the last four encounters.
So it was extremely promising to see, then, the City players fight back superbly and claim the points from Monchengladbach’s grasp. We had enough chances inside the first sixty minutes to find ourslelves ahead, so it was perhaps against the run of play that the Bundesliga side caught us on the counter and opened the scoring in the 54th minute. It really wasn’t what we deserved and it showed as the Blues players looked hungry for a goal of their own.
They did not let the opposition goal get to them, which was certainly the case at White Hart Lane on Saturday. Instead of losing their heads and falling to another heavy defeat, the City camp re-grouped and put in an assured performance to get our Champions League campaign off the mark in late circumstances. It was a top away performance and certainly restored some pride, for both club and country.