In the recent years, it’s fair to say that our city’s groups haven’t been quite easy. In fact, most of the time we end up in the group of death and end up facing Barcelona. Other than our luck, why can’t Manchester City spark the way they do in the Premier League? Mancini couldn’t find the solution to that question and Pellegrini sort of gets it but doesn’t get it, if that makes any sense? Nonetheless, it’s no doubt that the Champions League is very different to the Premier League itself.
We started off our campaign with a great performance against Juventus… until the 70th minute to say the least. Long story short, Juventus had two chances and took them. Unconvincing performances against a strong Borussia Mönchengladbach and Sevilla took us to second in the table right now one point behind Juventus. The following question arises, what can City do to up their performances and play like true champions?
I believe this lies with line-ups we use in the competition. Below you can see our line-ups against all three teams we have played against.
Home vs Juventus (L 1-2)
Away vs Borussia Mönchengladbach (W 2-1)
Home vs Sevilla (W 2-1)
What you will immediately notice is that Pellegrini has gone with the same midfield pivot for all three games, Yaya and Fernandinho. Now I don’t have a problem with Yaya, in fact he was wonderful against Sevilla. Although, if I was in Pellegrini’s shoes, I would play him further forward and have a Fernando-Fernandinho midfield pivot. This would mean that we would have either Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Sterling or Navas out wide. Before you think I’m crazy, let me explain why I believe this can win us the Champions League trophy.
When it comes to defensive responsibilities, let’s not lie and say we’ve been vulnerable on the counter attack. I admire Yaya but he is not a defensive midfielder. Against Sevilla, Yaya created our two goals, one set up for Bony and the crucial winner for Kevin De Bruyne. When it comes to the Premier League, we are used to dominating games and it is perfectly fine for City to run with a Yaya-Ferna pivot. But, the Champions League is another story. Having Fernando and Fernandinho as our shield would encourage Yaya and his wingers to go foward, whether it be Silva, Kevin, you name it! If you’re still not convinced, look back just last year away against Roma, we dominated that game because we were in a way “forced” not to play Yaya in that position due to suspension. But it worked really well – the result, a 2-0 win against a top side away from home.
If Pellegrini decides to drop his naivety in Champions League games, we could mean business. Also, I would replace Fernando for a stronger defensive midfielder since the Champions League is a tough competition. A potential replacement could be Grzegorz Krychowiak from Sevilla who was superb in City’s 2-1 win over the Spanish would go for around £22m.
Here is the line-up I would play vs Sevilla this Tuesday.
This is a much better line-up with assurance in the back. I would play this every Champions League game.
All in all, I believe that City’s dilemma in the Champions League can stop now if Pellegrini drops his nativity of playing a Yaya-Ferna midfield pivot in big games. I think that Fernando is a key man that our manager needs to look at since he will be the game changer. With that said, I hope we can actually perform against Sevilla this Tuesday, because a couple of slightly unconvincing 2-1 wins won’t do our confidence the world of good and we will likely face another horrible draw with an elite side.
