Manchester City 1-2 Juventus: Same old City in Europe?

16 September 2015 10:14

Another Champions League night, another bitterly disappointing result for Manchester City, now where have we heard that before. City went into the game against Juventus feeling extremely positive, having won 5 out of 5 without conceding in the league and Silva and Sterling both returning having missed the weekend win at Palace. In all honesty it was a poor performance from the first minute and had me having flashbacks to last season, giving the ball away far too easily, passing the ball from one side to the other with no penetration and an extreme lack of conviction from anyone.

The result on the night didn’t tell the whole story with neither team deserving the win, City took the lead much to the dismay of Giorgio Chiellini who felt he was fouled before putting the ball in his own net, two soft but well taken goals though and Juventus stole the three points which means City have won five out of 15 home games in the Champions League: Viktoria Plzen, CSKA Moscow, Villarreal and (x2) an already-qualified Bayern Munich. Losing in game one of the competition isn’t the end of the world but the blues will need to bounce back immediately to top the group, or face another dreaded knock out tie against the likes of Barcelona/ Real Madrid or even worse be knocked out the group. Credit where it's due to Juventus they sat in and defended well and took their chances when they came but it does show a naivety about City to push on despite leading and then be picked off and lose the game.

Sergio Aguero was only on the bench after a slight knock against Crystal Palace and he was definitely missed, Wilfried Bony’s Man City career has never really got going so far scoring 2 goals in 12 appearances but he cast a frustrated figure at times with his only real chance blasted over after a clever move that left him in on goal. Another question mark was over Kevin De Bruyne who was left on the bench whilst Samir Nasri started, a decision that left City with a lack of pace going forward. Vincent Kompany was also substituted with a slight injury which completed the frustrating night at the Etihad.

Manchester City next face Borussia Monchengladbach away who were thumped 3-0 by Sevilla and will need a convincing win to try and silence some of the doubters over their capability in Europe. With Sergio Aguero prone to injury and Bony lacking form City may need to strengthen up front, Sterling could be an alternative if Aguero is injured or youngster Iheanacho who scored the winner against palace. One thing is for certain the blues need wins no matter how they come to have any chance of lifting the Champions League trophy next May.

Source: DSG