MAN CITY 4 – 2 Viktoria Plzen – MY THOUGHTS
28 Nov
Four more goals, another home win, three more points in the Champions League and all that was achieved despite a largely sluggish performance. Recent displays at the Etihad Stadium have been magical but this was never going to be on a similar level. Having made seven changes to the side which so absorbingly brushed off Tottenham, that we lacked fluency wasn’t a surprise but it says much about attacking strength that we can operate so below our best yet still score plenty of goals.
This wasn’t a vintage showing and there were spells when we worryingly uncertain defensively, but when a manager can introduce the likes of Jesus Navas, Yaya Touré and Alvaro Negredo from the bench, it highlights how we don’t have to be special throughout; we have enough talent going forward that if they click, however briefly, we can still surge to a comfortable win.
That is to take nothing away from our plucky visitors. Viktoria Plzen have struggled in the group, understandably so, but they were full of energy, broke quickly and exploited our hesitant defence. With Javi Garcia offering no protection in front of the backline, it was all too easy for the away side to pour forward in numbers and they caused moments of concern. Joe Hart produced a couple of excellent stops in a confident display that hands Manuel Pellegrini a touch selection dilemma for the visit of Swansea at the weekend, but this wasn’t a memorable night for Martin Demichelis and Joleon Lescott.
Further forward, Samir Nasri was once hugely impressive. His resurgence this season has been well documented and it’s so pleasing to see him consistently match his indubitable natural talent with application. He drifted all over last night, causing havoc with his movement, close control and determination, and he continues to be one of the stars of the campaign so far.
Otherwise, there wasn’t a great deal that we learnt from the game. Jesus Navas added two more assists to follow his superb display last weekend against Tottenham, Negredo emphasised what a class act he is during his brief cameo and Edin Dzeko was classic Edin Dzeko – awful with a terrible attitude but then scored. A trip to Germany to face Bayern Munich will complete the group stage and it’s almost inevitable that we’ll finish secnod and face a very tricky tie in the next round. However, with our goalscoring prowess, not many sides will be queuing up to face us.
Quite frankly, I found a few things really baffling:
1- Sending Barry on loan and Keeping Garcia instead. It should have been other way around. Please bring Barry back!
2- Kolarov carrying the captain’s armbad. I get it that the lad has upped his game and produced some decent performances lately but seriously as a captain, even on April’s first, I would not have believed this …
3- I have gone in support of Dzeko in almost every forum for the past year or so and at times fighting the battle on my own, but I can not understand his attitude put in context of his performance [I used to Blame Bobby's system for his shortcomings, I guess I was wrong]. Negrado has been a revelation and an eye opener. Dezko should never ever start a game as long as Negrado and Aguero are fit to play.