Man City's starting lineup against Bayern Munich in the Champions League last night was as follows; (4-4-2): Joe Hart, Micah Richards, Matija Nastasic, Vincent Kompany, Gael Clichy, Jesus Navas, Fernandinho, Yaya Toure, Samir Nasri, Sergio Aguero, Edin Dzeko. After the final whistle, fingers were pointed at City manager Manuel Pellegrini for his tactics. In the first-half, his side were under the cosh on multiple occasions and the problems stemmed from midfield. It could be argued that Munich have benefited from Man City naming Aguero as a lone striker, and the extra man being put in midfield to either protect the back four, or as an extra option in attack. Pellegrini opted against it, and the Citizens were annihilated as a result. Edin Dzeko was the strike-partner for Aguero, and was abject in the 55 minutes he played for. The Bosnia and Herzegovina international offered no support to City's overrun midfielders and was wasteful in possession. An extra man in midfield would have meant box-to-box player Yaya Toure would have an extra option in midfield to aid the attack. Playmaker David Silva could have changed the outcome had he started, as his performance when coming on immediately led to a City goal. However, the attacking-midfielder was deemed not fit for a starting place. A defensive midfielder could also have been used to allow Toure more freedom for his trademark runs through the middle of the park. Pellegrini also had a problem on the right-hand side. Right-back Micah Richards and winger Jesus Navas were not on the same page during the game, and were both guilty of errors leading to goals. Questions are being asked why the ever-reliable Pablo Zabaleta and work-horse James Milner were not named in the starting lineup to negate Bayern's obvious threat from the wing. While in hindsight it's easy to highlight City's problems, playing two strikers was a misstep by Pellegrini, and selecting Navas and Richards on the right hand side simply didn't work. How City could have lined up (4-2-3-1) GK: Hart RB: Zabaleta CB: Nastasic CB: Kompany LB: Clichy DMC: Toure DMC: Fernandinho W: Milner AMC: Silva W: Nasri ST: Aguero (4-1-4-1) GK: Hart RB: Zabaleta CB: Nastasic CB:Kompany LB: Clichy DMC: Garcia W: Milner CM: Toure CM: Fernandinho W: Nasri ST: Aguero James Milner, David Silva, and Alvaro Negredo were all introduced as second-half substitutes, and were arguably the side's best three performers - such was their impact in a short space of time. Food for thought for Manuel Pellegrini...
Crippy Cooke, 23, is a freelance Football Writer contributing to What Culture. He's had work featured on Zoo, MSN, London 24, The Telegraph, The Huffington Post, and was recently named Writer of the Year on FTBpro - while also a nominee for Best Male Blog in the Football Blogging Awards.
