Manchester City are no more a force! Leave alone England, they are a spent one in the European continent. A close-knit game against rivals Manchester United where the Citizens triumphed yet again.
Manchester City are no more a force!
Leave alone England, they are a spent one in the European continent.
A close-knit game against rivals Manchester United where the Citizens triumphed yet again, were left to see the darker days as two goals from Seydou Doumbia gave CSKA Moscow a morale boosting 2-1 victory the reining EPL champions and added more pressure on manager Manuel Pelligrini.
With no victory yet, Manchester City are now bottom of Group E with two games remaining.
Furthermore, their two key players Fernandinho and Yaya Toure were red-carded in the same game and will miss the next game against Bayern Munich. After the CSKA game, Pelligrini spoke to the press. He said, “It’s very difficult to understand why we played so badly. From the beginning we were so nervous and we gave them the two goals. Really, we didn’t play.
The first half especially, we didn’t see the team we normally see. We didn’t shoot once at their goal, we just had Yaya’s free-kick, and we gave away two easy goals.”
With demands to progress further in the UEFA Champions League mounting on the team and the manager, it seems the 2013-14 champions are suffering from a host of issues.
What are those issues? WE DISCUSS:
1- Player burnouts
It seems besides Chelsea, every club in the EPL is suffering from player burn-outs and amongst them is Manchester City. Perhaps, there may be no German in the team but the 3 months rigours in South America might have taken a toll on the players plus not to forget the pre-season campaign as well.
2 – Wrong tactics
May be Pelligrini is using the wrong tactics that are turned stale and is now common to every club. Last season, every team got rolled over by the might of Manchester City but it’s the opposite this year. Two defeats in the EPL plus a deplorable Champions League outing, sums up their start of the campaign.
3 – Loss of form
One key reason for Manchester City’s slip-up is the poor performance of Vincent Kompany and Yaya Toure. The two stalwarts of City’s rise to dominance somehow have failed to live up to their expectations in Europe and that’s why the champions of England remain rock-bottom of their CL group.
4 – Fan support lacking?
It became adamant that critics and former players will taunt City due to the latter’s poor fun of form and the latest to take a dig was former Manchester United star Paul Scholes. The England star stated that Manchester City fans are failing to offer their team the necessary support on big European nights and further rubbed in the wounds saying that the atmospheres like Old Trafford and Anfield fire their teams up on European nights.
5 – Lack of bench strength
Edin Dzeko’s form has dipped all of a sudden and all hopes remain of Argentine hotshot, Sergio Aguero. But it’s not always the Argentine will carry the mantle on his shoulders but it remains the responsibility of the whole team. With Stevan Jovetic underperforming and David Silva out injured, City’s problems are much more than expected.
