Last night wasn’t especially great if you’re a Manchester City fan, like myself. It began with an uninspired performance, got a bit worse with a striker who had an allergic reaction to the type of grass on the pitch. A two goal deficit to overcome without the aid of an away goal added a bit more to the misery, and that’s before we throw in a poor performance to boot. You would think that it couldn’t possibly have been worse last night, but, unfortunately, it was.
There has been one constant throughout City’s season that we, as blues, could rely on. One thing that we knew, if all else failed, that we could count on to remain solid and dependable in the face of adversity. But, last night, that constant was snatched from us in one moment of madness in the Kyiv cold.
I’m talking, as everybody else is, I’m sure, about Roberto Mancini’s hat.
The moment that that monstrosity parked itself on Roberto Mancini’s head was the moment that it became clear to all City fans that his sense of style – so often revered by the media and so often envied by fans of teams with less stylish managers (Tony Pulis, I’m looking in you and your baseball cap’s direction) – had deserted him. Never have City fans seen such hideous managerial headwear since Alan Ball, complete with flat cap, was at the helm. Although, there was, famously, Mario Balotelli’s impression of Feathers McGraw from earlier this season, but he hasn’t ever managed City and it, therefore, cannot count.
In many ways, Mancini’s hat was the perfect metaphor for City’s performance in Kyiv. It wasn’t in keeping with what had gone before it for the previous seven months of the season and, not only was it difficult to look at, but you knew that it could have gone on all night and never once been right.
It actually started off quite well – City were coping competently with Dynamo Kyiv’s counter attacks and looking slightly threatening at times with some spells of pressure. But, and if there’s one thing that we can criticise Roberto Mancini’s City for it’s this, City failed to turn any of their spells of pressure into clear cut chances. There were half-chances at best – nearly moments where the shot didn’t come, or they were speculative volleys from tight angles, or an over hit pass that would have led to a one-on-one, but instead rolled through to the keeper…
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Then, there was a bit of self-foot-shooting from City for the opening goal. Kolarov and Hart could both have done better and Shevchenko could have done us a favour by showing some of his Chelsea form and skying it or something, but, with over an hour of the match to play, it wasn’t a disaster. There was still time for City to pick up the tempo and play some of that good football we’ve been spoiled with this season.
But, in typical City fashion, that didn’t happen and, as the game wore on and the visitors went in search of that equaliser and away goal, the inevitable happened and Kyiv scored again. A cross that shouldn’t have come in came in, an unlucky flick off one of the centre backs and the right back was a bit flat footed for my liking and, before we know what’s going on, City have a mountain to climb.
Though, to be fair, the conditions on that mountain can’t be much colder than they were in Ukraine.
I was then astounded to read several opinions around the City supporting Twitter feeds and message boards that going out of the Europa League could be a blessing in disguise. It’s a bloody good disguise if it is, because it passed me by – the Europa League being a competition that City could, before last night, at least, have realistic expectations of winning. I mean, it’s not like City have been winning trophy after trophy, so the chance of one more would be nice…
The age old problem is the build-up speed. So many times this season, City have been keeping the ball well – though, last night, that was a struggle at times – but the movement has been too slow. It’s a bugbear of mine when I hear cries that “backwards passes are bad passes” because they’re not. Not every pass needs to be forwards, providing it drags the opposition out of position and messes up their shape. That allows the forward players to exploit the space.
But, last night, again, that build-up was too slow. So, while the passing did drag the Kyiv players out of position, the lack of urgency allowed them to get back into position before the space could be exploited. That left the team shooting from range or giving the ball away in the final third trying to pass it through a wall of shirts… And susceptible to a quick breakaway. Unfortunately.
City remain in the competition thanks to the skin of the skin of their teeth (or, in other words, the fact that, right at the end, Joe Hart made sure we didn’t need to score four goals without reply to win), but the position is no less than precarious, at best. Kyiv have proven how effective they are on the counter attack and that will be their gameplan at Eastlands – they’ve no need to risk giving City space to find two goals, so they’ll look to keep it tight and kill off the home side on the break.
And, with a two goal deficit to recoup, City will have to push forward, leaving them open to being counter attacked. An away goal for Kyiv could well be the end of any European success for City this season. In fact, coming away from Ukraine two goals behind and without an away goal is worse than leaving Germany trailing Hamburg 3-1 two years ago.
City need to step it up for the final run in. And Roberto Mancini needs to lose the hat. In fact, no, he needs to destroy the hat. Then there’s no chance it’ll be seen in his vicinity again.
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