Why Manchester City Are Failing In Europe
By Joel Orme
Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports
Last night Manchester City drew 1-1 with current Italian giants Roma. This follows a 1-0 loss away to Bayern Munich, but also a series of poor Champions League performances in the past. In this article I look at why.
Empty Seats
Man City have recently confirmed a project that will increase the capacity of their stadium to over 55,000. However, if last night is anything to go by, they can’t fill their current stadium. Not only can they not fill the ground, the atmosphere last night was just poor.
Manchester United used to be buzzing on a Champions League matchday, but I can understand the heavy strain on time and money that playing against a poor club from Romania may be. But not against Roma. Six victories out of six in Serie A an Ashley Cole returning to England to boot. It was set up for an entertaining game, but half of Manchester obviously had busier things to do.
In comparison, Roma’s end was loud. This definitely gave the away team an advantage with cheers and encouragement almost from start to finish from the Italians. Why Manchester City couldn’t replicate this I don’t know. Maybe it’s because a lot of fans have only recently started supporting the club, or because they have a lot of children at games? I don’t know.
"Paul Scholes“They’ve got the team, they’ve definitely got the players, the quality is definitely there, but do the crowd realise how lucky they are to be in this competition? I don’t think they do.”"
The Etihad stadium was empty last night and those that were there, provided no atmosphere.
Whereas, in the Roma end, fans were going crazy for the full 90 minutes.
Abhorrent Aguero & Deceitful Dzeko
What a difference a few days make. Edin Dzeko scored an absolute beauty against Hull City at the weekend but for some reason, but him – and the other strikers – up against a continental team, and they suddenly look like they are playing Sunday league.
Of course the Roma defence are a step up from playing against Hull and Sheffield Wednesday but Dzeko looked out of sorts. He didn’t look as though he was enjoying himself, and certainly didn’t look like scoring at any point during the match.
Sure, Sergio Aguero scored last night, but from a penalty. With five goals in eight games you would expect better but he didn’t look to have the quality that he clearly has in the Premier League. For a “World Class” player – along with Dzeko – Roma should have been easy to break apart.
Edin Dzeko had been superb in the league, but as soon as a continental club come, he is nowhere to be seen.
Yaya Poor-e
The player of the year last season looks to be going in the wrong direction this. After what has been coined as ‘birthday-gate’ when Yaya Toure threatened to leave City because they didn’t buy him a birthday cake, his performances have started to slide, not least in the Champions League.
He came in for some tough criticism when they lost to Bayern Munich, not only due to his poor performance, but also because of the way he seemed to celebrate after the final whistle with opposition manager Pep Guardiola.
He is of course going through a tough time after the death of his brother – quite understandably – and as such he is not making his usual impact. Manuel Pellegrini is saying that he will be better than ever soon and maybe some time off to rejoin his family back home may help his recovery. Only Toure will know what is best.
Since this season began, Toure has not been the same, only he will know why.
Whatever the reasons behind Manchester City’s poor European performances things have got to change. Before, they have been more interested in winning the league, but now European glory is what fans want. Pellegrini has to change something and soon.