Manuel Pellegrini’s Manchester City drew 1-1 with Italian side Roma in the Champions League on Tuesday night
Manchester City drew 1-1 with Roma last night in the Champions League at the Etihad Stadium.
City took an early lead through a Sergio Aguero penalty kick on four minutes and the Citizens were expected to push on for victory.
However, veteran Roma legend Francesco Totti equalised on 23 minutes and City failed to find the winner against the Giallorossi.
Tactics
Once again a City manager has got his tactics wrong in Europe. Last season City boss Manuel Pellegrini got his tactics wrong against Bayern Munich at home and the German giants punished City.
In this game Pellegrini started with two up front in Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko. Despite the pair starting the game, apart from the spot kick, Aguero and Dzeko had little effect on the game. The decision to play two up front did not pay off.
It seemed that Pellegrini did not learn from his tactical mistakes he made last season in the Champions League. Maybe the Chilean and City underestimated Roma. The Giallorossi are a very good team, but they were missing the likes of Kevin Strootman and Daniele De Rossi.
However, if City had got their tactics right then they should probably have beaten the Italian side with the players at City’s disposal. The Citizens actually looked a better team when they brought on the likes of James Milner and Frank Lampard and reverted to five in midfield.
Maybe Manuel Pellegrini will consider that sort of formation from the start in their next Champions League game, because playing with two strikers clearly has not yielded the desired results against the better teams they have played.
A trip to Russian side CSKA Moscow is up next and a victory is vital to Kick-start City’s European campaign.
Slow
Manchester City has made a slow start to their campaign and has looked unconvincing in the Premier League and Champions League. They have yet to hit top form this season and have been underperforming.
One point from two Champions League games and City have also claimed three wins from their six Premier League games as well, which by their standards is not good enough. The champions are currently five points behind league leaders Chelsea at the top of the Premier League table.
Underperforming
One of City and the Premier League’s top performers last season was Ivorian midfield giant Yaya Toure. However, the Ivory Coast international has made a poor start to the campaign.
Toure looks like a shadow of the player who scored 20 league goals last season to help the Citizens to the Premier League title. Toure has appeared disinterested and tired this season, which could have been caused by a few factors.
The midfielder has never been the most athletic of players, but this season he looks shattered every time he’s on a football pitch. Maybe appearing in the World Cup has not helped his fitness, but that was months ago and he should have regained his fitness during pre-season.
The other factor may be mental rather than physical. Toure suffered the loss of his brother during the World Cup and that could be affecting his mental state.
It is unclear what has affected his form, but he really needs to improve his performances soon, or he could very well be dropped from the City team in the coming months.
He is not the only City player who is not at his best, but he seems to be the City player whose performances affect the team most when he is not on-form. In fact in a four man midfield he can at times be a liability.
Under-Pressure
Every season Manchester City fans believe that this is the year that they will crack Europe. City has made it out group stages of the Champions League just once, which was last season when they were eliminated in the last 16 by Spanish giants Barcelona.
City boss Manuel Pellegrini must be under-pressure to better last season’s performances. The City owners have invested a lot of money in the club and they will want to see the team doing well in Europe’s elite competition.
Pellegrini was brought in to help the Citizens regain the Premier League title, which he did in his first campaign. However, this season should be about making strides in the Champions League and at the moment the team are failing to achieve their objectives.
Early
It is still early in the group stages of their Champions League campaign and one point from games is not a great start. However, City still has time to turn the situation around and quality for the knockout stages of the competition.
The players need to up their game though and boss Pellegrini needs to make the right tactical decisions if the Citizens are to recover and make the last 16 of the competition.
Should City boss Pellegrini be under-pressure after Roma draw?
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