Manchester City given European lesson in Munich

Manchester City’s 2-0 Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich came as no shock to me.

In normal circumstances most teams would be seen as heavy underdogs visiting the Allianz Arena to play Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

Expectations

However Manchester City were given a big build up and were expected to go to Germany and win just because they had spent a fortune.

The fact City had made a good start to the season also added to that expectation. Bayern have made a good start to their Bundesliga campaign as well and hadn’t conceded a goal since the opening day of their season, eight games ago in all competitions.

Organised

Under veteran head coach Jupp Heynckes Bayern Munich are very well organised, a quality which was lacking last season when the Bavarian outfit only finished third in the Bundesliga.

Heynckes is a man who has been around the block a few times and seems to have won every trophy in club football, including the Champions League trophy with Real Madrid. Bayern were never going to be pushovers on their own patch, no German team ever are.

Team

Bayern Munich have a fantastic team and without doubt they are a big threat to whoever they come up against in this competition. At the start of the season I put a bet on Bayern to win the Champions League, as I knew the sort of effect Heynckes would have on the talented group of players under him.

The team is far more important than the individual at Bayern and City can take a lesson from that. Bayern do have big players with egos but they play for the team. I mean you look at the case of Arjen Robben.

The Dutchman has had injury problems in recent times and was left on the bench for the City game. Did he sulk and refuse to go on as a substitute, no he went on the field and helped his team maintain their victory.

Disharmony

On the other hand City substitute Carlos Tevez reportedly refused to go on the pitch. He has released a statement since stating that he don’t refuse to go on the pitch. However his manager Roberto Mancini stated he did refuse to go on the pitch. It’s hard to know what to believe but I have to side with Mancini on this one.

Then there was Edin Dzeko’s show of petulance when he was replaced by defensive midfielder Nigel De Jong. I have to say I can understand Dzeko getting upset. He is in the team to score goals and City are two goals down yet Mancini decides  replace him with a defensive minded player.

Granted, Dzeko wasn’t having his best game but he was still a threat to the Munich defence. De Jong isn’t going to score you a goal to get you back into the game. That substitution really did confuse everybody apart from the man who made it. What was he thinking?

Star

My star man of the night had to be Bayern’s French international Franck Ribery. The winger was a constant thorn in the side of the Manchester City defence and the full-backs struggled when they came face to face with this mercurial player.

He was linked with a summer move to Chelsea but it seems he is more than happy with Bayern. On his day he can be simply majestic. He outshone City’s midfield stars David Silva and Samir Nasri and made them look completely ineffective.

Experience

The main thing that City must take from this game is the experience of playing against such a well drilled European team. Lets make no bones about it Bayern Munich are a European giant. They flatter to deceive sometimes domestically but on the European stage they tend to be relatively consistent.

These Manchester City players may have experienced European football before but it seems its going to take them a while to get accustomed to it as a team. They are in a tough group but City will need to get to grips with the Champions League sooner rather than later or they won’ be in the competition for much longer.

I’m sure Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini will take a lot of lessons from this defeat as well. One of them should be that his City team are still a work in progress and he can’t afford to go gung-ho against the likes of Bayern away from home.

City only played the same style of football they do in the Premier League but this isn’t the Premier League and Bayern are a team that can pick you off at will. Hopefully Mancini and his players have learnt their lesson and take this experience on board and use it in their next European game against Villarreal.

Should Roberto Mancini have played a less attacking side in Munich?