Why Man City Are Out Of Their Depth Against The Best Sides In The World

Man City’s failures against the top teams have been well documented; this article will examine how Man City are out of their depth and how the squad he has been offered is not equipped to play against better sides than themselves.

For me, the Man City squad is set up to play 1 way, which is to dominate possession and play intricate football. This works brilliantly against the likes of West Brom or West Ham, sides they are much stronger than and so will have the majority of the ball. This does not work however, against teams like Barcelona, who have better technical players than Man City. The problem with Man City’s technical players is that they cannot play any other way. They are not fast with the exception of Navas and Aguero so are not able to play on the counter attack against stronger sides. Equally, they are not physically strong compared to the opposition and so cannot overpower their adversaries . This means they have to try to play their normal passing game, which allows them to get picked off by stronger teams who are better at this passing game.

This is the fault of the Man City recruitment staff for signing too many similar players. It is not likely that a team with 2 strikers fielded in a 4-4-2 will win against the likes of Real Madrid, this is shown by the rarity in which it is deployed by other teams yet Pellegrini is often forced into this through a lack of other options. Equally, playing Silva, Milner and Nasri in wide positions against a strong side is not a great option, since you lose the option of a fast counter attack, really you can only play 1 of them on the flanks and 1 behind the striker. Furthermore, playing Toure in a defensive midfield position is not a great option, simply because his defending is not up to scratch. This does not leave Pellegrini with a strong enough line up to beat a good side, since currently only 3 of the 4 positions behind the striker are filled with Fernando and Fernandinho looking like a below par central midfield combo. Jesus Navas is also charged with playing an important role in this side, something he is not good enough to do.

In addition, the state of Man City’s defence also does not cut the mustard. Vincent Kompany and Pablo Zabaleta are the only defenders in their squad that are good enough to play against the top sides, with the likes of the ageing Demichelis and the erratic Mangala not up to standard for a tough European night.

This evidence mounts therefore, to show that Man City are not good enough to challenge the top sides, and this is down to the recruitment, since no top quality players have been brought in since Sergio Aguero was added to the squad. As we are led to believe Pellegrini has little say in transfers, to blame him for the failings of an ageing squad is harsh.