Ten reasons why Man City are out

The summer transfer window

"Probably we need to improve our team," said Roberto Mancini after Real Madrid rubber-stamped City's departure from the Champions League. Some - the Italian certainly among them - would argue winning should be a spur to strengthening further. After securing the Premier League title, the City manager's premier transfer targets were players such as Daniele de Rossi, Javi Martinez, Daniel Agger and Robin van Persie, world-class footballers all. He ended up with Maicon, who used to be one, the promising Matija Nastasic and Javi Garcia, a useful squad member, plus Scott Sinclair, Jack Rodwell and third-choice goalkeeper Richard Wright, who have made one Champions League appearance between them this season. None of the City signings have been the automatic choice Mancini envisaged. Each, in his own way, could be deemed a weak link at times.

The draw

To end up in one Group of Death is unfortunate. To be in two is truly damaging. City's task was difficult from the moment they were pitted with Ajax, Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid, just as Bayern Munich, Napoli and Villarreal were daunting opponents last season. While a second successive failure means City's UEFA co-efficient will remain low - and, assuming they qualify, puts them in danger of ending up in a third tough group next season, the reality is that it is not just the continental giants of Bayern and Real who have eliminated City: Napoli and Dortmund, two teams equally untried at this level, have acclimatised quicker and better.

The final four minutes in Madrid

The question 'what if?' can be posed after every failed campaign. City can ponder an alternative series of events when Aleksandar Kolarov's free kick in the Bernabeu, which put them 2-1 up, was the winning goal. Had every other result remained the same, they would be ahead of Real Madrid with a game to go. But, as they know, Real rallied, the winning habits of Jose Mourinho and Cristiano Ronaldo apparent in their comeback. Victory would have had a psychological significance for a City side in need of a breakthrough result in Europe.

Double Dutch

It was branded the group of champions and Ajax have four European Cups in their sizeable trophy cabinet, but the Eredivisie winners were much the pool's underdogs. Indeed, they are yet to take a point from either Madrid or Dortmund. But, after a 3-1 win and a 2-2 draw, they have four from City and much as Mancini regrets the late loss to Real, he should be most critical of his team for their failings in the double header against Frank de Boer's side. The second half in Amsterdam and the first in Manchester were especially costly.

Tactical tinkering

Mancini's controversial fondness for a back three is not the unmitigated disaster some believe; it worked in the Premier League game against Tottenham and was a qualified success in Madrid. But a mid-match switch in Amsterdam backfired when, with their defence looking confused, City promptly conceded. And starting off with a 3-5-2 formation against Real was a mistake Mancini had to remedy inside half an hour; they were exposed on the flanks and unable to cope with the Spanish champions in the centre of the park. While, as Mancini insists, top footballers should be able to adapt to any formation, City's players often seem happier playing their variant of 4-4-2.

Diabolical defending

GettyImagesKarim Benzema has the freedom of Eastlands as Maicon forgot to track his man

When Maicon neglected to mark Karim Benzema as the Frenchman volleyed Real ahead on Wednesday, it was all too typical. While City have the Premier League's tightest defence, they are yet to keep a clean sheet in Europe. And despite the quality of the opposition, too many goals have simply been gifted. Ajax scored three from corners alone and, while Mancini has been criticised for preferring zonal marking, the Italian had a point when he sarcastically said he forgot to tell Joleon Lescott to jump when Niklas Moisander headed the Dutch champions' second goal in Amsterdam. Dortmund's strike in Manchester, meanwhile, was the product of an awful pass from Rodwell, straight to scorer Marco Reus.

The lack of a defensive midfielder

Nigel de Jong's reputation has rarely been higher at City. Since the Dutchman joined AC Milan in August, City have used four different defensive midfielders alongside Yaya Toure with none really convincing Mancini, to the extent that he disposed of them all when selecting his side against Real on Wednesday. Rodwell was particularly awful against Dortmund but Garcia was hauled off at half-time when Ajax visited Manchester. Only Partizan Belgrade have had as many efforts on their goal as City in the Champions League and the lack of protection afforded to their defence is a major reason.

Getting the balance right

When City are at their best in the Premier League, it is often with two strikers plus David Silva, Samir Nasri and Yaya Toure. That may be too attacking a formula for the more tactical Champions League, however. City are too open too often. They concede goals and are left to chase games. Late onslaughts have produced a point in each of their home matches, but stirring comebacks have not been sufficient. There was a time when Mancini was criticised for being too defensive. Now, perhaps, he is not defensive enough.

Strange selections

It was only a footnote when James Milner replaced Sergio Aguero in the dying minutes against Real but it seemed odd to take off the scorer. It was perplexing, too, that Gareth Barry was not on the bench against Dortmund, meaning that, when Garcia was injured, Rodwell came on. Edin Dzeko, the Premier League super-sub, has been granted more starts in Europe when, despite the Bosnian's return in front of goal, Carlos Tevez might have been a better choice.

Injuries

Apart from losing both first-choice centre-backs in January, City's players stayed fairly fit as they won the Premier League. They have had less luck this season: Aguero sat out the start of their Champions League campaign, Silva missed both meetings with Ajax and Pablo Zabaleta one. Nasri was hurt in Madrid and Garcia against Dortmund while Mario Balotelli was unavailable for both meetings with Madrid and Gael Clichy missed in the second one. If every losing team blames injuries, they have nevertheless played a part in City's problems.

Source: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story/_/id/1235793/ten-reasons-why-man-city-are-out-of-the-champions-league?cc=3888

Chelsea tormentor to join... Chelsea?

And there we were thinking that Chelsea, fresh from finally claiming the Champions League trophy they had craved for so long, had enjoyed a pretty spectacular summer in the transfer market. But now it seems the rebuilding programme at Stamford Bridge may not end there. 



The Sun reports that the Blues are weighing up a spectacular £45 million bid for Atletico Madrid’s imperious striker Radamel Falcao. 

The paper says preliminary talks between the clubs have already taken place – and Chelsea, of course, were dismembered by 26-year-old Falcao in August’s UEFA Super Cup. 

They’ve signed strikers who shone against them in the past – remember Robert Fleck, anyone? – without great success, but Falcao appears to be at the peak of his powers and could replace the forward power that had been provided by the departed Didier Drogba. 

The Sun says he could be on his way to London in January, and quotes a Chelsea insider as saying: “The groundwork is already being done for Falcao. 

“The owner [Roman Abramovich] wants everything in place now so a deal can be done before any other club can make a counter-offer.” 

Falcao joined Atletico from Porto in a £32 million deal last summer. 

Also in the Sun, former Villa and West Ham midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger hopes to earn a contract with Everton, with whom he is training. 

The paper says Everton boss David Moyes could offer the former Germany international a Goodison Park deal if he can prove his fitness. 

Barcelona hope Xavi will finish his career with them, and the player’s representative says he believes a new contract is in the pipeline: that’s according to the Daily Mail. 

The Mail quotes his representative Ivan Corretja as saying that Camp Nou officials are keen to extend Xavi’s deal, which ends in 2014. 

“Last Friday, the club sent us its intention to renew the contract because they want Xavi to sign a new deal, given that the current one ends in 2014,” it reports Corretja as saying.
Source: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/blog/_/name/onthemove/id/1212?cc=3888

Thoughts on the messy Messi-Villa incident

I think it's fair to say that Leo Messi committed a minor error by chewing out David Villa just before halftime on Saturday as Barcelona was sweating out an edgy win against Granada. But in doing so, some pretty healthy signs were also apparent.

For Messi to lose his temper at a teammate making his first start in 10 months over the lack of a first-time pass that, if it had been pulled off, would have been just short of telepathic was a clear overreaction.

And yes, it does betray Messi's increasing need to boss the pitch and have the ball whenever he demands it, but it also hints at his desperate desire to win games and conquer any physical or psychological barriers in his way.

Because the two men are both feisty, determined competitors -- and given that there's a spotlight on absolutely everything relating to Messi -- there are quite a few who either for mischief or for lack of information wish to take this incident as definitive proof that there is a problem between them.

However, at this point some context might help.

Messi's actions on the pitch, sublime and astonishing as they are, make it seem to many that he's superhuman. Not everyone around the globe has the good fortune that we do here to meet him occasionally, listen to him in news conferences, watch him mix with the rest of the team and chart his growth and development.

If your only contact with Messi is seeing him do extraordinary things a couple of times a week it's easy to forget that, like you and me, he's flesh and blood.

For example, he confirmed what I wrote a couple of weeks ago in saying that thanks to the World Cup qualifiers for Argentina culminating in the 1-1 draw in Peru, he'd gone nine nights without proper sleep (with barely any sleep at all, in fact) as a result of jet lag. That would leave anyone a little bit edgy and fractious.

Moreover, Messi is due to be a father for the first time in the not-too-distant future -- again, enough to make anyone a little bit narky.

And just to put a cherry on the icing, there were stages during what became a 2-0 win over Granada when it looked like Barcelona might drop two points to their lowly foes, perhaps even three. The Blaugrana were a little stodgy in their play. Not crisp, not devastating. Anxiety was setting in.

What's unavoidable is that although there exists a healthy tension between Messi and Villa, there's also a huge amount of respect and a good dose of friendship.

Villa was the key striker at Valencia, able to pick and choose where he moved, when he demanded the ball -- basically, their equivalent of Messi.

When he signed up at the Camp Nou it was made 100 percent clear to him that Messi was pre-eminent. Primus Inter Pares -- first among equals. As such, the Argentinian would be first choice at centre forward and serve as the team's leader and its symbol. Villa would need to play on the left, submit to team orders and take his chances when they came.

But I'd recommend to conspiracy theorists that even if this chafed at El Guaje a little bit, it also served a function.

Remember Jose Mourinho's first trip to the Camp Nou as Real Madrid coach? The 5-0 pasting that night included the best assist I've ever seen Messi give -- and it went to Villa, a 40-meter heat-seeking pass that allowed Villa to power through and score past Iker Casillas.

Or what about the Champions League final at Wembley? It was Messi's darting run in from the right touchline that ended up with Villa bending a glorious shot around Edwin van der Sar.

If you watch it again you'll see Messi sinking to his knees in supplication at the utterly glorious style with which El Guajesealed Barca's Champions League triumph.

Just one more? The Spanish Supercopa first leg last year. Messi's forward run down the middle, a pass to the left for Villa before the Asturian cut inside and bent an equally unbelievable goal past Casillas at the Bernabeu.

No complaints from Messi that night about not getting a first-time return ball, either.

That Messi has a fierce temperament is also not a shock to those who have chronicled him for a long time.

OK, he's a pacifist 95 percent of the time, but remember his utter fury at Frank Rijkaard for not naming him in the 2006 Champions League final squad? So angry was Messi that after the final whistle he steadfastly refused to go down to the pitch to celebrate with his teammates with the trophy. He regretted it almost instantly but the red mist descended. It also did in the 2009 UEFA Supercup Final against Shakhtar Donetsk when he came within a millimeter of head-butting Dario Srna in a bad-tempered match.

How he restrains himself from retaliating given the tackles he suffers, I'll never know. But just because he manages that gargantuan feat doesn't mean he's immune to rushes of blood to the head.

What I also consider healthy is that Messi, who doesn't crave publicity and only sporadically consents to interviews, immediately said "yes" to the request from Barca TV after the match so that he could clear the air.

GettyImages / Pedro Ladeira/AFP/GettyImagesForget about the Messi-Villa spat. Perhaps more important is whether Neymar comes to the Camp Nou -- and how Tito Vilanova would make room for him.

No hiding, no sulking, no campaign of whispers surrounding the issue. Just trying to put it to bed.

"There's no problem between us because we are in a fantastic dressing room. These things happen in games because we want to win. They happen in training but you don't get to see that because there are no cameras there. It was just a product of the pressure we put on ourselves to win and go get that first goal which makes everything that much easier. I've got no problem with David, quite the contrary in fact. You just saw the character of the team, we want to win and keep on winning. That's why the tension can get you annoyed and heated up. My aim isn't to score more goals than last season, the important thing is that this team has goal scorers in it and that we win trophies."

To me, the misjudgement comes when a guy who lives to play has a broken leg, misses nearly a year and then gets pretty antsy about his first start; that isn't the time to bawl him out over a tiny error.

So, hey, Messi made a mistake. Where Tito Vilanova would have a problem to address is if this repeats, or if Villa feels slighted and bears a grudge, either of which would turn the whole issue on its head.

Another question, altogether, is the news that on enquiring about buying Neymar, Paris St. Germain was told by Santos that the Brazilian prodigy is heading for Barcelona, probably next season. Messi, Villa, Pedro, Alexis Sanchez, Cristian Tello, Isaac Cuenca -- and Fabregas! -- plus Neymar is what the Spanish call "overbooking." Somebody is going to have to travel in steerage and somebody's going to have to move to another flight.

A looming problem, not the issue right now. But perhaps something on David Villa's mind?http://soccernet.espn.go.com/blog/_/name/laliga/id/123?cc=3888
Source:Graham Hunter ESPNSOCCERNET.COM