Manchester City cannot get it done in Europe. Again. Yes, we know that there is still another entire leg of Barcelona and Manchester City’s round of 16 clash, but let’s be realistic, Manchester City are not going to win 2-0 in the Camp Nou. Even 2-1 is hard too see. Another year has gone by, and it seems as if we are watching the same old Manchester City that crashed out of the group stages in 2012-13, and couldn’t prove that they were one of the top 8 clubs in Europe in 2013-14. For a club that spends over a billion dollars on its roster, that isn’t just a disappointment, it’s a failure.
To listen to City’s players in the lead up to the match would have you think that we had every right to believe that they had matured, progressed from intra-continentally inept to championship able. Samir Nasri spoke of how Manchester City would not make the same mistake it made facing Barcelona last year:
"I think we [respected Barcelona] too much…we weren't experienced to compete with a club like this. They know how to win a Champions League. I think it was too much of a big game. We were not ready. This year is totally different. We know what we are capable of."
“For us, it is a different game. We are a better team than last year. We had a couple of players injured [then]. Everything will be different. We have more experience than last year. We are not going to be scared."
Fighting words, to be sure, but words have a habit of only taking you so far.
"Oh my god. Dude, did you hear what they said?" Photo: antmather | Twitter
For a team that was supposed to not be scared of its opposition, Manchester City certainly didn’t play like it in the first half.
Barcelona were rampant. Messi was all over the place, passing and dribbling like the other-worldly talent that he is. Ivan Rakitic was bossing the midfield, and doing things like this. And Luis Suarez was just going on about his business, scoring two goals and otherwise making every English fan in the Etihad remember why he tore up the Premier League the year prior.
The first half was scary, and City played the entirety of it like they thought it was, too. We, and every other fan watching, thought that a 4-0 score line was entirely possible. Manchester City had no answer for Barcelona in that first half. City posed little threat going forward, and in defence the club’s own captain, Vincent Company, had left his mark on in the worst possible way.
Company was the victim of the of terrible luck in the build up to the first goal. Messi swings in a cross to a Kompany-marked Suarez, who bumbles the header, but the ball ends up bouncing off Kompany’s foot, then his leg, and into a perfect scoring position. A one-in-a-million bounce, a 1-0 lead.
Unfortunately for Kompany, the second goal could not be chalked up to blind luck. Although, an argument could be made for blindness playing a part in it none the less.
That is terrible defending by Kompany. He is in the wrong position, gets caught ball-watching as Alba crosses the ball in, has no idea where Suarez is, and stands flat footed as the ball fizzes past him and gets touched into the side of the net.
This is same Vincent Company that, like Samir Nasri, also had some choice words for Barcelona prior to the match.
“Fear?” said City’s captain [kompany words]. “We don’t fear [Barcelona]. You don’t go in at this level fearing strikers.”
“They’re a special team with special players, of course. I think their ability is not about hurting you all game - you can have tougher games when you go to Stoke City.”
Poor choice of words to say the least. While we understand that when he calls Stoke “tougher,” he means “more physical,” the first goal is nothing if not a tough pill to swallow as a defender. Kompany was punished by a cross swung in from a yard inside the sideline that led to the unluckiest of bounces that, in turn, somehow resulted in one of the most clinical finishes he will ever see. It wasn’t even just tough, it was scary, and it affected how Kompany defended the next goal.
The man who had said he would not fear Barcelona’s attack looked like he was very afraid indeed throughout the build up of the second goal. Poor positioning, ball-watching, getting caught flat footed, these are all marks of a defender that’s afraid to take initiative, of a defender that is playing scared.
The real shame behind all of this is that in the second half Manchester City proved that they were capable of playing with Barcelona. They came out like a team on a mission, like the team we had been told expect at the start of the game. They nearly pulled it off as well. The run of play, when it could be deciphered, was always going City’s way in the second half, and they thoroughly deserved the goal that they scored.
Samir Nasri himself even had a chance to get Manchester City in the game, but could not maintain his composure as he was fed the ball a few yards behind the penalty spot. He was in a perfect position to score, but sent the ball straight into the keeper. Yet another mark of a player letting the moment get to him.
Manchester City is capable of playing the game they told the world they were going to play — a game without fear — but today they waited too long. Yes, they still could somehow pull out a large enough victory at the Camp Nou, but there is absolutely no reason to believe that they are truly up to the task. We will hear from the players how “anything can happen” and “we have a tough hill to climb, but we can do it” or “This team has more than enough talent to win at the Camp Nou.” These men are professionals after all, they know what to say.
But why should we believe any of it?
