London - The case for the defence makes grim reading, a free-for-all after Gareth Barry admitted Manchester City had been “found out” at the highest level.
Everyone is taking pot-shots at Roberto Mancini’s team. In only four Champions League games this season, Joe Hart has been bombarded by 84 shots, with 12 coming in this match.
Real Madrid (with 35 shots), Borussia Dortmund (22) and Ajax (27) have all taken advantage of City’s generosity.
They cannot give players of the calibre of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Marco Reus, Christian Eriksen and Siem De Jong these kinds of openings.
Mancini based the club’s title-winning success on the defensive qualities of Hart, captain Vincent Kompany, Gael Clichy and Pablo Zabaleta.
Hart, who criticised his team-mates after they lost 3-2 to Real Madrid in the Bernabeu, looked a broken man when De Jong put Ajax 2-0 in front. Two corners, two goals, too bad. It shouldn’t be this way, not with a team who have more than 200 appearances in the Champions League to their credit.
Kompany, a class act in the title-winning season, is living dangerously in City’s second season at the highest level of European club competition and Matija Nastasic looks lost at the heart of their defence.
They conceded 29 goals in 38 Premier League games last season, shutting the door on the threat of Manchester United and Chelsea in the closing stages.
Against Europe’s elite they are being carved open, picked off at will by players with the class of De Jong, Ajax’s outstanding skipper. He scored twice last night, adding to the tension at the club as the goals-against column closed in on double figures.
Mancini is feeling it, he has to be. After admitting he failed to prepare the players properly before their 3-1 defeat in Amsterdam on October 24, he reacted badly before the game.
He certainly commands respect after winning the Premier League and FA Cup at City, but City’s Italian manager cannot crack the Champions League.
The furthest he has gone as a coach in the European Cup is the quarter-final, but that was in the dim and distant past with Inter Milan.
After City’s massive investment, the minimum requirement is the last 16. Instead, they will be lucky to make the Europa League.
Daily Mail