Manchester City benefit after Manuel Pellegrini finally shows he can be flexible

The revelation of the 3-1 lesson Manchester City handed Sevilla at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán was Manuel Pellegrini’s willingness, at last, to adjust formation and approach.

Raheem Sterling sparkles as Manchester City beat Sevilla to reach last 16

 

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“We only play one way” has been the mantra of the manager since he took over in the summer of 2013. In domestic football the Pellegrini way allowed City to prosper in his first season, as the Premier League and Capital One Cup were claimed.

There has been progress in the Champions League, too. The club reached the knockout stages for the first time in 2013-14 and repeated the feat last term. Yet Pellegrini’s continuing focus on attack first had laid him open to a charge of tactical inflexibility. The two consecutive last-16 defeats by Barcelona were no shame but those 4-1 and 3-1 aggregate reverses left a question hanging: “Might Lionel Messi and company have been stymied if Pellegrini had altered his ethos?”

Tuesday provided if not a definitive answer, then a signpost to a new route forward when City next come up against a continental beast that needs taming. Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United, whose struggle with flair continued during Tuesday night’s home win against CSKA Moscow, may study what City did to Sevilla and consider co-opting it for their respective Champions League campaigns.

On Monday Pellegrini was again asked if pragmatism might be adopted and again the reply came that winning was the aim. Given the Chilean’s front-foot first approach it seemed to confirm Sevilla would be tackled in familiar fashion.

But Pellegrini was plotting a shrewder gameplan, one that proved an irresistible blend. Victory remained the ambition yet City’s sweeping attack mode would have the ballast of a dense midfield manned by Fernandinho and Fernando at the base and Yaya Touré pushed slightly further forward.

What unfolded was a watershed performance derived from an element often absent when City take the field on big continental nights: balance. Sevilla had chances, as all teams do in club football’s blue riband tournament, but these were fleeting interruptions. City’s forward menace and muscular grip on midfield had Unai Emery’s men pinned throughout.

It was the second time this season that Pellegrini paired Fernandinho and Fernando as the fulcrum, with Touré advanced. The Chilean had done so in the goalless draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford. Against Sevilla it gave City control, with Fernandinho to the fore as he continued this term’s stellar form. The Brazilian was a whirr of tackles, interventions and surges upfield that ensured momentum was always with his side.

It was a total team display. All of the City XI impressed, with Raheem Sterling, Fernandinho and Wilfried Bony scoring and Joe Hart making a crucial save from Timothée Kolodziejczak when the score was 2-1.

By the end City had reached the last 16 again, with two Group D matches left, and Pellegrini acknowledged the change of tack. “I’m very happy with the way we played,” he said. “We defended well. I changed the system because I was not happy with the way we’re playing.”

Given the quasi-stubborn refusal to tinker with strategy and Pellegrini’s gnomic utterances, this may prove a road-to-Damascus moment for the Chilean and his City project. As he said of Fernando, Fernandinho and Touré: “I was very happy with the way the three midfielders play. We prepared the play to move into space and that was the reason we created so many chances.”

The fast and flowing style Pellegrini loves is one developed in South America and Spain at his nine previous clubs. Yet as a contented Vincent Kompany suggested, the display had a strong seam of old-fashioned English stability running through it.

“It was probably our best performance in Champions League so far,” the defender said. “If I can take one thing from this game the biggest thing is we weren’t naive, we were solid.”

This was all achieved without the injured Sergio Agüero and David Silva, and with Kevin De Bruyne a late substitute. The XI Pellegrini sent out against Emery’s team was: Hart, Bacary Sagna, Kompany, Nicolás Otamendi, Aleksandar Kolarov, Fernando, Fernandinho, Jesús Navas, Touré, Sterling and Bony.

If Fernando is now a first choice in a high-stake game, Navas can be dropped for Silva and Bony for Agüero, but working out where to fit De Bruyne, who has been impressive since joining in the summer, is a nice problem for Pellegrini.

Harry Redknapp, who took Tottenham Hotspur to the Champions League quarter-finals, said: “It was a fantastic performance. They opened up Seville so far many times. They could have scored six. It was one of the best away performances I’ve seen in Europe by an English side in many years.”

Kompany is also clear. “We have to adapt our style but played in a British way. You hear that English football is bad but we brought the best of British.”

These words will be seized upon by those with a love of the Premier League. One scintillating victory against Sevilla does not mean City will waltz on to the final, of course. But Pellegrini now has a blueprint for when Barça, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich or Paris Saint-Germain are in town.

And, United, Arsenal and Chelsea also have a new scheme to consider.

Manchester City flew the flag for English football with Champions League cruise says Vincent Kompany

Blues' qualification for the last 16 with two group games to spare "an incredible achievement. We brought the best of British tonight”.

Vincent Kompany claimed Manchester City showed Bulldog spirit to qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League, writes David Anderson in Seville .

City have made it with two group games still to play to restore some English pride in Europ's elite club competition, and Kompany hailed their devastating display in their 3-1 win over Sevilla here as the “best of British”.

“It’s a difficult group and so for us to qualify with two games spare is an incredible achievement,” said the City skipper.

“It was probably our best performance in the Champions League so far.

In pictures — Sevilla 1-3 Manchester City:

“If I can take one thing from this game, the biggest thing is we weren’t naive, we were solid. We have to adapt our style, but we played in a British way.

“You hear that English football is bad, but we brought the best of British tonight.”

Kompany also praised Joe Hart and the England No 1 atoned for his blunder against Norwich on Saturday by making a key save at 2-1.

“Harty is a phenomenal goalkeeper, we’re lucky to have him,” said the Belgium defender. “Our game plan was perfect.”

Delighted City boss Manuel Pellegrini has challenged his side to complete the job by finishing top of Group D to lessen their chances of a difficult draw in the knock-out stages.

Grrrrrreight! Raheem Sterling celebrates scoring the night's first goal early on

At the double: Fernandinho made it 2-0 with just 11 minutes gone

Game over: Wilfried Bony got City's third before halftime to halt a Sevilla fightback

“It is very important,” he said. “It is not the most important thing, but it is important. After that you need a good draw. I’m very happy because I think we played a very complete game.”

Pellegrini tweaked his midfield diamond to allow Fernandinho to attack with Yaya Toure to great effect

“I’m very happy because I was not happy with the way we were playing, so we needed a change,” he said. “Today we changed the system and for that reason, we played a very good game.”

Stephanie Roche's Champions League review: Premier League sides way behind Euro elite

This week's Champions League saw good results for three out of the four English teams involved but they are miles behind the top sides in European football.

Manchester United started brightly in their home tie against CSKA Moscow and looked lively and energetic throughout the game.

United fans are not used to seeing their team be as cautious as they have been of late and chants of ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK in recent games seemed to inspire the team to do just that.

Jesse Lingard brought an energy and pace to the team while Michael Carrick was on hand to spray passes in midfield that opened CSKA up.

These two players made a real difference and it was no coincidence that the two combined to set up Wayne Rooney for his record equaling 237th goal for the club which sees him level with United great Denis Law.

Rooney has been an isolated figure up front at times for United this season but the support in numbers on Tuesday night assures fans that maybe, just maybe things could be coming together for Van Gaal and his team.

Willian was the hero for Jose Mourinho and Chelsea on Wednesday night. His cross was deflected in off Dynamo Kiev's Dragovic on 34 minutes and when the same player scored in the correct goal in the 77th minute it seemed Chelsea and the increasingly under pressure Mourinho were to finish the game at 1-1.

That wasn't all however, six minutes after the equaliser a brilliant free kick from the in form Willian rattled the top corner to claim all three points for Chelsea.

The fans showed their support for Jose Mourinho throughout the match with chants of "stand up for the special on" and in the final few minutes it was ringing around Stamford bridge.

Manchester City showed their quality in the Champions League Tuesday night in what was, in Vincent Kompany's words, probably their "best performance yet" in the competition.

Early goals from Sterling and Fernandinho had city 2-0 up after just 11 minutes. Trémoulinas got one back for Sevilla but Wilfried Bony put the game to bed before halftime with a calm finish after good work from Jesus Navas.

City showed a maturity in their performance that perhaps has been missing in the Champions league for them so far. They cut Sevilla apart in a great first half performance and with Sevilla having no real threat in the second half they held out to finish the game 3-1 and secure their place in the last 16.

Arsenal were in dreamland after beating Bayern Munich 2-0 at home last week but the return fixture ended in more of a nightmare for the Gunners.

Arsenal broke Munich's record of 12 straight wins with victory at the Emirates and it seemed the German giants wanted revenge. Bayern started the game with a high tempo and scored with a headed goal from Lewandowski only 10 minutes in. Mesut Ozil thought he had equalised against the run of play only for the goal to be adjudged handball.

That didn't put any doubt into Bayerns heads though as they continued their dominance with wave after wave of attack. Thomas Muller then scored with a deflected goal and David Alaba scored a cracking long range effort to put Bayern 3-0 up at half time.

 The second half saw Bayern continue their pressure and when Arjen Robben scored with his first touch after coming on as a substitute on 55 minutes you feared the worst for Arsenal.

It was hard not to with Bayern closing in on goal so much but the second half brought chances for Arsenal. Santi Cazorla had a great chance to get a goal back for his team but Neuer stood tall to snuff out the chance.

Monreal also came close after some good play by the Gunners only to see him stumble as he tried to get his shot away. Arsenal did get the breakthrough after some good passages of play and it came from a very good finish by Olivier Giroud.

Bayern just never seemed at ease with their goals tally and wanted to score more and did just that with a great finish from Muller for his second of the game to wrap it all up.

Although there were some good performances from the Premier League teams involved this week, it's hard not to notice the difference in class compared to the likes of Bayern Munich.

Teams like Bayern, Barcelona, Real Madrid and even PSG to a certain extent seem to be able to control games with ease. Not only do they keep possession but they put on a show for fans and have real quality throughout their teams.

This was a good week for Manchester United, Chelsea and Man City (who are now through to the knockout stage) but if they're to progress to the latter stages they will need more from their players especially when faced with Europe's elite forces.

Online Editors.

Fit-again Delph can kick-start Man City career at Aston Villa lions den

The midfielder has barely played this season and has been barracked by Villa fans ever since his controversial exit, but if Tuesday night is anything to go by he is fighting fit.

Raheem Sterling has dazzled in flashes, Nicolas Otamendi is forging a formidable partnership with Vincent Kompany, Kevin De Bruyne has been brilliant. Even 18-year-old Patrick Roberts has impressed in European competition, albeit junior. Fabian Delph, though, has had just 21 minutes of action to show what he can do.

City’s summer signings are proving themselves to be astute pieces of business, despite the three headline arrivals costing around £140m between them. Delph, on paper, was perhaps the savviest of all; England internationals are not usually available for £8 million. While a release clause dictated that fee, a lengthy injury history would have played a part in any traditional negotiations.

If Tuesday night’s post-match antics at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan are anything to go by, though, he’s fighting fit once more.

Delph spent much of his early years at Villa Park on the treatment table, and it’s been a similar story at the Etihad so far. Having picked up a hamstring injury on his very first appearance, against Real Madrid in pre-season, he only returned against Everton on August 23; he was given a one-minute run-out. A week later he was given 15 minutes at the end of the defeat of Watford, before injuring his hamstring once more, less than a minute into an England match.

He may have made his latest return at Sevilla in midweek - a five-minute cameo - but it was the impression he made well after the final whistle which sent more of a statement of intent. During the post-match cool down, normally comprising a light jog around the pitch and some routine stretches, he and Gael Clichy, himself condemned to the sidelines for the start of the season, sprinted up and down the Andalusian turf and finishing with some amateur gymnastics in front of the travelling fans. It was a light-hearted and very welcome end to a brilliant night for the club.

Delph, clearly, is ready for action. It just so happens his next match is against Aston Villa. Even if he doesn’t get onto the pitch - he is not yet fit enough to start - he will get a fierce reception from the moment he rocks up at Villa Park. Fans of the club have not traditionally taken well to their heroes departing for pastures new. Ashley Young and Stewart Downing may have gone to Manchester United and Liverpool, but they were not spared the Villa fans’ wrath. City know all too well how vociferous the Midlanders can be, having recruited James Milner and Gareth Barry in recent years.

But Delph could perhaps be the most controversial of all. The twists and turns he produced this summer far outstripped his cartwheels on Wednesday; his decision to reject City, pledge his future to Villa, but then go back on his word again and sign on at the Etihad a week later, took even the most battle-hardened observers by surprise.

After plenty of talks - despite what was later claimed - the 25-year-old had been close to joining City the first time around, but got cold feet and informed Txiki Begiristain he would be staying at Villa. 

"I'm aware there has been intense media speculation surrounding my future in the last 24 hours and I want to set the record straight,” he said in a statement, much to the delight of the Villa fans.

"I'm not leaving. I'm staying at the football club and I can't wait for the start of the season and captaining this great football club."

A week later he was gone. After a great deal of agonising – his partner was also due to give birth - and even some counsel from Micah Richards, he and his agent re-initiated contact with Begiristain and Manuel Pellegrini to see whether a move was still possible. It was, clearly, a difficult time in his life.

Not that that made any difference to Villa fans. His pre-season injury was celebrated by some, and he has been plagued by the dreaded snake emoji whenever he posts on Twitter or Instagram.
Pellegrini, though, was a picture of optimism when he compared the situation to Jesus Navas returning to his boyhood club - where he is still adored by locals.

"Maybe it is the same with Jesus Navas when we play against Sevilla," the City boss said on Friday.

Of course, Delph will be walking into the lions' den as he looks to kick-start his City career. Villa, too, will have Remi Garde - who spent time with Patrick Vieira at Carrington two years ago - in the dug-out for the first time as they look to get their first Premier League win in three months.

And it's not as if Delph will get an easy ride from his own team-mates, either. He comes back into the team with arguably more central options than ever; there are even question marks over where David Silva will fit in for the biggest games, given the success of the Fernando-Fernandinho-Yaya Toure trident in Seville. In a two-man midfield Delph has got it even tougher.

Pellegrini even admitted that a bench role is most likely: "For Delph... you have a different option in the midfield if things are not going quite right."

But as he works towards a first competitive start for this very competitive club, a run-out in front of a hostile crowd will be exactly what the doctor ordered. Hopefully those will be his final orders for some time.

VINCENT KOMPANY SHOWS WHAT A SOUND MAN HE IS WITH FINE GESTURE OF SUPPORT FOR BELGIUM U'17 KEEPER

Vincent Kompany is widely seen as a professional footballer everyone can admire.

The Man City and Belgium captain is always an honest player on the pitch, and speaks eloquently about the game whenever he features on Match of the Day.

Kompany showed what a leader he is on Friday, when he gave his support to Belgium youngster Jens Teunckens.

The keeper made a terrible call of judgement in the Under-17 side's exit from the World Cup against Mali, but Kompany was quick to reassure him that it happens to even the best players...

The goalkeeper apologised on Twitter, before Kompany reminded him that 'no-one is perfect and head up for the next challenge' - linking to a video of his own goal against Fulham two years ago.