Three Key Takeaways: Manchester City Draw, Advance to UCL Round of 16
By Larry Henry
A David Silva tap-in just before halftime was all Manchester City needed to earn a point against Borussia Monchengladbach on MatchDay #5 of the UEFA Champions League.
After going down after 20 minutes thanks to a 15-yard strike by forward Raffael, Pep Guardiola‘s Manchester City were able to fight back before the break. A nice passage of play down the right flank saw Silva tap home a cross by Kevin De Bruyne.
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Following the halftime break, Manchester City had chances by Ilkay Gundogan and De Bruyne saved by Yann Sommer to keep it 1-1. Gladbach were reduced to 10-men after Lars Stindl earned a second-yellow card early in the second half, before Fernandinho also was sent off for pulling back Raffael.
After 90+ minutes, the sides would share the points which sent Manchester City into the knockout stage of the tournament for the fourth consecutive season. Coupled with Barcelona‘s 2-0 road win at Celtic, City would earn the second qualification spot out of the group. Following the match, Pep Guardiola told BBC Sport he was happy to be in the Round of 16. “I’m happy to be there in the last 16. We have qualified with one game left and it’s a big compliment for the team, for the whole stage. In general we made a good performance. We have qualification in the pocket until February, so now we can focus finally on one competition, the Premier League, and we can be so satisfied.”
It wasn’t the strongest performance by the Citizens, but it was enough to see them through under their new boss. Following the draw, here are my three key takeaways from the action in Germany.
1.) Attacking-wise, City need to be better if they want to advance past Round of 16.
Against a side placed 14th in their domestic league, Manchester City were highly at their best. Granted they did advance to the knockout round Pep still has some work to do with the attacking side of the team. Creating numerous chances on goal, City only managed a single goal. As the competition moves forward, Guardiola needs to have his attackers making the most of their chances on the pitch. The team cannot afford to score a single goal a game and expect to advance.
2.) The 3-5-1-1 worked for the most part.
Manchester City may not have won the match, but the 3-5-1-1 formation was a nice change to see. With Vincent Kompany‘s injury problem, Alex Kolarov slotted next to Nicolas Otamendi and John Stones in the back-line. Fernandinho gave some defensive help as well while Raheem Sterling and Jesus Navas tracked back from the wing. Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva were superb in the midfield creating chances and working the offense through themselves. Sergio Aguero had few chances of his own but was mainly isolated up top for most of the match. This looks like a possible formation for Guardiola to tinker with Premier League play and future F.A. Cup matches approaching.
3.) Look for Guardiola to use final game as statement.
After qualifying yesterday, Manchester City know they have one group-stage match remaining. A home fixture against Celtic could be used as a tune-up but I feel that Manchester City will put out a strong line-up for that match. After drawing 3-3 with Celtic away from home earlier in the competition, Manchester City will definitely want to dominate the Scottish Champions at the Etihad Stadium. Celtic are a different team when away from Celtic Park and Manchester City will try to exploit that in their final match of the group-stage.
Next: Manchester City: Citizens Advance to UCL Round of 16 with 1-1 Draw
The positive is Manchester City are through to the next round, with a game to spare. Up next is a tricky away EPL fixture at Burnley on Saturday.