Manchester City Huff past Hoffenheim

The Champions League continues to be the one competition many Manchester City fans remain ambivalent about.

In recent weeks various pundits have lined up to criticise Manchester City fans for failing to get behind the UEFA competition. Jason Cundy on Talksport even went as far as to call the City fans arrogant for their lack of interest.

However all of that diatribe fails to acknowledge the strong belief of City fans that this is a competition which is tainted, where the odds are stacked and the winners are decided in advance.

We’ve certainly been on the receiving end of some strange refereeing decisions over the years and we all feel UEFA would simply rather we weren’t taking part, so they could continue to share out the prize money amongst the historical “big” clubs of the past.

The refereeing performance tonight would have done little to assuage the feelings of paranoia amongst the Manchester City fans. The performance wasn’t just inept, it felt more organised than that.

This was certainly an entertaining game for the neutral fan, if there is indeed such a thing. There were offside calls, goal mouth scrambles, attacks, clattering challenges, the clearest penalty ever which was not awarded, a goal within 45 seconds and Ederson missing a tackle in midfield.

City started the game with Walker at right back, Kompany and Otamendi as centre backs and Laporte in an unusual position as a left back. Fernandinho, David Silva and Ilkay Gundogan made up the midfield. Sane, Sterling and Aguero formed the attacking options.

There is a belief amongst City fans that on occasion Guardiola can get things wrong – often in the Champions League. The root cause of the tactical mistakes seems to be his willingness to shake things up, a kind of over thinking which leads us away from our tried and tested league successes.

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Tonight the lack of a proper left back created a tactical issue for Guardiola. Should he play Zinchenko who can be rash in possession or play someone else out of position or should he risk a back 3? In opting for Laporte, Guardiola probably made the safest choice but Laporte’s unfamiliarity with the role stood out at times.

It took less than a minute for Hoffenheim to take the lead with a good goal. The goal came about through a perfect defence splitting pass, which isolated each of the defenders in turn. It is to their credit that City worked hard to bounce back, but it probably helps we are so frequently gifting goals to the opposition.

Hoffenheim pressed well and followed much of the same script as Lyon did against City. They hounded Fernandinho off the ball and successfully turned over possession a number of times. Distances between our midfield of Fernandinho, Silva and Gundogan just seemed too great allowing Hoffenheim to play through the gaps. City tried to tighten up but both Fernandinho and Gundogan struggled.

City hit back in the 8th minute with a well taken goal by Aguero following some fast play along the wing by Sane and some clever feet and trickery. Sane had a good game today in front of the watching German National Team manager.

The rest of the first half was a tactical clash as Hoffenheim attempted to disrupt and City pressed in search of a winner.

In the second half, Hoffenheim had attempted to limit City’s attacking by tightening up at the back. They committed less men forward and became less cavalier as a result. Of course this made them seem more like the Premier League sides we are used to playing, who defend In numbers.

It seemed as though despite the efforts made by City the breakthrough would not be coming. An extreme example of refereeing seemed to underline this. Sane broke through and into the penalty area at speed and was unceremoniously upended by the onrushing Hoffenheim keeper. It is one of the clearest penalties I have ever seen and it was denied. It’s difficult to understand what the referee was doing and it was to City’s credit that they did not lose their heads.

Walker is an experienced defender but as my dad says, he always seems to have a mistake in him. Today was no exception because despite his general game management being good and his pacey runs he committed a woeful challenge. It could have easily been a red card and if it had been given Walker would have had no complaints.

The elusive winner seemed unlikely. It was going to be one of those games. Gundogan made way for Bernardo, clutching his leg as though he had a hamstring problem as he left the pitch. We looked better once Gundogan had gone off, keeping the ball better and moving the ball at a greater pace. Despite all of Gundogan’s qualities he has a tendency to slow games down and become isolated in midfield.

The goal was a moment of genius by David Silva, our little magician. A ball was crossed into the six yard box and the Hoffenheim defender controlled the ball but Silva nipped in and whilst falling unleashed an unstoppable snapped shot. It was 2-1 to City and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

My favourite other moment in the game also involved Leroy Sane but it was not the kind of balanced dancing down the wing with the ball we usually see. A long ball down the pitch by Hoffenheim threatened to undo City. Ederson came rushing out but the bounce was misjudged and the ball shot over his head, leaving the Hoffenheim player with an open goal. But Sane hadn’t stopped running and he nipped the ball away. A great lung bursting 60 yard covering run to ensure we still had the game.

There is a bigger match at the weekend to come and more chances ahead in the Champions League but winning this match with a late goal  felt like a relief, like we have arrived in the season. It was late winners last season which gave us the belief to finish as Centurions.

Of more concern to Guardiola in his more circumspect moments will be the ease with which Hoffenheim disrupted our game plan by getting at Fernandinho.

These are tactics employed successfully by Liverpool and Lyon and we need to find an answer to edge the other teams aside in our quest for more winners medals. I suspect the answer may lie in the January transfer window and how successful we are at securing some defensive midfield cover may ultimately shape our season.

Right now I am taking positives from today and hoping the momentum we are gathering may assist us in the hostile climate of Merseyside.