Roberto Mancini hasn’t got the hang of this Champions League lark, has he?
But Napoli 2 City 1 doesn’t quite end their involvement.
I watched the whole game last night. Sometimes I flick over but not this time. I kept on watching Napoli outplay City, while wondering how Ashley Young was getting on, playing just behind Berbatov.
Matchday 6 could be dramatic.
Napoli have to win at Villarreal to be sure of qualifying.Villarreal, with injured strikers Nilmar and Rossi, have not won any of their five games so far. If Napoli win that game, the City-Bayern result is irrelevant. Bayern have already won the group, so they might not be motivated.
I reckon Roberto Mancini picked the wrong team again.
I thought he was resting Tevez before the Munich game, where he should have started Tevez. When he went 2-0 down he got very angry and mishandled Tevez, who behaved very badly then and since.
In Naples, he picked the wrong team again. Dzeko always looks clunky against smart Latin teams.Wrong choice. Too clumsy, too predictable. Dzeko had a nightmare.
Aguero is a sparky, nimble poacher who, unusually, is as bright off the ball as he is on it. He can always get you a goal or a penalty or a corner or a free-kick.
That blunder was blindingly obvious. It was a must-win game and the team that scored the first goal was going to have a huge advantage. So Aguero should have started.
I would have started Nasri, not Milner, although Milner was one of City’s successes last night. And Micah Richards, a much better sub option than Adam Johnson, could have made some storming overlaps and made a difference.
Napoli reminded me of Udinese.
Compact, very well-balanced and dynamic. But they had more explosive penetration than Udinese. And more experience.
Cavani will become a big Champions League star, like Drogba used to be, like Torres should be.
I had hoped this game would be a compelling spectacle and it immediately was. Balotelli sent a dipping shot just wide of the post, Lavezzi played a slick one-two with Cavani and fired just wide. Napoli were playing incisive bang!bang! football.
Inler, signed from Udinese in the summer, fired a 30-yarder which Joe Hart had to tip over and the first goal came from that corner
Cavani’s near-post header for 1-0 was a bit jammy, but he got a touch on a precision inswinger to the near post. That\’s a good way to score a goal in a tight match. If you practice that set-piece enough, it will work from time to time.
In 33, a defender poked the ball to David Silva, whose shot was saved by keeper De Sanctis but broke to give Balotelli a tap-in for 1-1
The winning goal, in 49, was also scored by Cavani.
When Dossena cut back a low cross that was awkwardly between his centre forward’s legs, Cavani improvised a right-foot stab that went hard and low, close to Joe Hart\’s feet. A fantastic moment of acrobatic reflex play by the Uruguayan.
Edinson Cavani is an Ooh!Ah! centre forward. You concentrate when you watch him because you know he can do special things.
Cavani is 24 and six foot two and he scored 26 goals in 35 Serie A games last season.
When I saw that goal, I thought: Dzeko can\’t do that, Balotelli can but didn\’t tonight, Aguero can.
I reckon Napoli were the better side in both games.
They showed us how 4-3-3 should be played, in a disciplined but penetrating style, with fast strikers Lavezzi, Hamsik and Cavani making runs for each other. When this team goes forward, it\’s with pace, conviction, angles that stretch you and kill you. I love them. I can\’t wait to see Napoli play Real Madrid.
Yes, the Champions League is a learning curve for all newcomers. But I don\’t think Mancini is learning very quickly. City\’s riches mean he has two teams and that doesn\’t help. In fact, it increases his chances of getting it wrong. A huge squad multiplies his chances of over-thinking it, of selecting an unbalanced team that will not play fluently and solidly.
Obviously, anybody can lose 2-0 in Munich. And anybody can lose 2-1 in Naples. No English club has ever won there in European competition.
So that was my verdict : Starting with Aguero might have allowed City to score first. And Cavani was spectacular.
Manchester United stuttered to a 2-2 draw with Benfica.
But I only saw highlights, so I\’m not going to pontificate.Conceding early with a Phil Jones own-goal, United went in 2-1 up with strikes by Berbatov and Fletcher, but allowed Pablo Aimar to level it by scoring his first goal in seven years.
One Matchday 6, United now need a point in Basel, who drew 3-3 with them at Old Trafford
Benfica will win the group, which is very bad news for United, who might have to play Barcelona or Real Madrid in the Round of 16.
So the Manchester clubs had a bad night on Matchday 5.
The London clubs might do better.
Arsenal could nick a win against Dortmund tonight. Tomorrow I\’ll tell you whether Mario Gotze is the player this team needs.
Chelsea also face German opposition.
They play Bayer Leverkusen on ITV tonight and Leverkuson have a giant striker, Kiessling, who looked useful as a teenager. Ballack knows where Chelsea can be vulnerable.
Apparently, Alex and Torres will start.
Whatever happens, Chelsea can\’t be as bad as they were against Liverpool.
Can they?