115 goals in 39 games… but now Manchester City have issues to resolve

 
Jack Pitt-Brooke14 February 2014

Manchester City could well win the quadruple but, with just one point — and no goals — from their last two League games, the big blue juggernaut is facing as many questions now as it has done all season.

Chelsea return to the Etihad Stadium, where they won 1-0, tomorrow, before facing Barcelona on Tuesday — and Manuel Pellegrini has some issues to consider.

The formation

All season Pellegrini has been loyal to his cavalier conception of a 4-4-2. It has helped City to score mountains of goals — 115 in 39 games — and produced some of the best attacking football in England for years. But it is City’s weakness as well as their strength and the two best teams to have come to the Etihad Stadium this season — Bayern Munich and Chelsea — both picked off City in midfield. Pellegrini has a swift rematch against Chelsea tomorrow before the arrival of Barcelona, the best possession team of recent years. Should he stick to his principles or compromise this time?

Depth in central midfield

Fernandinho has been City’s signing of the season, bringing so much intelligence, skill and dynamism to midfield that he dovetails perfectly with Yaya Toure. But City have desperately struggled in their last two games without him. Martin Demichelis was disastrous against Chelsea, far too slow for the role, while James Milner, who played in the 0-0 at Norwich City, does not have the same imaginative spark. Javi Garcia has returned to training recently but he is far slower than Fernandinho and City are in real need of alternatives in central midfield.

Simon Johnson's combined Manchester City and Chelsea XI (4-2-3-1)

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A partner for Kompany

Pellegrini’s approach is attacking enough but City would be more solid at the back with a dependable partner for the remarkable Vincent Kompany. All season Pellegrini has rotated between Demichelis, Joleon Lescott and Matija Nastasic, with none of them making a desperately strong case for retention. Nastasic is having a difficult second season, looking far less comfortable than he did last year. Lescott’s confidence has gone and he is set to leave this summer. Demichelis, though, Pellegrini’s old favourite from River Plate and Malaga, is an unusual combination of slow and reckless. Even Kompany cannot do all the defending by himself.

Missing Sergio Aguero

Any team in the world would miss Sergio Aguero, even one that cost as much as Manchester City. He missed one month with a calf injury earlier in the season but the partnership of Edin Dzeko and Alvaro Negredo was good enough. Aguero came back, scored seven in five, but is injured again and this time the solution is less obvious. There was not enough movement in the Chelsea defeat and the addition of Stevan Jovetic at Carrow Road did not help City score either. Aguero will not return tomorrow, or for Barcelona. Has the time come to play one up front?

Away form

Despite the two cup games coming up, it is the title that matters most and City’s run-in is not easy. Away form has been their problem, after defeats at Chelsea and, rather less understandably, Sunderland, Aston Villa and Cardiff. City still have to go to Old Trafford, the Emirates, Anfield and Goodison Park. Those are the games where the title will be decided.

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