Manchester City vs. Bayern Munich: Issues Up and Down City Lineup Need Resolving
Manchester City vs. Bayern Munich provides a massive lifeline for City to revive their Champions League dreams. They need to pull out all three points at home if they're to have any hope of advancing beyond the group stage for a second consecutive season.
Given the shape of their lineup, it's a tall task that lies ahead of them.
City have racked up just two points from four games, leaving them dead last in Group E. They need a win, plus help from the CSKA-Roma matchup, in order to guarantee they still have a shot to go through. Even then, they'd still need another positive result in the December 10 finale against Roma.
Despite showing in the past they can beat Bayern, they enter this one as massive underdogs, even at home. This comes largely down to form, with City struggling for any semblance of consistency as Bayern run away with the Bundesliga once again.
Not only that, but City are missing key players aplenty from their already shallow lineup.
Both Yaya Toure and Fernandinho are suspended after their dismissals in the most recent matchup against CSKA. Plus, the club is without injury holdouts in David Silva and Edin Dzeko. That's four immensely important members of the squad gone for the biggest clash of the season.
The midfield absences of Toure, Fernandinho and Silva leave a lot to be worried about for City.
Missing the former two leaves the side without a lot of muscle in the middle. Fernando has shown that he's able to pick up some of the slack defensively, but it's tough to replace Toure's driving runs from the middle.
James Milner could revert back to his old central midfield position to plug the gap, keeping the attacking intent while working hard in both directions. Alternatively, Frank Lampard is a possibility to start, having provided a spark from the bench in his smattering of appearances.
With midfield depth at a premium, it's unlikely that both would feature, unless they opt to start Milner out wide with Jesus Navas and Samir Nasri joining him in the midfield. Besides the two main strikers—Sergio Aguero and Stevan Jovetic—only Jose Angel Pozo remains in an attacking sense.
The former two players' availability was also thought to be under question for this one, but Manuel Pellegrini quickly dispelled those rumors:
"PELLEGRINI ON JOVETIC AND AGUERO: [on reports neither trained today] "Both of them are in the squad list"
— Manchester City FC (@MCFC) November 24, 2014"
With little else to spare, having these two available will be massive.
It's possible that, with Bayern having sealed progression, they might rotate their ranks. But they've still got a stern defensive unit consisting of Mehdi Benatia, Dante, Jerome Boateng and others to choose from. But with limited options of their own, Pellegrini will have to work up a considerable game plan to outfox Pep Guardiola.
City's own defensive unit is a cause for concern in itself.
Aleksandar Kolarov was also confirmed out, per Stuart Brennan of the Manchester Evening News, while Matija Nastasic is still not an option. Vincent Kompany is back in the squad but inconsistency and the occasional lapse has blighted much of the campaign at the back.
Look no further than against Swansea on Saturday. A ball was flicked over the top, and suddenly Wilfried Bony was through on goal with nobody keeping an eye on him. Gylfi Sigurdsson's run just before him may have thrown the defense off, but they switched off badly allowing the Ivorian to stroke home the opener.
If Bony was a cause for concern, then Bayern's army of attackers must surely be as well.
Of the 12 players with five or more Bundesliga goals this season—per the league's site—four are with the Bavarian giants: Mario Gotze leading the way with seven, Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Muller on six and Arjen Robben one back of that duo.
Essentially, City's squad is all over the place at the exact wrong time. Midfield depleted, attacking options limited and defense inconsistent. It falls to Pellegrini to pull a rabbit out of the hat to save his side's dwindling Champions League hopes.
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