Manchester City Must Improve on Derby Win Ahead of Crucial CSKA Clash

Manchester City broke out of their recent funk by picking up a 1-0 victory over Manchester United. The derby win kept them within six points of current league leaders Chelsea, while also trailing Southampton by two points.

However, it was far from the best showing at the Etihad.

The champions got an early break when Chris Smalling's pair of poor decisions got him sent off, but they were denied two reasonable penalty shots before the break. Sergio Aguero's goal just past the hour mark set the scoreline, but the visitors pushed hard for an equalizer that was not to come.

It was a win City needed badly but not the kind of win that shakes things up immensely. With a do-or-die Champions League matchup with CSKA Moscow looming on Wednesday, there must be improvement.

As Manuel Pellegrini told the club site after the match:

"

We played well up until we scored the goal, but not as well after. This can happen in games of this intensity.

We lost our way a little and stopped pressurising United when they had the ball, but the bottom line is that we have beaten a very good side with very good players so I am happy with the victory.

"

This has been the case through much of this season—an inability to kill games off.

One can look no further than the away fixture in Moscow not three weeks ago. City stormed out to a two-goal lead by half-time, but some slack defending, wastefulness in possession and listless moves gifted the Russians a point.

In the previous group-stage match against Roma, City bagged a goal just four minutes in but were second best through much of the remainder. Just after the goal, Maicon—the former City man who conceded the spot-kick—slammed a trademark drive against the bar.

Jon Super/Associated Press

Francesco Totti's wonderful historic equalizer midway through the half seemed to drain the hosts, and they were slowly overrun. Miralem Pjanic bossed the midfield, getting the better of Yaya Toure and Fernandinho as the Italians bagged a crucial point on the road.

Strangely, that match came just three days after City had scored twice against Hull in the game's first 10 minutes before being pegged back twice barely half an hour in. City did manage to win that match at the KC Stadium by a 4-2 scoreline, but the Tigers are not of the same caliber opposition they've faced in the Champions League.

There's a lot more on the line Wednesday than there was in Hull.

One further issue looming for City is health. David Silva is out, of course, but Pellegrini confirmed earlier Tuesday that Frank Lampard and Aleksandar Kolarov are both unavailable. Lampard spoke Monday to City's site of his hope of making the squad, but he appears to have fallen just short.

Kolarov, meanwhile, was injured in the warmups of the derby. The BBC has reported that the Serbian defender will miss up to a month with a calf issue. Gael Clichy will get an extended run at left-back after putting in a strong showing on Sunday.

With Lampard and Silva out, midfield options remain thin. Samir Nasri may well see a start to provide a creative spark in the middle, but more than likely a large load will have to be carried by Toure.

Toure is coming off what looked one of his best performances of the season—especially the second half. Perhaps not being awarded a stonewall penalty gave him the drive to attack more and more as he plowed through the piecemeal United defensive ranks.

Ivan Sekretarev/Associated Press

Hopefully for City, he'll be able to hold on to that feeling to put together a string of solid performances.

In the end, the key for this side will be ruthlessness. The game is to be played in front of an entirely pro-City crowd due to continued UEFA sanctions against CSKA—though that didn't stop the Russian fans last time.

With everything at stake, the home support ought to be in full song to drive their team to a much-needed victory. As Pellegrini stated to City's site before the derby: "We are a team and we need top players with top performances all the time."

They need them now more than ever.

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