Stuttgart vs. Manchester City: Things Learned from Pre-Season Friendly

Manchester City's final pre-season game didn't quite go to plan, as they lost 4-2 in Germany against Bundesliga side VfB Stuttgart.

Some terrible defending from the English side saw them go in at the break to a shocking 4-0 scoreline in favour of Stuttgart, with Filip Kostic and Daniel Didavi taking advantage of some wide open spaces to to initially put their side in control. Toward the end of the first half, Daniel Ginczek netted twice inside a minute to really open up a gap that City never looked like breaching.

Raheem Sterling set up two goals late on, from Kelechi Iheanacho and Edin Dzeko, as City at least got themselves on the scoreboard.

Here are some of the lessons and takeaways that the managers might have noted on the final run-out of summer.

Calamitous Defending for Manuel Pellegrini to Sort Out...in a Week

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The first 45 minutes was about as awful as you could get from a top-tier club in terms of their defensive work.

There was no organisation or communication, absolutely no line regularly in place to thwart straightforward runs from deep and huge gaps all over the place. The midfield offered no protection, a Vincent Kompany-led back four failed to sort itself after the first couple of goals came from basic through balls and any attack down either channel was a constant danger.

It was perhaps telling that things improved after the break when Jason Denayer came on; inexperienced he might be, but the Belgian was composed and held his line in the face of continued Stuttgart pressure in the second half.

Manuel Pellegrini has a lot to sort out before the Premier League kicks off in a week, not least of all who his starting centre-backs will be.

Stuttgart's High Press and Intense Attack

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Stuttgart finished 14th in last season's Bundesliga, after battling against relegation for much of the campaign. Improvements were going to be needed in personnel and style for the coming season—and the signs from this match, at least, were encouraging.

A very intense style of play in the first half saw them continually press Manchester City as high upfield as possible, including from the goalkeeper and centre-backs, to win back the ball and counter-attack quickly from close range.

Their channel work was benefited by City's atrocious own first 45 minutes, but the finishing once inside the box was also a sign of a team in a confident mood ahead of the start of the new campaign.

Silva-Nasri: Not a Probable Midfield Combo

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Of course, with nothing riding on the game as such there was no reason for Manuel Pellegrini to not try different setups in his team, but we can probably be fairly certain that Samir Nasri and David Silva won't be seen too often in midfield together once the season kicks off.

With George Evans behind them as the holding player, City deployed a 4-3-3 once more—as they have been doing for most of this season.

Initially, Silva and Nasri ran plenty with the ball into space and looked to combine with Raheem Sterling and Jesus Navas down the flanks, but as soon as Stuttgart's press started to deny City the ball, neither of the offensive central players did enough with their positional work to deny the German team space to work in.

There wasn't much creativity because there was little possession, and as a result the supply line was non-existent. 

Kelechi Iheanacho, on Course to Contribute This Season

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With Stevan Jovetic gone and ESPN FC reporting Edin Dzeko is going, Manchester City look like they'll be starting the season with two senior strikers—perfectly fine if they go with the 4-3-3 system they have used all summer.

It does mean, however, that there will be room for one of the younger players to perhaps make an impression, at least in cup competitions and potentially in bigger fixtures off the bench if injuries take hold of Sergio Aguero or Wilfried Bony.

To that end, Kelechi Iheanacho has done himself no harm of featuring for the first team this summer, putting in a string of impressive displays: dropping deep to link with the midfield or running behind to stretch the defence, in both regards he looks capable, and he also attacked well from wide late on in this game after he was shifted to the right of the front three for the final minutes.

Competitive action will define whether he can step up another level when it matters most, but he can only try to impress when given the chance alongside senior team-mates, and he certainly did that over the past month.

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