Manchester City Need Vincent Kompany Back to Top Form After Latest Injury Return

Manchester City let another lead slip and failed to close ground on the top two in the Premier League on Tuesday night, having to settle for a 1-1 draw at relegation-threatened Newcastle United.

City are left still looking over their shoulders at the likes of Manchester United, now five points behind but with a game in hand, as they look to seal UEFA Champions League football for next season in what has been an unconvincing and disappointing season on the domestic side. In Europe, it's a different matter, as City prepare for a semi-final tie against Real Madrid.

What's for sure is that to have any chance at all to progress beyond the last four, City's defence need to be absolutely on point, and that means Vincent Kompany must be back to full fitness and in form, something he failed to display against the Magpies with the first leg against Real just six days away.

Newcastle

Kompany has only just clocked up over 1,000 minutes of action in the Premier League this season, this just his 14th league appearance after a succession of calf problems. It's natural that it takes time to get the balance and flow back into his game after an absence, but City don't have time. He has one more game, home to Stoke City on Saturday, before the Champions League returns.

Against Newcastle, he was ponderous on the ball and conceded possession in dangerous areas three times, twice passing straight to opponents and once dallying too long and being caught.

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Losing the ball in his own half to Moussa Sissoko or Papiss Cisse, he escaped from the worst of what might have happened; it will be a rather different matter should it reoccur against Cristiano Ronaldo or Karim Benzema.

Kompany was caught flat-footed, square to his man with a body shape that didn't allow for ease of turning as Sissoko powered past him more than once, with his yellow card coming for a cynical foul on the French international who simply didn't let up against an out-of-sorts Kompany. Sissoko isn't perhaps the most refined player in the Premier League, and his control and end product can be sorely lacking at times, but his drive and surging runs caused no end of problems for the Belgian defender.

Real Madrid

The Spanish side are still trying to define a precise way of playing under Zinedine Zidane, but the basic premise is simple enough: 4-3-3 on the ball, at times with Gareth Bale dropping deep and wide to create two banks of four when out of possession.

They aren't a side who will relentlessly press high upfield, but winning the ball in midfield or near the final third will almost always result in a swift counter-attack with some sort of end product: a shot, a set piece, a through pass or cross. They have speed on the break that few others can match in world football and forwards who will shoot at will.

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Kompany cannot hope to match or keep track of the runners from deep if he is not at his agile and powerful best; worryingly for City, it was Eliaquim Mangala who had to come across and cover for Kompany more than once while still also jumping around the front of attackers to commit fouls himself.

Add in the Real Madrid midfield playmakers who can surge from deep or pass into space to draw defenders out of position, and City will need a full-throttle partnership at the back.

It's fair to say, that's not what they displayed on Tuesday at St. James' Park.

City

In some ways, Manuel Pellegrini has already won in Europe this season in terms of taking City further than they have been before and seeing off a genuinely threatening rival in the quarter-finals when they beat Paris Saint-Germain.

Not too many would class City as among the top four in Europe, particularly after their inconsistent season domestically, but likewise, most of Real Madrid's campaign has been less than stellar and filled with uncertainty. However, they are in the hunt for a double come the end of the season, with Europe one and La Liga the other possible trophy.

The semi-final tie will be decided, in all probability, by the clinical nature of the forwards in each team rather than stoical and heroic defences—but that doesn't mean both Zidane and Pellegrini don't need their first-choice centre-backs to be fit and in form. Without them, the chance creation levels over 180 minutes could go through the roof. With them, at least they have a level of talent that can deny the attackers the space to work in.

For Kompany in particular, by far City's most important man in the back line, being in top form gives them a reasonable chance of reaching the final.

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