Ger McCarthy
Mancini needs a result at home to Dortmund
Roberto Mancini has regularly cut a disgruntled figure on the touchline as his Manchester City side struggle to recapture the form that delivered last season’s Premier League title success. Verbal spats with executive Brian Marwood over City’s transfer activity, goalkeeper Joe Hart for his after match comments following the 3-2 defeat at Real Madrid and with Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert at a recent League Cup defeat underlines how the pressure is growing on the Italian manager to deliver on the European stage. Scoring hasn’t been a problem but conceding eight Premier League goals in the first month of the new campaign alone is a worrying statistic.
Anything other than a home victory over current Bundesliga title-holders Borussia Dortmund would severely weaken City’s chances of qualifying from a group that also contains tricky home and away fixtures against Dutch Champions Ajax. Sergio Aguero and David Silva’s return to form is welcome but Mancini needs his entire squad to deliver a win over the Germans otherwise speculation will go into overdrive about his future at the Etihad Stadium.
Milan desperately need a win to kick-start their campaign
AC Milan’s Group C encounter away to Zenit St Petersburg on Wednesday night offers Massimiliano Allegri’s side an opportunity to ignite an otherwise flagging campaign. A 1-1 draw at home to Anderlecht in their group opener was watched by a paltry attendance of 27,593 at the San Siro and poor domestic form (11 points from six league games) has seen the former Serie A champions drop to 11th in the standings.
The Rossoneri’s hopes of success lie in the attacking tandem of Giampaolo Pazzini and Stephan El Shaarawy who have combined for seven goals this season and the two strikers will need to produce the goods against a St. Petersburg side that began their Champions League odyssey with a surprise loss at Malaga. Confidence is low in the Milan squad despite gaining a hard earned point away to Parma at the weekend and failure to register a Champions League win in Russia will only ramp up the pressure on under-fire Coach Allegri ahead of next weekend’s derby against Inter.
United’s defence must step up
Tottenham Hotspur’s first league victory at Old Trafford since 1989 drew plenty of weekend headlines but the North London club’s surprise win was aided by some inept Manchester United defending. The ease with which Spurs galloped through United’s rearguard for their first two goals will no doubt worry Alex Ferguson, as will his current first choice central defenders Rio Ferdinand and Jonny Evan’s inability to strike up a solid understanding. Ferguson spoke recently of the importance of having a settled back four – referring to Gary Pallister and Steve Bruce’s partnership during United’s dominance of the 1990’s – and the loss of Nemanja Vidic, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling to injury is certainly hampering United’s chances of progressing in Europe.
A clean sheet away to CFR Cluj would go a long way to helping United top Group H, especially after leaking nine goals in their opening six Premier League fixtures. The 1-0 win over Galatasary on Matchday1 was far from comfortable with the visiting Turkish side creating thirteen scoring opportunities and deserving at least a draw for their impressive efforts. The bottom line is that United’s defence has to step it up in Romania on Tuesday night.
Juventus can be a force in Europe this season
The Bianconeri announced their Champions League return from a match-fixing scandal that relegated the club to Serie B just a few short years ago by holding Chelsea to a thrilling 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge. Next up for the Italian title-holders is a must-win Group E game at home to Shakhtar Donetsk with manager Antonio Conte continuing his match-fixing ban and having to sit in the stands.
Juventus are in rude health following a 3-1 victory at home to Roma this past weekend to move three points clear at the top of the Serie A table. Andrea Pirlo is in majestic form in the centre of the park behind an exciting attacking trio of Mirko Vucinic, Sebastian Giovinco and Fabio Quagliarella. If the current Juventus squad can transfer their impressive domestic form onto the European stage then the ‘Grand Old Lady of Turin’ is capable of reaching the latter stages of the competition.
Zlatan and PSG are capable of making an impact
PSG’s decision to sign Thiago Silva from AC Milan and Ezequiel Lavezzi from Napoli were dwarfed by the arrival of Zlatan Ibrahimovic during a summer transfer-spending spree by the club’s new Qatari owners. The Swedish striker’s reported transfer fee of 15 million and even more expensive wage demands sparked anger in France but the signing has proven a worthwhile one with the Paris club sitting second in Ligue 1 and searching for their second consecutive Champions League victory.
A 4-1 demolition of Dynamo Kiev on Matchday1 made the rest of Europe sit up and take notice. Ibrahimovic scored twice that night and was quoted earlier in the week: “I totally believe in the dream that Paris have to become one of the best teams in Europe and in the world. But to do this we have to win”. Victory away to an out-of-sorts Porto on Wednesday evening would put PSG in the Group A driving seat and earmark Ibrahimovic’s new side as a dangerous opponent in the knockout stages of the competition.
Follow Ger on Twitter: @germccarthy74
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/nQZi89zsVyE/post.aspx
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