Man City and Liverpool are left pondering the league table and the battle for next season’s European spots after a night of Europa League disappointment.
Mario Balotelli greedily accepted the role of villain again for City – having baffled us all with a bloaty-head allergic reaction in Kiev, the Italian striker this times opted to run his studs into the chest and thigh of an opponent, landing himself an early bath and his team-mates at a the foot of a mountain they never quite managed to scale. Despite David Silva’s trickery and another strike by Aleksandar Kolarov, City’s efforts and invention faded as the game wore on to leave falling short and out of Europe.
Liverpool fared no better. Despite a typically rousing full debut for Andy Carroll, Kenny Dalglish’s side failed to break through a stubborn rearguard effort from Braga at Anfield to drop out of the tournament via their 1-0 first leg defeat in Portugal.
Here’s the notes on last night’s Europa League action…
Despite the weekend clash with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, Roberto Mancini demonstrated his intent by fielding possibly his strongest lineup. Nigel De Jong returned to the midfield holding role, taking his place alongside Yaya Toure and Gareth Barry, with David Silva and Mario Balotelli providing the “support” for Carlos Tevez up front. Aleksandar Kolarov was again at left-back.
That role didn’t stop the Serb reiterating this value as an attacking threat – curling home City’s only goal on the night which appeared to deceive the Kiev keeper and hand Mancini’s side a lifeline.
The goal came just minutes after the dismissal of Balotelli, arguably the turning point of the tie leaving City to chase a deficit for an hour with ten-men. The young Italian, who suffered an allergic reaction to the pitch in the first leg in Kiev, compounded his miserable European double-header by seeing red for sinking his studs into the chest of Goran Popov.The sending off, Balotelli’s second in his short City career, will dominate the headlines; Mancini was careful not to be drawn on the incident in his post-match comments but must surely be tiring of Balotelli – the loosest of cannons who seemingly has a constant knack of attracting controversy which undermines his abilities on the pitch.
“It is difficult in this moment to say anything. The red card made it harder for us but we still played well. Am I disappointed? What do you think? A stupid red card is something we could not afford. When Mario gets sent off he makes things difficult for me, for him and for the team. I will look at the incident later.”
According to reports, Mancini has suggested that he will drop Balotelli from his squad for Sunday’s Stamford Bridge trip; that could well see Kolarov back on the left of midfield in a 4-5-1 unless Mancini puts faith in Edin Dzeko.
Adam Johnson made a return to the bench, despite Mancini previously stating that he would be a risk. Johnson also saw action with 20 minutes remaining and will now presumably be in the frame for an appearance against Chelsea with league games against Sunderland and Liverpool to follow that. A start looks unlikely and Mancini will surely be preserving the winger for United in the FA Cup semi-final on April 16 – realistically, City’s only source of silverware remaining. Johnson seems unlikely to earn immediate investment from Fantasy Managers but, having fallen to just 5.6 in the FPL, he would represent a potential bargain for the run-in.
James Milner also made a return from injury in last night’s game and boosts Mancini’s options in midfield. Milner has been a major disappointment in Fantasy terms this season having fetched just a single goal and 5 assists so far.
City are now free of European distraction – that will surely be welcomed by Fantasy Managers – particularly those intent on holding Carlos Tevez as an asset. Tevez has now scored just a single goal in his last nine appearances for City – an alarming decline for a player who previously looked on target to claim the Premier League Golden Boot and end the season as the Fantasy Premier League leading points scorer.
Tevez will surely start for City at Chelsea but will at least earn a break with Argentina choosing to omit him from their squad for next week’s international’s with USA and Costa Rica. Indeed, speaking before last night’s game, Mancini revealed that he his hoping that his squad gain an opportunity to recharge over the international break.
“It isn’t only Carlos who has lost his sharpness, all the players have. But if we don’t have problems against Kiev or Chelsea, then we can recover all our players after the internationals. Then they can come back very well, like they were four or five weeks ago. But the next two games will be very hard.”
Over at Anfield, Andy Carroll earned his first start in a Liverpool shirt and his first senior start since December 28. He was drafted in up front as Liverpool searched to get back into the tie with Luis Suarez ineligible. Carroll was a menacing figure throughout and arguably had Liverpool’s best opportunities on a night where the Reds struggled for creative ideas. Dalglish had this to say on the Geordie’s full debut…
“He stayed on longer than we hoped he’d have to stay on. Necessity meant he had to stay on the pitch because we needed to score a goal…Overall we are pleased to see him back on the pitch. We weren’t disappointed with his contribution in any way…He was a bit unfortunate he didn’t score a goal. He had a header in the first half that was just wide and in the second half another one where Dirk Kuyt got in the way.”
Dalglish opted to start with young Danny Wilson at left-back with both Martin Kelly and Fabio Aurelio sidelined; that meant that Jamie Carragher shifted back to a central role alongside Martin Skrtel. Joe Cole earned a second consecutive start in midfield as Jay Spearing and Christian Poulsen dropped out from the first leg starting lineup, with Maxi and Carroll drafted in.
The failure to score over the two legs will come as a major disappointment following the superb 3-1 win over United prior to the European tie. Liverpool now face up to a difficult run of league opponents, knowing that a top five finish will likely be required to earn European football next season. They travel to the Stadium of Light this weekend and Carroll’s involvement last night may now cast doubt over his start in that game. Following that, Liverpool are again away from home against former manager Roy Hodgson as they travel to West Brom. A crucial home encounter with City is then followed by the visit to the Emirates.
Fantasy Managers will surely approach Liverpool’s assets with caution. Carroll, once 100% assured of starts, will likely be the key attraction, with Luis Suarez also earning interest. Liverpool’s form over the last eight league games is bettered only by Arsenal. They have scored 14 goals in that spell, conceding just 7. Liverpool’s run-in from gameweek 34 onwards, looks to be the best window for investment (BIR NEW ful TOT avl).
