Where are Bayern's threats

City’s perfect start to the season has been blighted by their European games, which have rarely merited anything near the performances we Blue Mooners have expected from the boys in blue this season.

This week though they face Bayern Munich, a side which made Mancini’s men look frankly ordinary.

Munich are hitting top form now, after a 4-1 victory against Werder Bremen at the weekend and they will prove to be stern opposition.

Blue Moon is going to take a look at where the dangers lie…

Dangermen:

• Franck Ribery- The Frenchmen suffered a dip in his form last season. However he has roared back into life in the Bundesliga and showed his talents on the European stage with a stunning performance against City earlier in the tournament. He is most likely going to operate from the left side of the attack.

• Arjen Robben- The man with glass ankles, as he is known by the Dutch medical staff was absent for Bayern’s mauling of City, however he made a 30 minute cameo in the weekend’s fixture against and bagged two expertly taken penalties in his time on the field.

• Mario Gomez- What Gomez lacks in ability on the ball, he makes up in pure predatory instincts. He pounced upon errors by the City defence to score two strikers goals. Kolo Toure was preferred to Joleen Lescott and it was the Ivorians poor marking which led to Gomez grabbing a brace. Mancini needs to have learned from this, Toure is not sharp enough yet. PLAY LESCOTT.

Key Battles:

• Sergio Aguero vs. Manuel Neur- Germany’s new #1 will be a difficult man to beat at the Allianz Arena, but if there is a man at city who can beat him, Kun Aguero is he. Aguero showed off his class with his opener against Norwich and while he may not be gifted that much space in this fixture, it seems that if a goal is to come for City, it will be from the tiny Argentinean.

• Micah Richards vs. Franck Ribery- Ribery gave Richards a torrid time at the Etihad and with the Frenchmen’s form only improving Richards is going to have to curb his attacking instincts and play hardball against the tricky winger. He wasn’t helped by the fact that his wide men Samir Nasri and David Silva were not particularly interested in defending. Hopefully Mancini will again have learnt his lesson and will start James Milner to help Richards double up on Ribery.

City are relying on other results to get them through, but the focus should be on toppling the Germans.

Fingers crossed for Wednesday! Lets get behind the boys!

John Fernandez

Comments

[footballbear]

Overall Bayern looks like the better team to me (or at least the more experienced one).

If Robben can actually manage to stay fit during the warmup and play, then I think it will be very hard for City to get the win.

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