Smash & Trash – Silva shows his world class credentials again

Published on December 8, 2011 by Dean Ludford · No Comments

Smash – David Silva

David Silva once again illustrated his world-class credentials with yet another man of the match performance. Silva was everywhere, and his brilliant first half strike eased the City nerves, as City eventually eased to a comfortable victory. Yaya Toure impressed, also, and he will be missed when he goes off to the African nations Cup in the New Year. It was a strange game in truth, as City waited for hope in Villarreal who, with a draw at home to Napoli, could have helped City progress into the knockout stages of the Champions League. But it wasn’t to be, as two second half Napoli goals confirmed City’s exit and a relegation to the Europa League. David Silva is fast becoming a cult hero at City and he is paramount to any future success that City will have.

Trash – Bayern Munich

Bayern Munich were already through and, due to a flu epidemic sweeping through the club, they rested many of their senior players. Their fringe players, however, did the club no justice at all. They were simply outclassed by a much hungrier City side, and the players have done themselves no favours with a plea for a first team spot. Furthermore, Napoli, if they hadn’t had got the result they needed, would have been right to question such a tepid Bayern team.

Manager watch

Roberto Mancini will be happy with his team’s performance, but, although he won’t admit it, he will be absolutely gutted that his team have failed to make the knockout stages. He will, no doubt, proclaim the advantages of playing on a Thursday night in the Europa League, but that would, perhaps, be disguising his own naivety and mistakes. He will point to the ‘Tevezgate’ situation as being a key reason why his team has not progressed but, in truth, City were out after defeat in Naples a fortnight ago. Conversely, Bayern Munich Manager, Jupp Heynckes, will not worry too much about last night’s result and will instead look to the knockout stages and believe his team has a real chance of winning the tournament – especially as the final is in Munich.

Fan watch

It was an awkward night for the City fans; as the teams reached half time, City were on the verge of progressing, but they knew that once Napoli had scored any hopes they had were to be quashed. As City fans stood anxiously with their radios to their ears, and mobile phones at the ready, news soon filtered through of not one but two Napoli goals, and the atmosphere became quiet, and the game soon resembled that of a practice match. But, fair play to the City fans, most of whom stayed behind to give the team a standing ovation. City now have to reward their loyalty by winning the league – it’s that simple. Munich fans, however, used the game to mock City fans, often chanting ‘Napoli,Napoli’, and to highlight City’s exit, collectively waved to the devastated City fans.