It was a sluggish night at the City of Manchester Stadium but one young player made it his night against Timisoara and continued where he left off by giving Mancini something to think about.
Now I'm not wanting to put to much pressure on the lad but, right now I think Dedryk Boyata is showing far more promise than Richards and Onouha showed us.
At youth level Boyata had a keen eye for goal and now hes starting to show us that potential with his pace, height, positioning and ability to read a game well.
It was clear to see a few of our fringe players where short of match fitness and sharpness, players were slightly off the pace at times meaning Timisoara were picking up the loose balls despite City having most of the possession.
Although Adebayor is as good as he is, I don't see his future with us and think we need a tall and strong striker like 6ft3 Edin Dzeko. With rumour of Adebayor and Robinho wanting away we can only hope Mancini replaces them well, Robinho looks certain to leave after Mancini confirmed Robbie has a few opportunities but whether or not Adebayor leaves remains to be seen.
With all due respect to FC Timisoara, I think our fringe players had an easy night and I honestly believe that if Mancini played the same line up against Juventus as he did in the second leg then we will be torn apart.
With that said we have a chance to go on and win the Europa League with hard work but then we can not afford to loose out on a Champions League place via the Premier League either so Mancini has his job cut out. Should Mancini save Milner, Barry, Johnson and Tevez for the Domestic League or should we be playing them in all competitions, I mean I believe in rotating our players as long as we stick with our inner core.
Keeping the faith I believe our first team have the strength in depth to go all the way but I am not to sure about one or two of our inconsistant players, until we have Kolarov and Boateng back I am feeling a little uneasy.
Through to the group stage
Kind of crazy feeling when you think about where we were years ago, fighting for promotion after promotion and facing relegation. Now were in Europe and fighting for Champions League football with the added spice of watching world class players wearing our shirt.
Group A:
Juventus: We will have to break Defensive Mid 'Mohamed Sissoko' and Goalkeeper 'Gianluigi Buffon' while keeping quiet Forward 'Amauri' and Captain / Forward 'Alessandro Del Piero'.
Danger man: Alessandro Del Piero
FC Red Bull Salzburg: We will have to break Defensive Mid's 'Nikola Pokrivac', 'Thomas Augustinussen and Goalkeeper 'Gerhard Tremmel' while keeping quiet Attacking Mid 'Gonzalo Zarate' and Strikers 'Joaquin Boghossian' and 'Roman wallner'.
Danger man: Gonzalo Zarate
Lech Poznan: We will have to break Defender 'Manuel Arboleda' and Goalkeeper 'Grzegorz Kasprzik' while keeping quiet Attacking Mid 'Semir Stilic' and Striker 'Artjoms Rudnev'
Danger man: Semir Stilic
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