Manchester City take on Borussia Mönchengladbach hoping to relocate their X-factor. Their scintillating early-season form drew a maximum 15 points and returned five clean sheets. The question then seemed to be how soon Manuel Pellegrini's team might blow away all comers domestically, and if this was to be the year they finally became a true challenger in the Champions League.
But since the last-minute win at Crystal Palace, City have lost three of their four games. The swagger has evaporated and the manner of their capitulations was worryingly familiar. On Saturday they went down 4-1 at Tottenham in a display of abject defending.
The 2-1 home defeat to Juventus came after leading 1-0, with Raheem Sterling missing chances to secure the three points and defensive naivety allowing the Italian champions to grab victory. This has tended to be the tale of City in Europe's blue riband club competition.
Ruthless
Last season they failed to win until matchday five of the group stage. The sense is of a side who are not ruthless enough and who find it difficult when a contest becomes difficult.
Pellegrini, though, struck a defiant note when this was put to him. The manager, who embarrassingly had to return home for his passport before boarding his flight to Düsseldorf, pointed to how since he took over City have always reached the last 16.
"I don't think we fail in Europe. We have qualified for the knockout stages in my two seasons and lost to Barcelona, who are the best team in the world. We have beaten Bayern Munich twice. Last season we won our last two games, against Bayern Munich and Roma, so we know how to do it."
Pellegrini has some mitigation in an injury list that continues to pile up: Vincent Kompany is the headline absentee. The City slump can be traced back to the moment he limped off with his latest calf injury on 75 minutes against Juventus. At that point the score was 1-1; the match ended 2-1 and since then City have since conceded seven goals and only beaten Sunderland in the League Cup.
The manager was not minded to admit City are a poorer side without the central defender but he did concede Kompany’s value. “Of course Vincent is a very important player,” the manager said. “He is our captain and he has started the season very well, but I don’t think one player is so crucial. We won the last six games of last season without Vincent. I think it was the amount of injuries we have had has been more important. We have a strong squad but not good enough to sustain 11 injuries.”
Rejuvenated
While Eliaquim Mangala, who had been rejuvenated alongside Kompany, is also a significant absentee, Joe Hart, David Silva and Yaya Touré are all available to face Mönchengladbach. Silva's expected restoration to the XI following a calf problem means he should slot in behind Sergio Agüero in the number 10 berth, with Kevin De Bruyne moving to the right.
The Bundesliga player of the year is back in familiar territory following his transfer from Wolfsburg and given how well he has begun at City, the hope will be the 24-year-old can shine in Germany once again.
Mönchengladbach, who finished third last year and are back in the European Cup after a 37-year hiatus, have recovered from a run of six consecutive defeats to win their past two matches, the last of them 3-0 at Stuttgart. Eleven days ago Andre Schubert replaced Lucien Favre as the coach, and De Bruyne knows the challenge at Borussia-Park may not be easy.
As Pellegrini said: “I expect a very good game against a very big club. We want to recover the points we dropped at home. We know that Champions League is just five games [more] that we must play and we must qualify.” Guardian Service
