3 areas Manuel Pellegrini will have to look into after Barcelona defeat

Manuel Pellegrini

It was a dramatic night of football at the Etihad stadium on Tuesday night. Manchester City played one of the most important matches in their history and the first ever round of 16 match in the UEFA Champions League. Things did not go according to plan for Manuel Pellegrini’s men as they were handed a 2-0 loss by the Catalans.

The debate about the penalty given to Barcelona can go on for ages , especially when you come to know that Jesus Navas was fouled by Sergio Busquets in the build up, but Manchester City will have to pull up their socks and be prepared to pull out something next to impossible at the Nou Camp on 12 March when Barcelona hosts Manchester City for the second leg of the tie.

Here are three major issues about which Manuel Pellegrini will have to scratch his brain in the coming days:

Find a fixed partner for Kompany

It will be difficult to point out the weak points about the Citizens as they all are having a dream run this season. But, nevertheless the defense seems messy and lacks stability. First of all, there isn’t a fixed line up in the defense sector. Captain Vincent Kompany has not been able to get a fixed and reliable partner until now.

Martin Demichellis has been pretty good, but will anyway miss the match because of the red card shown to him in the first leg. Joleon Lescott is not the best defender in the City line-up, but Matija Nastasic has not played a lot of football this season and bringing him up for this high voltage encounter will be risky. So, bringing Lescott will be the last resort rather than experimenting with Javi Garcia yet again, which has not brought any positive results until now.

Kolarov in, Zabaleta out

Alexander Kolarov has just been brilliant this season, but for no clear reason, he has not got a regular place in the starting line up in most cases. Pablo Zabaleta has just seem to lose the flavor that he had last season. So bringing in Kolarov instead of Zabaleta for the matches to come and give some training time to Zabaleta won’t be a bad option.

Alexander Kolarov has been regular in assisting as well and that brilliant assist to Alvaro Negredo in the 3rd round replay against Blackburn Rovers to bring City 2-0 up was just an example of the Serb’s brilliant form this season. Kolarov was surprisingly used as a winger on Tuesday night about which no one had any clue.

Kolarov is a brilliant all round player and is worthy to play such an important match. His ability to push the attack can contribute tremendously to City’s attacking style of play. Playing Zabaleta as right back just because of his experience and playing such a talented player in a position he usually doesn’t play doesn’t seem to be a very smart option.

Attack , Attack , Attack!

Attacking will have to be the core agenda on City’s program against Barca as that is the only thing which can bring about a change in their fortunes. With Sergio Aguero likely to be back, Man City should not hesitate to bring the AGREDO pair back and take the advantage of a relatively weak Barca defense.

Man City can consider the option of having David Silva in the centre of the pitch looking to put on the pressure on the Barca defense and have Alexander Kolarov pushing forward and attack. The capability of Sergio Aguero and Alvaro Negredo doesn’t need any mentioning as they have proven it time and time again that how destructive they can be. Yaya Toure will have to move forward and get his powerful shots and those cheeky chips over the defense line perfect if City wants to get the best out of themselves.

12th March can turn out be a historical day for Manchester City if they consolidate and bring out their best to beat a very strong looking Barcelona side.