A convincing victory. Qualification for the knock-out stages. Another clean sheet. A good workout for squad players. No notable injuries picked up. Boateng and Balotelli both taking the opportunity to improve their sharpness. All in all, it could hardly have gone better.
As expected Roberto Mancini rotated his squad. Kolo Toure, Balotelli and Boateng are the most likely of the starters to feature against Bolton.
Given – Great to see Shay get a game and some slack defending gave him the opportunity to make a couple of saves. A professional showing as you’d expect. 7
Boateng – Showed his quality with some lovely passes down the line for Wright-Phillips. Also timed his tackles impeccably. 7
City will be looking for their first goals in 3 games at Eastlands when they welcome the Austrian champions tonight. Victory for Roberto Mancini’s side will seal our passage to the knockout stages if Juventus fail to win away to Lech Poznan.
This would be the perfect outcome, otherwise we would be going to Turin needing a result. That could prove tricky and would require a full strength side during a hectic period in the Premier League – a scenario Mancini would like to avoid.
City put in a thoroughly professional performance to take three points from their opening group fixture. Once David Silva had scored his first goal for the club after 8 minutes, City were in a position of strength and never let it slip. There should have been more before Jo bagged his first for the club in two years.
Roberto Mancini rotated a portion of his squad and played two up front with a midfield diamond. A slightly unusual system but it worked well.
Hart – While not having to make any saves, Joe needed to be on his toes at set pieces. His judgement was good with a couple of punches, then letting his defence take care of the rest. 6
Zabaleta – A welcome run out for the Argentine. Solid defensively and he took up good positions in attack to provide width. As usual Pablo finished the game in a different position to which he started – this time left-back. 7.
City head to Austria for an early 6pm (BST) kick-off against Salzburg in our opening Europa League fixture. With ourselves and Juventus the favourites to go through, Roberto Mancini could be looking for a victory.
Not that Salzburg should be underestimated, having already come through two Champions League qualifiers before dropping out 3-4 to Hapoel Tel Aviv. Last season they won all six Europa League group games defeating the likes of Lazio and Villarreal along the way.
