Manchester City's Champions League hopes are hanging by a thread after defeat against Napoli.
After falling behind to Edinson Cavani's effort, Mario Balotelli equalised from close range before half time.
But Napoli danger man Cavani - who netted at the Etihad Stadium earlier this season - scored shortly after the restart to give the home side the win.
The Blues are now third in Group A going into the last game, and must hope that they can beat Bayern Munich and Napoli slip up at Villarreal.
Stall
What a time for City’s goal machine to stutter and stall. The Blues have swept everything before them in the nine games since that disappointing defeat in Munich, scoring 33 goals and creating chances at will.
But after Cavani – a possible City target when Carlos Tevez finally slinks off into the sunset – had twice put the Italians ahead, the Blues could find no answer.
Although he scored the equaliser - Balotelli missed three golden chances in a game in which he was desperate to play and to shine, and now City need a miracle to qualify.
Some looked over-awed by the occasion, others just didn’t perform, and defensively they were exposed time and time again.
And perhaps Roberto Mancini was left to rue leaving out Micah Richards, as his replacement Pablo Zabaleta did not exploit the wide-open spaces down Napoli’s left flank in the way the rampaging Richards does.
City should have learned from the 1-1 draw at the Etihad that ceding possession to the Serie A side is a dangerous thing to do.
Cavani, Marek Hamsik and Ezequiel Lavezzi form a fast, quick-thinking, attacking trident, and with one or two City players looking to be taken by the occasion, they were a danger from the off.
Balotelli curled a shot just wide for the first effort, and City were finding it easy to work openings – but it was the pace of Napoli’s thrusts which looked the more potent for most of the first half.
But it was soon Napoli surging forward, roared on by the 60,000-strong crowd.
Hamsik headed straight at Joe Hart, Lavezzi flashed a drive just wide after a brilliant one-two with Cavani, and the Argentine ace was also inches away from connecting with Andrea Dossena’s cross.
Hart was forced to tip over Gokhan Inler’s drive as Napoli had a purple patch – and from the corner they moved ahead.
Lavezzi’s corner found Cavani at the near post – another lesson City should have learned from the Bayern defeat – and the Uruguayan’s header appeared to skim off Kolarov and Yaya Toure before finding its way into the net at the near post.
With the two Curvas howling to the Neapolitan moon with delight, City were up against it, and their Champions League hopes seemed to be drifting away.
City looked shaken, and it even appeared to be getting to the cultured David Silva, who sliced a shot wide as the Blues gathered their wits to mount a penetrative attack.
But this side is made of sterner stuff, and they knew that Napoli were not convincing at the back.
Weaknesses
They exploited those defensive weaknesses to the full on 33 minutes as Dzeko hit the by-line and crossed, straight to Pablo Cannavaro.
His clearance went to Silva, whose shot was palmed by keeper Morgan de Sanctis – to the feet of Balotelli for the simplest of goals.
Now it was City’s turn to sit and wait for the counter, and they almost perfected it just before the break.
A swift thrust upfield ended with Silva flipping a trademark reverse pass to Kolarov, and his low, hard shot somehow stuck under de Sanctis’ body.
City needed a solid start to the second half. What they got was another Naples nightmare. Cavani’s movement had caused them problems all game, and he dropped deep to pick up the ball again.
Dossena’s raid down the left cut the Blues right flank open, and his cross found Cavani striding in to side-foot a host to which Hart got a hand but could not keep it out.
The volume of noise cranked up again, and Napoli’s menace increased accordingly, with City again forced to take a deep breath and try to find some composure.
Balotelli let the frustration get the better of him, reacting to the award of a free-kick against him with dissent which brought him a yellow card.
Silva soon followed him into the ref’s notebook, the little Spaniard convinced that Dzeko only failed to connect with his cross as he had received a push in the back inside the box.
City were running out of ideas, and the need to push on left them open to those viciously precise Napoli counters.
More sloppy play, this time by Kolarov, gifted the home side the ball and within seconds they swept upfield, Kompany had slipped, and City were grateful to Hart for keeping out Lavezzi’s shot one-on-one.
Hamsik should have sealed the win after Napoli again broke up a City attack and swept to the other end, but the Slovakian’s shot bounced back off Hart’s post after he had beaten Kolarov much too easily.
But the Blues were still alive and they were almost kicking when Yaya Toure’s perceptive through ball found Balotelli racing through.
He only had time to stick out a foot, and the shot struck de Sanctis.
Hamsik again fluffed a great chance, allowing Hart to pull off a fine save when he should not have been given a chance, as the game swung wildly from end to end.
But Balotelli’s miss at the other end was even worse.
Silva cut Napoli apart and freed sub Samir Nasri. His cross left the keeper stranded but Balotelli headed over an open goal.
The young Italian, usually so lethal, was at it again as City pressed hard for an equaliser, being left alone from a corner but only side-footing his shot tamely to de Sanctis.
What is your verdict on the game? Have your say.
Napoli 2 Manchester City 1 - Stuart Brennan's verdict
November 22, 2011
Comments
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Why was Micah Richards not playing???????
Danny Mills must be bitter about something, every time i hear him City are either rubbish or lucky ?
Sloppy in Midfield,Sloppy in Defence.....Can't get away with it on the Big Stage !.We'll come back bigger and better....Here's to another 13 Games Un-Beaten !.Mcfc Rule Ok
yaya toure had his worst game tonight. At fault for the first, looking elsewhere and it gave cavani that extra yard. the second goal he could have closed down but decided to walk very slowly back allowing the napoli players loads of space on the left and in the middle. Micah should have played to push napoli's left hand side back and give us an extra attacking option. He should have been at least on the bench. kun should have been on earlier. Cant see Napoli drooping points against villareal.
Another under par performance in the CL. Conceded yet again from a set piece. Gave the ball away too easily. Too many poor crosses. Knowing the BLUES they'll beat the germans and qualify. Still they will be more determined than ever at the weekend against the scousers.
Brainless management by Mancini. One thing: you always play your best team in the biggest games. You do not play Kolarov, Zabaleta and Dzeko against Napoli. Clichy and Richards were superb on Saturday, so why drop them? Aguero is a fast forward who is bound to give the Neapolitan defence more worries than the cumbersome Dzeko. Awful management in Europe - as Mancini also showed with Inter. Hope this hasn't ruined the momentum because we are out of the Chimps League for sure. Hope Mancini plays a reserve side against Bayern. We are in the Europa come what may
Obvious disappointment but clichy and Richards should of started that game,Zab and Kolorov struggled and offered nothing like the other two have ,still dont think its all over as villareal wont want to go out with a duck egg.I love Mancini but i think hes picking the wrong teams in europe.
Not great tactics tonight. Bad first selection, in my opinion. Zabaleta and Kolarov should have been overlooked for Richards and Clichy who are far superior. Barry would have been useful also and that's before i even get to Aguero. Dzeko was on for far too long. Further, we didn't get wide often enough and tried to play through a solid Napoli centre without any joy at all. I think that;s where we went wrong. The changes were too little too late.
why did richards not start? and clichy? and aguero? hate to say it but mancini got it wrong,cant see villareal beating napoli,Lescott is not good enough at this level cant pass longer than 5 yards to save his life,he looks nervous any time he is on the ball
The wrong choices with selection cost us big time tonight. I was so happy when we got clichy who is a far better player than kolarov and has far more champions league experinence and he showed tonight how poor on the big stage he is. Dzeko again was a passenger and showed no desire or class. Aguero showed more in 5 minutes, than he has done for weeks now. Its all a learning curb and while mancini seems to have learnt in the premiership he is far off from making the right descion's on the european stage...........CTID
Kolorov has been good this season but was out of his league tonight. We didn't have the desire that Napoli had but having said that, for all Napoli's chances, we probably had as many.
Changes made far too late to make a difference. 5 minutes for Johnno is a joke
Disappointed at the result tonight, it must be said that Roberto got the tactics all wrong tonight.
Aguerro should have been on the pitch a lot earlier than just with 15 minutes left.
We should have gone to Napoli and played the same way we've done all season away from home i.e. attack the opposition, but instead, Roberto opted to play the more defensive formation of last season, which clearly hasn't worked against two top European teams.
We're out of the Champs League, but never mind, this will mean moe time to focus on winning the Premier League (providing Roberto doesn't make the same tactical mistakes as tonight).
Expect a few rags on here tonight. My Facebook page suddenly full of them. Some from people I'd forgotten about it's been that long since I heard from them. Still they've not had much to cheer this year have they? bless. no explanation of why we play so badly away from home in Champions League 2nd halfs. ball in from full backs was poor, some aimless long balls, midfield conceded possession, Dzeko anonymous & Johnson when he came on - well actually I will try & forget how he played, instead of criticising him. I think we were scared to committ and be caught on the break. The truth is we arent quite ready to mix it with the big boys in Europe this season. I would have preferred to finish bottom than go into Europa but if that's what we have to do let's just win that instead. Oh and if Edski Vega doesnt comment tonight I'll eat my hat.
same as barcelona! on your way to Europa league with STOKE CITY!
There was a few fouls we should have had, napoli overdoing it in the drama-queen department. Final third lacking tonight. Allowing them to regain position, never stretched them enough. Laking concentration an speed of finking.. I don't believe when you get the ball it's a matter of allowing the opposition to get back in position all the time, they needed stretching. Napoli are not a great team. We also gave some right balls away in the wrong areas without a comfortable plan B.
Mancini hasn't got too much wrong so far but tonight the team selection was strange to say the least in that Clichy & Richards were not starting (was Richards injured?). Zab did little offensively and Kolarov was dreadful. When we needed at least a goal Bobby Manc sat on his hands far too long before changing things. Ah well.....there are worse things than Thursday nights on Channel 5........
Oh Bobby, you got it wrong tonight! Edin and Mario dont work together and the subditutions were far too late. We looked so so much better with Sergio on. Oh well - we'll forgive you! You haven't done much wrong this season. Personally I'd rather win the Europa Lg than get knocked out in the next round or two in the Champs Lg anyway. Come on Ted, Edski etc - bring it on you clowns!
Back on track Sunday boys! CTID
Saturday best two players on the park, Richards and clichy,tuesday, worst two players on the park Kolorov and Zabaletta.
Can't believe I'm on here before Ted Knott gets his customary anti-Mancini rant in. Don't think we need to lose too much heart about not progressing further in the Champions League this season. After all, we used to tell that joke about Trafford Rangers and a three pin plug for quite a few years in the nineties before they started making headway - Rome wasn't built in a day!
We're not quite there yet when it comes to the CL. But we had a very tough group
and look at how Utd have struggled in their group & then compare the teams City
& Utd have had to play.
I'm gutted - Aguero should have been on at half time coz once he came
on we really battled. Am I gonna blame Mancini? No way - so grieve tonight,
tomorrow be happy & ask yourself where we are in the league? Truth be told
I'd rather lose tonight than in the Premier League.
Can't believe I'm on here before Ted Knott gets his customary anti-Mancini rant in. Don't think we need to lose too much heart about not progressing further in the Champions League this season. After all, we used to tell that joke about Trafford Rangers and a three pin plug for quite a few years in the nineties before they started making headway - Rome wasn't built in a day!
We're not quite there yet when it comes to the CL. But we had a very tough group and look at how Utd have struggled in their group & then compare the teams City & Utd have had to play. I'm gutted - Aguero should have been on at half time coz once he came on we really battled. Am I gonna blame Mancini? No way - so grieve tonight,
tomorrow be happy & ask youself where we are in the league? Truth be told
I'd rather lose tonight than in the Premier League.
Though there is stil a chance of getting through I personally won't be that bothered if we don't get through this year. I think the premier league is more of a realistic target in terms of a trophy this season and hopefully that will enable us to be placed in a less challenging group next season and we will probably have a stronger team.
Well thats the end of that, there is no way Villareal will beat Napoli or even get a draw for that matter. The 2 goals we conceded were a bit sloppy and us as well as them both missed good chances. Not being to negative but yayas only passes tonight were 6-12 yard passes when on a number of occasions the wing backs were screaming for the ball of him it wasn't his best of games. Maybe a blessing in disguise but it does look like Thursday night football coming up. We didn't seem to play the fast attacking football we have been playing of late and seemed to slow the play down tonight. I will look forward to next year for another shot.
Wrong team selection , no Richards ,no Clichy and no Aguero . Not coincidence that we haven't looked so good in champs league as we have in prem and the 2 full backs get changed every time . Not saying Zab and Kolarov are no good just different .