Manchester City satisfied with result if not performance

He moved the ball around well enough but didn’t have his typical influence on the game, nor was he able to get into any positions to threaten the Gladbach goal. But the fact is that the team performs just as well with a back three or a back four as the positional structure remains largely the same when they have the ball.

Through the opening 20+ minutes, Gladbach forced a couple early saves out of Claudio Bravo before finally opening the scoring in the 23rd.

Raffael started as the lone striker with Stindl in the attacking midfield role.

Former Borussia Dortmund midfielder Ilkay Gundogan threatened an equaliser 10 minutes before the interval as he collected Silva’s flighted corner 18 yards out, only for his effort to be palmed behind by Switzerland stopper Yann Sommer.

Silva and De Bruyne played just behind Sergio Aguero, although they were made to shuffle around in the second half after Fernandinho received his marching orders.

Oscar Wendt threatened for the hosts again four minutes later as he broke into the area on the right before forcing a save out of Bravo from an acute angle.

After the break, City looked more threatening, and Stones came close to nabbing a victor when he tried to get on the end of De Bruyne’s free kick, but his header across goal was collected by Sommer.

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City booked their place in the knockout phase on Wednesday with a sluggish 1-1 draw at Borussia Monchengladbach as both teams finished with 10 men. Monchengladbach are still in with a mathematical chance, but they have to beat Barcelona by six goals and hope City lose to Celtic.

Asked to analyse his side’s performance, Guadiola described himself as “satisfied”, adding: “These players and this club are so new in Europe and every time we play a game like this we improve”.

If there is one constant theme that runs through some of the less than stellar performances that City have delivered this season it is a poor occupation of the spaces behind the midfield lines.

Gladbach then had captain Lars Stindl sent off on 50 minutes for a second yellow card and subsequent red.

Heading into MatchDay #6 vs. Guardiola employed three at the back for the first time away from home and the results were indifferent. Knowing that they can use the final game as a tune-up for the knockout stages is a huge factor in the line-up Guardiola decides to use.

Kompany hurt his knee during City’s 2-1 win over Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday, a game in which he was substituted in the first half following a knock to the head.