Jens Lehmann not eager to see Manchester City in the Champions League
The former Germany goalkeeper, Jens Lehmann, has criticised Manchester City for their boring style of play and doesn’t want to see them again in the Champions League. He opined that Napoli have a passion for the game and rightly deserved to progress through
to the next round.
Lehmann was talking in the wake of Bayern’s 2-0 loss to Manchester City at Etihad Stadium on Wednesday, December 7. David Silva and Yaya Toure scored goals for the Premier League leaders, but failed to inspire their side into the knockout stages following
a Napoli win over Villarreal.
The former keeper reckoned that the Citizens were presented with a piece of cake in the form of Bayern’s second string outfit as the Reds were assured of a top place finish in group A. He was of the view that had City failed to beat Bayern’s ‘B’ side, it
would have been more than embarrassing for Roberto Mancini’s men.
He was of the view that the teams like Manchester City don’t even deserve a place in Europe owing to their boring style of play. He believes that Mancini’s troops should only focus on domestic silverware as a European crown is way beyond their reach.
While further criticising the Blues' style of play, the former Arsenal shot stopper enthused:
"Man City play very, very boring football. They just make their opponents fall asleep with lots of possession. But to be honest, that is not tactically very demanding. The way they play here is the way any amateur team plays, only not on such good grass.”
"They just pack men behind the ball, have five against two and just move the ball around. The goal then just comes from a fortunate circumstance." Lehmann concluded.
Lehmann also reserved criticism for the Citizens crowd, whom he reckoned was ‘dead’ during a must-win game for City. He thought that a club with such ‘dead’ fans shouldn’t even think of a European berth as Champions League demands lot of passion and devotion
for the game, which Manchester City lack.
Despite winning on Wednesday, the Citizens crashed out of the Champions League and will not play the Europa League.
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