Europa League Group Stage – Matchday 4
Stadion Miejski, Poznan
Kickoff – 6:00 PM GMT
The Polish cities of Grodzisk Wielkopolski and Poznan may lie less than 30 miles away from each other, but the ambitions of the two Manchester City sides to recently grace their pitches are worlds apart.
City’s last visit to the province of Greater Poland came in 2003, when the Blues were sent crashing out of the UEFA Cup on away goals by Groclin Dyskobolia. Only Shaun Wright-Phillips remains from that squad, with the club’s aspirations far exceeding backdoor European invites via the Fair Play League these days, but a Polish club once again stands in the way of European progression, this time in the form of defending domestic champions Lech Poznan.
The latest trip to Poland comes on the back of what City manager Roberto Mancini has described as his team’s “worst game,” a dire performance against bottom dwelling Wolves at the weekend which saw the Blues slip to their second straight defeat. Stadion Miejski (a Euro 2012 venue) will scarcely prove more welcoming than Molineux, with Lech’s rabid support having already helped them secure clean sheets in both their Europa League home games, including a clinical 2-0 victory over Red Bull Salzburg on Matchday 2. It’s the kind of scoreline that City would love to be on the correct end of these days, with the Blues having leaked 10 goals since their last clean sheet, against Chelsea six weeks ago. For a team built on a foundation of defensive solidity, it has been a worryingly frail couple of weeks for City. A repeat of the goalless away draw with Groclin seven years ago might not be the worst result under the circumstances.
A City victory, on the other hand, would mean qualification to the knock-out stages of the competition, and with it all the added incentives of early qualification. Lech themselves have had their own share of vulnerable moments this season, with home defeats in Champions League qualifiers at the hands of Sparta Prague and Azerbaijani minnows Inter Baku, as well as a stuttering league form that currently sees them just off the Ekstraklasa relegation places. Lech fans will have had the happier weekend than their City counterparts, however, having soundly beaten Wisla Krakow on Sunday with a 4-goal flurry in the second half.
City will once again be without first team regulars Carlos Tevez and Nigel De Jong, both of whom will have their sights firmly fixed on returns in next week’s derby clash. That means another opportunity for Emmanuel Adebayor to terrorize the Lech Poznan backline, having already bagged a hat-trick in the reverse fixture two weeks ago. The return of European games is also likely to see Dedryck Boyata return to the fold for the first time since his early sending off against Arsenal.
With De Jong out, it will be up to the City midfield to shake off Saturday’s inept performance and impose itself on the likes of Semir Stilic, who scored again at the weekend, and even Marcin Kikut, who has popped up from defensive positions to provide four assists in the Ekstraklasa, good for second in the league. Latvian Artjem Rudnevs continues to be the primary goalscoring threat this season, and although he only made a substitute appearance at COMS two weeks ago, he may get a longer run-out at home.
Verdict: Although Lech Poznan’s recent home results have been somewhat schizophrenic, they have yet to concede more than one goal in any game at the Stadion Miejski this campaign. Home stinginess and a hostile atmosphere mean that City is likely to find goals harder to come by than they were two weeks ago. Lech will be desperate to avoid a defeat that could seriously damage their hopes of reaching the Round of 32, while City themselves have not lost three in a row since falling to Arsenal, Hamburg, and Fulham in April 2009. A result is imperative, but we may have to wait until Salzburg’s visit on Matchday 5 to get a foot into the last 32.
Prediction – Lech Poznan 1-1 Manchester City
Potential City lineup: Hart; Zabaleta, Boyata, Lescott, Boateng; Vieira, Y. Toure, Barry; A. Johnson, Adebayor, Wright-Phillips
Thanks go to Michigan Blue of ManCityFans.net for writing this preview.