A slightly disappointing evening as City failed to win their first important European tie for 43 years. The last time City played in the European Cup was on September 18th 1968 . I watched a goalless draw against Fenerbahce of Turkey. The team that day was Mulhearn, Connor, Pardoe, Doyle, Heslop, Oakes, Lee, Bell, Summerbee, Owen, Young and the crowd at Maine Road was about 39,000. We lost the return in Turkey 2-1 so it was an early exit.
There were lessons to be learnt from this intriguing tie against an Italian team that often had nine or ten men behind the ball. One of the problems was that the City tempo rarely rose to their premiership level. Though City hit the bar on two occasions our visitors too had a couple of unlucky moments. I think the defence is really missing De Jong in front of the back four. A bad error by Barry in midfield let the Italians in for a quick break and opening goal. Although City had most of the possession Napoli were quick and dangerous on the break and only a goal line clearance by Kompany saved City on an earlier occasion.
Fortunately a great free kick from Kolarov saved the day for City. He had earlier broken his nose and he was immediately subbed by Clichy. Nasri and Silva tried hard but just failed to make those clear cut chances we have been used too. Its a tough group but I hope lessons will be learnt and there is better to come