Five Main Talking Points: Manchester City vs Feyenoord

Let’s take a look at the primary areas of discussion from Manchester City’s Champions League besting of Dutch side Feyenoord at The Etihad Stadium last night as Pep Guardiola’s men extended their lead at the top of Group F to six points.

Unstoppable City Train Thunders On

In the wake of the home triumph, The Citizens’ remarkable run of consecutive wins was extended to 17 games, across all Competitions, they are also unbeaten overall this campaign.

With five victories from five in The Champions League, Blue Moon have already secured their Qualification to The Last 16 and it is now mathematically impossible for them not to finish ahead of the other three teams in The Group, while also sitting pretty at the summit of The Premier League.

Although only netting one yesterday evening, in this time, they have managed to score a flabbergasting 50 goals since late August, 13 of them coming in UEFA’s Premier Tournament, whilst only stopping to concede on ten occasions in all Competitions along the way.

But, can the Manchester club go on to become the first team since Roberto De Mateo’s Chelsea to lift The UCL crown? They have cleared the first hurdle by some distance, however, time will tell.

Rotterdam’s Rotten Champions League Run Continues

On the flip side of things at The Etihad, it was clear to see that on the wrong end of a City drubbing was a side that are low on confidence at the moment despite improving on the 0-4 defeat of the return fixture.

The People’s Club remain rooted to the very foot of their Group, without a single point to their name, having conceded as many as The Citizens have scored in The Champions League and only netted three of their own to show for it, with any form of Qualification out of the question.

Their League form hasn’t been the best by a long shot either as a recent downturn has seen them drop down to seventh in The Eredivisie after 12 games.

However, if there’s one thing they can be proud of it’s that they have avoided a typical Manchester City thrashing, with a solid defensive display and admirable performance from former Liverpool keeper Brad Jones.

Super Sterling The Hero For Late Citizens

The Aussie would have had a clean sheet to show for his efforts if it wasn’t for England winger Raheem Sterling, which sets us up perfectly for our next Talking Point.

Sterling was a livewire for the entirety of the affair, like on the majority of his UCL showings this campaign, constantly proving a handful to the visiting defence, one that they managed to keep from netting until the 88th minute.

It was at this point, he was able to play a delectable give and go with former Borussia Dortmund midfielder Ilkay Gundogan, being played through to chip Jones audaciously and give the home fans that hadn’t gone home early something to cheer about.

England’s Cricketers will be hoping that their own England vs Australia encounter can go as smoothly as Sterling’s did with the Aussie shot-stopper in the forthcoming Ashes series and certainly as well as Manchester City’s own 2017/2018 campaign has gone thus far, in spite of the slight wobble last night.

A Star Is Born As Foden Makes Competitive Bow

There is no doubt that one of the great stories to take from last night’s encounter was that of a certain 17-year-old making his Senior debut in front of a welcoming Etihad Stadium crowd.

That man was, of course, starlet Phil Foden and what a month it has been for him fresh off the back of winning The U17 World Cup with England in India, scoring two in the Final against Spain, a thrilling 5-2 triumph.

In addition to this, Foden won Player of the Tournament, catching the attention of Guardiola, who called him up to his Squad after continuing to impress in City’s Development Squad.

The youngster looked cool, calm and collected, contributing to many good attacking moves, and impressing many with his movement and range of passing, not to mention his gut desire to chase the ball down at every opportunity, what a young player City have in their hands.

What Next?

So, now that Champions League duty has been done and dusted now for these two sides, it will be time to return to Domestic action at the weekend as games begin to come thick and fast across Europe.

The Citizens’ next assignment will be away at Huddersfield Town In The Premier League, a trip they must be wary of making as The Terriers ended the unbeaten run of their Manchester rivals earlier in the season, as Blue Moon stand just three wins away from an English Top-Flight record.

Meanwhile, Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men will be looking to get their League season back on track after giving up all hope on the European Stage, when they face off with 13th placed Groningen on Saturday evening at Noordlease Stadion.

These two will not need to wait long for their next taste of UCL action, however, with the Sixth and final Group F Matchday coming in the first week of December, as City go up against Shakhtar Donetsk and Feyenoord host Napoli.