Manchester City 1 : Borussia Dortmund 1, CL Matchday 2

The Group of death, featuring the English, Spanish, German and Dutch champions was witness to another thrilling game between Dortmund and City.

While City would probably have been considered favourites seeing how they haven't lost at the Etihad in recent memory, Dortmund gave a fantastic account of themselves and will feel aggrieved to not have all three points

Lineups:

Fairly predictable from Dortmund with probably their best 11 on the pitch in an almost 4-5-1 but a very attack minded combination of Gotze, Gundogan, Reus and Lewandowski ably supported by Kuba and Bender, Piszcek and Schmelzer as usual provided the width.

City lined up in an almost 4-2-2-2 with Toure and Garcia as the holders, Nastasic was preferred alongside Kompany, Aguero and Dzeko upfront supported by the width of Nasri and Silva .

Opening Stages:

The Dortmund five man midfield worked like a charm as it stopped the diagonal balls to Nasri and Silva, cutting off the creative sources. Their pressing caused City a fair amount of trouble as there was simply too much pressure on Garcia and Toure to play balls forward. Toure in particular found it hard to make his trademark barnstorming runs through the middle because of the compactness of the shape held by Dortmund and their relentless pressing.

Dortmund had three players ready to help out on each flank with Kuba, Goetze and Pisczek on the right pushing back Nasri and Clichy. Pisczek and Schmelzer played fairly high up causing an overload of attacking players with the runners from midfield coming in too. Countering with pace, Dortmund were only denied by Joe Hart.

City were unable to attack and simply found no space between the lines leaving them to hoof it to Dzeko who isn't really the sort of player to play on the shoulder of the last defender and was caught offside far too easily, too many times.

Mancini's tinkering:

Mancini's midfield and attack were cut off from each other and so to link them up, he switched to a 3-4-1-2 bringing on Kolarov for the ineffective Nasri. While certainly a logical decision in this case,it was foiled by the marauding runs of Pisczek and even Schmelzer who ensured that the City wing backs were busy defending instead of coming up with attacking wing play. City continued to have possession but verticality was severely lacking and Dortmund's incessant pressing added to the pressure.

The pressing caused Jack Rodwell to commit an error which was ably capitalised by Reus who was put through on goal and slotted it past Hart. City switched back to the 4-2-2-2 soon after but it hardly made any difference as the City players seemed far too ponderous on the ball and inclined towards playing square passes. Dortmund's high line and speedy midfield runners added to City's troubles as Toure and Rodwell were simply unable to cope with the trickery of Gotze and Co.

A penalty decision that really didn't look like one was the only way City could equalise and Balotelli equalised to ensure City got a very undeserved point.

Conclusion:

Both teams can take very contrasting thoughts from the match.

City had a poor game, partly due to Klopp's careful handling of their threats and also because the players seemed woefully out of place when confronted by the dynamism and vibrancy of Dortmund's play.Kompany no longer seems to project the aura of invincibility that he did last season. Toure was outnumbered and couldn't contribute much.

One wonders why Carlos Tevez didn't start upfront. His directness, mobility and ability to run at defenders would surely have proven helpful against Subotic who isn't the quickest. Also, his drifting outward could have occupied the opposing fullback leaving City less attacks to deal with on that flank.

 Mancini's three man defence is, put plainly, not working. Nastasic may fit the mould, but Kompany has looked a shadow of himself whereas Lescott may not possess the required quality to do so against good European opposition. Mancini’s European nous has been questioned again and while his in game management may not be outstanding, his players deserve almost equal blame in allowing themselves to be overcome by a young and energetic team. They were spared a thrashing majorly due to the fantastic work by Joe Hart.

Dortmund were brilliant and on another night may have won by a four goal margin. The front four were brilliantly cohesive and so in sync with each other that it was a real joy to watch their counterattacking play.

The current Dortmund team are very reminiscent of the Czech Republic team of Euro 2004 that had six or seven very attacking players like Poborsky, Rosicky, Smicer and Nedved who could counter with brutal precision. Gotze, Reus, Gundogan and Lewandowski may not be in that class yet but are getting there very quickly. It will be very interesting to see their game with Real Madrid who have been having midfield creativity problems of their own. Expect Modric's mobility and ease on the ball under pressure to play a very important role,if he does start...