Job done. Questions remain!
The pre-match nerves were to be expected. We started well but faced a 6-4-0 low block, with a congested midfield that we just couldn't unpick.
Brugge were very good & well drilled for such a young side. For all our possession & territorial domination, Brugge kept threatening to spoil our night on the break. They were rapid in transition & their youngsters were energetic & full of beans.
The first half was like a video clip being looped. City attacked, & Brugge periodically counter-attacked on the turnover. Stones was stepping into central midfield to give us more bodies, but there was no way through.
HOWEVER, with a couple of minutes of the first half left, Brugge scored! They posed a danger on the break all night, & so it proved with seconds of the half left.
Funnily enough, I didn't get that recent sinking feeling every time we've conceded. We showed enough tonight to suggest we could pull a goal back & go on to win.
It came as no surprise that Guardiola made a change at half-time, by taking off Gundog, bringing on Savinho, with Stones dropping back into defence, Nunes pushing up on the right & Foden moving from the left wing to central midfield.
Not long after the restart, Kovacic made a run from deep into Brugge's midfield, but inexplicably they stood off him trying to anticipate the pass, but in doing so they merely created a hole for him to run into, & stab a low shot past the keeper's right. Goal! 1-1.
With our tails up, City kept pressing forward. Savinho received the ball out wide, cut inside & played a clever defence splitting pass to the onrushing Gvardiol, who fired the ball across the box, only for their CB to deflect the ball in. City 2-1!
City continued to press forward, because the scoreline looked fragile & we needed a 3rd. Stones playing deeper, strode into Brugge's midfield & picked a peach of a lofted pass into the box finding Savinho, who chested the ball on the run, & lashed home the settler with his right boot. City 3-1!
From there we went into game management mode to see the match out.
A couple of points to mention...
1. I noticed a 50/50 ball that Stones didn't go for, as it would have meant him putting on the afterburners & sliding in at a stretch. That one action showed me he's wary of injuring himself again.
2. After 60 minutes, KDB looked seriously fucked! There were a couple of times the ball was there to be won, but he didn't have the energy to exert himself, & Pep did the right thing in withdrawing him before he too injured himself through fatigue.
Those two points illustrate that this season has proved a step too far for our elite old guard. They've been rinsed dry over the last 4 seasons, to the point that we've broken many of them.
Hopefully Pep & the club have learned a lesson about having an elite, but small squad. Yes you can thrash our small squad to attain top level performances, but like a thrashed car engine, they'll soon implode.
This is exactly what's happened to our season. Our squad is emotionally, physically & mentally fucked, & I've no idea how we get through the CWC after another gruelling season. Perhaps we need to calm Baldy down & get him to treat the CWC like pre-season where he uses the tournament to run the rule over our new recruits & the EDS squad.
Seeing John not making challenges for fear of injuring himself, & KDB doing the same because he wasn't physically able to, is a sad sight to see.
Anyway, we're through & tbh I'm not that arsed about the CL this season. It was pride alone that wanted me to see us get through to the knockout phases, but the cold stark reality is, unless we get our injury brigade back & fighting fit, or unless our new recruits hit the ground running, our best bet is to concentrate on CL qualification for next season.
We need to use what's left of this season to ensure we achieve that aim, take time to bed in our new recruits & make some serious decisions about our older, injured players & their top flight futures at Manchester City.
Roll on ArseAnal!!
