A STINKER TONIGHT COULD MEAN CURTAINS FOR JOE HART

Manchester City face AS Roma in a crucial Champions League group match at the Etihad tonight. Having lost to Bayern Munich in their first game and with the side from the Italian capital in impressive form, all eyes will be on the returning Joe Hart who needs a solid performance to remain as City's no. 1 choice between the sticks.

D. Ray Morton, 30th September 2014.

Joe Hart has found himself on the bench for Manchester City of late and must channel any frustration into a positive performance given another chance to prove his ability tonight

I wonder what a man like Manuel Pellegrini thinks of Joe Hart. The Chilean manager, who you cannot imagine to be a believer of English hype, must surely have his reservations about the bleach-headed stopper evidenced by the fact that he has openly dropped him for the second time since taking over as Manchester City's boss. Hart is a media-friendly and hard-working, all-round nice guy. This alone cannot cut the mustard with the expectations City have set themselves. If they want to become a true continental and global power, they need the best as their last line of defence.

When not dancing on nightclub tables or shooting Head & Shoulders ads, Hart is certainly an above average goalkeeper with a good aerial ability and quick reflexes. The weakness in his game is his propensity to do something crazy when City are in command of games. Perhaps he becomes over-eager to prove himself in matches where he has very little to do. He has been dropped for the last two games, Pellegrini favouring Willy Caballero - a goalkeeper he trusts from his time in La Liga. Caballero may not be as imposing a figure as Hart but he has a tendency to pick up a lot of man of the match awards thanks to his ability to pull off impossible-looking saves. It is actually something of a puzzler why he was not selected for Argentina's World Cup squad after having a great season with Málaga before making his move to the Premier League.

Willy Caballero is proving to be the real competition in the City squad which Hart did not really have last season

The match against Roma tonight is absolutely crucial to City's hopes of making an impact in this season's Champions League. Though they are favourites, defeat would mean staring down the barrel of very possible elimination at the group stage, something this team has been familiar with during the Roberto Mancini era. The time for excuses is over. City have one of the most expensively-assembled squads of all-time and stating that they lack experience in the competition would simply be a fallacy now. Were they to lose, there would be no more second chances after that. They would probably need to win their remaining four matches barring an unlikely capitulation from either Roma or Bayern. Keep in mind that Roma have won all of their matches so far this season.

The pressure would hit Pellegrini were they not able to put the Italians away. Even a draw would hurt. With Chelsea looking strong in the league, elimination from Europe's greatest club competition could spell major trouble. A bad performance from Hart tonight, a nervous moment or an error, would surely end any remaining trust of his manager. There would be an escape plan for Hart, possibly offered by Liverpool who are sniffing around as they are not entirely satisfied with Simon Mignolet's performances at Anfield. If Roma give City a game tonight, this could be Joe Hart's D-Day.

HAVE CHELSEA SEWN UP THE EPL ALREADY?

Chelsea avoided defeat and tormented their greatest challengers for the Premier League title on Sunday. Despite conceding late on, you get the feeling that this will be José Mourinho's year and the other sides are noticing it too. Here are some thoughts on this weekend's matches in England and on the continent.

Frank Lampard may have reluctantly saved Manchester City's skin at the Etihad but Chelsea fans should not be upset as avoiding defeat and dampening their opponents' spirits was key

Chelsea manager José Mourinho must be a rather pleased man. Pleased, that is, in spite of his former player, Frank Lampard, denying him a win at the Etihad in the Blues' visit to Manchester City. Thing is, a victory would have sealed the Premier League title race shut. A draw is fine, however, especially the manner in which it was achieved. City were desperate and even resorted to weak criticisms of their opponents after the game. Manuel Pellegrini insisted that Chelsea play like Stoke! A classic case of sour grapes, the Chilean perhaps frustrated at the signs that this City side has lost that bit of hunger that delivered them the league title last season.

Manuel Pellegrini's post-match comparison of Chelsea and Stoke was both outdated and inaccurate

Onto Manchester United. To anyone that watched it, my words here will not even begin to describe the autrocity that befell them. Cruising to a 3-1 away win at little Leicester City, United's woeful defence conspired to throw away a commanding lead and ended up losing 5-3 in what was arguably the most entertaining game of the season so far. Attacking play ruled the roost and United's attempt to put the game away fizzled pathetically. Young Tyler Blackett was screamed at by captain Wayne Rooney after conceding the equaliser. Rooney had been the one who lost the ball to set up the goal. His confidence damaged, Blackett was later sent off for a professional foul in the penalty area, one of two United conceded on the day. It was a mess all-round, credit Leicester, as Louis van Gaal appeared shell-shocked answering questions post-match.

Tyler Blackett's confidence must be crushed after being screamed at by Wayne Rooney, giving away a penalty and getting sent off. A bad day at the office overall for the youngster

Liverpool also lost out. This time to West Ham at the Boleyn Ground. Without Daniel Sturridge, they are missing something and the players Brendan Rodgers has signed in order to cover the Luis Suárez void are hardly filling their fans with confidence. Good manager that he is, some feel he got a tad lucky to have inherited the world class Uruguayan and perhaps only achieved last season's second place finish thanks the transitional nature of the campaign where many top teams changed managers.

Bubbles in your face: Brendan Rodgers will have to rethink things after going down 3-1 at West Ham

Tottenham flopped in front of their own fans in a very AVB-like performance in their 1-0 defeat to West Bromwich Albion. It was back to sterile possession, moving the ball slowly from side-to-side without any real aggression. This pattern of play is still rooted in the Spurs squad despite two managerial changes since André Villas-Boas was shown the door.

Mauricio Pochettino showed more passion than his players at White Hart Lane on Sunday

North London rivals Arsenal had more joy when they put away plucky Aston Villa thanks to a barrage of three goals in the space of no more than seven or eight minutes. Mesut Ozil was back to his best playing in his preferred central role though many will still write him off as a flat track bully no matter how Arsene Wenger portrays him.

Mesut Ozil and Danny Welbeck did enough to keep their critics quiet against Aston Villa

 

Across Europe, there were goals galore in Spain as clásico rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona both recorded high scoring victories away to Deportivo and Levante respectively. Real won 8-2 thanks to a storming hat-trick from Cristiano Ronaldo and Barca notched up five and kept a clean sheet in a game where Lionel Messi starred in something of a playmakers' role despite missing a penalty. In Italy, Juventus showed they are still the team to beat despite a change in management. They visited Milan at San Siro and came away with a 1-0 win thanks to a Carlos Tevez strike.

Lionel Messi has become creator-provider...penalty misser under Luis Enrique in his deeper playmaker role

 

Without Champions League or internationals and only minor cup competitions to be competed in this mid-week, this gives teams an ample opportunity to refresh and rethink now that the major European domestic campaigns are starting to take shape. We are not too far off October, the month before the sack race. Giddy up!