Many Manchester City fans will admit that Liverpool gave a fantastic performance at the weekend.
But it doesn’t completely mask the deficiencies in Manchester City’s defence which was, at times, laughable.
If Mangala and Demichelis ever play together in defence again it will be too soon.
And despite having the best XI in The Premier League, when fit, Manchester City still have a dangerous propensity to implode.
But much of the blame for the weekend result must lie with the centre backs who gave their team no foundation on which to build. In their defence they have seldom played together. But the return of Otamendi and Kompany can not come soon enough.
The feeling is that Kompany will miss this one but a pairing of Mangala and Otamendi should be stronger – and will need to be against a Juventus side that will be desperate to finish top of the group ahead of City.
Manchester City have a tough game against Southampton at the weekend but surely all of their focus will be on not conceding in Italy.
If they do this, they will be in an excellent position to finish top going into their last group game in a fortnight.
With all this in mind, here is our effort at a strongest City XI.
Manchester City fans: let’s have your teams
