“For me, one thing is not linked to the other”.
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Not that it would have been a convincing excuse anyway, given that the Chilean’s side go into Tuesday’s game against the Ukrainian side with a 3-1 lead from the first leg and they fielded what their manager seemed to believe was their strongest available side at Carrow Road.
Norwich hadn’t kept a clean sheet since January 2 but even Sergio Aguero couldn’t find a way past them.
Pellegrini expressed satisfaction with the performance, but, with the exception of Sergio Aguero, his team were disappointing.
However, while Neil insists the results do not tell the whole story, he has urged his troops to deliver in Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off against City.
– Manchester City have now won just two of their last 11 Premier League away games (W2 D5 L4).
Aguero tried his best though.
Late in the first half, Chelsea loanee Patrick Bamford hit a sweet half-volley which struck the post before falling fortuitously for City keeper Joe Hart prior to Matt Jarvis’ deflected shot which bounced wide of the mark in stoppage time.
Norwich have a slight boost ahead of this game with Steven Naismith, Robbie Brady and Sebastien Bassong expected to be fit for the game. The Canaries were set up to be hard to break down, but even when Redmond was on they lacked the incisiveness to cause the visitors trouble on the counter attack.
Alex Neil’s side might have taken a vital point against Manchester City but that by no means puts them anywhere closer to safety from the drop. The trip to Carrow Road, for which City will be without Yaya Toure, comes at the start of another critical week. He’s already added another Capital One Cup to his CV this year and while they remain in the Champions League, that will be his focus.
The Argentinian was City’s only real threat once again, and his failure to score showed how reliant on him they are.
In the closing stages of the first half they grew in confidence in possession and came the closest to opening the scoring.
“[Kiev] are back firing now after their pre-season but we’re ready and we want to make more history”.
“For me it’s very important, and for the club it’s important, for the fans and the players to try to continue in the Champions League as far as possible”. Play against those fellow strugglers as they have done against title-chasers and Norwich can be confident of surviving.
“People have their opinions on what’s going on in terms of British teams in Europe at the moment, but we can only send the message that we’re here, we’re in it to win it and we’re going to keep fighting to the end”.
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“We’ve put ourselves in good positions in the past but haven’t managed to go through”, he said.
