The devil is in the detail

KEVIN DE BRUYNE reckoned Manchester City’s Champions League exit was all down to fine margins.

“At this level it’s small details and here the difference was we made mistakes and they scored, and the chances we created we didn’t score,” said the devastated midfielder after City’s third quarterfinal failure under Pep Guardiola (above) in three years.

But a closer look at those exits suggests there was nothing fine about the margins. In five games against Liverpool, Spurs and Lyon, City lost four, conceding twice as many goals (12) as they scored. This against sides who finished those seasons fourth, fourth and seventh in their leagues.

Which suggests those exits were more about Guardiola giving too much respect to inferior rivals, sending out the wrong teams with the wrong mindsets and being unable to adjust.

It was a recurring fear of failing against lesser opponents that ushered in failure.

IT’S far from ideal watching football without fans but credit should go to the individual leagues and UEFA for ensuring the competitions were finished. Watching the climax of the European competitions has shown that finishing the season behind closed doors was well worth it.

It would be nice to hear the Null And Void brigade who were so loud at the beginning of lockdown admit as much. Rio Ferdinand, Karren Brady, Graeme Sharp, etc, any thoughts?

WATCHING this summer’s coverage of the cricket Test matches on Sky and the European football competitions on BT you can’t help but notice the gulf in class between the analysts.

All of the ex-cricketers are hugely informed, insightful and fair. Whereas many of the ex-footballers lack knowledge of foreign players, offer little insight, show a cringeworthy bias towards the English sides, and occasionally don’t even understand the game’s rules. Lamentable.