Joe Hart spared Manchester City boss Pellegrini's wrath after Bayern bloopers

2 Oct 2013 23:49

But TV pundit and England assistant Gary Neville isn't as kind to Three Lions' keeper a week before vital World Cup double header

Broken Hart: City keeper must get his act together for massive England games

Joe Hart came under fire again as his Manchester City side lurched to humiliating defeat at the hands of majestic Bayern.
Yet the struggling City and England keeper was at least spared a broadside from his own manager Manuel Pellegrini... in stark contrast to his Champions League experience last season, when then-boss Roberto Mancini gave him both barrels.
Pellegrini refused to single out his number one, but instead turned his wrath on the whole side, warning City their performance against the rampant Germans simply wasn't good enough.
Hart though, took the blame for at least two of the reigning European champions' goals, with his England coach Gary Neville even pointing the finger when he insisted: "For the first goal, he's got to do better there.
"Joe Hart was beaten at his near post. It just goes through his hand. It's not the start Manchester City wanted or the goalkeeper.
"And for (the third goal) you have to say Joe's got to do better again at that near post. That's twice he's been beaten there tonight. He'll be disappointed again."
Pellegrini though, insisted his side have to take collective responsibility for a defeat where they were played off the park by Bayern, who could so easily have come away with even more than the three goals delivered by Franck Ribery, Thomas Muller and Arjen Robben.
Afterwards, a slightly bemused Robben - who played in the Premier League with Chelsea - admitted he expected much more from Manchester's men in blue, when he said:
"We didn't expect an easy game like that - we expected more from City. We didn't give them any space, we pressed them right up to the goalkeeper and they just kicked it away."
A stunned Pellegrini agreed.

He took no consolation from a late City rally that at least saw his side grab a goal through sub Alvaro Negredo, and at least put the Germans under some pressure when former Blue Jerome Boateng was dismissed.

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Manchester City v Bayern Muenchen

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 And afterwards, the manager insisted his side warned they will have to improve dramatically as a unit if they are to progress in Europe.
"I will talk about the team, not individuals. We played really badly. It wasn't the team that we see here every weekend and that's the worst thing," he bemoaned.
"Of course we can all do better for the three goals, not only the goalkeeper.
"I worry about the mistakes but this was not an easy game. Now we have to think about solutions. I was surprised by the game we played.
"The goal from Negredo was just a consolation but you saw the difference between Manchester City and Bayern Munich during the whole game.
"I think we can improve a lot. First we have to qualify for the last sixteen and the players and myself know we must improve if we want to progress in the Champions League." ---------------- Mirror Football