Joe Hart believes Manchester City’s impressive victory at Sevilla may have finally put reckless and naive displays in the Champions League behind them and said the team are confident that they can win Group D.
Manuel Pellegrini’s side won a third consecutive match in the competition through goals from Raheem Sterling, Fernandinho and Wilfried Bony. The manager selected Fernandinho and Fernando as the central pairing with Yaya Touré more advanced, only the second time this season he has done so. The strategy paid off as City controlled the majority of the play, the robust three-man midfield complementing the attack of Sterling, Bony and Jesús Navas.
Completing a double over Sevilla took Pellegrini’s side to nine points, one ahead of Juventus, whose draw at Borussia Mönchengladbach meant the German side as well as Sevilla cannot overtake City, confirming their place in the knockout stage. Winning the group would improve their chances of avoiding tough opponents in the last 16, in which they have been eliminated by Barcelona in each of the past two seasons. Yet Hart said: “We’re in the competition to win it so at some point we’re going to have to play one of those strong teams.”
The goalkeeper said the display against Sevilla could be the benchmark. “In certain games and [against Sevilla] it was the right way to play. We set up well, we defended well, and we took our chances well. It’s pretty simple but sometimes we’ve not played to that gameplan – we’ve been a little reckless; I think Vinny’s [Kompany] said it a few times: we’ve been a little bit naive and been caught out. But we’ve been really solid – they only had a couple of chances and we took ours.”
Hart said the manner of the victory gives City confidence they can top the group – “Yeah, of course, but it’s difficult” – though Sunday’s Premier League game is also on his mind: “We’re in Champions League mode but we go to Aston Villa with Arsenal playing well, Manchester United won [in the Champions League], Tottenham are playing well. We need a result now at Villa.”
He believes the last two group matches, at Juventus then at home to Mönchengladbach, will not be as difficult now qualification has been sealed. “I imagine it will be a lot easier. But speak to our fans – as much pain as we put them through, they enjoy the ride. I enjoy the ride. It’s a different way to look at it this time, we can set up a little bit different and we don’t have to be as vulnerable.
“It was our most accomplished display, against a really confident Sevilla side who play with a lot of attacking intent. They were one of the teams we were supposedly going to struggle against – that’s two wins now and we’re top and looking to try to win it. Without playing really well in the Premier League we’re [also] top.
“There’s only one way to look at it, and that’s in a positive way. We’ve played well against some good teams and we beat Gladbach and didn’t play particularly well, we didn’t really play that well against Sevilla at home and won. So these are big results when not playing well.”
The performance against Unai Emery’s team came despite David Silva and Sergio Agüero being injured. Hart said: “It’s not really about proving people wrong, it’s about doing well in the competition and we can look at that positively. After the international break we’re looking to have Sergio, David, Samir fit. Gaël is now fit, Fabian Delph is now fit. We’ve put ourselves in a really strong position.
“I wouldn’t say we go out to entertain, we’ve just got some really good attacking players and everyone wants to score. Again with the balance I think that’s when we play our best football. When we beat Chelsea this year [3-0 in August] we were very balanced, the result against Newcastle [6-1 in October] … even when we’ve won big we’ve been balanced, so it’s definitely what we’ve achieved that we didn’t last year.”
