Manchester City are still without a goal in pre-season after a fairly tame performance in their second outing against the Germans in Innsbruck.
Manchester City laboured to a goalless draw against German second-tier side Dynamo Dresden in Innsbruck.
Vladimir Weiss had the only clear sight of goal in an uneventful 90 minutes, with the only incident of note coming when Vincent Kompany limped off in the second half.
Roberto Mancini opted for a strong starting line-up, including the likes of Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez, who all featured in City's 1-0 defeat at the hyands of Al Hilal in their opening pre-season fixture, with starts also handed to trialists Nir Biton and Marcos Lopes.
The Premier League champions showed more energy in the opening minutes than they did against the Saudi Arabian side, but failed to carve open the opposition.
15 minutes later, Toure slid through a fine pass for Tevez, who managed to hold up the ball and then lay it off for the arriving Lopes, but the Portuguese youngster’s shot was well blocked by Sebastian Schuppan.
Tevez was immediately involved again, this time the Argentine’s shot sent Kirsten sprawling across his goal but the shot from distance sailed wide of the target.
Dresden’s best moment of the half came when Solga found Trojan from a route-one free kick but the forward was foiled expertly by City captain Kompany.
The Germans nearly took a surprise lead through a mistake by Costel Pantilimon. The 25-year-old back-up to Joe Hart saved Trojan's free kick comfortably but then proceeded spill a tame effort from distance moments later and was then forced into a point-blank save from Solga.
City continued to dominate possession for the remainder of the first half but a glancing wide header by Solga from Schuppan’s cross was the best either side managed.
Mancini introduced trialist Mario Jelavic for the start of the second half, followed shortly by Vladimir Weiss, hoping the youngster's energy could provide the incision his side were lacking.
However, the second period continued just how the first ended, with neither side managing to increase the tempo in their passing.
Substitute Weiss almost broke the deadlock just before the hour; the Slovakian brought down a long ball with an excellent first touch and tried an audacious lob on the half volley, but Florian Fromlowitz managed to claw the ball away at full stretch.
Moments later Kompany fell to the ground clutching his hamstring and was immediately subbed off as a precaution. Karim Rekik replaced the skipper, alongside a number of changes made by both coaches with just under 20 minutes left.
The two teams looked weary in the closing stages and the chances of a winning goal looked increasingly unlikely, with Weiss the only player really threatening to penetrate the Dresden defence.
Comments
0 comment