To stir soul, City must survive trial by fire

For such a brilliant football team it is amazing how many boring football matches Manchester City are involved in. This, of course, is through no fault of their own (unless you think it is a fault to allegedly breach pesky football finance rules through the use of vast sovereign wealth in order to assemble a group of players much better than most of their domestic and European peers).

This trifling fact aside, that City are much better than most teams they play against is hardly something to hold against them. It is generally their opponents who make the decision, upon a quick glance at the array of flashing blades lined up against them, to not partake in any kind of game of football at all. At least Schalke on Tuesday night had the good grace to defend with the ferocity and attentiveness of Birmingham City stewards upon seeing a belligerent yob heading for Jack Grealish.