Five Thoughts: Bayern Munich 1-0 Manchester City

Part the First: We aren't there.

Bayern Munich was missing Frank Ribery, most of Arjen Robben, their entire midfield trio of Javi Martinez, Thiago Alcantara and Bastian Schweinstieger  and we still got outplayed every which way you can name. They had far more and far better chances. They outworked us, they were more organized... you pick an aspect of the game and Bayern was better. If not for Joe Hart's magnificent performance and yeoman efforts from Kompany and Demichelis, it's frankly scary to think what might have been. Granted we came close (Silva just missing heading home the cross in minute 62, an uncalled penalty against Benatia and Aguero coming close to equalizing in the end) but even the most biased observer has to conclude Bayern Munich is just flat better than us. That's not saying we can't beat them but at what point do City fans get a little frustrated with the apparent fact that after five years of this little experiment, we still aren't consistently one of the very best teams in Europe? Granted the ridiculously hypocritical FFP has us hampered but I'm sorry, the talent is there now. We're two deep at every position (when healthy) and I truly believe we should match up with anybody. It's just that somehow we can't play our best against traditionally better teams.

Part the Second: Yaya Flounders

Whether it was systemic or health related, Yaya Toure put in an oinker of a performance. He had one decent run upfield that which represented his offensive contribution for the night. That's one more contribution than he made as a defender. Gary Neville, doing the commentary, said Yaya looked "knackered" which is entirely accurate. Frankly, I think James Milner should've come on not for Nasri but Yaya Toure. Until Milner's entrance, Bayern had all the time and space they needed in midfield because Fernandinho was essentially playing by himself. Even after Milner came on, relieving Yaya of defensive responsibilities he could in no way, shape or form handle; even when he was asked to be an attacking mid/second striker, he couldn't do anything to affect the game. I want to think that my favorite player for years has great games ahead of him, that a player who has worked so hard and done so much for the club still has something of his past glory in him. I want to think all of that. What I know is that the worst player wearing blue yesterday was easy to spot-he was wearing #42.

Part the Third: CL Needs Some Fixin'

Twelve days hence, we're home to a team that destroyed CSKA Moscow. Roma played awfully well, has been playing awfully well and Roma might just be one of the stronger teams who were in the lower pots. You know who would've been the absolute strongest team in the lower pots if things worked out differently? Us. We came pretty damn close to being in Pot C. And as noted by others, this is just flat out ridiculous. City has been better than Arsenal for four years now. No right-thinking, objective fan would entertain the notion that Arsenal-a fine team-is as good as Manchester City just like no right-thinking, objective fan would consider City to be in Bayern's class. But because UEFA has the mentality of plugging their ears and screaming whenever they consider domestic results, Arsenal is considered "better" because of past CL ‘success.' So Arsenal gets favored pairings, favored pot positions which lead to favored second-round matchups, etc. It's a system that badly needs changing and as long as I'm ranting, I cannot help but think that the very teams who are rubbing their hands waiting for that City money (FFP fines paid by City are going to be distributed to the other CL competitors) are the same ones who don't want to upset their cozy little apple cart because imagine if domestic competition was taken into account? Arsenal might, horror of horrors, end up in a lower pot and play two tough teams in their group instead of just one. Okay, end of rant.

Part the Fourth: The Refs

The foul on David Silva in the box was blatantly obvious. Naturally, Bayern fans are screaming about handball this, Robben getting foot stepped on that (never mind that Robben blatantly took a dive on the play) because like other big teams, Bayern took lessons from the Ferguson school of whining-when you see a blown call in your favor, scream about everything else. The fact is-and fact it is, dammit-that David Silva was fouled. And I'm personally getting sick of our smaller, quicker players getting shoved to the ground with nothing called. Silva doesn't dive, Aguero never does and I haven't seen Navas pull a Robben-like leap since he joined us. That's two matches in a row where the refs have made the difference and in my opinion, the Silva foul was more outrageous than anything we saw against Arsenal. And frankly, I don't know what to do about it but I do know it's aggravating as all get out.

Part the Fifth: Poll

You know what to do.