Manchester City directors box watch during 1-1 draw with Roma
City failed to
sell out the Etihad Stadium for Tuesday's group match against the Serie
A giants, who secured a 1-1 draw thanks to Francesco Totti's record-breaking goal - the Italian became the oldest scorer in the competition's history, beating the mark previously set by Ryan Giggs.
And
Scholes, in his new role as a pundit for ITV Sport, voiced his opinion
that City's fans are letting their team down by not turning up in
numbers to create an intimidating atmosphere that makes life difficult
for the opposition.
Rio Ferdinand ✔
@rioferdy5
Follow
How many empty seats are there at the
city vs Roma game by the way....big CL game & fans would rather
Ramsays Kitchen or something at home
"The crowd need to get behind this team they need to create a special European atmosphere,' Scholes said.
"I
was lucky enough to play at Old Trafford and we always talked about the
atmosphere on a Tuesday night, the special atmosphere you create, and
the crowd is rocking when you go out for a warm up.
"At quarter past seven and there's empty seats everywhere.
"When you come
here it just doesn't have a European night feel to it. You go to
Liverpool, you go to Old Trafford, you go to Chelsea, they have a
special feeling for it.
"Tonight I don't think there is [a special atmosphere]. I don't think they realise what a big game this is.
"They've
got the team, they've definitely got the players, the quality is
definitely there, but do the crowd realise how lucky they are to be in
this competition? I don't think they do."
Meanwhile Ferdinand, who left United in the summer after 12 years and is now at QPR, echoed his former team-mate's thoughts.
He questioned why City would want to expand their home ground if they cannot fill it as it stands for important European games.
In
June, City announced plans to take the stadium's total capacity to a
little over 55,000, but there were plenty of empty seats for the visit
of the Italians.
No comments :
Post a Comment