BILLY BUNTER

Weblog: The football punter

City can learn from Napoli's minimum-effort approach

One of the great pleasures of a Champions League week is the vast array of statistics available on the Uefa website.

The data from the first three sets of group games is fascinating – my new footballing hero is Jordan Ayew of Marseille, who managed to pick up three yellow cards in just 41 minutes on the pitch.

Then there’s the amazing fact that Napoli had four shots on target in their first three Group A matches and scored… four goals. The Serie A side have clearly taken a leaf out of the Bunter philosophy – minimum effort and maximum effect.

During my playing days, I was always getting bawled outfor not doing enough running off the ball or not tracking back. I tried to explain to my team-mates that football is a simple game and now I feel completely vindicated by the Napoli approach.

Having said that – always expect the unexpected in this blog – I fancy the Italians to come unstuck against the Bayern Munich machine tonight.

Bayern are absolutely flying and I’m sticking them in a double with Manchester City to beat a Villarreal side who’ve only got about three fit players.

Hopefully Aguero, Balotelli, and Silva have been taking tips from Napoli’s sharp-shooters.