It may not be a crisis yet but it will be if bogey team Chile defeat Argentina – and it will add to the many issues that are affecting the national gameWhatever happens on Thursday, Chile will haunt this generation of Argentinian players for ever. The two sides met in the 2015 Copa América final and the 2016 Copa América Centenario final and on both occasions Chile won on penalties after a 0-0 draw, extending the Argentinian trophy drought that stretches back to 1993. As Argentina face the possibility of failing to qualify for a World Cup for the first time since 1970, Chile, who have a knack of stopping them from playing, are probably the last team they want...
The Manchester City wing tormented his former Liverpool team-mates with his attacking verve on the wing but clearer heads took centre stage at the EtihadAt one point during Manchester City’s early-season training Pep Guardiola became so frustrated by Raheem Sterling’s puppyish eagerness to cut inside and join the crowd, thereby messing with his precision fine-tuning, he drew a chalk spot on the right wing of City’s training pitch and told Sterling to stand there. When in doubt to seek the chalk spot.Watching this wild, brilliantly entertaining Premier League game, reduced at times to a selection of bruising collisions around the centre circle, you feared for Pep’s chalk spot. Sterling did stay wide, but also found himself snared into the crush of...
Two of the Premier League’s most tactically astute managers each had spells of superiority but Manchester City and Liverpool had to settle for a drawIn a season featuring the best managerial lineup in Premier League history this felt like the type of match we were promised. Two high‑tempo, dynamic sides with different attacking philosophies produced an enthralling end-to-end contest featuring mesmeric passing moves, incredible bursts of pace – and some quite dreadful misses. Related: Sergio Agüero pegs back Liverpool to rescue point for Manchester City Related: Pep Guardiola: Manchester City draw with Liverpool ‘one of my happiest days’ Continue reading...
Champions League exit leaves City and manager vulnerable to danger of missing another target when facing Guardiola’s old foe Jürgen KloppJosé Mourinho is of the opinion that the five teams above Manchester United in the table are going to have it easier than his own for the rest of the season now that every single one is out of Europe. He might have a point yet, in the short term at least, Manchester City can still go two ways.Pep Guardiola’s side would not be the first English club to suffer a hangover on the domestic front on the back of a major disappointment in Europe and few English clubs have invested as much as Manchester City in becoming established in the...
The Barcelona and Bayern Munich players were already familiar with Guardiola’s complex juego de posición theory – at City he was virtually starting from scratchThe fashion these days is to knife a manager at the first sign of trouble. Nobody is allowed to build, nobody is allowed to learn from a mistake. Move to a new country, take over a new team, try to adapt to a new environment and if you’re not winning titles six months later you’re a fraud. Neither Jürgen Klopp nor Pep Guardiola are under pressure as such heading into Sunday’s game at the Etihad, but both are facing grumblings of discontent.When Steve McClaren was sacked by Derby last week it meant that a quarter of...