Manuel Pellegrini’s old players, a collection Guardiola has spent most of the season trying to move on from, were to the fore with the endgame on the lineAt times during a frazzled, occasionally surly first season Pep Guardiola has looked a little culture-shocked, a man chafing at the edge of things. It has been an uncomfortable embrace, with a sense of a man half-in half-out of the door, pretending to like the tea, smiling politely, but still vaguely scandalised by the raggedness, the physicality, the lack of order.Well, this was a bit more like it. On a tight, bruising night at the Etihad Stadium, with the season’s endgame on the line, Guardiola oversaw what must be the least Pep-ish Manchester...
The derby proved a fine night for the Manchester sides in the race for the Champions League, but it is also abundantly clear where both teams need to reinforce before next seasonThis draw suits Manchester City and Manchester United as it moved them a point closer to Liverpool and will allow each to overtake Jürgen Klopp’s side in the race for a Champions League berth if they win their game in hand. José Mourinho had said: “Our mentality now is to try to forget what is waiting for us and concentrate on this game. I don’t deny the Europa League is our main target but we have to forget about it.” This was a reference to the fact that winning...
A derby draw could suit both teams but Mourinho is unbeaten in the league since October and would clearly love to make life even more miserable for GuardiolaThe race is not always to the swift, according to Ecclesiastes, although as Damon Runyon and thousands of others subsequently pointed out, that is never the way to bet.Picking the winners and losers in this season’s title and top-four race has been an unusually fraught business, mainly because Chelsea dropped so far out of the running last time out. Related: Pep Guardiola needs time to prove naysayers wrong at Manchester City | Jacob Steinberg Related: Wayne Rooney at risk of going out at Old Trafford with a whimper | Daniel Taylor Continue reading...
The City manager could be forgiven for regarding Sunday’s epic clásico with growing nostalgia but it was a reminder of the way systems can be torn apart by moments of individual brillianceShould Pep Guardiola have happened to find himself in front of a television on Sunday night, he might have been drowned by a wave of nostalgia. A few hours after his lukewarm Manchester City team had unravelled at Wembley, a spectacular clásico was about to reach a stunning conclusion at the Bernabéu. The 10 men of Real Madrid had fought back from the dead to equalise with five minutes left and they were seconds away from all but ending Barcelona’s title hopes. They just had to resist one final,...
When City’s owners acquired one of the world’s elite coaches, they will have envisaged an era of domination – not a scramble to finish in the top fourIn a gripping, weirdly unpolished contest, traces of the residual class City’s veteran campaigners possess were not enough to uplift a malformed team. Yaya Touré, Vincent Kompany and Sergio Agüero tried to lead the way but did not quite have the verve to do so, nor did they have the support that they should have had from City’s younger thrusters. So far, Pep Guardiola’s City have failed to straddle two eras while meeting the highest demands. A club with vast riches, some of which were spent hiring the prestigious coach, did not imagine...