There was something of a siege mentality against Uefa, yet the stadium was not a cauldron of hate with the loudest chants being upbeatThere was probably more menace in the message from the chief executive than the chorus from the stands, even if Ferran Soriano’s language contained fewer expletives. But the shared message was one of defiance.Sandwiched by two examples of Gabriel Jesus’s curious reluctance to shoot when he had only the goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski to beat came a new addition to the City songbook. “Fuck you Uefa, we’ll see you in court,” were the lyrics and who, a few years ago, thought they would be singing about the court of arbitration for sport rather than Sergio Agüero or Kevin...
City fan Will Unwin remembers life in League One in the pre-Sheikh Mansour era and knows what he prefersDescribing something as “typical City” is a reference to the club shooting itself in the foot. Previously, it was brought up when discussing Jamie Pollock beating two men before heading the ball over his own goalkeeper to almost certainly doom the club to relegation to the third tier. Twenty-two years on it now seems to be a euphemism for financial doping.The situation the club now finds itself in was an inevitability. Financial Fair Play was announced in 2009 and 11 years later it should not come as a surprise that someone would be found guilty of abusing. Manchester City have done nothing...
Liverpool, Manchester City, Spurs and Chelsea face differing challenges in a Champions League group stage that is likely to be one of the last in the competition’s current formatThe Champions League returns on Tuesday with Liverpool back at the stadium where they won their sixth European crown last year. Atlético Madrid will represent a formidable obstacle as Jürgen Klopp and his players attempt the unlikely feat of reaching a third successive Champions League final in addition to claiming a first English title in 30 years, though of the four English teams aiming for a place in the last eight it could be argued that Liverpool have been best favoured by the draw.It is true that Tottenham’s opponents, RB Leipzig, have...
Olivier Giroud’s absence is a mystery, Hugo Lloris proves his worth and Manchester United’s defence continues to wobbleThe debutant Steven Bergwijn will rightfully claim the headlines for Spurs but the contribution of Tottenham’s current third-longest serving player against Manchester City should not be forgotten. Hugo Lloris made one of the saves of the season to deny Sergio Agüero in the first half, somehow getting a big toe to turn a deflected shot on to the post, before he also denied Ilkay Gündogan from the penalty spot (the fourth spot-kick City have missed in their past six). Lloris rode his luck – he was clearly off his line when palming Gündogan’s effort away and fortunate not to concede another penalty when...
Forget fancy formations and statistics. Tottenham’s win over City proves that the game remains riotously randomThere came a point, some time between Ilkay Gündogan missing an open goal and Oleksandr Zinchenko getting himself sent off and Davinson Sánchez heading the ball against his own crossbar from point-blank range, when you realised that whatever they tried, whatever they did, Manchester City were not going to score. It happens. Some days you just catch a whiff of bad juju at breakfast, can’t shake the feeling on the bus to the stadium, miss a couple of early chances and the entire afternoon simply unravels with a strange and unstoppable momentum. Ferran Soriano, City’s chief executive, once wrote a book called The Ball Doesn’t...