The champions may need to grind out more results as they did against West Ham if they are to retain the titleManchester City may have to play more of the bump-and-grind football that got them over the line against West Ham on Wednesday if they are to defend their Premier League title successfully. They hogged the ball but lacked edge in front of goal until Sergio Agüero’s 59th-minute penalty secured all three points. At half-time West Ham were holding City 0-0 and the memory rewound to Pep Guardiola’s pre-game declaration. Before the 11-game title run-in the manager said he wanted no excuses from his players – no citing fatigue or adjustments to the XI – if desire to defend their...
The Carabao Cup is safely stored and City are 20 games away from a clean sweep and footballing nirvana It is probably fair to say Manchester City’s in-house team made the fawning soft-focus documentary All or Nothing a year too soon. “Guys we are so close!” That was your catchphrase. Except, they weren’t really.City won the Premier League by a mile last year thanks to a run of sustained sublime form. But otherwise their season lost its dramatic tension on 4 April when City were eviscerated by Liverpool in the Champions League quarter-final first leg, shrinking the scope of their ambitions to that near-perfect league season. Fast forward 10 months and Sunday’s slow-burn victory in the Carabao Cup final has...
The manager’s majestic coaching skills are the guiding hand behind the spectacle produced by the striker against ChelseaSomething strange happened 12 minutes into the first half of what was, all things considered, a pretty strange kind of game. First there was a hush around the Etihad, then a gurgling sound, followed by an oddly sensual purr in the stands as the big screens showed the first replays of Sergio Agüero’s first goal in this 6-0 shellacking of ChelseaAgüero had just put Manchester City 2-0 up and in effect killed the game. The moment stood on its own, though. Football crowds don’t often gasp. But then, they don’t often get to see goals like this. Taking the ball in a deep...
Defeat of Arsenal can be styled as a Guardiola-inspired success but there were also signs pressure can muddle City’s managerFootball can be a confusing world at times, when narratives clash to leave an outcome that seems to mean two entirely different things simultaneously. Manchester City are a team that lack the personality to handle setbacks, runs one theme; Pep Guardiola is too intense, too controlling, and the result is a highly skilled but neurotic side who cannot think for themselves when the going gets tough. Arsenal are a team that lack the backbone for big away games, runs another. Praise City for getting out of trouble on Sunday, then, or wonder how they got into that position in the first...
Pep Guardiola revised his philosophy as the champions’ physical display secured a vital win to end Liverpool’s unbeaten runWhen Crystal Palace visit Anfield in a couple of weeks Roy Hodgson will doubtless be reminded of his pre-Christmas remark – a slightly tactless one for a former Liverpool manager – that a four-point gap at the top of the table was nothing for Pep Guardiola to worry about.That may still be the case, with 17 rather than 20 games left, though what Guardiola would really appreciate from Hodgson is the sort of Palace display against Liverpool that took the points at the Etihad and spooked Manchester City to such an extent they went on to lose their next game against Leicester....