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...
Emirates draw helped both sides a little but Pep Guardiola’s team had something Arsène Wenger’s side are lackingTo borrow an old sporting joke, Arsène Wenger hasn’t managed 1,163 Arsenal matches. He has instead managed the same Arsenal match 1,163 times. At a time when Wenger’s team stand accused of congealment and standing still, it seemed oddly fitting that England’s second greatest modern-day spin-bowler Monty Panesar was guest of honour on the pitch at half-time against Manchester City. Although in fairness Shane Warne’s famous, and indeed unfair, jibe about Panesar playing the same Test 33 times without learning or progressing doesn’t really fit here.With Arsenal the real stasis set in around the end of the austerity years, as opportunities appeared to...
The exciting Germany winger has delighted Guardiola during his debut season with City and is seen as part of the solution to the side’s wastefulnessPep Guardiola’s Manchester City press conferences have been a story within a story this season. As the club’s results, defence, disciplinary issues and off-field narratives have lurched and pitched all over the place, so have the manager’s moods. You know you are going to get a certain amount of nose-rubbing and ear-tugging each time, but what you are not guaranteed is a smile and a sunny response.Not unless the subject is Leroy Sané, one of the few City positives that has stayed positive all season and a player whose potential is as much a source of...
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...