The Manchester City and Everton managers confirm that mastering English football and the emphasis on second balls is making life more difficult than they imagined it to beEnglish football. Is it any good or not? Do we have the game we desire, a contest with extra dimensions such as aggression and bravery, or is our version just a primitive ancestor of what everyone else is playing, a throwback revelling in the physical aspects of confrontation that more cerebral exponents bypassed years ago?In some form or other the question has been debated for decades. The reason for asking it now is that on Tuesday 13 December 2016 both Pep Guardiola and Ronald Koeman made the same point about English football. They...
If the average is maintained it will be the highest-scoring season in 20-team Premier League history, but as usual there is far from a single, simple explanationManchester City have kept two clean sheets all season. Liverpool have kept three. Both sides may have come out of last weekend lamenting defeats that have allowed Chelsea to open a small gap at the top of the table but it could be argued that with defences like they have it is remarkable they are as high up as they are. But this, perhaps, is the modern way: defending in the old-fashioned sense has become unfashionable.“There is no modern generation,” José Mourinho growled in the summer of 2015 after winning the Premier League with...
Inaugural meeting of minds off the pitch excites Catalan as his Italian counterpart brings a side to the Etihad after seven straight Premier League winsConsidering Saturday’s high‑stakes visit of Chelsea Pep Guardiola was breezy when discussing the challenge of Antonio Conte’s Premier League leaders. There was a quip about still having hair “a long time ago”, when he played against the Italian in Serie A, and a playful grimace when one questioner confused the former Juventus manager with Carlo Ancelotti, a predecessor at Stamford Bridge.Conte, it is understood, was City’s second choice behind Guardiola to replace Manuel Pellegrini and the Catalan was serious when discussing his counterpart’s quality as well as a challenging December programme which starts with Chelsea and includes...
Chelsea’s balanced side have momentum from seven league wins in a row as they visit Manchester City, who boast natural width, pace and aggressionIt would, perhaps, be the defining irony of Arsène Wenger’s uneasy relationship with Chelsea if it turns out that when he finally devised a way of beating them it provoked a tactical shift that won the Blues the title. Since Chelsea switched to a back three when 3-0 down at half-time at the Emirates, they have conceded only once, winning seven Premier League games in a row. They passed one major test by coming from behind to beat Tottenham last week but on Saturday represents an even more severe examination as they go to Manchester City. Related:...
Pep Guardiola sowed the seeds for this performance in the first half in the Camp Nou a fortnight earlier, and the landmark victory over Barcelona showed his side are ready to establish themselves at Europe’s top tablePeople laughed at the idea that Manchester City played well in their first game against Barcelona two weeks ago. But they lost 4-0, it was pointed out. They ended up with 10 men. They handed Lionel Messi his latest Champions League hat-trick on a plate. All true, yet City did play well in the Camp Nou, between their various defensive mishaps they showed a willingness to get at Barcelona and make chances. If that was a sign of a new tenacity under Pep Guardiola...