The Frenchman only took charge in the summer but Claude Puel has already shown his ability at nurturing youth and producing exciting footballWhen Manchester City take the field on Sunday they will be watched by an extremely demanding manager who is demonstrating this season why he has a reputation for cultivating an attractive style of play, improving young players and making contentious decisions. Claude Puel is no Pep Guardiola but Southampton are finding the Frenchman has a way of working that takes some getting used to. And it could bring fresh success.Ronald Koeman, like Mauricio Pochettino before him, seemed to think he had squeezed as much juice as any manager could get out of Southampton, a club that continually sells...
Manchester City’s manager has had to defend Claudio Bravo and his desire for his goalkeeper to play from the back because it is an alien concept to the EnglishWhat is your favourite thing about the Premier League, Pep? Is it the intensity or is it the passion? The intense passion or the passionate intensity? Maybe it’s the intense intensity. Or maybe it’s the passionate passion. Maybe it’s both. Take your time. You don’t have to answer straight away. But you do love us, don’t you?How could you not be moved and thrilled and even a little seduced by the musky no-nonsense masculinity of English football, where there are never any easy games and it’s so much more competitive and exciting...
Facing his first wobble in England, the City manager arrives back in Barcelona denying he has been caught out by the intensity of the Premier LeagueAfter three games without a win Manchester City find themselves in the awkward position of trying to end a disappointing sequence in Barcelona. Ever since the draw was made Pep Guardiola’s homecoming has been the standout attraction of the Champions League group stage but City supporters must be wondering which of his sides is going to turn up. The one that opened the season with 10 straight wins or the one more recently held by Celtic and Everton, with a comprehensive beating at Tottenham in between.The great thing about Barcelona, as Guardiola not only knows...
The manager has Barcelona in the blood but, as he prepares to meet them in the Champions League, the club’s rich history informs his plans for City“It’s not what we wanted,” Txiki Begiristain admitted. Manchester City’s director of football was in Zurich for the Champions League draw, where he could not get a reception on his phone. There was no way of telling his manager the news: “Pep, we’re going back.” But by the time he realised, Guardiola was surely already aware and he probably always suspected as much anyway. On the morning of the draw back in Catalonia some of those closest to him had already predicted this; it was, they had said, inevitable.This is nothing new, for Begiristain...
With the top-flight back in action this weekend, we take a look at the top seven’s strengths, weaknesses, squad depth and key players before asking whether they have got what it takes to win the leagueThe Premier League is back after the international break and, following a breathless start to the season, we assess the top seven sides in the league in search for clues as to which side will lift the trophy come May. Manchester City are the early pacesetters but their defeat at Tottenham Hotspur have given the rest of the clubs hope. It is also worth remembering that seven games into last season, Louis van Gaal’s Manchester United were top, West Ham United third and eventual winners...