Pep seeks another DEMOLITION JOB
12/1 Hammers fear City will inflict more pain
PEP GUARDIOLA’S halo was slipping during the opening weeks of 2017. He became agitated and snappy at persistent suggestions that our league was different and he had to evolve tactically.
No easy games, they said. Forget about your La Liga and Bundesliga rollovers. Manchester City could not deal with the rough and tumble of the festive period. ‘Tikitaka’ — a phrase the City manager visibly recoils at — will not cut it in the mud.
Fortunately, Guardiola had West Ham. They rolled over twice in a month at the London Stadium, losing 4-0 in the FA Cup and 5-0 in the Premier League.
The Hammers have always been too open and too vulnerable to Guardiola’s press. City have scored 13 goals in three away games at West Ham with the former Barcelona manager in charge.
The London Stadium’s vast expanse has a homely feel for a team like City, who like to push their full backs wide and are devastating when given space in which to roam. The odds on a West Ham win today are as long as 12/1 with the bookmakers.
City are without left back Benjamin Mendy, who is likely to miss three months with a knee injury. It is a second major injury setback for the 24-year-old since he joined City in 2017 after missing the majority of last season with cruciate ligament damage in his right knee. West Ham welcome long-term absentee Andy Carroll back into their squad.
‘I think Pep is a pretty good manager,’ said West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini rather understatedly. ‘We have a good relationship.’
Pellegrini was in charge at the Etihad in 2016 when it was announced Guardiola would take over at the end of the season.
The pair did not speak before Guardiola took the reins but the Catalan spent hours studying City under Pellegrini.
‘When you see the teams of Manuel, even a blind guy can recognise his style,’ Guardiola said, clearly expecting West Ham to go hell-for-leather.
Pellegrini, a man wedded to his principles, confirmed as much. He namechecked Wolves as an example of how to attack City and said: ‘We consider who we are playing but we are not going to play the game just to have a draw and not to concede too many goals.’
That must be music to Guardiola’s ears. ‘He did incredibly in Villarreal,’ said Guardiola of Pellegrini. ‘The way they played and created their own style was impressive. After he went to Real Madrid he did very well with 96 points but at Barcelona we did 99. At City he won the league and helped this club be where we are right now.’
Guardiola yesterday said no new signings will arrive in January and then hinted at the possibility that he could extend his stay beyond the end of his contract in 2021.
‘I have protection here, my family is doing well in Manchester,’ Guardiola said. ‘I don’t rule anything out in terms of my contract. It’s going well and I’ll maybe stay longer.’
You wonder how many goals City might eventually plunder at the London Stadium if Guardiola sticks around longer than anticipated.