City aim to be mad MARCH HARES
Pep’s supermen ‘accept challenge’ of campaign-defining month
PEP GUARDIOLA described his players the other night as ‘supermen’. It is a slight twist on the theme that he had spent the previous few hours on the touchline resembling a hopping-mad Lex Luthor as one plot after another came up short against Bournemouth.
But a win is a win at this stage in the season and sometimes, to an artistic mastermind such as Guardiola, there is deeper satisfaction when Manchester City achieve victory through grind and good fortune rather than beauty and design. Saturday sat well within that category.
Guardiola went to great lengths in his assessment to describe the scheduling burden on his men and the numbers back his view. So does the visible fatigue of those reigning champions, which was clear to see after their third game in eight days — they looked as though they are running close to empty, not least Erling Haaland, and their manager was rather creative in how he described it.
For instance, Tuesday’s home win over Brentford was compared to a trip to the ‘dentist without anaesthetic’, so it might not be a wise time to point out Liverpool have played one more game than City’s 19 since the beginning of December.
Both of those teams are battling exhaustion magnificently in a three-way title race, with Arsenal sprinting on slightly fresher legs, and it is a treat for those of us watching without the accompanying buzz of the dentist’s drill.
‘Of course we are tired,’ said Guardiola, whose side go again on Tuesday in the FA Cup against
Luton before a campaign-defining March run against Manchester United, Copenhagen, Liverpool, Brighton and Arsenal. ‘I know it’s difficult. I’ve seen my players. Brentford was like going to the dentist without anaesthetic.
‘Do you know why we played against Brentford? Because we played two games in the Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia. All the time I see the schedule, (a game) every three days. Now comes a big month, so, yeah, welcome, we are there, one point behind after being champions for everything.
‘That is good. I thought, “I don’t know what’s going to happen with my players after winning everything (last season). How will they react?” Oh my God … (to do) better than they have is impossible. Impossible. Impossible.
‘Is this Premier League season tougher than the last one? It is.
Every year is tough but I love it. We accept the challenge.’
As ever, only the strongest will survive in the demolition derby and typically City have more strength than anyone. But Saturday threw up another of those strange anomalies of this season, with Haaland uncharacteristically wasteful in front of goal.
He had two excellent chances to score and took neither — if recent history teaches us anything it is that Luton might have to pick up the tab for his karma debt.
In his place, Phil Foden was the match-winner at the Vitality Stadium, tapping in his 16th goal in all competitions.
That City survived a second-half onslaught for the win owed more
to Ederson in goal and John Stones at the back, but Foden’s goal contributions have been an immense addition to his other acts of wizardry on the ball.
‘He is becoming a top, top player,’ he said. ‘I’ve always had the feeling that Phil has this scent of goal. I met him when he was 16 years old when he came training with us. It is a little bit like with Cole Palmer, when they arrive there, they always have the feeling they can score. Phil has this incredible ability to do it.’
BOURNEMOUTH (4-2-3-1): Neto 6.5; Smith 7, Zabarnyi 7, Senesi 7 (Faivre 80min), Kerkez 6.5 (Sinisterra 88); Christie 6.5 (Unal 88), Cook 7; Semenyo 6.5, Kluivert 6.5 (Scott 69, 6), Tavernier 6.5 (Ouattara 69, 6); Solanke 6.5. Booked: Cook, Senesi. Manager: Andoni Iraola 7.
MANCHESTER CITY (4-2-3-1): EDERSON 8; Akanji 6.5, Dias 6.5, Stones 7.5, Ake 6.5; Rodri 7, Kovacic 7.5 (De Bruyne 84); Silva 6.5, Foden 7.5, Nunes 6 (Doku 63, 6); Haaland 6 (Alvarez 75, 6). Scorer: Foden 24. Booked: De Bruyne, Silva. Manager: Pep Guardiola 6.5. Referee: Jarred Gillett 6. Attendance: 11,184.