EASY DOES IT!
City end greatest year in style... and De Bruyne is back on the bench too
THERE cannot be another team in the history of this sport that can simultaneously be described as in slight disarray when having not lost at home for an entire calendar year. All the while being crowned world champions.
The Etihad Stadium felt reflective, about what had gone before and what might be on the horizon.
They paraded the five trophies, an unprecedented level of dominance in Britain, at the start of an afternoon that was eventually run by Rodri.
Which, given his personal exploits in 2023, felt like a fitting tribute to the past year as they waved off the most successful 12 months of any club.
This was too easy, Sheffield United submitting like so many others do. City, sporting a golden badge on their shirts, will feel comforted after three consecutive draws at home before they became world champions out in Saudi Arabia. They almost broke their own record of 942 completed passes.
Reflective, too, because of Kevin De Bruyne’s emergence — even as an unused substitute whose mere presence and gentle jogging down the touchline ignited something inside this crowd.
City would not be sitting two points behind Liverpool if their talisman had played any part of the past four months and, as the team enjoyed a coronation before kickoff, it made you wonder what heights they can scale now the king is back — the only man to have come anywhere near close to challenging Colin Bell for that accolade in these parts.
After warming up, De Bruyne wore the look of a leader in a golf Major going down the 18th fairway, nonchalantly gesturing to the main stand as they rose to appreciate his genius.
There will have been a fair few of those stalemated games that De Bruyne would have opened up on his own, and the Belgian midfielder’s return must fill Pep Guardiola with significant optimism.
To be so close to the league leaders having been without the best midfielder in the world since early August is not a bad start to another title defence.
While De Bruyne remains adored by the City fans, Rodri has done his level best to supplant him in their affections. Guardiola’s metronome has added even more to his game, pitching in with so many crucial goals. Yesterday’s, after 14 minutes, is not going to match Istanbul but it settled City down against a low block designed to frustrate.
Anis Ben Slimane was tasked with doing a job on Rodri. But he let him roam and, once the Spaniard nicked in ahead of Vinicius Souza and passed into Wes Foderingham’s far bottom corner, the Blades faced an uphill battle.
William Osula had a couple of presentable chances nearing half-time, yet Chris Wilder’s side were not given a sniff. A rogue mouse running amok on the grass seemed closer to troubling Ederson’s goal.
‘Finally,’ Guardiola said. ‘A clean sheet.’
A first shutout in nine matches, although City’s broader home statistics are frightening. They had won every game here this year until the Liverpool draw in late November. Of the 30 matches here, 27 have been victories. They’ve
only conceded 20 goals, six of those coming in the past few weeks. Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Arsenal are among those to have left with tails between the legs. Much better teams than Sheffield United, who have not actually scored away at City since 1991.
‘It felt like we played for about five hours,’ Wilder said. ‘When you’re walking out and see five trophies, it hits home who you’re playing against. There’s no downside to this game. It’s not a defeatist attitude. It’s pragmatic.’
Now, once the New Year passes, will City march on, as has been the case so often? It is hard to find a compelling reason why not, when the muscle memory kicks in and every week becomes more important.
In De Bruyne’s absence, they have seen Phil Foden step up again, looking every bit the big-game star they always knew he could be. Guardiola’s quandary is how to fit both Foden and De Bruyne into a team behind Erling Haaland once the Norwegian returns.
Just after the hour, Foden darted between two defenders, engineering just enough space for young Oscar Bobb’s cute ball to take out four opposition players, offering the perfect glimpse of his technical importance.
Foden collected the Bobb pass, knocked it across to the back stick and Julian Alvarez tapped in. ‘Phil has incredible ability to turn that fast,’ Rodri said. ‘He has this plasticity with the ball.’
The hunt is about to begin and City will be buoyed by the fact that Arsenal, who were top on Christmas Day, have not converted that foundation into a title since 1948. Five times they’ve been top of the tree over the festive period since, last season being one of them of course. We all know what happened then.