The new ‘Special One’
> Guardiola hails Aguero after scoring twice in the first half against West Brom
SERGIO AGUERO was branded Manchester City’s ‘Special One’ after ending the worst run of manager Pep Guardiola’s career.
Argentina forward Aguero scored twice in the first half against West Bromwich Albion before setting up the third for Ilkay Gundogan, who also grabbed the final goal in City’s 4-0 win at the Hawthorns.
It was a welcome result for City boss Guardiola, who had gone six games in all competitions without a win.
City remain top of the Premier League on goal difference ahead of Arsenal despite their recent struggles and they can now look forward to today’s Champions League clash against Barcelona with more confidence.
Aguero’s double took his tally to 13 goals this season and he will chase his 150th for City when Guardiola’s former club visit Eastlands this week.
After dropping Aguero for City’s 4-0 defeat at Barcelona recently, Guardiola was delighted with the contribution of the former Atletico Madrid star.
“Sergio is a special player. But I would like to convince him how important he is for us,” Guardiola said.
“We need him a lot and when he’s in that mood and shows that hunger, Sergio is definitive. He’s an important part of this club and we want to try to help him to become a bigger and bigger part of this fantastic club.
“Sergio is so important for us. We don’t have too many strikers – we have Sergio and Kelechi (Iheanacho) but he’s too young and he has to learn a lot.”
Aguero was sacrificed for tactical reasons in the first meeting with Barca, but Guardiola admitted his talisman has earned his place in the team for the return.
Asked if the marksman will start against Barcelona, he said: “I think so! But I’m not going to tell you which position!”
Guardiola was also pleased with Gundogan after the German playmaker netted his first brace in English football.
“Sergio scored two but so did Gundogan. He has the qualities with the ball in the middle, he’s safe and he’s really good with the ball one against one attacking central defenders. He showed that with the first goal with the pass to Sergio,” Guardiola said.
Guardiola admitted City needed to end their winless run – so they didn’t lose their heads. “I was very pleased – after six games we needed a win for the head (minds),” he added.
“The problem when you haven’t won for six games is you lack a bit of confidence for the next one. That happened in that period but we played well. But when you don’t win, your argument about how many good things you did sound like excuses.
“When we win you’re right, when we don’t, Preston 15 6 QPR 15 5 Ipswich 15 4 Aston Villa 14 3 Wolves 15 4 Burton 15 4 Derby 15 4 Nottm Forest 15 4 Cardiff 15 4 Wigan 15 3 Blackburn 15 3 Rotherham 15 1 2 7 19 19 20 4 6 16 21 19 6 5 12 14 18 8 3 14 14 17 5 6 17 18 17 5 6 18 20 17 5 6 9 11 17 3 8 24 29 15 3 8 13 23 15 5 7 14 16 14 4 8 15 23 13 4 10 16 35 7
LA LIGA:
(Ramis 80, Pedro Leon 87) (Bruno 41-pen), (Moi Gomez 20) (Vietto 4), (Deyverson 7) (Ronaldo 17-pen, 33, 88, Morata 84),
(Carrasco 6, 86, Gameiro 24, 43) (Sandro 31, Camacho 64), (Rafinha 48) (Willian Jose 30, Xabi Prieto 59).
PWD FA Pts Real Madrid 10 7 3 28 10 24 Barcelona 10 7 1 30 12 22 Atletico Madrid10 6 3 25 6 21 Sevilla 10 6 3 18 13 21 Villarreal 10 5 4 17 7 19 Real Sociedad 10 5 1 16 12 16 Eibar 10 4 3 16 14 15 Athletic Bilbao 9 5 0 14 12 15 Celta Vigo 9 4 1 13 17 13 Las Palmas 9 3 3 17 15 12 Malaga 10 3 3 14 14 12 Real Betis 9 3 2 11 19 11 Alaves 10 2 4 10 15 10 Leganes 10 3 1 9 19 10 Valencia 9 3 0 13 18 9 Gijon 10 2 3 8 19 9 Espanyol 9 1 5 12 17 8 Deportivo 9 2 2 6 14 8 Osasuna 9 1 3 11 19 6 Granada 10 0 3 8 24 3
SERIE A: Immobile 55) (Bonaventura 49) (Kalinic 31-pen), (Bonucci 50, Higuain 70) (Callejon 54). PWD FA Pts 11 9 0 21 8 27 11 7 2 26 12 23 Juventus Roma
L0 2 1 1 1 4 3 4 4 3 4 4 4 6 6 5 3 5 5 7
(Kurtic 36, 45+2, Gomez 84) (Trotta 45+3-pen, Falcinelli 90+2) (Lulic 50, (Defrel 57),
L2 2 you just look for excuses. That’s why it was so important to win the game and I was very pleased with our performance in the first half.
“We won 4-0 but in the second half West Brom showed how good the Premier League is. For me it was difficult to understand why we had control in the first half, and then we didn’t in the second half with the same players.
“At 60, 65 minutes, anything could have happened, but the moment Ilkay Gundogan scored the third goal, the game was almost over.”
West Brom assistant head coach Dave Kemp admitted they couldn’t live with Aguero.
“Aguero’s two goals were tremendous. You know he’s a good player but you hope he’s off colour a little bit. He wasn’t, and you find yourself in trouble,” Kemp said. – AFP Milan Lazio Napoli Atalanta Fiorentina Torino Genoa Chievo Inter Udinese Sassuolo Cagliari Bologna Sampdoria Pescara Empoli Palermo Crotone 11 7 11 6 11 6 11 6 10 4 10 4 10 4 11 4 10 4 10 4 11 4 10 4 11 3 10 3 11 1 11 1 10 1 11 1 1 3 2 1 4 3 3 3 2 1 1 1 4 2 4 4 3 2 3 2 3 4 2 3 3 4 4 5 6 5 4 5 6 6 6 8 17 14 22 21 12 21 20 12 20 16 13 19 13 10 16 20 13 15 12 10 15 11 12 15 13 13 14 13 16 13 14 19 13 17 23 13 11 15 13 11 16 11 9 16 7 2 13 7 7 19 6 10 21 5
BUNDESLIGA: (Malli 51-pen, Oztunali 85) (Arnold 37) (Mehmedi 79, Jedvaj 84), (Koo 67) (Lewandowski 19, 48, Robben 21), (Garcia 67) (Philipp 29, Grifo 39-pen, Abrashi 75), (Sabitzer 57, 82),
PWDL Bayern 9 7 2 0 RB Leipzig 9 6 3 0 Hertha Berlin 8 5 2 1 Hoffenheim 8 4 4 0 Dortmund 9 4 3 2 Cologne 8 4 3 1 Frankfurt 9 4 3 2 Freiburg 9 5 0 4 Mainz 05 9 4 2 3 Leverkusen 9 4 1 4 M’gladbach 9 3 3 3 Schalke 04 9 2 2 5 Augsburg 9 2 2 5 Darmstadt 98 9 2 2 5 Bremen 9 2 1 6 Wolfsburg 9 1 3 5 Ingolstadt 04 9 0 2 7 Hamburg 8 0 2 6
F A Pts 23 5 23 17 6 21 14 9 17 16 10 16 20 10 15 13 6 15 13 8 15 13 13 15 16 15 14 13 13 13 10 12 12 10 11 8 8 14 8 8 17 8 11 24 7 6 13 6 7 19 2 2 15 2
LIGUE 1: Nice 4 Nantes 1, Toulouse 1 Lyon 2, Guingamp 1 (De Pauw 78) Angers 0, Lorient 2 Montpellier 2, Bastia 0 Dijon 0, Nancy 2 Caen 0, SaintEtienne 1 Monaco 1, Lille 0 Paris Saint-Germain 1.