GUARDIOLA RATES CITY STAR AGUERO AHEAD OF SALAH
LONDON: Jose Mourinho was given a stay of execution as Manchester United staged a stirring fightback to beat Newcastle 3-2 thanks to Alexis Sanchez’s last-gasp winner, while Tottenham recovered from their European misery with a 1-0 victory over Cardiff on Saturday.
Mourinho had presided over United’s worst seven-game start to a season for 29 years amid the breakdown of his relationship with star midfielder Paul Pogba and several other key players.
A report on Friday evening claimed United’s hierarchy had lost patience with the toxic atmosphere and would sack Mourinho regardless of the Newcastle result.
But senior United sources strongly denied the suggestion Mourinho would be dismissed this weekend, insisting he retains the board’s support following a series of MANCHESTER, United Kingdom: Pep Guardiola insists Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah has lost none of his goal-scoring prowess, but the Manchester City boss claims the Egyptian must repeat last season’s prodigious feats before he can match Sergio Aguero. City forward Aguero, the club’s all-time record scorer, has opened the new campaign in predictable fashion, scoring eight times in 10 games already this season.
Liverpool winger Salah has made a more modest start to 201819, certainly in comparison to last season’s 44-goal campaign, with just three goals to date. abysmal results.
Despite that vote of confidence, it was looking increasingly bleak for Mourinho when winless Newcastle raced into a two-goal in the first 10 minutes at Old Trafford.
But United clicked into gear and Chile forward Sanchez, who had been dropped by Mourinho, came off the bench to bag the winner after goals from Juan Mata and Anthony Martial dragged the hosts level.
United’s first win in five games in all competitions could buy Mourinho some much-needed breathing space heading into the international break.
Mourinho was in typically combative mood when he walked to the bench before kick-off, squirting a television camera with a water bottle, and within seven minutes the mood turned even more fractious.
United fell behind when Kenedy parted Mourinho’s defence with
And, while Guardiola has no doubt that Salah remains a lethal threat, the City manager believes the Egypt star must score prolifically over a period of multiple years to match Aguero’s achievements.
“He (Salah) is younger and it was his first year back in England since his time at Chelsea, so we will see in the future,” said Guardiola, talking ahead of City’s visit to Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday.
“But a guy who has the quality to score 50 goals in a season always has that quality. But football is all about ups and downs.
“Salah remains an excellent player alarming ease, running onto Ayoze Perez’s pass and turning away from Ashley Young before firing home as Mourinho gestured furiously on the touchline. There was worse to come for Mourinho three minutes later as Newcastle punished more shambolic defending, Young and his team-mates failing to get in a challenge as Japanese forward Yoshinori Muto scored on his first Premier League start.
Rafael Benitez’s side were the first visiting team ever to score two goals in the first 10 minutes of a Premier League game at Old Trafford.
Mourinho responded by making a bizarre 19th minute substitution as he hauled off defender Eric Bailly — one of the group said to be unhappy with the manager — and sent on Mata, once again moving young midfielder Scott Mctominay to play at centre-back. and will score goals in the future. When you are in there scenting goals sometimes this happens. “Sergio has scored a lot of goals but there were periods when he didn’t score goals.
“How many years has Sergio scored all those goals, eight or nine years? For Salah it was the first one so we will see in seven or eight years.”
Another City forward, Raheem Sterling, should be involved at Anfield despite Guardiola having left him out of one of the two trips to Liverpool last season.
Sterling, a former Liverpool player, was given a torrid reception from his former club’s supporters who were unimpressed at the manner of his leaving Merseyside.
PRIME CONTENDERS But Guardiola believes that coping in the face of such adversity is part of the 23-year-old’s learning curve.
“He has played against Liverpool at Anfield before,” said Guardiola. “He didn’t start last season for the first time but that was for a tactical reason.
“I don’t think about him differently for this game because he’s a former Liverpool player. Maybe it’s affected him before, maybe it hasn’t. I don’t know because we haven’t spoken about it.