WE’RE NOT FALLING FOR IT, RAHEEM

Sterling claims City have started ’brilliantly’... but Pep’s disjointed team have lost their edge

RAHEEM STERLING is usually bang-on when he speaks out but he was off the mark when he claimed Manchester City have done “brilliantly” this season.

Sterling argued four points ts from City’s opening three games – against Wolves, Leeds and Leicester – is not bad, considering all their problems. oblems.

City have had difficulties and nd what little pre-season they had was as hit by Aymeric Laporte, Riyad Mahrez hrez and Ilkay Gundogan testing g positive for coronavirus.

They were not helped by y

Pep Guardiola having to spend the first two weeks of September in quarantine on his return from Spain.

Record goalscorer Sergio Aguero is also still recovering from a knee operation in July, while Gabriel Jesus was injured in their first game at Wolves.

Sterling claims all this should be taken into account when City’s start is assessed and that they will be much stronger when Jesus and possibly Aguero return after the international break.

“With the players we have, we might be disappointed. But at the same time, we know the circumstances,” he said. “We didn’t have a long preseason, a week and a bit,

we’ve come back and there are players who are not there. I don’t want to make excuses but I think we’ve done brilliantly with the squad we’ve had.

“When we come back from the internationals we’ll have a full squad and be ready to go.”

Aguero and Jesus are undoubtedly a big miss for City and the Blues would have finished off Leeds with them up front during the opening 30 minutes when they were dominant.

Instead they only had Sterling’s third goal in his last two games to show for their superiority and this did not prove enough when Leeds battled back to equalise through Rodrigo’s first goal for the club.

It was almost as if Marcelo Bielsa had copied Muhammad Ali’s rope-adope tactics against George Foreman to put one over Guardiola. Leeds let

City tire themselves out, mounting attack after attack, before putting the exhausted Blues flat on their backs through Rodrigo’s goal.

Make no mistake, Rodrigo’s blow was no lucky punch. Leeds fully deserved their point.

Bielsa has forged industry, quality, belief and team spirit together to make a formidable side.

By contrast, there remains a vulnerability about City.

They are not clinical enough, while defensively there is a contagious malaise, which has now infected the once-reliable Ederson. His mistake for Rodrigo’s goal would have embarrassed a schoolboy.

Benjamin Mendy continues to be a mistake waiting to happen, and was replaced by Nathan Ake (below) in the second half, and City need more than the £65million

Ruben Dias, who looked decent on his debut, to tighten up their defence.

Judged by their own high standards, City have not done “brilliantly” and are already eight points off the pace in the title race, albeit they have a game in hand.

The title race may still be in its infancy but the last two seasons have shown contenders cannot afford to make slow starts because of the standards of near perfection required to be champions.

“S o ci ety giv e s credit to th e winners,” said Guardiola sagely. “It’s like perfume: when you win, you smell so good. When you don’t, you smell so bad.

“I know we have to win games to be on top, but I am more than satisfied with what we’ve done so far.”