THE VERDICT: CITY 7 STOKE 2
THEY say that champion teams set the trend for their time – others see the success and try to emulate the style.
And that is why English football must be praying that City win the Premier League, because if Pep Guardiola’s team of rare attacking talents become the Blueprint for the future, we are in for a rare treat.
The only problem that would-be copycats have is finding a Kevin de Bruyne, one of the best players on the planet right now. And a Leroy Sane. Oh, and a David Silva.
After seeing the snooze-fest laid on by a game hyped as the greatest clash in English football, between United and Liverpool, we needed an antidote.
The way the Blues tore into Stoke in the first half with a delicious display of power and precision was everything that the Beautiful Game SHOULD be about.
City had raised the bar with that worldclass performance at Chelsea a fortnight ago, but the script for this one was that a dogged, defensive, well-drilled Stoke team would not afford the Blues the space to be so expansive.
But De Bruyne, Silva, Sane, Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling these days do not need gifting the space. They simply find it, no matter how hard you work to close them down.
The goals were all picturebook affairs, apart from the two by Stoke – Mame Diouf’s shot looping off Fabian Delph and Kyle Walker then unluckily diverting Diouf’s header past his own keeper. By then the Blues were three up. Kyle Walker shouldered the responsibility of finding a way through, powering to the by-line and having the presence of mind to pick out Jesus’ run to the near post. One-nil.
Then the peerless De Bruyne threaded a no-look pass to Sane when everyone was waiting for him to detonate a shot off that masterful right foot, and the German calmly picked out Raheem Sterling for a simple finish. Two-nil.
The Blues were now in full flow and when Sane again flashed past his marker and crossed to the far post, Sterling expertly and unselfishly squared it for Silva, who almost tripped over his shot but recovered to score.
Stoke’s fightback briefly revived memories of last season’s more fickle Blue moments, but this team had the perfect response.
De Bruyne – who else – then picked out Jesus to crash in the fourth, before Fernandinho hammered in the fifth from 25 yards, as if bored of all these pretty team goals.
The way Stoke were being laid to waste,
Jesus (17, 55), Sterling (19), Silva (27), Fernandinho (60), Sane (62), B Silva (79)
Diouf (44), Walker (47og) 79% 21% 20 5 54,128 5 0 None Afellay Craig Pawson we thought the history books might need dusting off, but the Blues kept something in their tank by scoring just two more.
Sane raced onto yet another breathtaking, cross-field pass from De Bruyne – playing his 100th game for the club – and finished with a cheeky shot between keeper Jack Butland’s legs.
To round it off, sub Bernardo Silva grabbed his first City goal, with a neat touch to Sterling’s sideways pass, giving himself the time and space to stab his shot into the far corner.
It was one of those afternoons that you never want to end, after Mourinho’s lot had got it off to such a dull start!