Mendy key to this strike partnership
IT is astonishing that Gabriel Jesus is still having to make the argument that he and Sergio Aguero can play together.
Against Huddersfield, the two strikers paired up from the start for the first time since in nine months – and promptly bagged four of the six goals.
That took their shared tally to 15 goals from eight games, enough to give any Premier League defence nightmares.
Lazy analysis might lead to the conclusion that Aguero and Jesus were hardly used in tandem last season at all, and promote the false notion that Pep Guardiola simply cannot find a way of fitting them into the same team.
Guardiola can, and wants to, play Aguero and Jesus together – the fact that they only did so eight times last season was down to one thing – Benjamin Mendy’s injury. He also played in all of those games, and his energetic attacking down the left enabled Guardiola to play two up top.
It is no coincidence that, with Mendy back, Guardiola wasted little time in pairing his two strikers again – and that they tore Huddersfield to shreds, between them.
Mendy is the key, because he effectively covers two positions. He combines the defensive job that Fabian Delph did last season – although it usually involved little defending – and the attacking role of Leroy Sane.
It gives Guardiola a valuable new option, although the prospect of linking Mendy and Sane together on one flank, and Kyle Walker and one from Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva and Riyad Mahrez on the other, is enough to make the most cynical Blue drool in anticipation.
Sane struggled get into the team for the opening weeks of last season, with Mendy, Aguero and Jesus on the rampage, and he may have to be patient again.
Mendy’s long-term injury gave him his chance, and he seized it with some breathtaking displays. And once Guardiola was forced to abandon the two-striker formula, Jesus also missed plenty of games due to Aguero’s golden form, but he was always ready and willing when called upon.
When asked this week about pairing up with Kun again, Jesus said: “Pep Guardiola opted for Sergio Aguero and myself, just like he did last season and I think there is only one match where we have not done so well – we can indeed play together!
Sergio and I have the spirit of scoring goals and always trying to finish well, I started this season to improve my finishing, to continue to help the team.
“Pep is super intelligent and knows what the team needs. I will always be at his disposal every time I am called in. I will always keep the same spirit.”