It’s back to Wembley for Pep’s cup kings
TWO things that can always be said of Pep Guardiola’s City side are that they take every competition seriously and they hate losing.
It is why they haven’t lost a domestic cup tie for 861 days, why they have so rarely lost consecutive games under this coach and why they remain favourites to retain the FA Cup following victory over Newcastle.
The chasm between the teams is enormous and the draw gave City the second lowest-ranked team left in the competition, but after an energy-sapping defeat to Chelsea on Thursday this did not look an easy prospect.
None of Guardiola’s three previous visits to St James’
Park had been pleasant.
In their Centurions campaign they ground out a scrappy 1-0 win on a day that will be remembered more for Liverpool announcing the signing of Virgil van Dijk.
Last season a shock defeat nearly torpedoed their title hopes and a late Jonjo Shelvey equaliser in their most recent meeting ruined hopes of catching Jurgen Klopp’s men this time round – as well as spoiling Kevin de Bruyne’s thronker of a goal.
Nor could this be deemed a fully first choice XI due to the selection of Claudio Bravo, the designated cup keeper that hadn’t made any of the three previous matchdays squads due to injury.
Bravo’s presence was an indicator of both how much Guardiola values him and how low Leroy Sane - yet to start since returning to fitness - is in the manager’s thinking.
From the off this time though it was positive football on the front foot, with Newcastle’s box invaded twice in the opening minute.
The home team spent the first half penned back in their own half doing whatever they could to avoid a goal and managed just 15 passes, with City clocking up 85 per cent possession and 188 passes before the drinks break.
It felt like a matter of when the Blues would score the first goal of the match rather than if, even if Andy Carroll was proving himself a handful on the occasional scraps Newcastle had. As much as they dominated, City were still grateful for a moment of madness to take the lead.
Having protected Karl Darlow’s goal for 35 minutes, Fabian Schar gifted a penalty with some blatant pushing of Gabriel Jesus in the box.
Up stepped birthday boy De Bruyne, belatedly the go-to penalty taker, to give them one foot in the last four. Newcastle’s lack of ambition up to that point meant it would always take a gigantic leap to change that situation as they were forced to try and take the ball off a team that has spent years doing
possession drills under the eye of one of the greatest managers the world has seen.
If there was a criticism of City, their control of the game was not matched by the quality of their created chances. After eight goals in the first two games back, it is now just three from the most recent two.
Some of that can be explained away by fatigue - Guardiola did warn performance levels would dip - but the concerns about goalscoring that are always brought up whenever Sergio Aguero is injured remain valid and Jesus failed to find the net again.
For more than an hour, City never looked close to allowing Newcastle anywhere near their goal. The biggest threat posed by Carroll was an injury to Aymeric Laporte as the towering striker made a habit of careering into the Blues backline, eventually earning a booking for a third foul on the Frenchman.
A ninth domestic trophy out of the last 11 available definitely looks on the cards
However, the season has been blighted by defensive mistakes and Nicolas Otamendi proved almost as generous as Schar when he passed out of his own box straight to Allan Saint-Maximin, whose low ball into the box should have been buried rather than blasted over by substitute Dwight Gayle.
One of City’s own replacements helped make the home team pay immediately.
Phil Foden, who shone brightly in the first two games but picked up an injury that kept him out of the defeat to Chelsea, travelled with the ball and then off-loaded to Sterling, who cut in and bent an effort beyond Darlow and into the bottom corner.
With that, and the drinks break, the visitors could relax.
De Bruyne, who had orchestrated play from a deeper position in another terrific performance, and Kyle Walker were withdrawn for the fresh legs of Rodri and Joao Cancelo ahead of City’s Premier League game with Liverpool at the Etihad on Thursday.
With Cancelo, Bravo, Foden and John Stones back into the first-team squad following injuries and Jesus playing a full 90 minutes, any worries over the strength in depth that have appeared this week appear less troubling now and taking things one game at a time looks to be the best way to approach this largely unprecedented situation.
Beating the champions remains a priority as their rivalry looks certain to continue into next season and the suggestion by Guardiola that the Newcastle game was more important was dismissed as a poker face by Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp.
As Roy Keane once said though, league winners’ medals do not contain the number of points you clock up. A win on Thursday may fuel confidence and belief but City’s season will be remembered more by the number of trophies they win than the distance between first and second place.
In what must have been a difficult week for the Blues that has contained three games and confirmation that Liverpool have taken their Premier League trophy from them, the players stuck to the principles that Guardiola has instilled in them and were rewarded.
With a winnable semi-final against Arsenal next month, a ninth domestic trophy out of the last 11 available definitely looks on the cards ahead of their tilt at the Champions League.