Sweet relief for Pep as City ensure they remain in title hunt
In the technical area, Pep Guardiola clenched his fist tightly and pumped the air. As Yaya toure’s penalty-kick hit the net, there was palpable relief. City had been in a game and how Guardiola knew it.
Forty-five minutes later, he was breezing out of the KCOM Stadium Press lounge with a smile on his face and one of humberside’s finest mince pies in his hand. how different it might have been.
this was an important win that keeps Guardiola’s side within seven points of Chelsea. After an autumn blip, results are improving. City have won seven of nine english Premier League away fixtures, as many as they won during the entirety of last season under Manuel Pellegrini.
‘When a team wins 12 in a row (Chelsea), every game is a final for us if we want to be there for the rest of the season,’ said Guardiola.
this, however, was a tricky night and the final scoreline was more than City merited. hull manager Mike Phelan spoke afterwards of sensing ‘anguish and frustration’ in the City dugout.
After 70 minutes, this had threatened to develop into a very awkward evening for Manchester City. Guardiola’s team had toiled in the biting wind and, in truth, his talented set of players had appeared rather short of ideas. hull, dogged and determined, were beginning to dream. In City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo, they had reason to.
A precious point awaited Phelan, maybe even a second victory in 16 games for struggling hull.
And then, in one tired misjudgement by Scottish defender Andrew Robertson, the game was gone. Raheem Sterling collected possession on the right wing, put his head down, dropped a shoulder and drove into the area.
he skipped by a couple of opponents and set himself to shoot on his left foot. As he pulled the trigger, Robertson came lunging in from behind, hacking Sterling to the ground. It was a certain penalty, a daft foul, a tackle that could never hope to cleanly take the ball.
In toure, City had a player who has seen these occasions many times before. hull were plucky and committed opponents, but they had grown tired and needed to be killed off. toure took responsibility, dispatching the penalty. there was vindication for Guardiola.
City have now won all five games the Ivorian has started since his return from agent-induced exile. even at 33, he retains the ability to shape a game.
In the days that follow, Guardiola will concentrate more on what took place before the breakthrough goal. this was tough going, harder than it should have been against a team that are, sadly, on the treadmill towards Premier League oblivion.
Afterwards, Guardiola admitted his frustration. he suggested his team ‘forgot the goal was there’ during the first half and it was easy to see his point. Guardiola, for all his ideals, recognises the obvious — in this case, the obvious is you do need to shoot to score a goal.
In the first half, City had 78 per cent of the ball, but it was possession for possession’s sake, too much patience, not enough purpose. there were only three shots on target, tame ones at that.
‘It was pass, pass, pass,’ said Guardiola. ‘We needed Raheem one-against-one. that’s how he created the penalty. the winger has to be aggressive. In the second half, he gets us the penalty and creates the third goal.’
It might have helped if City had a striker on the pitch. In the absence of the suspended Sergio Aguero, City played with Kevin De Bruyne as a false nine, but they lacked menace in the final third, too often painting pretty pictures in front of the hull defence without offering the defining flourish.
It was little surprise to see Kelechi Iheanacho arrive early in the second half and he took only 20 minutes to score the second goal.
For City, this was only a second clean sheet away from home all season, but issues remain. John Stones, returning to the line-up after a brief spell out of the team, was forced off through injury after only 18 minutes.
‘A big kick to the knee,’ explained Guardiola. ‘the knee is a bit swollen, but it is just a kick.’
the second, deciding strike was a picture-book goal and exactly the kind of flowing football that Guardiola aspires to. De Bruyne led the break, feeding David Silva, who slid the ball across perfectly for Iheanacho to finish.
In stoppage time, Sterling’s cross was diverted by Curtis Davies into his own net.