PREMIER LEAGUE
BIG MATCH VERDICT
And it resulted in the season’s title favourites sacrificing two points on their own patch for the first time this season.
It won’t be the first time that Guardiola has come a cropper before a big European night.
But the sheer work- load at this stage of the season has to be managed. The statistics show that even Ferguson and Mourinho at the peak of their powers struggled to rotate their players effectively.
Manchester City’s boss had two weeks to contemplate a schedule that involves seven matches in 21 days.
Their midweek fixtures read – Barcelona, Manchester United, Barcelona – and that’s on top of three more games which will be every bit as demanding in this, the toughest domestic football competition in the world.
It’s not the best. But it is difficult to find a league which is played with such relentless intensity.
It is testament to Guardiola’s group that they were dominant in possession for such long periods. And on any other day this would have resulted in three points.
But he isn’t playing in La Liga with Barcelona. Or the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich – both places where he can be expected to dominate a g a i nst markedly opposition.
As if to prove the point, Lionel Messi scored after three minutes yesterday against Deportivo – with Barca being three goals to the good before half-time. It was little more than a work-out.
Everton, for whom the evergreen Gareth Barry played an outstanding game, presented problems of their i nferior own. They re- grouped quickly, defended through the middle in numbers and trusted that with the pace of Yannick Bolasie, the power of Romelu Lukaku and the trickery of Gerard Deulofeu they could play a part.
And it panned out exactly as Koeman anticipated. Everton scored a brilliant breakaway with Bolasie setting Lukaku up with a clever flick.