Guardiola faces battle to get unsettled Aguero firing again

Agüero has been undroppable under all his previous City managers, but Guardiola appears less enamoured. It looks like an uneasy relationship, and will only have become even more complicated after City failed to beat Huddersfield on Saturday.

The draw, which the Championship side fully deserved, means there will be a replay neither club wanted. Huddersfield are chasing promotion, City have a Champions League and Premier League challenge to maintain, but had Agüero been more clinical, things would have been settled at the first time of asking.

He missed two excellent chances in the first half, and nothing he did quite came off. The Argentine looked as though he was trying too hard to impress, but in turn secondguessing the things that normally come naturally. Even his teammates recognised this was not the Agüero of old. “He’s a great player for us with a lot of quality,” said Fernando. “He helps the team a lot. Unfortunately, he didn’t score today, but we hope on Tuesday [against Monaco] he’s going to be ready to play a great game.”

Guardiola has a challenge on his hands. He must revive Agüero, even if his long-term future is in doubt. With Gabriel Jesus, the 19-year-old who dislodged him from the starting XI, injured and unlikely to play again this season, City need Agüero back to his best.

Although the Premier League side will feel they had enough opportunities to win the game and were denied only by a brilliant goalkeeping display from Joel Coleman, Huddersfield also failed to convert their chances, and were frustrated by a fine performance from City’s heavily criticised keeper, Claudio Bravo.

The more impressive thing about David Wagner’s team was they were brave enough to play their own game. They attacked City and it very nearly brought them a famous scalp.

The Yorkshire club are the inform side in the Championship and are within five points of secondplaced Newcastle, who travel to John Smith’s Stadium next month.

“You see the way we play football, we like to move the ball quickly,” said Isaiah Brown, on loan from Chelsea. “Against Man City it’s difficult to play that way because they press so well and keep it well. It will be difficult [to win the replay], but I’m sure the manager will have a plan going there.

“I think we have shown we could play in the Premier League, we’ve drawn 0-0 against one of the best.”