Bernardo steps up for City but brave Villa left fuming at laws
First things first, this was a thrilling game of football. Fast paced, high quality and a showcase for some bewitching talents but, given how the drama was building and you could almost cut the tension with a knife – which is saying something in an empty stadium – there always felt like there was the capacity for it to swing on some late controversy.
As the match entered the final 15 minutes, this looked like being the night when Sergio Aguero’s absence was finally going to catch up with Manchester City and disrupt the ominous momentum they have built up.
But then Pep Guardiola’s latest makeshift striker stepped up to score with a stunning, if contentious, strike to down Aston Villa and secure a ninth successive win in all competitions and provide another reminder of why it might be unwise to bet against this team this season.
Bernardo Silva has endured a tough time of it at City over the past year or so but recent weeks have brought a marked upturn in form and he answered his manager’s call when he needed it most here, even if a furious Dean Smith was left to rue a law that plenty of City’s rivals in this extraordinary title race might also consider an ass. The Villa manager could actually not keep a lid on his anger and was booked for remonstrating furiously with Jonathan Moss but that was not enough to silence him and, after having another bite back at the referee, he was promptly shown a red card and ordered off.
Smith’s complaints about Bernardo’s goal were logical enough. Rodri was running back from an offside position when he nicked the ball off Tyrone Mings after the Villa defender had chested down Bernardo’s header from a goal-kick and tried to turn. The City midfielder then laid the ball off for the advancing Bernardo, who held off the attentions of Neil Taylor as he cut inside before spearing a sublime finish into the top corner.
Offside then right because Rodri had influenced the play? Well, no, actually, because the rules state that “a player in an offside position receiving the ball from an opponent who deliberately plays the ball is not considered to have gained an advantage”. Moss told Smith he was merely interpreting those rules but, while they may well dictate that the referee got it right on the night and no one can blame the official for applying them correctly, you really have to wonder if something is wrong with the offside law when so many people – players, pundits, managers and fans – struggle to grasp its myriad complexities.
Even Peter Walton, BT Sport’s resident referee “expert”, initially thought the goal should have been chalked out before someone at the Premier League told him he better check the fine print of the rule book.
Guardiola also sympathised with Smith, even if there was no mistaking the importance of this win to his team. Having seen City throw the proverbial kitchen sink at Villa with no reward despite the persistent, dazzling probing of the outstanding Phil Foden, Ilkay Gundogan and Joao Cancelo, and watched on in fear of Smith’s tenacious side edging in front during a spellbinding second half, the Catalan’s relief at Bercard nardo finding the top corner was palpable. Gundogan’s late penalty, after Matthew Cash had handled from Gabriel Jesus, finally put a breathless game to bed.
City have now taken 26 points from the past 30 available in the league but they were made to work so hard for this against a Villa side making their first league outing for 19 days after the postponement of fixtures against Spurs and Everton due to the coronavirus outbreak at the club. There was little to fault in
City’s build-up play but they lacked the same decisiveness in front of goal and, as chance after chance went begging, Guardiola must have wondered if this was not going to be his team’s day.
Or, worse still, if Villa were going to make City pay for all those missed opportunities, with Ruben Dias taking the ball off substitute Jacob Ramsey’s toe in one instance with the goal gaping and Ederson saving well from Douglas Luiz. But, really, City could have had several goals before Bernardo finally broke the deadlock. All told, they managed 28 shots. Cancelo hit the crossbar, Gundogan and Foden had excellent chances blocked or saved.
You only need to look at Harry Kane’s contribution at Tottenham this season or Jamie Vardy’s importance to Leicester’s own title charge to recognise how well City have coped without their own star striker, Aguero. Yet there were periods when Guardiola must have longed to be able to call upon the
Argentine, who is still self-isolating. In the end, it was his false nine on the night, Bernardo, who came up with the goods. But boy did that goal spark some debate.
Manchester City (4-1-4-1) Ederson 7; Walker 5 (Zinchenko 28), Stones 8, Dias 8, Cancelo 8; Rodri 8; Sterling 6 (Mahrez 72), De Bruyne 7 (Jesus 59), Gundogan 8, Foden 8; Bernardo 8. Subs Steffen (g), Torres, Mendy, Fernandinho, Garcia, Bernabe.
Aston Villa (4-2-3-1) Martinez 8; Cash 4, Konsa 6, Mings 5, Targett 6 (Taylor 74); Luiz 7, Mcginn 6; Traore 7
(El Ghazi 68), Barkley 7 (Ramsey 68), Grealish 6; Watkins 6. Subs Heaton (g), Taylor, Nakamba, Engels, Guilbert, El Mohamady, Davis. Booked Taylor, Mcginn.
Referee Jonathan Moss (West Yorkshire).