GUARDIOLA HAILS AGUERO AS CITY STAY IN THE HUNT WITH UGLY WIN
Pep hails striker as City are made to win ugly...
BEAUTIFUL goals, Pep Guardiola called them with a smile, but Sergio Aguero is unlikely to score two more scruffy efforts.
The only goal of beauty at Turf Moor came off the boot of Burnley’s Dean Marney, his first in the Premier League for seven years. Aguero, on the other hand, now has 33 in his last 34 league games for City. It is a fantastic record, even though his two latest additions were hardly collector’s items.
There was a certain irony in the fact that Guardiola’s team were the ones scrambling the ball over the line to scrape victory, while battling Burnley came up with a goal-of-themonth contender as they pushed their illustrious opponents all the way to the finish.
There are no extra points for artistic merit, though. In fact, these are the games that can define champions and there was a genuine sense of achievement among City’s players at the end as they embraced in the hazy afternoon sunshine.
This was every bit the challenge they expected from a lunchtime kick-off at Turf Moor so soon after Wednesday’s draw with Borussia Monchengladbach in Germany. Through to the knockout stages of the Champions League with a game to spare and, briefly, back on top of the Premier League, it has been a good week. Guardiola now has some breathing space to work with his squad ahead of a December programme including games against Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.
Above all, the City manager just seemed relieved to be ending his first visit to Burnley with three points after surviving a late bombardment. ‘It was one of the toughest stadiums with just two days to regenerate after the Champions League,’ he said.
‘You cannot press because they play long balls and they are taller than us. The second balls they are really, really good at. They play wide with full-backs and wingers and crosses and corners and throw-ins and free-kicks. It’s always difficult to control those things.’
Burnley were also relying on a goalkeeper who had not played a competitive game for more than two years.
Paul Robinson replaced injured captain Tom Heaton and the 37-yearold former England goalkeeper actually had a hand in Burnley’s goal in the 14th minute, when he launched a free-kick upfield.
Nicolas Otamendi could not get the distance on his clearance header under pressure from Michael Keane and Yaya Toure — rewarded with another start after his two-goal comeback at Crystal Palace last Saturday — failed to close down Marney.
The veteran midfielder did not hesitate, meeting the loose ball with a sensational volley from 25 yards that dipped inside Claudio Bravo’s right-hand post.
It was no less than Sean Dyche’s side deserved following a bright start that could have brought them a penalty had referee Andre Marriner not rejected their appeals when Otamendi shoved Jeff Hendrick in the back. ‘How it’s not a penalty, I’m still scratching my head,’ said Dyche. ‘I don’t know where it lives in the Premier League at the moment. Players falling all over the place, then players getting hit and bumped and you don’t get a penalty.
‘I was a centre-half. He has got the wrong side and challenged through the back of him. Anywhere on the pitch, that’s a foul.’
City equalised in the 37th minute after Matthew Lowton blocked Nolito’s shot for a corner. Raheem Sterling met it with a sweeping, first-time effort into a crowded penalty box and the ball took several deflections before dropping for Aguero, who prodded it home from close range.
Robinson denied the Argentine another with a wonderful diving save but Burnley suffered a double setback before half-time when Marney and Johann Gudmundsson limped off in quick succession.
Although Sterling followed in the second half following a crunching challenge from former City defender Ben Mee, Guardiola’s side snatched the crucial second goal two minutes later. It was even more scrappy than the first as they claimed in vain for a penalty when Toure went down under Mee’s challenge. Both teams hacked at the ball as it ricocheted around the penalty box before Stephen Ward tried to clear but collided with team-mate Mee.
Credit to Fernandinho for chasing the ball down and hooking it back from the byline — and Aguero was almost caught by surprise as it deflected off him into an empty goal.
Burnley pressed for an equaliser and thought they had one deep into injury-time when substitute Ashley Barnes sent an overhead kick towards goal. But Bravo plucked it out of the air and held on, much to City’s relief.