Guardiola plays down title talk after City see off Baggies
PEP GUARDIOLA may scoff at the notion that Manchester City can match Arsenal’s Invincibles — but just who is going to stop them?
Chelsea and Liverpool have already tried and failed. Arsenal will have their chance at the Etihad next week.
Here at the Hawthorns yesterday, West Brom gave it a very good go; as good as any team City have faced in the Premier League this season, even though the scoreline did not reflect the leaders’ superiority.
They exposed some cracks in Guardiola’s defence and were in this game right until the end.
But even when Jay Rodriguez lofted the ball over Ederson in the City goal to cancel out Leroy Sane’s blistering 10thminute opener from the edge of the box, Guardioa’s men went back up the gears; Fernandinho firing home via the post and Gareth Barry to put the visitors ahead again. All this inside the first 15 minutes.
Suprisingly, it took until the 64th minute for the next goal to come, substitute Raheem Sterling netting from close range, but City nerves were tested when Matt Phillips pounced on a slack Nicolas Otamendi backpass to score late on.
There seems no stopping City and Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp last week suggested flippantly that Guardiola’s side could be champions in January.
When that was put to the City boss after the match, he pulled one of his faces. ‘Did you see a champion in January? Me neither,’ he said. ‘Ten games, nine victories, one draw, so it’s a good start to the Premier League.’
This was not quite the scintillating City we have admired in recent months, even though they still played some wonderful football. They were not as clinical in attack and more vulnerable in defence.
‘It’s a game to win 5-1 or 6-1, and we won 3-2,’ added Guardiola. ‘When you analyse it, we concede three chances and concede two goals. We create how many and just scored three.
‘But you cannot win all the time by five or six goals, that is not realistic.’
West Brom counterpart Tony Pulis agreed with Guardiola that the title was far from won.
‘We’ve given them a game and there will be a lot of teams they’ll go away to when winter comes,’ he said.
‘You saw what happened to Man United when they went to Huddersfield (and lost), it was windy and wet.
‘There are a lot of obstacles they must overcome. It’s (the title) not in the bag yet.’