Billion-dollar question

IT CAN’T be both, so which is it? On the one hand Pep Guardiola is lauded for being a visionary who is crafting a team destined to be the finest ever in English football. On the other he is lambasted for being a cheque book manager who is merely doing something most people could do with the finances he is entrusted with.

Actually ignore the opening line, because the answer is probably an amalgam of the two. His teams do, by and large, play to a philosophy that has a lineage taking in Guardiola, Cruyff, Michels, Vic Buckingham and Arthur Rowe, but success wouldn’t be all but guaranteed without the billion-plus euros he has spent at Barca, Bayern and Citeh. What I will say is that his spending at Citeh in the summer, while being eye-wateringly expensive, was also supremely well targeted to improve the areas they were so lacking in last term.

Going into today’s fixtures, Citeh are 11 points clear of United in second and are scoring three goals a game. Can they be caught? Nothing’s impossible but let’s just say that the title is Citeh’s to lose and those of us who support other clubs may as well settle down for the ride.

Best of the calendar year

Team: David De Gea, United; Kyle Walker, Spurs/Citeh; James Tarkowski, Burnley; Toby Alderweireld, Spurs; Cesar Azpilicueta, Chelsea; Ngolo Kante, Chelsea; Kevin De Bruyne, Citeh; Harry Kane, Spurs; Sergio Aguero, Citeh; Raheem Sterling, Citeh; Eden Hazard, Chelsea. Subs: Thibault Courtois, Chelsea; Keiran Trippier, Spurs; Jan Vertonghen, Spurs; John Stones, Citeh; Christian Eriksen, Spurs; Philipe Coutinho, Liverpool; David Silva, Citeh; Dele, Spurs; Wilfried Zaha, Palace; Alexis Sanchez, Arsenal. Manager: Pep Guardiola, Citeh/Sean Dyche, Burnley.

Numbers of the week

Twelve: months since Sunderland fans last saw their club win at home. It was actually December 17, 2016 when Jermaine Defoe’s strike saw off Watford at the Stadium of Light. Since then the Mackems’ longsuffering faithful had seen 20 teams depart from the ground with one or all three points — and then along came Fulham last Saturday. Sixty-nine: games prior to the 4-0 defeat at Hearts last weekend that Celtic had gone unbeaten in domestic football. Sixteen: the age of Harry Cochrane, who netted the first goal for Hearts.

Team of the week

Ederson, Citeh; Kyle Walker, Citeh; Scott Dann, Palace; Mathias Jorgenson, Huddersfield; Andy Robertson, Liverpool; Nemanja Matic, United; Kevin De Bruyne, Citeh; Marko Arnatauvic, Car Boot; Philipe Coutinho, Liverpool; Christian Benteke, Palace; Wilfried Zaha, Palace. Manager: David Wagner, Huddersfield.

Christmas and New Year games

Today: 2.30pm Everton v Chelsea; 5pm Brighton v Watford, Citeh v Bournemouth, Southampton v Huddersfield, Stoke v West Brom, Swansea v Palace, Car Boot v Newcastle; 7.30pm Burnley v Spurs; 9.45pm Leicester v United. Boxing Day: 2.30pm Spurs v Southampton; 5pm Bournemouth v Car Boot, Chelsea v Brighton, Huddersfield v Stoke, United v Burnley, Watford v Leicester, West Brom v Everton; 7.30pm Liverpool v Swansea. Wednesday: 9.45pm Newcastle v Citeh. Thursday: 10pm Palace v Arsenal. Saturday, December 30: 5pm Bournemouth v Everton, Chelsea v Stoke, Huddersfield v Burnley, Liverpool v Leicester, Newcastle v Brighton, Watford v Swansea; 7.30pm United v Southampton. New Year’s Eve: 2pm Palace v Citeh; 6.30pm West Brom v Arsenal. New Year’s Day: 2.30pm Brighton v Bournemouth; 5pm Burnley v Liverpool, Leicester v Huddersfield, Stoke v Newcastle; 7.30pm Everton v United. Tuesday, January 2: 9.45pm Southampton v Palace, Swansea v Spurs, Car Boot v West Brom; 10pm United v Watford. Wednesday, January 3: 9.45pm Arsenal v Chelsea. Thursday, January 4: 9.45pm Spurs v Car Boot.

Not forgetting

Saturday, December 30: 2pm Celtic v that mob from the west of Glasgow. Normally I would suggest that this was a game of little significance, but given Celtic’s wobbles of late, a win for the other mob could set things up nicely for a genuine title race in the New Year.

A new Broom for Froome

I am a huge admirer of cycling’s Chris Froome, who has performed wonders in his road racing career, but as ever with his sport the spectre of doping is never far away. Up till last week there was never any mention of Froome with regards to illegal supplements until news broke that he had failed a urine test en route to winning the Vuelta in the summer. Allegedly he had twice the amount of Salbutamol in his system than is permitted. This is of course a medication used to treat asthmatics and it operates by opening up the airways which obviously would be of benefit to riders as they climb vertigo-inducing hills in the Grand Tours. Froome may well be innocent, but given the history of his sport and drugs who’ll believe him?

Dust to dust

The Boxing Day Ashes test at the MCG is a must-see for cricket lovers who like a bit of sporting tradition to go with their leftovers from Christmas Day — the only problem being that by the time the circus gets to Melbourne the Ashes as a contest, barring the very odd occasion, is finished as a spectacle.

This latest version of the world’s greatest sporting clash was probably finished before it even started, as England sent a seriously under-cooked squad Down Under.

OK, the Ben Stokes run-in with Plod was unfortunate and greatly affected the balance of the team, but even had he been available there were too many problems with England’s top order, lack of a reliable spinner, and no genuinely quick fast bowlers. (Not to mention that some numpty decided that the tourists didn’t require a specialist bowling coach for the tour.)

Simply put, England are just not good enough to prosper in Australian conditions and what remains of this series is surely just an exercise in damage limitation, which following defeats by 10 wickets, 120 runs, and an innings and 41 runs in the first three Tests is going to take a lot to turn around.

And finally

Last week’s question was: Harry Kane has scored against every Premier League team he’s faced bar two — name the clubs. Young Harry has, in his threeand-a-bit years as Spurs striker, faced 27 clubs in the Premier League, scoring against all but Cardiff and Brighton.

This week: Pep Guardiola’s Citeh now hold the record for the most successive wins in the Premier League, but which managers hold the equivalent records in Spain’s La Liga and Germany’s Bundesliga?

Things that you can never unsee . . . the sight of a rather tall master carpenter from Yorkshire summoning his inner Zorba down the local. I can’t decide what was most impressive: the fact that he was sober or that he was actually pretty good.

With this being the last edition of Cyprus Today for 2017 I would like to wish all of my faithful readers a very merry Christmas and a healthy and happy New Year. (Including those poor unfortunates who follow Arsenal and Govan.)