CITY START SLOW AGAIN
PEP GUARDIOLA counts these occasions towards his trophy haul at Manchester City. He can see little difference between this and the Spanish Super Cup. That spoke to the glum faces among his team, the consoling of Nathan Ake after gifting Leicester a decisive late penalty. City want silverware. Community Shield or Champions League. As he stared at Kasper Schmeichel’s trophy lift, Guardiola did however realise there are wider concerns ahead of the title defence. The whole squad, bar the isolating Aymeric Laporte, are only back together for the first time today. The England and Brazil stars return to training, six days from the opener at Tottenham. City expect to be undercooked again, just as they were at the start of last season. A ball has yet to be kicked and Guardiola is already talking about negotiating a way through to next month’s international break. Nine were missing on Saturday, including the injured Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden. ‘A few players get their condition back so quick,’ Guardiola said. ‘The other ones need a bit more time.
We will try to discover which ones are ready immediately.’ ‘Last season we arrived a little bit flat in terms of results. But after a while we were there and started to win,’ Guardiola said. ‘‘We are going to try to get results knowing we are not at our best.’ So the mighty City – with the most expensive British footballer in history, Jack Grealish – plan to muddle through for a bit. The£100m midfielder Grealish is a timely boost for Guardiola given the uncertainty that exists elsewhere, at least until the August 31 deadline day. He has at least three firstteam regulars — understood to be Bernardo Silva, Laporte and Gabriel Jesus — who want to leave, while this week should bring clarity of how the pursuit of Harry Kane will play out. So, effectively, he does not know what his squad will look like next month. LEICESTER (4-2-3-1): Schmeichel 7; Pereira 7.5, Amertey 6.5, SOYUNCU 8, Bertrand 6.5 (Thomas 78); Ndidi 7.5, Tielemans 6.5 (Soumare 72, 6); Perez 5.5 (Albrighton 71, 6), Maddison 7 (Dewsbury-Hall 71, 6.5), Barnes 7 (Iheanacho 79); Vardy 6 (Daka 71, 6). Subs not used: Ward, Benkovic, Choudhury. Manager: Brendan Rodgers 7. MANCHESTER CITY (4-3-3): Steffen 7; Cancelo 6.5, Dias 7, Ake 5, Mendy 6.5; Palmer 6.5 (Silva 74, 6), Fernandinho 6, Gundogan 6.5 (Rodri 65, 5.5); Mahrez 6.5, Torres 6 (Knight 74, 6), Edozie 6 (Grealish 65, 6.5). Subs not used: Carson, Sandler, Couto, Doyle, Gomes. Manager: Pep Guardiola 6. Referee: Paul Tierney 6. Attendance: 45,602