Aguero deserves credit for changing his ways
City striker will always deliver goals but that’s not enough for Guardiola
WHAT’S is not to like about a world class striker who is guaranteed to score 20 goals for your team in a season? Sergio Aguero is never lacking in work-rate; he always gives his all for Manchester City, or Argentina for that matter.
He is such a wonderful footballer, and scorer of brilliant goals, that it is hard to find any shortcomings in his game. Who knows what Pep Guardiola doesn’t like about his striker.
Under Guardiola even one of the Premier League’s best goalscorers of all time is not guaranteed his place if he’s not putting a shift in.
Lionel Messi is at another level, and has always scored breathtaking goals for fun. But his work-rate was instilled in him at Barcelona and comes as naturally as his left-foot touches.
Even with Messi, Guardiola didn’t construct a team with nine players working hard with the main man a bystander when he didn’t have the ball. So Aguero has to work harder, and he’s got the message.
Perhaps because he has suffered hamstring injuries in the past, Aguero hasn’t always put his body on the line and gone full throttle into sprints. That is what Guardiola demands though, for every minute.
Guardiola saw something in Aguero’s performances that he didn’t like. And although he has made an outstanding return to the side, if Gabriel Jesus was fit, the Argentine would not be in the team, which is hard to believe.
When you have two players like that, playing as they were, surely you find a way of starting them in the team? Guardiola wasn’t interested and when Jesus was fit, he played.
ONCE Jesus was injured, Aguero didn’t sulk. He has embraced the chance and has been superb. He was brilliant against Huddersfield in the first FA Cup tie and then against Monaco in the Champions League, scoring twice.
He got another two in the Huddersfield replay on Wednesday night – his second showcasing instinctive goalscoring at its best.
His performance in the first Huddersfield game was particularly impressive. Guardiola didn’t select many of the players of Aguero’s stature and had his attacking stars on the bench.
His attitude stood out. Aguero worked his socks off from start to finish and created chances for himself because Jesus Navas and Nolito were so poor on the night.
Guardiola loved it and applauded Aguero every time he chased and harried. It was so overblown sometimes, you could have interpreted it as sarcasm, but he was making his point. That is genuinely what he wants.
Another player might have rebelled against a manager questioning his work rate. He could interpret it as ‘he doesn’t think I’m trying’. Aguero’s performances suggest he was prepared to listen to his manager to stay in the team.
Guardiola was questioning Aguero’s character and whether he wants to stay at Manchester City. With Jesus out, Aguero could have decided to play his own way. But he knew that the only way he was going to earn his place in the side, and play every week, was to change the way he plays.
There are very few players who can score big goals in big games. Aguero has that ability to score a goal out of nothing and on the big occasions, too.
When you need a goal in a game with few chances, when you need someone to deliver in those key moments, Aguero does it.
With Jesus out, if he can continue keeping Guardiola happy, he will be a valuable asset as City hone in on three trophies. Not that I expect them to win three – they’ll get one if they’re lucky.
Unless they can beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, they are out of the title race. It’s Chelsea’s to lose now, so that is a vital game. Win their game in hand and they can start to narrow a big gap.
They won’t win the Champions League because they don’t have a good enough defence and the tie against Monaco is not over, with City taking a 5-3 lead to France after that fantastic first leg.
Monaco are bound to go for the jugular from the off and it will be a tough night for that flaky City defence. The French side have the players to put quality crosses into the box and put City’s back four under pressure to get at that two-goal lead.
City are great to watch at the moment. When you go to the Etihad, you know you are going to be entertained and you will see some lovely attacking football. It’s not for the purists, but that doesn’t matter to Guardiola.
It’s refreshing and good for the Premier League, but you can’t expect to take on the better teams, especially in Europe, and get away with it against better managers and better players.
That’s why the FA Cup is City’s best chance of a trophy, and if the favourites come through the quarter-final, it still won’t be easy.
You would expect City to beat Middlesbrough and Tottenham and Arsenal to see off Millwall and Lincoln City, which leaves Chelsea and Manchester United for the fourth semi-final slot.