PEP BELIEVES IN HIS CITY VISION
Team click in front of goal to offer Guardiola hope he can push for title next time
ON days like these, it is easier to believe.
Pep Guardiola’s first season has been a challenging one for disciples. Their faith has been tested. Miracles have not occurred; divinity has been elusive; flawed humanity has been all too evident.
But this is how it was for the first 10 games — how it was meant to be always. David Silva was scintillating, a leading man, with Kevin de Bruyne a pretty useful supporting actor. Jesus, Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane provided a decent supporting cast. And Guardiola’s vision for the football world suddenly doesn’t look quite so out of place in England.
Champions League qualification is coming into view, which is not quite the rapture that was promised but is at least a straw at which to clutch. Guardiola is more bullish than that, however. In his mind, his team are the best, with the important caveat, which he acknowledges, that they don’t normally finish like they did yesterday.
‘I remember only one game when the opponent created more chances than us: it was White Hart Lane at Tottenham,’ he said. ‘The other ones: no chance. So we are better than all the teams in the Premier League, home and away. Even the next champion, Chelsea. We created more chances here and at Stamford Bridge. But in the boxes we are not good.’
There is some truth in what he says, in that City don’t always make the most of their possession. He does mean they are poor in both penalty areas and, as such, recruitment in the summer will focus on defensive players.
It would be hard to look at the current City team and conclude that the attacking players are the principal problem. But it was difficult to tell whether City were excellent yesterday or Palace were awful.
Better teams may well have challenged a full-back pairing of Fernandinho and Gael Clichy and Nicolas Otamendi at centre-half. Vincent Kompany played a fifth successive game and scored, the former more of a milestone than the latter.
‘Vincent has helped us to be better in our box,’ agreed Guardiola. ‘But in the boxes of our opponents we have not been good. So we’re the best team in the Premier League for creating clear, clear chances; no one can beat us in that.
‘Golf is marvellous but the most difficult thing is the putt. Basketball, in the last minute you can see Michael Jordan put it in the net. The most difficult thing in all the sports is to do it in the last moment. That’s why we’re in the moment we are.’
Indeed, timing is everything. City, with two wins in nine, looked to be stumbling in the home straight and about to embarrass their manager by allowing an arch rival and despised neighbour to pass them as the finish line approached.
Crystal Palace, with six wins in 10, looked to have reinforced Sam Allardyce’s reputation as the ultimate relegation dodger.
Yet Allardyce was entitled to despair at his team yesterday. He is missing Mamadou Sakho, Scott Dann, James Tomkins and Yohan Cabaye but, nevertheless, they were abject.
‘Lose, yes: but lose like that, no,’ declared Allardyce. ‘Unacceptable. After the second goal it was just a bit of capitulation from the players, which is very disappointing after what we’ve achieved recently. All five goals could have been avoided if we had defended properly.’
You work all week on a system only to see it undone in 116 seconds. That’s when Silva opened the scoring in this game. Then, you get yourself back in the game, begin to pose a significant threat and even get to half time only one goal down. You regroup and send your team out again. This time, they last a full 195 seconds before conceding another.
Allardyce started with a back three. In short he had a plan. What he didn’t have was the players to deliver. Almost immediately from kick off, Palace backed off and allowed Silva space to loft a pass into the box and find Sterling.
He chipped the ball back in and Martin Kelly offered only the softest of headers to clear. It fell nicely for Silva, who simply smashed home from close range.
Palace looked perplexed and played that way as City swept forward. However, slowly, surely, they recalled their game plan. On 36 minutes, Andros Townsend raced down the right wing, crossing for Benteke to head goalwards and force Willy Cabellero into a fine save.
It seemed promising, yet then came half-time and another slow start from Palace. They cleared a corner but De Bruyne drove in a cross and no one stayed with Kompany as he swept the ball in gracefully from 20 yards.
Guardiola revealed: ‘I said at half time to the players: “Score a goal; or forget about it”. If we had arrived in the last 20 minutes, 1-0 against Crystal Palace, we don’t win the game. Believe me. And it happened a lot this season. Finally we could enjoy the last 35 minutes without that pressure for the result. Hopefully next season we can improve on that.’
Palace contrived to concede a third from their own throw-in as Silva out-jumped Luka Milivojevic to win a header before Jesus fed De Bruyne on 60 minutes. His strike was too hard for Wayne Hennessey’s attempted parry.
The surprise was that it took until the 82nd minute to add a fourth. Yaya Toure launched a lofted pass to find Pablo Zabaleta down the right wing. He headed back for Sterling, who allowed the ball to bounce before hitting it on the halfvolley into the bottom corner.
There was still time for Otamendi to score the fifth, diving spectacularly to connect with a lofted De Bruyne free kick. The stadium might have been half empty by the end — City fans indulging their habit for early exits — but at least their cup is now half full.