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SO to Stamford Bridge and the first testing ground of the new and possibly improved Manchester City. As autumn loomed last year, Pep Guardiola’s glorious football tapestry began to unravel with defeat at Tottenham.
Whether this season’s model is more carefully stitched to withstand the winter, we shall see. Liverpool were meant to assert quality control but were undone when Sadio Mane was sent off. Chelsea will surely give Guardiola’s creation a more rigorous examination.
But 22 goals in the last five games suggest that City are even more formidable going forward than before. And when Fabian Delph is hitting glorious, curling strikes into the top corner, you might well conclude that everything is heading in the right direction. City were simply sumptuous in the second half. When Kevin de Bruyne, David Silva, Sergio Aguero, Raheem Sterling and man-of-the-match Leroy Sane combine, it puts you in mind of Arsenal’s Invincibles.
And yet, judgment will be withheld until the back four are put under severe pressure. Guardiola acknowledged his side have weaknesses which a better team than the one bottom of the table with no goals and no points might exploit.
‘It’s too early to say,’ he said of whether City have improved from last season, bemoaning the lack of tempo in the first half which saw him boot his seat in anger at half time and even witnessed a ball boy beckoned over and given a precious one-on-one session from Guardiola on returning the ball quicker.
‘If you analyse 30 minutes in the first half, we were not ready to be there. We started well but after that we forgot that ball should be moved. And the ball was at the players’ feet; it’s not good. There were too many touches. When that happens everything is slow and our rhythm is slow. We concede counter attacks and anything can happen. But in the second half we had tempo, patience and attacked quick.
‘It was good to have this 30 minutes, to realise where we still are and that we have a gap to improve. It’s still September. We have less points than a year ago — and you guys all saw how it ended up last year. In games, we have to provoke. We are not a team for one set-piece or a counter attack. We have to make quick, quick. And no one is quicker than the ball. And we have to move it quicker.’
By the end, it looked bad for Palace. Christian Beneteke limped off with ligament damage. They have Manchester United and Chelsea to play. The worst start ever could yet deteriorate. It’s quite conceivable that Palace are without a point, maybe even without a goal, when the clocks go back.
And yet for 45 minutes, this was a performance honed in the image of Roy Hodgson. Indeed, the improvement, even from his first game, was enormous in that first half. In less than two weeks he seemed to have imposed order and tactical balance into this side. That it fell apart quite so badly in the second half is the issue for him now.
‘It would be ridiculous to talk about positives when you’ve been beaten 5-0,’ he said. ‘We wanted to repeat what we had done in the first half, which was to keep them at bay. When it doesn’t happen, you have to be disappointed. We’ve been given a headache and now we have to find the aspirins to ease it.
‘We still have 32 games to play and we’re unlucky to be facing a run of these type of teams. It is a baptism of fire. But we can’t start panicking. Hopefully we’ll see light at the end of the tunnel. I thought I might be seeing that in the first half, but the light went out in the second half.’
To be clear, the first half was still dominated by Manchester City. There was De Bruyne hitting the post after just seven minutes and Sane striking just wide from the edge of the box on 11 minutes. And then there was Wayne Hennessey making a point-blank save from Fernandinho on 13 minutes.
But there was also the moment when Ruben Loftus-Cheek wriggled past his marker and struck a shot against the post in the 19th minute. Space abounded in the area around Fernandinho and LoftusCheek used it well. And if Palace could have played earlier, more accurate balls, Benteke was always lurking. Loftus-Cheek went close again on 28 minutes, dragging a shot wide after Fernandinho deflected it into his path. City also lost Benjamin Mendy to a knee injury and must hope it is only bruising.
But just as the respite of half-time loomed, Palace faltered. Sane spun inside and played a ball to Silva, whose return was exquisite, lifting it into Sane’s path as he raced to goal. The German flicked it past Scott Dann and then finished clinically with 45 minutes on the clock.
From thereon it felt it would be a case of how many City wished to score; and whether Aguero would have his crack at beating Eric Brook’s all time record, for which he needed a hat-trick. On 52 minutes, De Bruyne found Sane speeding down the wing and so quick was the interchange of passes that he could simply roll it across the face of goal for Sterling to side foot home with barely a hint of protest from Palace.
On the hour, De Bruyne with one pass opened up Palace again, finding Aguero, who squared for Sterling to score his second. He was soon replaced, his work done for the day, with Shakatar Donetsk on the horizon
Aguero would edge closer to that Brook record on 79 minutes, Sane delivering a straightforward cross which the Argentine, given time and space, headed in rather routinely. The denouement was provided by Delph, on as a sub and delivering a wonderful, curling strike from the edge of the box.
Now Guardiola was off the seat he had assaulted earlier, applauding excitedly and grinning with sheer pleasure. For now, City are top and seemingly untouchable. So bring on the champions.