High fives all round for City slickers
No fight from Cardiff but Aguero ensures it’s...
TACKLING was a problem again for Cardiff against Manchester City. This time, unlike January’s tempestuous FA Cup meeting, there was a distinct lack of it. Fifteen tackles were attempted all day and they won only six.
Eight months ago the Welsh capital was ablaze after a row surrounding crude challenges but here it was all a bit damp, even after Neil Warnock’s inflammatory comments on Friday.
Cardiff just stood off, watching the champions slowly play their way back into some sort of form. Remember, Guardiola was ‘angry’ after beating Fulham last weekend and even worse following the Champions League defeat by Lyon. So the invitation of 79 per cent of the ball and 21 shots, leading to five away goals, was duly accepted.
Warnock’s team were undoubtedly under Pep Guardiola’s skin last season and City had appeared tentative yesterday until realising this was not anywhere close to being a similar battle. Only when already three goals down did Warnock witness a challenge, albeit a high and late lunge by Joe Ralls on Ilkay Gundogan prompting calls for red to be brandished. Ralls caught the midfielder’s shin; the ball had gone. It was nasty, but City’s manager saw no great issue.
‘Michael (Oliver) decided a yellow,’ he said. ‘It’s part of football. It was a free game. Move the ball quicker. Play simple.’
Cardiff made it even simpler. Usually such a bullish bunch, they were actually perfect opponents for City, who would forget about a midweek performance that Guardiola believed to be ‘embarrassing’ and kept pace with Liverpool in the process.
Record signing Riyad Mahrez scored his first and second goals for the club off the bench, Phil Foden was afforded another 21 minutes to impress. It was a far easier afternoon than they perhaps anticipated.
Three goals in 12 minutes just before half-time killed any chance of the blip being extended. All three were wonderfully executed, although all three saw Warnock sink further into his hood. All too straightforward for a team blessed with such attacking riches.
‘We played better than last week,’ Guardiola said. ‘We were more dynamic. It wasn’t good in midweek and we responded at the same level as we have over the last 12 months.
‘After one or two goals it was easier. You sometimes relax, forget what you have to do but we were consistent.’
The first actually came from a Cardiff corner. City had been somewhat pedestrian, Aymeric Laporte caught playing a different defensive line to his team-mates and requiring Nicolas Otamendi to bail him out. Ederson collected the subsequent delivery and immediately set about countering.
At least three Cardiff players impeded his progress but the visitors were on their way. Shortly after, Gundogan found himself in space on the edge of the box, sought Bernardo Silva and Sergio Aguero swept in his first away league goal since December. A 205th City goal in 300 appearances and with a contract extension until 2021 recently signed.
Cardiff admired the move. That was in minute 32 and by 35 City were home and dry in the rain. Again, Cardiff were not alert enough. Leroy Sane enjoyed too much space from a short corner, whipped in towards Bernardo and the little midfielder had two yards on his marker, Danny Ward, to deftly divert a header from outside the near post right into Neil Etheridge’s far stick. ‘A fluke,’ according to Warnock, who revealed he expects Lee Peltier to miss months after dislocating his shoulder.
‘It was a long afternoon,’ he said. ‘The goals killed us. I’ve not seen their heads down like that before. The second knocked the stuffing out of us. It was damage limitation.
It won’t define our season but knock our chins on the floor today. You hope you learn from these.’
Gundogan — who earlier missed a glorious chance, blazing over the bar — had been finding pockets all afternoon. He scored the third a minute before the break, brilliant in its simplicity. Raheem Sterling, a constant threat, floated central and invited the give-and-go, Gundogan soon wheeling away after bending around the corner past Etheridge. Cardiff watched in awe and might well have joined in their supporters’ applause at Gundogan’s finish.
A trio of goals flattered City at that stage, it must be said. They had been ponderous in possession, Guardiola agitated and even arguing with Kyle Walker at one point with the ball being moved too slowly. But certain individuals usually provide much-needed impetus when Kevin De Bruyne’s missing and here it was Bernardo and Gundogan. ‘Today the Gundogan we know came back,’ Guardiola said. ‘That was his best for a while.’ The German was again involved with the fourth, City working an angle on the left and he slid a perfectly-weighted cross over to the rushing Mahrez who tapped home with 23 minutes remaining.
It could and probably should have been more. Etheridge — easily Cardiff’s best player — made a num-ber of smart saves. One in particular caught the eye from Aguero, with Sane fluffing the follow-up. Foden was denied a first professional goal when slipped clear by Bernardo. City might have doubled their haul of five by the end, Mahrez weaving beyond statues to net his second.