LEROY LETHAL THE
Guardiola praises Sane for his ‘incredible’ display in City win, then throws down the gauntlet
THOSE balmy, warm days of late summer seem to belong to another world right now — along with that time back in August when Leroy Sane couldn’t even make the Manchester City substitutes bench.
Back then Pep Guardiola denied he was making a point. But now Sane is demonstrating the form which could see him develop into one of the more terrifying wide players in Europe, Guardiola is keener to expound on the problem with Leroy.
Along with Raheem Sterling, Sane provided the thrust in what might otherwise have been an idling performance — meaning his manager was keen to send a message. First, one of praise.
‘I don’t know what Leroy ate before the game but maybe we should put it on the menu for everyone,’ said Guardiola.
Then came the challenge, which alluded to the tension earlier in the season.
‘When he is going to complain in the future to his manager why he doesn’t play, I will send this video,’ said Guradiola.
‘Because if he plays this way, he is going to play. He was incredible, offensively, defensively, creating chances, positive in the mind, reactions. And sometimes it’s not there.
‘We never doubt Leroy but he is young, 22, and sometimes up and down is normal. Maybe in the future, he will realise how important it is and he will be more consistent like Fernandinho, David Silva, Bernardo Silva: every time eight or nine out of ten. That is what we are looking for from him.’
The gauntlet was well and truly laid down. It is a challenge to which Sterling has responded in the past and he was eventually decisive again yesterday, although it took him 55 minutes to get going. Now it is Sane’s turn to prove himself, week in, week out.
He was indeed excellent here, his first probing run coming after 45 seconds and that even though Bournemouth had kicked off. He was breaking off his man, driving in crosses and causing general consternation. Olek Zinchenko seemed constantly to be looking for that ball to Sane over the top. On 16
minutes the Ukrainian lifted the ball over for Sane to run on to. Asmir Begovic was first there, pushing it away, but only to Bernando Silva who opened the scoring.
Thereafter you could almost smell the City complacency. The Etihad was more ambient noise than the roar of Anfield’s Kippax — the empty seats indicating this was considered a non-essential Premier League fixture.
To be fair, the City selection said as much, although it is understandable Guardiola has to rotate his players in this period. When you’re stockpiled with secondary players as experienced and skilled as Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundugan, there is no real reason to give Phil Foden a start. Indeed, there never seems a good reason to give Foden a start.
The players clearly picked up the vibe. Although this was a Bournemouth side set up to be more robust than when they have been here previously, they are not a team to be patronised. Eddie Howe had them in a 5-4-1 shape when defending. But, increasingly, as the half developed Bournemouth built their own attacking moves.
So when the equaliser arrived on 44 minutes, it wasn’t wholly a surprise. Josh King held the ball up superbly before moving it on to Lewis Cook. He fed Simon Francis and the cross invited Callum Wilson to make a fine leap before directing the ball into the right corner of Ederson’s net.
It was a wake-up call and you sense Pep Guardiola knows the only thing that may defeat City this season is a premature sense of entitlement.
Guardiola said: ‘Many teams won the Premier League but to do it again and again, that is the most difficult thing in sport. After 100 points, it is not easy to motivate yourself again. But now I have a weapon — I say, “Remember 20 minutes in the first half, we were not good enough”.
‘We were flat. They score one goal but they had three chances. When you concede crosses it was, “Oof! We save it!” At the end it is a goal. Because when we concede crosses in there, teams are better than us.’
Guardiola warned his team at half time. ‘But my speech was ridiculous, because it didn’t work,’ he said. A thrilling run past five players from Sterling on 55 minutes then seemed to energise the team.A minute later, Fabian Delph won the ball back and fed Fernandinho who turned it on to Sterling.
He released Danilo down the left and the Brazilian’s shot was parried by Begovic. But Sterling, alert as ever, followed up with the most intent and made it 2-1.
City were getting into their stride now and looked in control of their destiny, although still troubled by the Steve Cook long-throw routine.
They sealed the game in the 80th minute from a Sane corner.
The ball was cleared but found its way back to the German. He drove towards the box and fed substitute David Silva, whose deft, first-time return ball was both routine by his standards and exquisite. Sane was then able to drill the ball in for Gundogan to score.
After that it was merely about keeping things respectable for Bournemouth after what had been a decent display. They did that, but not many teams will manage much more against City this season.