Maturing Fernandinho the glue that binds City
Guardiola’s team to make amends after Lyon defeat
Among a dazzling array of midfield options, it is the often unheralded Fernandinho who Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has relied on most in another stunning start to the season for the Premier League champions.
The Brazilian will face old club Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday as City seek to make amends from the only blip of their campaign so far, a shock 2-1 defeat to Lyon in their last Champions League home game.
If any reminder was needed over Guardiola’s influence, he was banned from the touchline that night.
Since his return, City have won nine of their last 10 games and drawn one, a 0-0 stalemate away to Liverpool, scoring 29 goals and conceding just two in the process.
Although fulsome in his praise of the maturing centreback pairing of Aymeric Laporte and John Stones, Guardiola’s defensive philosophy is dependent on a team effort to keep the ball as far away from City’s goal as possible.
“Always we try to convince our players as far away the ball is from our goal, we are safe. It’s much, much better. The moment the ball is around our box, anything can happen,” said Guardiola this week.
“In 10 years I was always concerned, I was always focused, maybe more than any other thing, in defending well.
“The only difference is we do it far away from our goal.”
Central to that philosophy is Fernandinho’s ability to not just read the game and quickly regain possession, but also use the ball soundly as a springboard to City’s attack.
“There is always a relation. When you attack good, you defend well. When you defend well and are solid, you attack better,” added Guardiola.
Despite turning 33 earlier this year, Fernandinho has started all of City’s 14 Premier and Champions League matches this season, while the more creative talents of David Silva, Leroy Sane, Bernardo Silva and Raheem Sterling have had to live with Guardiola’s rotation policy.
“Ferna would make any manager the happiest or luckiest in the world,” said Guardiola ahead of City’s 3-0 win in the Ukraine against Shakhtar two weeks ago.
“He is a joy to have as a player — he is very special. He will always be a special player for me to work alongside.”
Fernandinho received arguably the highest praise from his manager when he claimed even Guardiola the player would have been unable to force his way into the current City juggernaut given his form.
So far City’s failure to land Jorginho, who instead chose to follow Maurizio Sarri in the move from Napoli to Chelsea in July, to share the burden as the midfield anchor has not proved costly. Instead, Guardiola’s men show no sign of a slip in standards from their record 100point Premier League campaign last season, as was evidenced by a 6-1 annihilation of Southampton on Sunday.
It is the Champions League that remains the holy grail for City’s Abu Dhabi owners, though, and despite the Lyon stumble, another victory against Shakhtar will put the English champions well on course to make the last 16 for a sixth straight season.
● German champions Bayern Munich are struggling to fill the creative hole left by Thiago Alcantara’s injury as they host AEK in the Champions League on Wednesday trying to secure a last-16 berth with trouble brewing for head coach Niko Kovac.
Bayern can reach the knockout stages if they beat the Greek champions AEK (Athletic Union of Constantinopel) at Munich’s Allianz Arena and Benfica lose at Ajax in Amsterdam the other Group E match.
Coach Kovac has other central midfield options to replace Thiago against AEK in James Rodriguez, Renato Sanches or Leon Goretzka.
However, bigger problems are brewing off the pitch with pundits warning that Kovac risks losing his dressing room.
“The coach is measured by results and not everyone is behind Niko Kovac,” former Bayern and Germany midfielder Lothar Matthaeus told Sky Sport television.