MEAN MACHINE
City bully Fulham as their shot at history moves a step closer
HISTORY laughs at the notion. english football has witnessed many great club sides and none have swept clean the domestic Treble, let alone thrown in the european title for good measure.
Yet, Manchester City skipped out of the international break with such conviction, bullying Fulham closer to the drop, it left everyone at Craven Cottage thinking, ‘ Yes, why not?’
Pep Guardiola, who won all before him with Barcelona 10 years ago, has the FA Community Shield and Carabao Cup in the bag and a twinkle in his eye. ‘ Go like a machine to win,’ he said. ‘Don’t think too much. I think they are ready.
‘ We are trying to achieve something very difficult. At the beginning of April we have won two titles and we are fighting for the other three. The way we start to play shows me they want to try.’
The way they talk, too, suggests City mean business. Asked if City had what it takes to claim three more, midfielder Ilkay Gundogan was in no doubt. ‘Yes, we have. I am sure about that,’ he said. ‘If we did not have the quality, we would not still be in all competitions. That is the main thing.
‘We will be playing every three or four days, which will be very tough, but the most important thing for me was to start the month well, especially when you come back from the internationals, because you are not 100 per cent.
‘You need to be lucky and have certain things go for you which you cannot necessarily control, but most importantly you need to have the desire in every single game, and this was a good way to start such an immense period.’
Fixture congestion and mental fatigue play a part. Guardiola will shuffle his squad against Cardiff on Wednesday, but said: ‘We don’t go far away from what is next.’
That means focus on the league, before Saturday’s FA Cup semifinal against Brighton. ‘Next is not Brighton, it is Cardiff,’ Guardiola said. ‘That is the best way in my experience with other clubs when we fight for many titles.
‘Maybe people do not play well in the process. Maybe they are tired or injured, so we have to handle it day by day. There’s no more secret to it than that.
‘If you want a title, you have to play. You have to be fit. every game in every week, we have to win. We don’t have a choice.’
Bernardo Silva gave City the lead at Fulham and Sergio Aguero added a second before he came off as a precaution, although Guardiola did not appear too concerned and was encouraged to see Fernandinho return for his first appearance in more than a month. ‘Fernandinho is so important but he is still a way from his best condition,’ the City boss said.
‘how well the team played in his absence is incredible. In the last four or five games, Gundogan was a massive player for us. But we need Kevin De Bruyne and the players who stayed in Manchester like Vincent Kompany, Phil Foden, because in the next game we’re going to make a few changes. We cannot win the Premier League without changing.’
Scott Parker, Fulham’s interim manager, would not be surprised to see City end the season with four trophies. ‘They could. They’re that good. They’ve got world-class players and they’ve always got solutions,’ he said. ‘They dominate possession and at times make you feel powerless.’
Fulham’s fate is all but sealed after their eighth successive defeat. They are 16 points from safety with only six games remaining. Defeat at Watford tomorrow will send them down and rival clubs are already circling in a bid to pick off prized assets such as Aleksandar Mitrovic, absent through injury against City, and Ryan Sessegnon.
‘We have owners who are very supportive and who have put an unbelievable amount of money into this football club,’ said Parker.
‘If they have a desire, which they do, to keep the best players, and they are under contract, then I’m sure they will be doing everything they can to do that.’