SUPER CITY LOOKING OMINOUS
Pep’s team have that hunger in their eyes again
No great surprises in Manchester yesterday. The house over the road is on fire again, and Manchester City are threatening to motor as winter approaches. All very standard fare.
This is the fun zone for City, with the Christmas decks starting to surface and when, in recent seasons under Pep Guardiola, they have brutally taken leagues away from those around them.
It will be a bit different this time — Chelsea and Liverpool are formidable — but it’s still hard to escape the fact that City are capable of building frightening runs from here.
‘The next game, win the next game,’ Guardiola parroted in a way that is just as familiar.
Yesterday was a year since that chastening defeat at Tottenham, days after Guardiola had signed his new contract and with players wondering what direction they were headed. City languished. What happened next was 28 matches unbeaten in all competitions, and their third title in four years eventually won with a few games to spare.
So perhaps Guardiola will eventually look back on the 2-0 home defeat by Crystal Palace earlier in the month as a catalyst similar to Spurs. It has been striking that City have reverted back to traditional wingers since Palace.
‘Rafa (Benitez) is the master at defensive movements,’ Guardiola said. ‘We handled it much better emotionally (than Palace). We made a lot of passes and attacked them in the right moment. We were patient and had urgency. I’m very pleased.’
Guardiola has wanted to widen the pitch, with the next opposition’s defence seemingly even narrower than the last. Raheem Sterling was certainly one beneficiary, whether that be successfully stretching the space between Lucas Digne and Michael Keane for others to exploit or darting for the byline to whip in crosses. And when it comes to meeting chances, the 26-year-old has always been happier running on to them with the game ahead of him. That was so true a minute before half-time when he broke the deadlock. Joao Cancelo dug out his pitching wedge to chip an outrageous cross with the outside of his foot, side spin whizzing, for Sterling to move beyond his marker and guide beyond Jordan Pickford.
‘He needed it,’ Guardiola admitted.
Going over Keane’s challenge, Sterling had earlier seen a penalty overturned once Stuart Attwell ran over to the VAR screen, but this match was only heading in one direction. The contest was done 10 minutes after the restart, Rodri thundering City’s second goal high into Pickford’s top righthand corner from 25 yards.
The holding midfielder only scores blockbusters, although Fabian Delph may feel he could have attacked the loose ball with more gusto as it bounced free.
The kids did all right, too, earning glowing praise from Gary Neville in the Sky Sports studio.
Cole Palmer did not appear out of place on his full Premier League debut, operating in a false nine position that he occasionally took up for the club’s Under 18s, and linked play nicely.
The ease of victory was such that Palmer came off in the final minutes for James McAtee’s league debut. McAtee, just 19, is nicknamed the Salford Silva by his contemporaries and showed glimpses of real class, too. He glides in much the same way as Palmer and Phil Foden.
‘They’re like clones, they’re all the same,’ Neville enthused. ‘It’s almost like David Silva’s left them all behind!’
Guardiola tempered his praise of Palmer — as is his way with the best young players — but believes this current crop coming through might save City millions.
‘I am never shy to play them,’ he said. ‘When you let the players play, it can be an incredible investment for the future.’
Everton, who had lost Demarai Gray to an adductor injury in the opening moments, were a little dispirited after the second goal. Benitez has never seen a treatment table quite this crowded.
‘We’re trying to change the way we approach the injuries and recover the players in a different way,’ Benitez said. ‘You are then overloading the other players and they run the risk.’
Gray’s exit, when this was scoreless, hurt Everton but his replacement Alex Iwobi had their best chance in the first half, racing through against Kyle Walker, only to overrun possession. Sat in the posh seats with friends, Dominic Calvert-Lewin bowed his head in resignation.
The striker, still injured, could only stare into the distance as City wrapped this up with four minutes left. Palmer was again involved, his shot deflecting into the path of Bernardo Silva, who stabbed home. MANCHESTER CITY (4-2-4): Ederson 7; Walker 7, Stones 8, Laporte 7 (Ake 76min), CANCELO 9; Rodri 8, Gundogan 7.5; Sterling 8, Silva 8.5, Palmer 7.5 (McAtee 87), Foden 7.5 (Mahrez 58, 6). Scorers: Sterling 44, Rodri 55, Silva 86. Booked: Laporte. Manager: Pep Guardiola 7. EVERTON (4-2-3-1): Pickford 6; Coleman 6, Keane 6, Godfrey 6.5, Digne 6; Delph 6 (Rondon 63, 5.5), Allan 6 (Onyango 90); Gray 6.5 (Iwobi 17, 5.5), Townsend 6.5, Gordon 6; Richarlison 5.5. Booked: Richarlison. Manager: Rafa Benitez 6. Referee: Stuart Attwell 6. Attendance: 52,571.