BRU ARMY MARCH ON
Kevin’s cracker sets up classy win for Guardiola’s men
NO goal feast, no exhibition, no swashbuckle, no records, no worries for Pep Guardiola.
In fact, of all the recent victories, you can bet this one pleased him most.
Won not just through Kevin de Bruyne’s crisp strike from distance and Raheem Sterling’s late cake-icer but won through discipline, resilience and persistence – qualities that have not always been evident in the time since Guardiola’s arrival.
There was the odd scare but this was a victory against a very good side.
This was an accomplished Shakhtar Donetsk, their onetouch passing as luminous as their shirt sleeves.
In fact, this opposition was more technically gifted than any City have faced this season – a tough proposition for a defence that has had a few weeks off.
It was a window into what, if any, improvements have been made in that flawed facet of Guardiola’s game.
And the obvious one is in the goalkeeping role.
Ederson is an upgrade on recent models, his saves from Marlos and Fred looking more spectacular than the reality but they were reassuring stops all the same.
John Stones, although lucky to have a penalty area handball go unspotted, is clawing back some of the confidence that was washed away last season.
And Nicolas Otamendi only made a couple of clumsy ricks, which is a step forward of sorts.
Yet this was a defence that still needed all the help it could get from Fernandinho, a player who does not get a sliver of the credit he deserves, a realist in a team of dreamers.
His sitter-saving tackle on Fred was a sticking plaster on the wound that can open up when Stones and Otamendi go walkabout.
When Fred flitted through the centre, it was not the first and would not be the last time Shakhtar sliced City open. The best form of defence against Guardiola’s operation is to try and shift the ball with equal swiftness and decisiveness as the Blues do.
Easier said than done but better than settling for a couple of deep defensive banks.
Shakhtar’s relatively high pressing and high line did allow City to get in behind a couple of times during a nicely-balanced first half in which Leroy Sane’s pace caused problems but his finishing did not.
Sane’s career on these shores is still in its formative stages but he could develop into one of the outstanding performers seen here for some time. De Bruyne
is already ensconced in that category, his influence this season being exerted from a deeper, string-pulling position.
Only against the quick-closing Ukrainians, De Bruyne was pestered into peculiar mistakes, his passing not inch-perfect … unlike the early second-half strike that opened the scoring.
That’s the thing about class, it can surface from a pool of mediocrity at any time.
De Bruyne wrapped his right boot around one from outside the area with such emphasis that it clearly took Andriy Pyatov by surprise.
Pyatov’s inaction as De Bruyne’s curler smuggled itself inside his post was surprising, not least because he had looked a decent keeper.
He reconfirmed that idea when prolonging Sergio Aguero’s march to the City scoring record, keeping out the penalty to the Argentine’s frustration (right) after Sane had been shunted and shoved by Ivan Ordets.
Pyatov’s save made for a slightly anxious finale.
But there was a resilience about City that was going to see them through – even before Sterling belted home an assist from fellow substitute Bernardo Silva, who had cut in from the right.
That resilience will please Pep most.