Striker north of the border still wants a place at City
ABERDEEN striker and avid City fan Sam Cosgrove has revealed he hasn’t given up on his dream of signing for the club, although he admits his style of play might not be suited to Pep Guardiola.
Cosgrove is enjoying a great season in the Scottish Premier League and is just one goal off the top of the scoring charts.
His tally of 11 in the league so far makes him the highest goalscorer who doesn’t play for Rangers or Celtic and only the green side of Glasgow’s Odsonne Edouard has scored more, with ‘Gers duo Alfredo Morelos and Jermain Defoe also on 11.
The 23-year-old grabbed his 20th goal of the season in 26 games in all competitions against Celtic on Saturday but was then controversially sent off in the 2-1 defeat.
Cosgrove came through the youth teams at Everton and Wigan and has revealed that making it in the Premier League, preferably with City, is his lofty ambition.
“You want to get as high as you can. I don’t see why I can’t go to the Premier League if the opportunity arises,” he said.
“I’m a City fan. If I could end up there it’d be all right – but I wouldn’t put myself down as a Pep Guardiola kind of striker.
“If I keep improving and reach my potential then I’ll be happy wherever I end up. Do I have things to improve on? One hundred per cent. I’ll be the first to admit I’m not the finished article. There’s a lot more to come.”
PEP Guardiola saw something different in his City players against Leicester that he wants to replicate in future games.
Having dropped points at home to Wolves and United before Saturday, the Blues tweaked the way they press for the visit of high-flying Leicester.
It worked, as the flustered Foxes were unable to play their own game and eventually suffered a 3-1 defeat that leaves them just one point ahead of the champions going into the Boxing Day games.
City’s manager was happy with the result but more pleased with the way his team went about getting it.
He has been insistent throughout mixed results this season that there is no reason to doubt his players and against Leicester he saw the side that have won the last two league titles from the first whistle.
It wasn’t about the type of press they used but more that every single player was committed to it.
Guardiola believes it sent a signal out around the ground and that is what he wants again and again from his team as they face the improbable task of trying to catch Liverpool at the top of the table.
“I would say the press depends on your behaviour and commitment. Sometimes you say it doesn’t matter what you have to do, what is important is that everybody knows exactly what we have to do,” he said after the Leicester game.
“In the last two days we worked a lot on what we have to do, but it is especially about the desire to go there and be close.
“Sometimes in some games the player was in front and they were a little bit passive, and that is not the way we like to play.
“If one guy is in front, go – it doesn’t matter – and behind you another guy is going to come. “It’s not about the set-up, defending in that way. What is important is that first action. We made a kick-off and Gabi [Jesus] and Kevin [De Bruyne] pressed 100 per cent. That makes a signal to the opponents, to our team and for our fans that we are here and we want to do it.
“It happened many, many times in our time together and this was a big example. “Hopefully the players through their performance can be convinced that this is the way. You can’t have regrets if you lose the game playing that way. I like my team a lot.”
Pep Guardiola