Doctor, doctor, I’ve played two games and have only one point...
MAN CITY 3 CHELSEA 0
SErGIo Aguero, quite magnificent. David Silva, simply stunning. Yaya Toure, immense. Yet that defence. That Manchester City defence. They were, well, Chelsea. There really is no other word for it. City were Chelsea-like in their resilience. They are the team to beat this season, make no mistake of that.
Yes, it is early. Long way to go, all the usual cliches. But this was a performance that made a powerful statement about the way City have grown in just a year. It is more than the addition of raheem Sterling to an already stellar forward line. He worked hard and adds a threat, but is still finding his feet after the move from Liverpool.
This was about the rest of them: players who were here last season, yet strangely subdued. Toure, engaged again, a midfield monster; Eliaquim Mangala and Vincent Kompany, refusing to be bullied by Diego Costa; Fernandinho, looking the best he has since powering Shakhtar Donetsk through Europe; Aleksandar Kolarov, arguably the best l eft- back i n the Premier League right now.
We knew City would be an attacking force this season, but the defence was a worry. No longer. This was a match that revealed a new depth to Manuel Pellegrini’s side.
They were not flattered by a three-goal winning margin, as Jose Mourinho suggested; if anything Chelsea were the fortunate ones.
Stand-in goalkeeper Asmir Begovic kept them in touch in the first half and they did not have a shot on target until the 70th minute. This was not a negative performance, but the plan was to hit on the counter and City just directed that threat down blind alleys.
Costa was belligerent, but little more, expertly marshalled and crowded out in possession and matched physically when he tried to put it about.
Eden Hazard was nullified, Cesc Fabregas ineffectual. John Terry was taken off at half-time with a badly bruised ego and scorch marks. He usually finds a way against quicker men like Aguero, but yesterday there was none.
Hatchet-faced on the sideline, Jose Mourinho seemed to know it, too. It was the first time he had substituted Terry in a league game and although Aguero was quieter for the introduction of Kurt Zouma, City then scored two more.
Branislav Ivanovic is looking every bit as vulnerable right now, by the way.
Make no mistake, this was a huge result f or City and Pellegrini. Mourinho usually beats his big rivals. He draws, at least. His record in these elite clashes is remarkable. If he has the best team, he wins. If he is out-gunned, he finds a way around that, throws a blanket over the game, organises, controls, drills his players, leaves nothing to chance. Yet no mere scheme yesterday could negate City and only an exceptional first-half display by Begovic prevented this match being done in little more than 30 minutes.
When Begovic signed up to be Thibaut Courtois’ understudy this season, he probably didn’t expect to be i nvolved so soon — or be quite so busy. Yet with Courtois banned following his sendingoff against Swansea last week, it was Begovic in goal for the first marquee game of the campaign, and Begovic versus City for much of the first half.
The goalkeeper even won an unlikely fan in Aguero, who was so impressed by the way he had been regularly thwarted that he offered a high- five salute to his rival. And no doubt some tensely gritted teeth.
Fo r City versus Begovic, read Aguero versus Begovic, in essence. This was a quite wonderful individual duel that began within the first 20 seconds when Silva threaded a pass to the Argentinian striker, who sped clear of the back line, one-on-one. Perhaps the chance came a little too soon and he was rusty, because his finish was ordinary and s ma rt l y saved. From the rebound, Jesus Navas curled a low shot just wide of the far post. There followed two quite magnificent, and uncannily similar, saves in the space of two minutes. The first was created by another Kolarov pass that Aguero brought under control superbly before executing a great turn and a low shot, which Begovic kept out with a strong outstretched hand. From City’s next attack, a Navas cross from the opposite right flank was met by Aguero and repelled by Begovic in identical fashion. Even the striker felt moved to admire that one.
It could not last, though. Terry was in trouble against Aguero’s movement, Gary Cahill was not greatly convincing either, and Chelsea ultimately buckled under the sheer weight of City pressure. In the 31st minute, the team, and their striker, got what they deserved.
It was Silva’s firm pass in to Aguero that started the move, the striker laying the ball back to Toure and getting it in return almost immediately. There were four Chelsea defenders in the vicinity but it did not trouble him.
He turned Cahill, left the rest for dead, and slipped his finish past Begovic into the far corner. An exquisite goal, from an exquisite player.
Not that the siege was over. In the l ast attack before half- time a Kolarov cross was met by Mangala, who should have done better with his glancing header. It provoked Begovic’s sole false step of the half, missing the ball with his punch but connecting with Cahill’s nose, the player l aid out and requiring several minutes of treatment.
This, of course, brought Chelsea’s medics haring on to the field, much to the merriment of the locals, following the fallout from the row and demotion of the previous pitchside team, Eva Carneiro and Jon Fearn. The Gibraltarian doctor had her name chanted, Mourinho was cursed with equal feeling and, then, Costa was flattened by a wild f orearm f rom Fernandinho — meaning City’s medical staff had to come to the aid of Chelsea’s stricken striker. More larks.
Amid the laughter, Mourinho will have quietly noted that his point about the danger of being reduced to nine men by pitchside treatment was vindicated by what happened next. As Cahill and Costa waited behind the white lines to return, a Chelsea free-kick broke down and City counter-attacked with numerical advantage, stifled only by a
magnificent rearguard action from Willian. Told you, Mourinho might have thought. Not that he was in any position to score points yesterday.
That is not to say he didn’t try. He described the outcome as fake, claiming Chelsea were the better team in the second half.
They were certainly better than in the first but, frankly, they could not fail to improve. Fabregas had their only shot, wide, after 42 minutes, and their first of real purpose came 28 minutes later when Costa cut the ball back to Hazard, who shot straight at Joe Hart.
It was at this point, just when Chelsea were beginning to threaten on the counter, that Kompany (left) finished them off. It was a Silva corner from the left that did the damage, Kompany all over Ivanovic, before flicking a header past Begovic to put the result beyond doubt.
Chelsea may claim their man was fouled, but there is so much wrestling in the penalty area these days — and Ivanovic is such a master of it — that it is hard to feel much sympathy. After his shocker against Jefferson Montero of Swansea last week, Ivanovic’s confidence looks shot. He was poor for the third goal too — the one that gave the scoreline real emphasis — slow to react to the advancing Silva, the ball flying to Fernandinho, who finished sharply.
Mourinho looked as if a migraine was kicking in. He has one point from two matches, the poorest return of any Premier League champions at the start of the season.
Is there a doctor in the house?