Ederson is ‘The Man’ to lift City once again
AS HE strode off at Selhurst Park last week, Ederson was caught by Xabi Mancisidor, Manchester City’s goalkeeping coach. Mancisidor is rarely emotional but this was different. He turned Ederson around and beat his student in the chest. Once, twice, three times. ‘You’re the man,’ he roared. City had won 2-0 against Palace and Ederson produced an outrageous one-handed tip to deny Christian Benteke and thwarted Wilfried Zaha from close range, both in the final moments. This week was no different. Again a clean sheet and again a couple of big moments. At 0-0, Ederson produced a splendid double-save when Aston Villa pounced on sloppy distribution by John Stones, parrying John McGinn’s curling effort before denying Douglas Luiz. These saves might not make the end-ofseason highlight package — Raheem Sterling will dominate that if he keeps this run up — but they are having a significant impact on City’s campaign. At City, the No 9 is expected to be the first defender and the goalkeeper must be the first attacker. Ederson was the architect of Sterling’s opener 21 seconds after half-time. Villa were powerless to stop him finding Gabriel Jesus before Sterling latched on and swept in. ‘It’s a pass, not a long ball,’ said Tom Heaton, Ederson’s opposite number. ‘You should never force it playing out from the back. Ederson suits the way they play and still has that long threat. It makes it difficult to stay compact if they can go over the top.’ City feel his distribution allied to his shot-stopping make him one of the world’s best keepers and vindicates their decision to choose him over Bernd Leno when replacing Claudio Bravo. He certainly is ‘the man’ in City’s eyes.