And so it comes down to this…
Pep Guardiola’s first season in charge of Manchester City has been a curate’s egg starting oh so brightly but then stumbling as players adjusted to his tactics and injuries to key signings took their toll. Coupled with the long term absence on the pitch of the stabilising influence of the club captain, domestic suspensions and some unfathomable decision making from officials we are faced with an unseemly dogfight to qualify for the Champions League next season.
I am sure that the owners nor the other members of the managerial ‘Dream Team’, Txiki Begiristain and Ferran Sorrano, did not envisage this scenario when they finally secured Pep Guradiola’s signature but I also believe that neither did they underestimate the scale of their coach’s task in his first season. Inheriting an ageing squad that had be acknowledged by many (including Blues fans) to be overdue for an overhaul there is only so much surgery that can be undertaken in one go and choices had to be made. That the plan to leave the defence and possibly other parts of the midfield to later transfer windows was going to be undermined by injuries to key personnel (Gundogan, G Jesus) could not realistically be factored in. The new signings of Sane and then Jesus coupled with the additional goal threat offered by Gundogan from midfield (& the revitalisation of Raheem Sterling) were intended, I am sure, to generate enough goals and wins to create the ‘clear blue water’ for the defence to weather this season before the second wave of transfer dealings sought to address this area of the squad. Kompany’s absence also handicapped this plan as I am pretty convinced that it was intended that he was to take the young apprentice of John Stones under his guiding wing…
Neither could the decision making of officials whose scattergun approach and utter failure to believe that either Raheem Sterling nor Sergio Aguero could possibly be the victim of an illegal challenge inside the penalty area (or even outside in the case of David ‘PGMOL Love Child’ Luiz’s contact).
Whilst it I know that the pattern of games in a parallel universe where the decisions went in our favour cannot be known but there is no doubt in my mind that these have been a material factor in our inability to secure more positive results. Positive outcomes which could have significantly ensured that Champions League qualification would not be on a knife edge as we approach the final six games of the season. It is impossible for any side at this level of football to prevent opponents from creating some chances to score & no team has gone through a Premier League season without conceding a goal…but when so many of ours are chalked off then our ability to capitalise on the opportunities we have created is effectively handicapped. We will always make and miss chances (every side does) but when you are denied legitimate goals or opportunities to drive home your advantage then where we are now in our season is not a surprise. The latest faux pas from the officials in denying a penalty against Arsenal and chalking off a perfectly legitimate goal against Arsenal could well have changed the entire course of that game. It can be argued that Arsenal still recovered from going behind but NOT at the point in the game where City were ascendant. In the games against Spurs, Chelsea & Liverpool similar poor decisions not in our favour had material effects most obviously in the non-penalty for the push on Sterling by Walker. Minutes later we are behind and two points are down the tubes.
And so it comes to pass that we are faced with the gut-churning prospect of seeing Moaning Maureen’s Unconvicables (new word) rocking up at the Etihad on Thursday evening eyeing up the possibility of leap-frogging us into the final Champions League berth. The stuff of nightmares for all Blues fans but not one which Pep Guardiola can afford to contemplate as he seeks to pick up his squad off the floor following the events at Wembley.
To honour a time-honoured cliché City now faces six game season and this is where pep can make his mark as a coach under more adverse circumstances than he has previously faced. The week will be full of his ‘failure to secure a trophy in his first season’ but given that our previous coach had the ignominy of his achievement in winning the league and a cup in his first season only to be overlooked for the manager of the year accolade, I think that the vagaries of the media’s judgement should not weigh too heavily on Pep’s mind. Crystal Palace’s surprising victory over Liverpool opened up a chink of light that the possibility of third spot in the league may not be out of the question. Win our last six games and we are home and hosed…
Starting with the rags. They will of course be more familiar with playing football on Thursday nights but we must not allow this to be a factor. Shorn of Twatan and chief defensive assassin Rojo they will also be missing Mata as well as Smalling and Jones (unless they choose to haul themselves off their sick beds and risk exacerbating their injuries I response to their manager’s call to ‘be brave’). This could lead to Carrick being deployed in defence. Carlton Pogba is also a doubt apparently.
City are faced with anxious waits on the fitness of David Silva and Sergio Aguero both of whom were the subject of late, deliberate fouls by Arsenal players. You know. The sort of contact that sees a City player booked but the opposition get a free pass. Fernandinho also left the pitch injured on Sunday so Pep may have to look for others to step up as he faces his old rival, the master of the so-called ‘mind games’, Moaning Maureen. My money is on Maureen declaring the rags the underdogs despite their more recent better form (well, they have achieved better results but have generally played sh*t football). Oh how Pep would love to do the league double on his old foe. He would love it if we beat them on Thursday, love it. And so would I.
Come on City!!!
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