Johnny Baguette
Alert Team
File under one we would have lost last season? Manchester City's third consecutive win on the Premier League road has gone some way to easing the frustration that three consecutive home draws have generated. In fact, outside of a defeat at perennial media darlings Spurs, Pep Guardiola's Blues have now won six of seven away league fixtures to date. City are threatening to turn the old addage 'win all your games at home and draw all your games away to have a strong chance of winning the league' completely on its head! Furthermore, the dreary line droaned out by the likes of the BT Bitters as to whether or not Guardiola could win on a wet Wednesday night at Stoke has been utterly dismissed. City didn't just win in the Potteries, they also did the business today at Burnley where numerous big heads will still roll in this campaign.
More than anything else, something to savour right now is that City have not played with much fluency this past week but are discovering the knack of grinding out results, even if there is still a strong element of helter-skelter about a defence that has only registered two clean sheets in the top flight into the second third of the season's fixtures.
It remains not only my opinion, but the theory that this issue will improve the longer the season goes on should be borne out once the squad become more adept with the livewire City boss's tactics.
Pep was buzzing off the back of this hard fought win in his post match presser and with some justification. The points in the scope of today's top of the table results were crucial, the encounter had been a bruising one, the refereeing was standout rubbish and the team had weathered the type of late aerial bombardment from which siege mentalities are formed. City captain Fernandinho talked of the side's burgeoning spirit afterwards and this certainly bodes well for what is without doubt going to be a decisive December.
There were a handful of satisfactory plusses today. Credit where it's due to Claudio Bravo who should take encouragement from a couple of important saves and it was heartening to see Kun Aguero thwart the hacks and pundits who were talking up a crisis for our talisman who hadn't scored a goal for all of two games! What I increasingly like about City under Guardiola is how much fitter they clearly are. Vincent Kompany's injury travails aside, the squad's general fitness is holding up in stark contrast to that of the Manuel Pellegrini era. Sooner or later this City side are going to click with consistency. And when they do...
I am quietly confident about Chelsea's visit next week. There is history here. Stretford-in-chief Jose Mourinho knows what it is like to bring a seemingly unbeatable Chelsea to Manchester and get turned over. Don't rule out crowd goader Antonio Conte being sent packing next weekend. Bring the December of Destiny on!
Read more: http://www.manchestercity.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=574588#ixzz4R9HAC1sW
More than anything else, something to savour right now is that City have not played with much fluency this past week but are discovering the knack of grinding out results, even if there is still a strong element of helter-skelter about a defence that has only registered two clean sheets in the top flight into the second third of the season's fixtures.
It remains not only my opinion, but the theory that this issue will improve the longer the season goes on should be borne out once the squad become more adept with the livewire City boss's tactics.
Pep was buzzing off the back of this hard fought win in his post match presser and with some justification. The points in the scope of today's top of the table results were crucial, the encounter had been a bruising one, the refereeing was standout rubbish and the team had weathered the type of late aerial bombardment from which siege mentalities are formed. City captain Fernandinho talked of the side's burgeoning spirit afterwards and this certainly bodes well for what is without doubt going to be a decisive December.
There were a handful of satisfactory plusses today. Credit where it's due to Claudio Bravo who should take encouragement from a couple of important saves and it was heartening to see Kun Aguero thwart the hacks and pundits who were talking up a crisis for our talisman who hadn't scored a goal for all of two games! What I increasingly like about City under Guardiola is how much fitter they clearly are. Vincent Kompany's injury travails aside, the squad's general fitness is holding up in stark contrast to that of the Manuel Pellegrini era. Sooner or later this City side are going to click with consistency. And when they do...
I am quietly confident about Chelsea's visit next week. There is history here. Stretford-in-chief Jose Mourinho knows what it is like to bring a seemingly unbeatable Chelsea to Manchester and get turned over. Don't rule out crowd goader Antonio Conte being sent packing next weekend. Bring the December of Destiny on!
Read more: http://www.manchestercity.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=574588#ixzz4R9HAC1sW
