Johnny Baguette
Alert Team
Is the magician's touch starting to work? Cynics might say it is another false dawn but what we have witnessed over the last 7 days has been quite astonishing in terms of Manchester City's emergence from the Pellegrini slumber of last season.
A week ago the Pedmachine referred to the home defeat of Sunderland as "scruffy". In midweek we were left drooling over a performance in Europe which surpassed any other by City and actually disappointed that we only won 5-0 away from the Etihad. A score closer to double figures would just about have been right.
And then enter the archetypal match. You know…Guardiola might know what he's doing in La Liga, how will he cope with a cold Tuesday night in Stoke?
Tuesday night it might not have been, but the other ingredients were there. With the summer over as fast as it arrived, with the exception of snow, all four seasons of weather landed at the Bet365 Arena yesterday. Sun, rain a blustery wind, the lot. And Stoke? Well they were just Stoke. Although playing much better football under Mark Hughes than their predecessors, they still make up in skullduggery and bullying, what they lack in football ability. City have in recent seasons surrendered to this and have often left the Potteries empty-handed. But not today. Today we clearly saw not a manager underestimating the opposition, but a manager who had done his homework and knew which buttons to press.
The starting line-up saw Nolito replaced by Navas and a slight reshaping. Caballero once again preferred in goal to Hart behind Zabaleta, Otamendi, Stones and Kolarov. This time Fernadinho was charged to hold in midfield while the job of Navas, De Bruyne, Silva and Sterling was to both attack and pin Stoke back and support Aguero.
And boy did it work!
Right from the start City took total control of this match, depriving Stoke of any kind of the dangerous possession they get at home. If Stoke did get the ball there was an infernal desire for City to get it back almost before Stoke's first pass. Silva and De Bruyne took hold in midfield guiding Sterling, Navas and Aguero into promising positions. Indeed Sterling could have opened the scoring, cutting inside something like 4 Stoke defenders before curling a shot goalwards. It didn't have enough curl to beat Shay Given.
Goals looked inevitable for City and the first arrived from an unlikely source ahead of the half hour. A City corner was played towards Stones and Otamendi, the latter of whom got in a tangle with Shawcross and referee Mike Dean saw enough to award City a penalty. The responsibility was once again handed to Aguero, who, having missed two in midweek took no chances, firmly hammering the ball past Given at a time when Stoke were getting their first foothold in the match.
This set Stoke back. Arnautovic the villain of last season's piece cut a peripheral figure getting both frustrated and offside in equal proportions, Diouf looking oversize and lazy and the only drive coming from Allen in midfield who made several intelligent runs that were never seen by his colleagues.
It was only five minutes later when Stoke gave away a free kick 35 yards out on the right. City once again loaded the penalty area as De Bruyne, with the precision of a watchmaker, hit a pacy ball towards the penalty spot. Both Kolarov and Aguero got in between the Stoke defenders and the Argentino, using the pace of the cross , neatly steered the ball past Given.
This has never been a happy hunting ground for City, who have won here only once in the last eight visits, but even they couldn't wave a white flag at a two-goal lead, could they? City's defence, with the addition of Stones, looks a much more robust proposition. Otamendi is clearly learning rapidly from the Guardiola regime and Kolarov, a candidate for the pre-season exit chute looks like a different footballer. Zabaleta is simply Zabaleta.
There was one fright before the break when a bit of harem scarem defending saw Caballero literally take one for the team in the parts other beers cannot reach and leaving Stoke, justifiably in my opinion wondering why Kolarov's unnecessary challenge didn't result in a penalty. But somehow City survived this and got to half time in tidy fashion leading 2-0.
Mark Hughes clearly gave his boys a shaking-up at half time. In the second half they showed City less respect and set about their work in their more usual fashion. One or two naughty tackles went in and one disgraceful tackle perpetrated by Diouf saw him run his studs down the back of Silva's leg for reasons best known to Mr Dean went unpunished.
Indeed it was the same Mr Dean who acted as the "Equaliser" when from a corner, Sterling found himself up against Shawcross, trying to impede his run in for the header. The referee once again pointed to the spot, correctly claiming that Sterling had not been looking at the ball and simply fouling the big man. Bojan, hitherto anonymous couldn't wait for the chance to peg back his former manager and reduced the arrears to 1-2.
As expected, this triggered off a Stoke revival but the brilliance of Stones and the astuteness of Fernadinho gave them practically nothing. During this period Stoke enjoyed a bit more possession but City made sure they had no tools to use close to the goal.
Pep rang in the changes. Nolito came on for Navas and Iheanacho for Aguero and both made a significant impact on the game. Latching onto a ball from De Bruyne, Iheanacho and Silva carved open Stoke with a quick fire one-two. The young striker drew Given but went too wide. Whereas against Bucuresti, he tried to get on the scoresheet, this time he opened the angle and with the defenders all headed for the goal line found Nolito all alone for a tap-in. Done and dusted. Whatever wind was in the Stoke sails now left them looking totally deflated.
But that was not it for City. Otamendi made an excellent long range pass out of defence down the right. Iheanacho's intelligent run took Shawcross with him leaving a huge gap for Sterling to run into. However, once again he seemed to lack the confidence to take the shot, but with Nolito to his left and onside he slipped the ball to him and he placed it into an unattended goal.
All afternoon I was reading and listening to people saying that the score flattered City. No it did not. City were not only brilliant in the execution of their work today, but they also went some way to lay the ghost of the Britannia, or the Bet365 as it is now known. They did face some intimidation, but today they stood up to it and eased it away with quality football which will have the premier league taking note.
Guardiola produced another master stroke in terms of how he set the team up. With last week's pundits telling the world how with the full back pushing in narrow in midfield, the wings were open to attack, well that didn't happen here. Bojan was pretty much absent from proceedings until he scored a penalty and then returned to oblivion. The deployment of a more mature-looking Fernandinho in front of the back four enabled City to still use the "box" defence, but this time with Fernandinho as part of the box. The full back down whose side play was developing stayed on post.
As I said, apart from one indiscretion, Kolarov looks like a man reborn contributing to both defence and offence. The same can be said of Sterling who has started the season in the kind of form that could well, under the guiding hand on the tiller of Guardiola, see him finally realise his potential. Navas is finding the kind of space he denied last season and now looks capable of getting around the full backs to deliver dangerous crosses or read Zabaleta's trade-mark diagonal run.
Silva was in magical form. His array of passing often cutting the Stoke offerings to shreds. De Bruyne at one point looked a bit out of sorts but he played major roles in most of City's attacking football including two goals.
I said that when Guardiola arrived we would see a shift in the game of Sergio Aguero. Too often last season he was high up the pitch surrounded by giants and unable to get really going despite all the goals he did score. We can see this season he is starting a little further out facing the goal. A little bit like Messi does for Barcelona. And when Aguero is facing the goal he is twice as dangerous as when he has his back to it. We are seeing the fruits of this already and it is a great plus for City's football.
And then there is John Stones. The Pedmachine has to report at this stage that he was not a footballer I necessarily wanted to see at City. His final season at Everton imploded following the Capital One Cup Semi Final and I didn't see a £50million defender in him. But hey, even I have to eat humble pie sometimes. His start to his City career has been nothing short of exceptional. OK, last week it was only Sunderland, but as we saw Defoe is always a handful. Bucuresti didn't present much of a challenge in any department, but Stoke do. Not only do you have to deal with Arnautovic's presence and power, but nowadays Diouf who as we all know outstripped City's entire team recently to net a very much against-the-run-of-play winner at the Etihad. He dealt with everything in a very professional manner yesterday. A leader in defence, I am seeing the eclipse of Vincent Kompany and the naissance of a future captain.
So in the descriptions of this match the words "consistency" and "referee" have come to the fore. Mike Dean rarely gets criticised in the Ped Pages. He simply applies the laws of the game. And he did this today. There was an argument that the penalty he gave Stoke was soft and probably because he missed one earlier, but he applied the laws of the game.
Indeed consistency is certainly showing itself elsewhere in the Premier League. How on earth are referees continually conned by that appalling creature at Chelsea who last week chopped down a goalkeeper when on a yellow card and got away with it? You know the same player, who today, once again on a yellow card produced a dying swan of theatrical proportion, completely untouched and got away with it again. And to make the situations worse he scored late winning goals in both matches. Some things never change. I hope both those referees face the wrath of the FA and get a week or two in pyramid football.
As fast as consistency is growing in the Premier League, sadly the same cannot be said at Anfield, where Jurgen Klopp's men, who defeated Arsenal in masterful attacking fashion last week, could hardly raise a smile at newly promoted Burnley. Although they beat Arsenal on the strength of their forward play, the score finished 4-3 because of defensive frailty and shortage of concentration. This emerged in abundance once again for them yesterday, leaving Sue almost tearing out her beautiful, newly-coiffured hair. "It's the same old, same old" she proclaimed, "Klopp's just the same as Rodgers". Social media seemed to agree with the good lady last night.
So for City, it's the return of Bucuresti on Wednesday and then the tricky visit of West Ham who proved more than a handful for us last season. I think Guardiola and his trustees might well be working on a plan.
Read more: http://www.manchestercity.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=570139#ixzz4HyBYyWYa
A week ago the Pedmachine referred to the home defeat of Sunderland as "scruffy". In midweek we were left drooling over a performance in Europe which surpassed any other by City and actually disappointed that we only won 5-0 away from the Etihad. A score closer to double figures would just about have been right.
And then enter the archetypal match. You know…Guardiola might know what he's doing in La Liga, how will he cope with a cold Tuesday night in Stoke?
Tuesday night it might not have been, but the other ingredients were there. With the summer over as fast as it arrived, with the exception of snow, all four seasons of weather landed at the Bet365 Arena yesterday. Sun, rain a blustery wind, the lot. And Stoke? Well they were just Stoke. Although playing much better football under Mark Hughes than their predecessors, they still make up in skullduggery and bullying, what they lack in football ability. City have in recent seasons surrendered to this and have often left the Potteries empty-handed. But not today. Today we clearly saw not a manager underestimating the opposition, but a manager who had done his homework and knew which buttons to press.
The starting line-up saw Nolito replaced by Navas and a slight reshaping. Caballero once again preferred in goal to Hart behind Zabaleta, Otamendi, Stones and Kolarov. This time Fernadinho was charged to hold in midfield while the job of Navas, De Bruyne, Silva and Sterling was to both attack and pin Stoke back and support Aguero.
And boy did it work!
Right from the start City took total control of this match, depriving Stoke of any kind of the dangerous possession they get at home. If Stoke did get the ball there was an infernal desire for City to get it back almost before Stoke's first pass. Silva and De Bruyne took hold in midfield guiding Sterling, Navas and Aguero into promising positions. Indeed Sterling could have opened the scoring, cutting inside something like 4 Stoke defenders before curling a shot goalwards. It didn't have enough curl to beat Shay Given.
Goals looked inevitable for City and the first arrived from an unlikely source ahead of the half hour. A City corner was played towards Stones and Otamendi, the latter of whom got in a tangle with Shawcross and referee Mike Dean saw enough to award City a penalty. The responsibility was once again handed to Aguero, who, having missed two in midweek took no chances, firmly hammering the ball past Given at a time when Stoke were getting their first foothold in the match.
This set Stoke back. Arnautovic the villain of last season's piece cut a peripheral figure getting both frustrated and offside in equal proportions, Diouf looking oversize and lazy and the only drive coming from Allen in midfield who made several intelligent runs that were never seen by his colleagues.
It was only five minutes later when Stoke gave away a free kick 35 yards out on the right. City once again loaded the penalty area as De Bruyne, with the precision of a watchmaker, hit a pacy ball towards the penalty spot. Both Kolarov and Aguero got in between the Stoke defenders and the Argentino, using the pace of the cross , neatly steered the ball past Given.
This has never been a happy hunting ground for City, who have won here only once in the last eight visits, but even they couldn't wave a white flag at a two-goal lead, could they? City's defence, with the addition of Stones, looks a much more robust proposition. Otamendi is clearly learning rapidly from the Guardiola regime and Kolarov, a candidate for the pre-season exit chute looks like a different footballer. Zabaleta is simply Zabaleta.
There was one fright before the break when a bit of harem scarem defending saw Caballero literally take one for the team in the parts other beers cannot reach and leaving Stoke, justifiably in my opinion wondering why Kolarov's unnecessary challenge didn't result in a penalty. But somehow City survived this and got to half time in tidy fashion leading 2-0.
Mark Hughes clearly gave his boys a shaking-up at half time. In the second half they showed City less respect and set about their work in their more usual fashion. One or two naughty tackles went in and one disgraceful tackle perpetrated by Diouf saw him run his studs down the back of Silva's leg for reasons best known to Mr Dean went unpunished.
Indeed it was the same Mr Dean who acted as the "Equaliser" when from a corner, Sterling found himself up against Shawcross, trying to impede his run in for the header. The referee once again pointed to the spot, correctly claiming that Sterling had not been looking at the ball and simply fouling the big man. Bojan, hitherto anonymous couldn't wait for the chance to peg back his former manager and reduced the arrears to 1-2.
As expected, this triggered off a Stoke revival but the brilliance of Stones and the astuteness of Fernadinho gave them practically nothing. During this period Stoke enjoyed a bit more possession but City made sure they had no tools to use close to the goal.
Pep rang in the changes. Nolito came on for Navas and Iheanacho for Aguero and both made a significant impact on the game. Latching onto a ball from De Bruyne, Iheanacho and Silva carved open Stoke with a quick fire one-two. The young striker drew Given but went too wide. Whereas against Bucuresti, he tried to get on the scoresheet, this time he opened the angle and with the defenders all headed for the goal line found Nolito all alone for a tap-in. Done and dusted. Whatever wind was in the Stoke sails now left them looking totally deflated.
But that was not it for City. Otamendi made an excellent long range pass out of defence down the right. Iheanacho's intelligent run took Shawcross with him leaving a huge gap for Sterling to run into. However, once again he seemed to lack the confidence to take the shot, but with Nolito to his left and onside he slipped the ball to him and he placed it into an unattended goal.
All afternoon I was reading and listening to people saying that the score flattered City. No it did not. City were not only brilliant in the execution of their work today, but they also went some way to lay the ghost of the Britannia, or the Bet365 as it is now known. They did face some intimidation, but today they stood up to it and eased it away with quality football which will have the premier league taking note.
Guardiola produced another master stroke in terms of how he set the team up. With last week's pundits telling the world how with the full back pushing in narrow in midfield, the wings were open to attack, well that didn't happen here. Bojan was pretty much absent from proceedings until he scored a penalty and then returned to oblivion. The deployment of a more mature-looking Fernandinho in front of the back four enabled City to still use the "box" defence, but this time with Fernandinho as part of the box. The full back down whose side play was developing stayed on post.
As I said, apart from one indiscretion, Kolarov looks like a man reborn contributing to both defence and offence. The same can be said of Sterling who has started the season in the kind of form that could well, under the guiding hand on the tiller of Guardiola, see him finally realise his potential. Navas is finding the kind of space he denied last season and now looks capable of getting around the full backs to deliver dangerous crosses or read Zabaleta's trade-mark diagonal run.
Silva was in magical form. His array of passing often cutting the Stoke offerings to shreds. De Bruyne at one point looked a bit out of sorts but he played major roles in most of City's attacking football including two goals.
I said that when Guardiola arrived we would see a shift in the game of Sergio Aguero. Too often last season he was high up the pitch surrounded by giants and unable to get really going despite all the goals he did score. We can see this season he is starting a little further out facing the goal. A little bit like Messi does for Barcelona. And when Aguero is facing the goal he is twice as dangerous as when he has his back to it. We are seeing the fruits of this already and it is a great plus for City's football.
And then there is John Stones. The Pedmachine has to report at this stage that he was not a footballer I necessarily wanted to see at City. His final season at Everton imploded following the Capital One Cup Semi Final and I didn't see a £50million defender in him. But hey, even I have to eat humble pie sometimes. His start to his City career has been nothing short of exceptional. OK, last week it was only Sunderland, but as we saw Defoe is always a handful. Bucuresti didn't present much of a challenge in any department, but Stoke do. Not only do you have to deal with Arnautovic's presence and power, but nowadays Diouf who as we all know outstripped City's entire team recently to net a very much against-the-run-of-play winner at the Etihad. He dealt with everything in a very professional manner yesterday. A leader in defence, I am seeing the eclipse of Vincent Kompany and the naissance of a future captain.
So in the descriptions of this match the words "consistency" and "referee" have come to the fore. Mike Dean rarely gets criticised in the Ped Pages. He simply applies the laws of the game. And he did this today. There was an argument that the penalty he gave Stoke was soft and probably because he missed one earlier, but he applied the laws of the game.
Indeed consistency is certainly showing itself elsewhere in the Premier League. How on earth are referees continually conned by that appalling creature at Chelsea who last week chopped down a goalkeeper when on a yellow card and got away with it? You know the same player, who today, once again on a yellow card produced a dying swan of theatrical proportion, completely untouched and got away with it again. And to make the situations worse he scored late winning goals in both matches. Some things never change. I hope both those referees face the wrath of the FA and get a week or two in pyramid football.
As fast as consistency is growing in the Premier League, sadly the same cannot be said at Anfield, where Jurgen Klopp's men, who defeated Arsenal in masterful attacking fashion last week, could hardly raise a smile at newly promoted Burnley. Although they beat Arsenal on the strength of their forward play, the score finished 4-3 because of defensive frailty and shortage of concentration. This emerged in abundance once again for them yesterday, leaving Sue almost tearing out her beautiful, newly-coiffured hair. "It's the same old, same old" she proclaimed, "Klopp's just the same as Rodgers". Social media seemed to agree with the good lady last night.
So for City, it's the return of Bucuresti on Wednesday and then the tricky visit of West Ham who proved more than a handful for us last season. I think Guardiola and his trustees might well be working on a plan.
Read more: http://www.manchestercity.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=570139#ixzz4HyBYyWYa
