City bringing out the worst of the premier league

The sheer quality of Pep Guardiola's side has encouraged anti-football in the top flight

HOW do you stop the unstoppable Manchester City?
This is a conundrum that has perplexed the finest managerial minds, and David Moyes, in recent weeks but it’s important to remember that it first had to be established that this extraordinary side was uncontainable.
Prior to that, yer Watfords and Stokes dared to commit men forward, entrusting their attacking menace as much as their defensive shape, and by doing so left gaps ahead of their back-four that were perfectly ordinary against ordinary fare but to Sane, Sterling and De Bruyne was akin to sticking out your jaw to Tyson in his prime. Inevitably – in hindsight at least - they were punished for their orthodox thinking; spanked on a weekly basis by score-lines that evoked cigarette cards and handlebar moustaches.
Retreat! That was the collective cry that then went up way back in October and the next opponents in the firing line Burnley and West Brom duly ceded two thirds of the pitch and stationed bodies in a carapace when not in possession of the ball, which was pretty much all of the time. They looked to suffocate space and ‘get in City’s face’, testing their fortitude as much as their ability to plot intricate courses and when the right opportunities presented themselves both sides strove for the sucker punch. This was classic trench warfare, tried and trusted through the decades, when facing a superior foe, so it’s little surprise that the Clarets and Baggies caused Guardiola’s men problems on occasion, even if the results were ultimately never in doubt.

At this point, and with City now starting to tear chunks of pages out of the record books while exhibiting magical football that was confounding in its impact and complexity, it was perfectly understandable if forthcoming opponents threw up their hands in despair because they were clearly damned if they did and damned if they didn’t. Go toe-to-toe and they would surely be pulverised. Defend in great numbers and City wore you down with a speeded up Chinese water torture of relentless passes and darted movement.
Enter stage left, wheeled in curled into the foetal position, Huddersfield Town. I was highly critical of David Wagner’s attempts at extreme nullification back in late November and by being so, people were highly critical of me. I stand by every word. “But if they had gone gung-ho Huddersfield would have lost 5-0 or 6-0’ was the commonest response, a point that I entirely agree with, which is precisely why I didn’t suggest for an instant that the Terriers open up to such a self-destructive extent. Yet, by rigidly sticking to a 6-4-0 formation throughout this was timidity too far, a strategy traditionally only deployed by non-league sides paired in the cup away to a top six behemoth. For a Premier League club to be so devoid of ambition at home to another Premier League club was a step too far, a level of protective obstruction we don’t see anywhere on the continent when Bayern, Barcelona or PSG come to town. This was not a failed attempt at rope-a-dope such as we saw from Burnley and West Brom. This was Huddersfield refusing to get up off their stool.
If I stand by every word, it is also true to state that I regret my comments immensely but only because I jumped the gun and concentrated my ire towards the first culprit to play dead. Huddersfield may have lost that Sunday afternoon but they exasperated City to the point of panic, with the Blues requiring a fortuitous late development to continue their winning streak. So it was that a third option materialised: the shutting up of shop and refusing to come out and play.
We can debate until the cows come home to what extent teams are obliged to entertain in the modern era. Personally I would put forward that given the exorbitant ticket prices demanded and the bottomless well of wealth each club has been lavished with to purchase the finest talent around all twenty Premier League clubs are at least obligated to utilise their strengths whenever possible, strengths, incidentally, that include firing up a passionate fan-base to inspire them on. Yet in recent weeks we have witnessed a slew of teams park the proverbial bus against City and give the driver a 90 minute fag break, a retreat into defeatism that is illustrated by a rather startling stat. Overall this term Manchester City have enjoyed 71% of possession from their twenty games. Yet with the exception of Spurs and Manchester United (who were rightfully panned for their negativity but at least offered up problems for City to solve) that possession has risen to 78% since Huddersfield sought only to minimise the damage rather than inflict any themselves.

Does this suggest too that City are improving week on week? No, the reverse is actually true. Injuries and fatigue have resulted in performances declining from other-worldly to mortal brilliance as the winter slog takes hold. Against Newcastle on Wednesday evening they were missing John Stones and not only their primary left-back, who cost them the price of a striker but also the midfielder who reinvented himself as his short-term replacement. Ten minutes in and their influential leader Vincent Kompany departed the action, a miss that was as potentially pertinent as their absent orchestrator-in-chief David Silva. Kevin De Bruyne meanwhile toiled with jellied legs.
How utterly bizarre then that Newcastle, riled up by a ferocious support full of festive cheer, were content only with 22% of possession and presumably less in territory. How strange that Rafa Bentitez chose to keep his most potent attacking threats idle on the bench. This, remember, is a club that used to delight in tearing into United back in their heyday and as deadly as City have been this term nobody can tell me that Beckham, Cantona, Giggs, Scholes, and the like didn’t pose equitable danger.
What this cornucopia of cowardice has resulted in is a stream of training ground exercises consisting of attack vs defence. There are no competitive games to be found and all too little drama and now finally others are beginning to see this too. Afraid of their product, Sky pushed Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville forward this week to condemn the standard and mentality of supposedly the greatest league in the world, while journalists too have jumped on board. Yet, if I was guilty of being quick-fire, perhaps they are all a little late to the party because there is a suspicion that such defeatism is due to run its course anyway. For one thing continuous defeats endured by Newcastle, Bournemouth, Swansea, West Ham, Southampton and Huddersfield reveal the futility of such an ultra-defensive approach; that amounts to suicide by increments. For another self-interest will heighten as the season progresses, meaning goal difference against a side they were not expected to beat becomes less of a concern to actually accumulating points against anyone, whoever they may be. Perhaps too teams will tire of City lording it over all and sundry and look to stick it to them. After all, what have they got to lose?

If all this signifies that option three is losing its relevance then what is left available for opponents to try in order to halt the unstoppable machine in Blue? To stick it to them. Sadly we are already seeing the answer in Harry Kane’s stamp on Raheem Sterling, and Dele Alli’s ankle rake intended to cause serious harm to De Bruyne, not to mention Jacob Murphy’s disgustingly high lunge on Ilkay Gundogan this week. Prior to City’s trip to the north east Newcastle’s captain Jamaal Lascelles openly admitted it was his side’s intention to get ‘physical’. Murphy was certainly that.
Following City’s routine victory over Swansea a fortnight back Danny Murphy was outraged on Match of the Day at the hosts’ sense of fair play. Where were the yellow cards? Where were the fouls? That’s how you stop them. That’s how you literally hurt them. His disgraceful comments partner those of Paul Pogba from a few weeks before. The only way City could be denied a third Premier League title, he intoned, was for their key players to endure serious injury.
This season Manchester City have unveiled the very best of what football can offer. In trying to counter that it has only brought out the very worst in everybody else. Wishing injury on others; trying to inflict injuries on others; and refusing to come out and play. If this is what the Premier League amounts to then topping it in May will not actually be that big an achievement after all for Pep Guardiola’s fantastical side.

skyblueoz wrote:Agree with TMG here. I actually thought Kun had a really good game against Newcastle. he was in the right places and bar a worldy from the keeper and a post he would have been on the score 
sheet. He ran his socks of closing down and I honestly thought it was his best game in a long while. It seemed as though he was showing all the fans that the garbage coming from lazy journalists about him not being good enough for pep was just that. Garbage. Jesus has been a little off the boil, but this his 1st full season in the premier league and now half way through and playing twice as many games as in Brazil it is catching up with him. Remember he is only 20 and this is his 1st stint outside of his native south America.

It is different too in so much as when a lot of Brazilians leave their home land for the 1st time they seldom come straight to England where there is no winter break so it is probably a culture shock as well to play 10 games in 32 days if you include the game on the 29th of November. I agree he hasn't played in all but he still would have to train stay fit and be ready for action at any time.

blueboy wrote:Oh fuck off Dawg...that's not necessary. 

Both of you...stop being so fucking mard.

Sergio had a crap game, shit game, poor game...call it whatever doesn't upset you. 

I never said "Sergio is a shit player"....I simply had an opinion that he didn't play very well...in fact, he had a shit game as a striker who missed 3/4 chances.

Really? You two are going to get all precious because I said he had a shit game? 

Topdawg wrote:

blueboy wrote:Oh fuck off Dawg...that's not necessary. 

Both of you...stop being so fucking mard.

Sergio had a crap game, shit game, poor game...call it whatever doesn't upset you. 

I never said "Sergio is a shit player"....I simply had an opinion that he didn't play very well...in fact, he had a shit game as a striker who missed 3/4 chances.

Really? You two are going to get all precious because I said he had a shit game? 

Get your dick out of your ass and read what I’ve written properly. I do believe that I’ve marked players down this season. Serge scoring with 20% I’d chances to raheem’s 35% success rate and I’ve said Jesus is a hard working Itchy

Topdawg wrote:All I’ll add is that, just because some people go to more games than us, doesn’t make their opinion more valid

blueboy wrote:End of year blow-out...