Manchester City overcame the uncertainty caused by the mysterious loss of Kevin de Bruyne, absent for the second consecutive game, against West Ham. Guardiola’s team took almost an hour to open the scoring. Fifty minutes of incessant work until Aké broke the dam and Erling Haaland liquidated the resistance of the visitors with his 35th goal in 31 Premier games. The never seen in a single course. An absolute record in the history of the tournament that was inaugurated in 1992. Dynamite for the confidence of the scorer who will visit the Bernabéu next Tuesday in the first leg of the Champions League semifinals.
3
0
goals 1-0 min. 49: Ake. 2-0 min. 70: Erling Braut Haaland. 3-0 min. 85: Foden.
Referee john brooks
Yellow cards Flynn Downes (min. 48)
Just when City had found the perfect functional balance around the eccentric figure of De Bruyne, the loss of the Belgian second striker has plunged the team into a deep state of internal search. Guardiola has a squad of interchangeable parts with two exceptions: Rodri is one, De Bruyne is the other. Without the footballer who best synthesized the attacks, without the one who acts like nobody else as a link between the midfield and Haaland, his teammates have been forced to increase the frequency of movements, exchanges, associations and all those maintenance tasks that they do to the choral game It happened against Fulham last weekend and was repeated at the Etihad against the West-Ham double-decker bus, a true strength of the Premier.
Facing the most powerful squad in England after the big seven, a machine designed by David Moyes to close behind without shame, it took City more than an hour to clearly enable Haaland. By then Rodri had smashed a shot into the post and Aké had opened the scoring with a header, following a lateral free kick, after the break. There was no other way to upset the London visitors, who 20 minutes after the 1-0 draw were doomed when Bernardo Silva stole a ball in midfield, tipped it towards Grealish, and precipitated the counter. The 70th minute was running and the game refused to close. Haaland defined by chipping the ball on the departure of Fabianski and the 2-0 returned serenity to City. The goal made history the 34 goals with which Andy Cole and Alan Shearer held the scoring record in a championship season.
Haaland got the first clear opportunity that presented itself. He nine he is able to solve problems that seem to have no remedy. His surgical contribution is more necessary than ever without the assistance of De Bruyne, his most assiduous partner. Establishing links that get the ball to the point against expert defenses grouped in your area means overcoming the most difficult obstacles that contemporary football presents. Doing it without acquired complicities increases the difficulty. It is not an immediate process when the players had become used to living off De Bruyne’s quick claws. Now they must recover the virtue of patient elaboration.
Guardiola has put together a team that plays with more daring than other of its versions. He does not incur recklessness because the synchronization between the central defenders and the midfielders is so exact that everything seems calculated and stable. With Stones integrated in the midfield together with Rodri, the system that covers the attacks, with three defensemen led by Dias, recalls the main idea of Cruyff, who was accused of being a kamikaze when he limited his defense to Koeman and two hounds that came up by surprise. Nothing is completely new in this City that was flying when De Bruyne disappeared from training and now seems to be treading on unfamiliar ground.
Eppur si move
City suffers from the absence of the second striker. The players could take weeks to internalize the necessary adjustments to compensate it, but the semifinals of the Champions League begin in five days. No one outside the Manchester club’s bunker knows exactly what’s going on with De Bruyne – personal problems? injuries? Eccentricities, never ruled out when it comes to this impetuous young man, the highest paid footballer in the Premier? De Bruyne attended the match wrapped in a trench coat, like Inspector Gadget. He watched the events with the face of an ephinx.
Guardiola has said that the man has already “moved” again. Misleading statement where they exist. While he returns, the ones who will have to learn to move differently are his teammates, who this Wednesday against West Ham defended the leadership of the Premier with fervor. They have 79 points in 33 games, one point more than Arsenal, which has 78 in 34 days.
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