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Pep Guardiola shouldn’t defend Sergio Aguero’s horror challenge

By Rucker Haringey

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 03: Sergio Aguero (R) of Manchester City is shown a red card by referee Anthony Taylor after fouling David Luiz of Chelsea during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Chelsea at Etihad Stadium on December 3, 2016 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 03: Sergio Aguero (R) of Manchester City is shown a red card by referee Anthony Taylor after fouling David Luiz of Chelsea during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Chelsea at Etihad Stadium on December 3, 2016 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images) /
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Pep Guardiola was wrong to back Sergio Aguero

No one should be surprised that Pep Guardiola elected to back his player Sergio Aguero after his red card against Chelsea yesterday. It’s what managers typically do. However, in this case, Guardiola made the wrong choice by trying to defend his talented striker.

As a neutral observer, I believe it’s almost impossible to see Aguero’s challenge on David Luiz that resulted in his sending off and believe it wasn’t intentional. Guardiola did apologize for the ugly brawl during injury time of City’s 3-1 defeat to Chelsea, but claimed that he didn’t think Aguero hit Luiz with bad intent.

In my estimation, it was a pretty empty apology by the City manager. He tried to appear diplomatic by expressing his regret over the spectacle, but concurrently attempted to exonerate all of his players individually. Saying you’re sorry for the brawl followed by pardoning the behavior of Aguero and Fernandinho is a complete contradiction in terms.

I’ll leave the Fernandinho incident for another day. While Cesc Fabregas made a meal out of their altercation, you simply can’t put your hands on another player’s neck. His actions are completely unacceptable.

Aguero’s tackle wasn’t any better. His violence occurred during the run of play, but it was possibly even more of a premeditated act. Remember, he and Luiz have quite a history of altercations. It wasn’t a coincidence that Aguero elected to single out the Brazilian for his wrath. That’s precisely the player Aguero would want to injure the most.

Now, in almost every occasion I applaud managers for supporting their players. It’s an essential role of being a Premier League manager. It has to stop when your player is putting others in danger though. That’s precisely what Aguero did yesterday.

His challenge could have easily ended by severely injuring Luiz. Such an outcome could drastically change the Premier League title race. I’m not suggesting that Aguero’s intent was to injure Luiz long-term, but making such a challenge squarely brings that outcome into play. He easily could have shattered Luiz’s leg to the point where he never would fully recover.

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That’s why Guardiola owes it to every player in the Premier League to come down hard on his own player. At the very least, he shouldn’t excuse the indiscretion. After all, Aguero’s idiotic decision also has serious ramifications on City’s season.

This will be his second multi-match absence of the season and there’s no telling how long he’ll be absent this time. I, for one, believe the FA should challenge him with violent conduct. They probably won’t, but it would be the appropriate response. Can City really afford to be without their offensive talisman for a serious run of matches? They can’t if they intend to win a Premier League title.

The ultimate point here is there’s no place for challenges like Aguero made against Luiz in modern football. It threatens the health of the players involved and the integrity of the Premier League title race. Pep Guardiola shouldn’t be excusing this kind of behavior. By doing so, he just empowers Aguero to do it again.

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