Manchester City: Still the Premier League’s team to beat
Manchester City got dumped unceremoniously out of the FA Cup by lowly Wigan and some act like the King is dead. How wrong they are.
Well by now you’ve all heard Manchester City lost a game, right? Technically two games. All season, to this point, two games. Pretty impressive if you ask me. Yet at the same time it’s being treated as a reason for derision, a cause for the internet warriors of planet banter to engage missiles directed to the poor, downtrodden fans of the runaway league leaders.
I’m game for it of course, it comes with the job of having any sort of connection with Manchester City, particularly a positive one. Sure, two games isn’t a lot but at least one of them was very significant. Guardiola’s side went crashing out of the FA Cup last night against League One leaders Wigan, a team sure to etch their name in history as the ultimate bogey side of the post-takeover City, and you can feel the tremors resonating. What a loss it was! 82% possession, over 25 shots and all everything that should have ensured victory but an end product, yet there you go, to quote Pep himself, that’s football.
You can make any argument you want but teams lose and they lose games they aren’t supposed to lose. I saw a few people try to argue Wigan deserved it, but let’s be real here, they did nothing but scored their one real chance. Oh and lots of clogging. Hardly a ringing endorsement of the beautiful game, but that coupled with bizarre refereeing inconsistencies and simple bad luck has carried them past the Manchester juggernaut to the next round.
In the end though, a loss is a loss. For City the aim is to pick themselves up and they have to do so fast. Sunday comes soon and brings with it Wembley, a chance for redemption. Many will laugh and deride the Carabao Cup as being Mickey Mouse, and to an extent it is, but let’s be real here, the meat and bones is the Title and everything else is a distraction. At least it brings confidence, alongside early silverware.
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Indeed, if ever City needed to pull a win out of the hat it’s on Sunday. So destructive was last night’s loss, and the disgusting behaviour from Wigan fans that followed, including assaulting Sergio Aguero, that warning shots need to be fired. This City side are too good to chuck it all at this stage of the season and there’s no reason to believe that form is heading out the window at the time when it’s needed the most. A loss is, as we said, just a loss.
Nonetheless, the threat posed by Arsenal should make Pep wary. Already he has been defeated by Wenger at Wembley and it came almost exactly the same way as last night’s loss. An opposition content to park the bus and await one golden opportunity and hope it’s taken. With Claudio Bravo almost guaranteed the start again, it needn’t even be a particularly good effort. One shot, one goal, the bane of his career.
What can Manchester City do differently? It’s hard to say. Guardiola has always, traditionally, struggled against teams unwilling to entertain the thought of leaving the confines of their own box. City are neither tall nor strong. If the Gunners decide to just sit back and block all avenues to success then it’s going to be yet another frustrating evening, particularly if Aguero et al leave their shooting boots at home.
In the end, I expect an angry Manchester City side to turn up. Whether that translates to goals and a trophy, is another thing entirely. There’s truth to the fact that possession and chances alone cannot bring success and I’m fairly certain Pep is as aware of this problem as anyone yet finds himself handcuffed with the yet-still injured Gabriel Jesus on the sidelines.
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That said, for all the mockery that will be endured this week by those connected with the club, one thing I anticipate will be made fully clear – City are still the team to beat right now and that’s not changing any time soon.