Manchester City – Review Of The Week

With the international break, there’s not much that can be said about City, so we’ll take a look at the internationals and anything else that’s been going on.

International Break

I don’t know about you, but I find this international break really tedious. The problem with having an international break is that clubs already struggle to fit matches in. With Champions and Europa League matches, intermixed with League Cup games and then internationals as well, why can’t we just extend the season a little to accommodate international matches? That way, players wouldn’t be playing every few days and the fans wouldn’t have to risk missing games.

Der Spiegel Allegations

It’s been a few weeks since the German magazine made their allegations into financial irregularities at Manchester City, but for now it seems to have died down. The club have stated they have done nothing wrong, and so far, despite UEFA threatening to re-open their files, they have remained reluctant to do so. Apparently, La Liga have also asked UEFA to look at City’s books again, and I find it very strange how two of Europe’s top leagues are almost begging UEFA to stop the blues in their tracks.

Since 2008, City have moved from a mid-table side to one of the best in Europe, and most commentators are expecting the blues to claim the top European prize very soon. They are dominating the Premier League in the same way United did in the 90’s and Liverpool in the 80’s, and Europe’s top clubs are staring to sit up and take notice, and if they don’t do anything about it, City may well end up dominating the European stage too, and the ‘top clubs,’ who are part of Europe’s elite, are not in the slightest bit happy about it.

If UEFA do re-open their files and they bow to pressure and give the elite what they want, as what happened in 2014, they must surely realise it will only slow our progress, and not stop it completely. City and their fans will never be part of Europe’s elite, but we are starting to show we are simply in a class of our own.

Guardiola And Mendy

So Manchester City are getting favourable treatment again eh? Manager Pep Guardiola was only given a warning for his pre match comments about derby referee Anthony Taylor, but United boss Jose Mourinho was fined for making similar comments about Taylor in 2016. FA favouritism?

No, because Jose had already been warned about making comments but he obviously didn’t take heed, same with Rafa Benitez, but it’s best not to let those facts get in the way of a good old FA favouritism rant!

As reported on Saturday, Benjamin Mendy is again set for a spell on the sidelines after surgery on his other knee. Mendy missed almost the whole of last season through injury and is now going to be out for up to 12 weeks. On the plus side, I’m looking forward to seeing his Twitter feed on match days for the next three months.

West Ham

The blues went to West Ham on Saturday having won their last three matches at the London Stadium, scoring 13 goals and conceding just one. I like West Ham, they are like the London version of City in the 90’s and early part of the century and the supporters are amongst the most loyal you can get in football. Managed by Manuel Pellegrini and with Pablo Zabaleta in defence, I’ll always have a soft spot for the Hammers.

But football is football and it was another brilliant display from City that saw them walk away with a 4-0 win. Sane and Sterling were excellent throughout, and if they hadn’t taken their foot off the gas in the second half, it would have probably been a cricket score. But let’s give some credit to the Hammers. At 2-0 down, they tried to get back into it and put up a bit of a fight. At 3-0 down, they were still going forward and were unlucky to hit the post in the second half when the build-up deserved something more. They showed more fight than most of the teams we have played this season, especially United, when their players looked like they just couldn’t have cared less.

Someone asked on Saturday what was the point of football if City were 3-0 at half time all the time, but the answer to that is, we’re not. Prior to Saturday’s match, a 3-0 half time lead has only been achieved on two occasions – at Cardiff, then at home against Southampton. The blues have played 19 matches so far this season, so to say we are always leading 3-0 at half time is a slight exaggeration, to say the least!

The blues remain top, but still only by two points as Liverpool won at Watford, but Chelsea lost at Spurs, which means City and Liverpool are the only unbeaten teams in the league.

What’s next?

City travel to Lyon on Tuesday looking to secure both Champions League qualification and the group’s top spot with victory, before a home match against Bournemouth on Saturday.

We’ll see you then. Have a good week.