Manchester City put their recent run of poor results behind them in style as they thrashed a hapless West Bromwich Albion side 4-0 to remain on top of the table, albeit on goal difference. West Brom haven’t been able to stand up to City in the recent years and it was no different today. A couple of goals each from Aguero and Gundogan on either side of the break resulted in a comfortable 4-0 win for the Sky Blues who needed it badly before the visit of Barcelona to the Etihad stadium.
With Sergio Aguero back in form and City’s midfield contributing to the goals department, things are suddenly looking bright for them.
We take a brief look at the 3 talking points from the game.
PEP GUARDIOLA AGAIN THE BEST IN THE WORLD?
There were lots of detractors of the Catalan before the season commenced with the Premier League being touted as a place where his tactics would be tough to implement. But a run of 10 consecutive wins turned the tables and suddenly he was the best manager in the world and words such as Invincibles were floating about in the air. But a 3-3 draw against Celtic put the brakes on the City apple-cart and was followed by a winless period of 6 matches including a 4-0 loss against Barca. And almost immediately Pep was again ‘found’ out in England and his tactics were deemed a non-starter. Well, it remains to be seen whether a 4-0 win against a quintessential English team with a solid defence again propels him into the other end of the prism or not.
WEST BROM’S MINOR BLIP OR SOMETHING TO WORRY?
West Brom till now had shown their usual defensive organisation and ability to chalk out draws. But they have found it extremely difficult to win matches with just a couple of wins in 10 matches. They have drawn 4 and lost 4.
And if recent results are to be analysed, the Baggies need to chalk up points against teams in and around them in the table as they seem incapable of any upsets anytime soon. The losses against Liverpool and City are certainly excusable but they need to notch up a couple of wins soon else the relegation spots are not far away.
PEP CAN’T AFFORD TO DROP SERGIO AGUERO
Pep has brought about a lot of changes till now and one of the most visible ones is where he puts aside a player’s reputation before deciding his team. Pep discarded Yaya, he sent Nasri packing and most importantly snipped Joe Hart’s City career. And recently he has reduced Aguero’s game time pointing towards his tactics as the main reason. This is something Kun isn’t used to and today’s display would seem to have put aside any notion of dropping Aguero against Barcelona. Both Pep and Aguero need to work in tandem for City to achieve their targets this season. This is crystal clear to us, at least.
