PEP GUARDIOLA FACES SQUAD SELECTION BACKLASH AFTER SUBS DELAYED UNTIL 80TH MINUTE
Pep Guardiola sticks to his wingless system despite pressure, while Erling Haaland struggles with clinical finishing late on.
No matter how close Pep Guardiola might be to the end of his tenure, he’s still steadfastly sticking to his methods. This week, after spending a significant amount of time defending his team selections following that 3-0 loss to Real Madrid, he showed up against West Ham without wingers, yet Manchester City still played like the side we’ve known over the past decade.
Teams have started launching the ball high from kickoff, but City kept their composure, dominating possession. In the first 15 minutes, they completed a hundred passes before West Ham even hit double digits. It’s another Guardiola team with a clear identity, grinding its way through the title race. But the big question remains: will it be enough to outpace Arsenal?
If Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal has anything to say about it, probably not. Two late goals for the Gunners at home against Everton, coming as City were preparing for their own game, felt like a stark reminder of the uphill battle ahead. After faltering at the Bernabeu when they needed to be resolute, City simply couldn’t afford anything less than a win at the London Stadium, even if possession stats were on their side.
Bernardo Silva set the tone, opening the scoring just past the half-hour with a delicate chip that might not have been intended but was perfectly executed. Things seemed on track. Then, just three minutes later, sloppy defending invited a West Ham corner. Donnarumma misread the situation, and Mavropanos headed in to erase City’s advantage in an instant.
Defensive blunders have been a recurring problem. Last week’s mistake against Forest probably ended their Champions League hopes, and these issues aren’t going away anytime soon. It doesn’t matter what formation you’re playing if your defending and attacking aren’t sharp, a reality City faced in a tough fortnight that has jeopardised their aspirations across multiple competitions.
The city's prolonged pursuit of a quadruple had been impressive until March, but this recent dip is hard to explain and clearly trickles down from the top. For the second league match running, substitutions were lined up but then postponed this time, involving Reijnders and Foden, both told to keep warming up well past the hour mark.
By then, Doku and Cherki were already on, trying to spark a comeback. The team pressured possession with plenty of urgency, but didn’t trouble West Ham’s keeper Hermansen enough. Nuno Espirito Santo, sitting out that suspension, watched calmly from the stands, perhaps sensing the tension.
When Reijnders finally entered the fray, he made an immediate impact, forcing Hermansen to tip a free-kick onto the crossbar. The city's best chance fell to the man they counted on: Haaland. Frustrated, he watched a cross evade him just before Doku cut the ball back low, setting Haaland up for a shot.
But under pressure, the finish was hurried and off target. At this crucial stage of the season, both Haaland and City have come up short of their goals.
Pep will keep doing things his way, and there’s still time for silverware this season. However, prospects of clinching the Premier League or Champions League seem increasingly distant.
PEP GUARDIOLA REFUSES TO GUARANTEE RODRI’S RETURN FOR MONDAY’S PREMIER LEAGUE CLASH
Pep Guardiola provides the latest injury news on Rodri, Ruben Dias, and Josko Gvardiol ahead of a crucial title race clash at Everton.
Pep Guardiola has shared the latest on Manchester City's injury situation ahead of Monday’s Premier League match against Everton at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
City is in good form right now. They came from behind to beat Southampton 2-1 in the FA Cup semi-final last weekend, making it six wins in a row across all competitions.
But they’ve had to do it without Rodri. He's missed their last two matches, including a tight 1-0 win at Burnley, after hurting his groin against Arsenal a couple of weeks back. Guardiola recently told reporters that Rodri is getting better, but the team’s been cautious and isn’t rushing him back.
At his latest press conference on Friday, Guardiola said Rodri still hasn’t returned to training, so they’re just taking it day by day. There's hope, but Guardiola wouldn’t give any guarantees about Rodri’s chances of playing against Everton. "He’s getting better. Still, he didn't train with us, so we’ll see in the next few days,” he said. When pressed about his confidence, Pep just replied, “I am always confident.”
With Rodri still not training, it sounds like a last-minute decision on whether he’ll play. A start against Everton seems unlikely. That probably means Nico González, who scored the winner against Southampton, will keep his spot in midfield next to Bernardo Silva. Maybe Nico O’Reilly slides into central midfield, too, if he isn’t covering at left-back.
It’s not all good news in defence either. Ruben Dias is still out with the ankle injury that’s kept him sidelined for the last six games, and Josko Gvardiol is recovering from the tibial fracture he picked up in January. Both are working their way back, and Guardiola says they’re improving, but there’s no sign of a return just yet.
Turning to the Everton game, City could head into it trailing Arsenal by six points if the Gunners beat Fulham on Saturday. With the title race this tight, City can’t afford to slip up.
Guardiola knows Monday will be tough. “Everton have always been tough,” he said. “Old Everton was so cool and so British, and I loved to go there, but in the new stadium, they are defending really well, and it has always been tough." He’s not taking recent Everton results lightly, adding, 'They're fighting for a place in Europe. We won with two or three actions here, but we were not good at that moment. We can’t have any result but win, win, win.”
Everton won’t be easy, especially away, but City can at least take confidence from their strong record of 17 league games unbeaten against the Toffees. They won the reverse fixture 2-0, with Haaland scoring both goals. Still, Guardiola isn’t expecting it to be straightforward.
MANCHESTER CITY’S REQUEST TO RESCHEDULE PIVOTAL PREMIER LEAGUE TIES BRUTALLY DENIED
The Premier League has rejected Man City’s plea to swap Palace and Bournemouth matches. See City's brutal end-of-season schedule.
Manchester City are on the hunt for another domestic treble just seven years after the last one. Pep Guardiola pulled it off in 2018/19 with wins in the Premier League, FA Cup, and Carabao Cup. Now he's got his sights set on doing it again.
City’s deep run in the cups has created a mess for their league schedule. Their home game against Crystal Palace, which was supposed to happen during the Carabao Cup final weekend on March 22, got bumped. Same thing with their trip to Bournemouth, originally set for the day after the FA Cup final.
There’s a hold-up with rescheduling Palace; the Eagles’ Conference League semi-final run means they’ve got barely any free midweek dates. The match was pencilled in for Wednesday, May 13, but things got complicated when City reached the FA Cup Final, and Bournemouth got postponed too. The city asked the Premier League if they could play Bournemouth on Tuesday, May 12, then face Palace a week later, to squeeze in an extra recovery day before the Wembley showdown. Plus, that would give them the bonus of finishing their last two league games at home. But the Premier League usually insists that the fixture that was originally scheduled first in this case, Palace, gets played first.
According to The Mirror, City’s request was shot down. So now Guardiola’s team has to cram their last four matches into just 12 days: Palace visits on May 13, then the FA Cup Final, Bournemouth away on May 19, and finally wrapping things up at home to Aston Villa on May 24.
They couldn't play Bournemouth on May 20 because that’s the Europa League final night, and UEFA didn’t want any Premier League games stealing the spotlight when Aston Villa or Nottingham Forest could be involved.
The Mirror says the revised fixture dates and kick-off times are coming out today. Chelsea, also FA Cup finalists, will play their rescheduled match against Tottenham on May 19.
City still has to travel to Everton next Monday and host Brentford on Saturday, May 9. Then comes their jam-packed finish, starting with Palace.
Meanwhile, title rivals Arsenal will be hoping City’s crowded schedule works in their favour. Though Arsenal has its own challenge, a Champions League semi-final against Atletico Madrid is spread across the next two midweeks.
Arsenal closes out its league campaign with home games against Fulham and Burnley and trips to West Ham and Palace.
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