PETER CROUCH: Enjoy Pep Guardiola’s Man City as much as you can – he won’t be here forever
PETER CROUCH: Southampton have shown the brutish way to take points off Man City and there’s a chink of light in the title race… but the leaders’ utter dominance might not dip until Pep Guardiola leaves. And we should enjoy this genius while we can
- Southampton held league leaders Manchester City to a draw on Saturday night
- Pep Guardiola’s side gave their rivals a chink of light in the fight for the title
- Manchester City rarely give teams a sniff of hope unlike rivals Liverpool
- They will hope that Pep Guardiola stays at the club for a very long time to come
- Norwich surviving the drop would be the Premier League’s best great escape
- Marcus Rashford could kick-start his season with late heroics for Man United
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Manchester City are human after all. Either that or Ralph Hasenhuttl has a cheat code on how to take points off them. Twelve consecutive victories would not become 13 at Southampton, which gives a chink of light in the title race.
How can you not take pleasure from watching this City team? Even when drawing, here was pure and utter dominance of the football. Wave after wave. We should just enjoy watching greatness before our eyes — it will not be here forever.
Marvel at the superiority, how they play the game. Those 11 men on one side operating at the absolute maximum most weeks. Young kids should be sitting down with a notepad when they have City on.
Manchester City were unable to extend their winning run to 13 games against Southampton
City showed they were human after all – or Southampton boss Ralph Hassenhuttl (right) has a cheat code on how to get points from them!
Southampton forward Armando Broja (left) showed how getting physical can upset City
Pep Guardiola’s side unlike his rivals rarely give opponents a sniff of a chance
I can understand and empathise that nobody wants teams getting rolled over every week in the Premier League. But what I cannot agree with are suggestions about a lack of competitiveness that has been creeping into conversations over the last few weeks and months.
There is a surprise at how City have been able to pull away over the last month or so. That comes from their own relentlessness in results, coupled with the other two teams slipping up.
It had been toing and froing — which is, of course, what we want — until the start of December.
But runaway leaders are not exactly a new phenomenon, either, and neither are dominant clubs. We have had those for years and years — think Liverpool in the 1980s, Manchester United in the 1990s. Next year the gap will be closer, although this one is not over just yet.
There is certainly a difference to City that makes them unique. Sometimes when you watch Liverpool it can probably be a bit more exciting, because they are giving up chances. The opposition have a sniff.
While Manchester City didn’t get the win we should still marvel at their superiority
With City, you are lucky if you are allowed the ball for any period of time. Liverpool are so explosive in the way they cut through with pace and power. By contrast with City, it is wave after wave of keep-ball. Squeezing the life out of teams. Making them suffer with their manipulation of a football.
Hasenhuttl said before the weekend draw that he was hoping for 35 per cent possession and that speaks volumes for how the rest of the division have struggled to contend with Guardiola.
Southampton played really well. They always carried that threat going forward and made sure they were affecting the game as high up the pitch as possible. Armando Broja, on loan from Chelsea, is obviously a handful, a brutish striker who can make defenders think.
These are the sort of guys needed if you are taking anything off City. And Southampton under Hasenhuttl are more adept than most.
This result will not serve as a major issue for Guardiola, who has been at pains to say that the winning run will not continue indefinitely. They remain red-hot favourites to lift a fourth title in five years.
I think about what it means to my mum’s side of the family, who are all City fans. They absolutely love it, watching these incredible players in a completely different way to loving the club when they were scrapping down in the second division.
It has always been a rollercoaster for them supporting City, and what Guardiola has achieved here is to remove the bumps along the way.
What more can we say about Guardiola at this point? The man is a genius and probably won’t get the full credit he deserves until he does eventually leave. He has done an amazing job and it would be a shock if there wasn’t some form of dip from City once he departs.
Pep Guardiola is a genius and City fans will hope he stays at the club for years to come
City have pulled away at the top of the table once again, thanks to Guardiola’s genius
There are no weaknesses in their set-up and whenever a player is unavailable, or left out, another of the same quality comes in to replace him.
The mentality within the squad is something else as well and that comes from Guardiola. They show that willingness to go year after year in a pursuit of winning.
Players can generally drop off after victorious moments and guarding against complacency has been one of the most impressive aspects of Guardiola’s management since his first league title in 2018. He would not be having complacency. Any of that and you are out the door.
City are in the advantageous position of being able to trade players quite often but the manager has not needed to release many of his squad over the years because they have consistently bought into his methods.
Managers like that — with the intensity they bring every day — usually cannot stay at a club longer than two or three years but here, his players have kept to his standards. City must hope he sticks around for a few more years yet.
NORWICH SURVIVAL WOULD BE NO 1 ON GREAT ESCAPES
Look at what two wins can do for you at the bottom of the league — Norwich City are somehow out of the relegation zone. If they manage to stay up it will truly go down as one of the greatest escapes ever, because we all thought they were doomed.
I work with Jake Humphrey at BT Sport, who is a Norwich fan, and he honestly had already resigned himself to relegation. I’m sure thousands of others had done as well, and relatively early on in the season, too.
The confidence that five goals in two games can give a group of players is massive and think about the psychological impact Friday night has on Watford. Conceding three times at home against a team that appeared down and out does not bode well for Claudio Ranieri.
Norwich moved out of the bottom three by taking a comfortable 3-0 win away at Watford
RASHFORD’S LATE STRIKES SHOULD KICK-START HIS SEASON
Marcus Rashford had not found the net since October 30 before midweek. For someone of his ability, that is too long and he really needed those goals against Brentford and West Ham.
The importance of both will do him the world of good, too. Clearly Saturday was a dramatic end at Old Trafford in a hugely important fixture in the race for the top four, but United’s third goal at Brentford — just to extinguish any hope for the hosts — was almost just as important.
Rashford has not looked himself this year, although is by no means alone at United. Something has not been quite right there all season and that goes back to when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was in charge as well.
Marcus Rashford scored the late winner for Manchester United against West Ham on Saturday
The body language of quite a few of the United players has been down for a period of time and I hope these last few days kickstart Rashford’s season.
Maybe he has been drained — Rashford has been carrying the expectations of that team since he was a teenager and along the way that is bound to drag you down.
If somebody like him drops their levels by even a fraction, it will be heavily scrutinised because people know how good he can be.