As Manchester Metropolis celebrated their victory beneath lights in opposition to Manchester United in a derby which continues to lose its aggressive edge by the season, the Pep Guardiola facet shall be cautious that a lot larger challenges lie in entrance of the defending champions because the month progresses.
Whereas a victory over United is an enormous deal within the native scheme of issues, it’s now simply one other match within the grander context. Beating United these days isn’t one thing that’s a rarity with even Fulham having achieved it final week, one thing that they hadn’t achieved at Previous Trafford since 2003. Metropolis, although, have larger fish to fry.
Identical to Julius Caesar was instructed to beware the Ides of March, Metropolis’s complete aforementioned month is suffering from fixtures which have the potential to stab holes by means of their title defence and to a sure extent, their season. They’ve a Champions League conflict in opposition to Copenhagen on March 7, enormous Premier League matches with Liverpool and Arsenal on March 10 and March 31 respectively and a doubtlessly draining FA Cup tie with Newcastle on March 16.
A spectacular method to rating your tenth aim of the season! 🚀 @ManCity x @PhilFoden https://t.co/nlF4BTT3VE pic.twitter.com/KN1vwY9quJ
— Premier League (@premierleague) March 3, 2024
Sure, Metropolis haven’t misplaced a aggressive fixture since their 1-0 defeat to Everton again in December 7 however have they been at their most deadly? Do they appear to be that well-oiled machine that ripped the competitors aside with Erling Haaland enjoying destructor in chief? The easy reply is not any.
Besides the current 6-2 thrashing to Luton that they meted out within the FA Cup with Haaland scoring 5 in a single match and inflicting a 5-0 drubbing to Huddersfield, the champions have gained by 2 objectives on simply 4 events, 3-1 in opposition to Burnley, 3-1 in opposition to Brentford, 2-0 in opposition to Everton and 3-1 in opposition to Copenhagen. The numbers look spectacular for a standard run-of-the-mill staff, however for a staff which is crammed to the brim with attacking expertise, would possibly learn a bit of flat.
To not point out the 1-0 win in opposition to Bournemouth, that 1-1 draw in opposition to Chelsea, the 1-0 victory in opposition to Tottenham and a scrappy 3-2 win in opposition to Newcastle, outcomes that had the almighty treble winners escape with factors by the pores and skin of their enamel.
An issue that Metropolis is perhaps dealing with this season is that they is perhaps counting on Haaland a bit of an excessive amount of to get the objectives. Sure, that’s the reason that they had introduced within the Norwegian behemoth however it’ll be nigh on unimaginable for any striker on the face of the earth to copy the numbers he had in his debut season. Finally, the shrewd tacticians of the Premier League would discover a method to cope with him and so they have this season, to a sure extent.
Erling Haaland has his aim!
That is 18 for the season… 😅#MCIMUN pic.twitter.com/wU1vDpczcm
— Premier League (@premierleague) March 3, 2024
Like in opposition to Everton, which is toying with relegation, Haaland and Metropolis needed to wait until the 71st minute to get a aim. Everton would have even walked away with some extent if their striker Dominic Calvert Lewin had transformed the handful of possibilities that fell to him. In opposition to Chelsea, Raheem Sterling made no such errors as he put the Stamford Bridge facet forward within the forty second minute which was solely cancelled out by the underrated Rodri’s 83rd minute strike.
In opposition to Bournemouth, Brentford and Tottenham, Metropolis needed to depend on particular person brilliance to bail them out with 1-0 wins on all events. It is a far cry from a Pep Guardiola outfit that now we have been accustomed to seeing the place enjoying as a unit is of paramount significance.
It hasn’t helped that almost all of their gamers haven’t been in prime kind this season with Haaland main the road. Sure, he has been amongst objectives however he has missed far too many sitters this season than he would have preferred. Particularly a miss in opposition to United on Sunday the place he by some means put the ball over the bar from level clean vary. If it had been final season, the goalie would have been selecting the ball out of the again of the online. Regardless that he redeemed himself on the fag finish of the match with a aim so as to add to Phil Foden’s brace, he nonetheless was principally invisible for almost all of the match.
With Metropolis having conceded greater than 20% of their objectives to lightning-fast breaks this season, you’ll be able to perceive why they aren’t actually going after the direct method, a mode of play which principally advantages Haaland.
However with a glut of fixtures developing that can outline their season, Guardiola shall be cautious that they’re but to beat their title challengers within the Premier League with Liverpool getting a draw the final time they met in November and Arsenal snatching a 1-0 win in October. If the reverse fixtures comply with the identical sample, we is perhaps taking a look at new champions of England come Could.