With the Stretfords having squandered more home points in their fortunate draw with Swansea this morning, the stage was set for City to ease ahead with a win at Middlesbrough, a team finding goalscoring difficult. United were awarded yet another dubious penalty before letting in a free kick getting themselves out of the door with one point when they deserved none.
So what does Guardiola do? He fields an experimental team clearly showing no respect to Middlesbrough and also clearly showing that he still does not get the Barclays Premier League. In this league previous results count for nothing, it what happens today that counts. You know against the bottom feeders that they will pile bodies into their penalty area and look to get something on the break. Avoiding that is about discipline and when you look at the eleven starters for City. Kompany apart, I didn`t see discipline as a catchword.
City have worked happily with a back three even going back to the days of Kevin Keegan and when you couple that with taking away two of your biggest threats by relegating Sane and Sterling to the bench, Guardiola clearly thought he was still Barcelona`s coach as they lined up against the likes of Osasuna.
The back three consisted of the pace merchants known as Kompany, Otamendi and Kolarov, with a midfield four consisting of Navas. Fernandinho, Garcia and of all people Clichy. De Bruyne then was detailed to operate in behind Aguero and Jesus. So 3-4-1-2. A new formation in a match that simply demanded they play their usual stuff and get on with it.
Yes, it could have been all so different had Aguero scored in the first minute or at least had someone looking for his cross-six-yard-box effort. But it was to be a long haul in a first half where City as usual dominated but as is usual these days, ineffectively.
City could and should have gone ahead after 36 minutes when a deep cross from Otamendi found Jesus who had crept in between two Boro defenders, but his header went wide when a goal would have been the easier option.
Then with City piling on the pressure a toe bunger out of defence found Otamendi and Navas caught too far up field and Downing was away into the space. Kompany had to move across leaving space on the edge of the box. Although Downing`s cross was not one of his trade mark efforts, it somehow found its way to the Beast himself who reminded City of his better days at the Etihad with a well struck shot in off the post which left Caballero rooted to the floor.
Negredo might even have even made it 2-0 moments later but this time he was off target. City`s defending is what you would expect from a team who is uncomfortable with this formation and Boro, on the break have found opportunities.
Amazingly one might say that the team who has scored more away goals than any other didn`t even have a shot of note over the first 45 minutes as Pep`s experiment was beginning to look like a disaster.
He changed it immediately at the start of the second half by replacing Clichy and Garcia to add the pace and threat that was missing in the first half. Indeed the second half commenced with City fully on the front foot with Boro pinned in their own half. But it was to be the 70th minute before City could muster an equaliser and even then it was only from the penalty spot.
Sane went down a bit too easily in the box under a challenge from De Roon and up stepped Aguero to blast home the equaliser. Surely now City could get this game won. But no. Otamendi gave away one his usual stupid free kicks as Traore threatened to get away. The free kick was weakly palmed away by Caballero and it fell to Negredo who conjured up a bit of magic to hold off the challenge and set up of all people Chambers to drill home from edge of the box. Boro, their fans and the North East of England went mental, Sunderland excepted.
Fumes were appearing from the ears of the City faithful who made the arduous journey to what at times looks like the end of the world when you get there. And it didn`t stop there. The villain of the Etihad De Roon went close with a shot before City finally got something moving. A free kick wide on the left was slipped short from Sane to Aguero who clipped it goalwards. Jesus outjumped the cover to head home as City equalised for the second time.
This was a very welcome goal for the fans and to an extent for Guardiola who for me has been responsible for this slip up. The inexplicable tactics have clearly not worked today and I believe that if he was going to make changes he should have read this morning`s offering from the Pedmachine. Aguero`s pass was a midfielder`s pass, the kind you might see from Silva or Yaya. It found a City shirt which in turn found the net.
It`s almost as if Guardiola is trying to sabotage City`s hopes of getting back into the Champions League. I`m not convinced we have any easy passages in any match before the season ends and Guardiola needs to understand this. He will point to three home games coming up but does he really think Crystal Palace, Leicester and West Brom will be a walkover? Get real Pep. You continue to make life difficult for yourself and your team with your idiotic selections.
City find themselves with an identical record to Liverpool although the Scousers have scored more goals than City and are still in third place. Watford arrive in town tomorrow but Sue is still not confident that her boys will overcome them easily. Will it be another night ironing in the bedroom or hiding under the bed for Sue?
For now, like many City fans, I am disappointed that City did not cash up today. We can see before our eyes the level of overhaul that is needed in the summer and I`m sure that Txiki Bergiristain is working hard to secure the targets Pep feels City need. Today`s result has nothing to endear Guardiola to my dad and has no doubt left many City fans tearing their hair out.
Sam Allardyce will not present City with any gifts next week. Everyone has seen how to frustrate and deal with City and if Pep is stupid enough to replicate these tactics against a team containing Zaha and Townsend then the Blues could be in for trouble. The back four selected against the Stretfords look a much better bet that what he put on show today.
Manchester City Fixtures (view all)
Apr 30 2017 2:05PM : Middlesbrough (a)
Barclays Premier League
May 6 2017 12:30PM : Crystal Palace (H)
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May 13 2017 3:00PM : Leicester City (H)
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May 21 2017 3:00PM : Watford (a)
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