For Manchester City, Agüero’s likely suspension comes at a poor time
After Sergio Agüero’s ill-advised elbow to West Ham’s Winston Reid, Manchester City looks to be without it’s most dangerous player for the biggest match thus far in Pep Guardiola’s reign.
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Pep Guardiola is arguably the most brilliant manager in all of football. That argument purporting his genius will be tried by the Devil, er Jose Mourinho and his Red Devils, as Manchester City probably will take on Manchester United on Sept. 10 without the prolific Sergio Agüero.
The FA charged Agüero with a three-match ban for violent conduct enacted upon West Ham’s Winston Reid in City’s 3-1 victory against the Hammers. As it stands, the Argentine would miss an English Football Cup tie against Swansea City, a league match with Bournemouth, and most significant of all, the aforementioned showdown with Manchester United.
ESPN reports Agüero will appeal the ruling, with a definitive decision on his possible suspension to come on a date still to be determined. Let’s face it: The likelihood is small that the FA’s charging will be overturned or Agüero’s punishment lessened. Though not as heinous as Luis Suárez’s well-documented serial vampirism — few things are, except perhaps Nigel De Jong’s infamous THIS IS SPARTA! kick to Xabi Alonso in the 2010 World Cup final — the video evidence is damning in this case. The cock before the large range of motion in Agüero’s swing extending well behind the striker toward the jostling Reid indicates retaliatory intent and far exceeds the sanctioned levels of physicality in football. ESPN’s Steve Nicol speculated that it’s possible testimony from the match’s referee, Andre Marriner, claiming he saw no illegality in the altercation, could be used to leverage a reduction in the three-match ban. There are zoomed-out angles of the incident showing Marriner had a clear view of the tussle. Still, Agüero’s guilt is evident, and referees miss pivotal calls almost weekly; his misperception is irrelevant to whether Agüero’s charging and sentence is appropriate.
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It’s safe to assume City will be without Agüero’s lethal services against hated United. In technical terms, that sucks. Thus far, the Blues under Guardiola have passed every test encountered, not quite with flying colors, necessarily, but passed nevertheless. No one will complain about nine points taken in the first three Premier League games and a berth into the UEFA Champions League group stage. Agüero has put the ball in the back of the net six times in his first three appearances and despite cooling off a bit, is in good form. His absence would relieve the pressure on the United center half pairing of Eric Bailly and Daly Blind and could prompt Mourinho’s to be more aggressive in his tactics for the fixture, the winner of which gets what could be an early points advantage in the table early in the season.
No doubt, the loss of Agüero hurts Guardiola and City in what is the stiffest test of the campaign so far. Devoid of his hitman, Guardiola must exercise his management and tactical prowess. What will the Catalan do? Start Kelechi Iheanacho? Probably not. What’s more likely is he would move Nolito into the No. 9. The Spaniard has shown a knack for scoring since arriving at City. If Leroy Sané is fit, it would not be surprising for the £37 million 20-year-old, who has more first team and big match experience playing at Schalke than Iheanacho has at City, to make his debut on the wing to fill in for Nolito. If not, expect Jesus Navas to start, with Iheanacho held in reserve to be brought on if added attacking punch is needed. Then again, it’s Pep. He might experiment with something totally different and unorthodox.
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Whatever he does and whomever he fields, Guardiola would most likely have to do it without Agüero in a critical situation that requires his goal-scoring presence.