Five star performance a welcome sight for Manchester City fans

There are always moments during matches where the game can turn. A bad decision, a piece of skill, a moment of madness but today Cardiff must have felt the game turned as soon as the referee blew his whistle to start the match.

From that moment onwards Cardiff really didn’t see very much of the ball. It passed them by at speed, a blur and a flash and the ball was gone again. It wasn’t that Cardiff were terrible, sure they lacked some finesse but they weren’t just sitting back. They did try to move the ball forward. They did try to retain possession.

Later on, they even got annoyed at their lack of influence and started to crack some tackles. More of that later.

Guardiola made some changes to his team following the capitulation against Lyon in midweek. Aguero, Sane and Otamendi were all in the starting 11 and Bernardo Silva was deployed again in a more central role, the position from which he looks most comfortable.

From the off there was a return to the intensity of passing of last season. The ball was stroked around the pitch by City’s midfield with a guile of a pack of hunters stalking their prey. They kept the ball, played it forwards and backwards, searching and probing – looking for a moment of weakness on which to pounce.

This careful attacking play was initially met well by Cardiff as they countered the threat in numbers, moving their positions on mass to close down the passing opportunities, but we could all see it was just a matter of time before a breakthrough came.

Bernardo Silva threaded a pass through to Aguero on the edge of the penalty area and Aguero clipped the ball first time beyond the Cardiff keeper and into the net.

This was Aguero’s 300th appearance for Manchester City since signing back in 2011 and the first since the announcement he has signed a contract extension to keep him at the Club until 2021 – a full 10 years at Man City for Aguero who has proven to be the best Premier League striker in the modern era.

https://twitter.com/aguerosergiokun/status/1043555842128269318

This goal was Aguero’s 205th since joining, a record which is quite simply stunning. What good business it was to pay £38 million to Atletico Madrid and what a great signing he proves to be every week.

If the first goal had come after we had worn Cardiff down through our continual probing the second came much more quickly. City broke up the play and retrieved the ball, Sane was released and fired the ball into the penalty area, Bernardo Silva attempted to flick the ball towards the backpost, but his looping header evaded everyone and snuck into the goal. Well, either that or it was one of the best headers of all time!

It was game over now and there was a malaise which began to infect Cardiff. They wondered how many goals they would lose by.

The third goal was probably one of the goals of the season so far. It came just before half time as Sterling and Gundogan caused some havoc approaching the Cardiff penalty area. Gundogan hit the ball with real curl and it was whipped beyond the outstretched left hand of the Cardiff keeper.

Cardiff by now were visibly riled. In front of the referee, Ralls committed a quite atrocious challenge on Gundogan – stamping onto his shin. If Gundogan’s feet had been planted on the ground rather than moving through the air he would most certainly had broken his leg. Michael Oliver bottled the decision and awarded only a yellow card probably confirming everything Gigi Buffon had said.

The second half was comfortable for City and they kept the ball. I can’t remember a single time Ederson was threatened.

Guardiola swapped Fernandinho for John Stones and we got to see half an hour of Stones operating as a deep lying defensive midfielder. This experiment was something we had all been waiting for.

He did not put a foot wrong and has clearly given Guardiola food for thought. Foden was introduced and got a useful 21 minutes on the pitch. He did not look out of place in this side of high quality superstars but unfortunately did not get the goal we all craved. It will come.

Mahrez came on and thankfully scored a brace. I hope this will assist him to settle into our side as he continues to offer a real alternative to our play. His first goal was reminiscent of the tap in goals scored by Sterling and Sane last season as he ran onto the ball unchallenged at the far post.

His second goal saw him cut inside across the penalty and hit a hard straight daisy cutter in to the left hand corner.

The game finished as an exhibition match which is exactly what we needed following the disheartening loss in the previous game. Today the ball fizzed at times at pace and City looked like last seasons City, swaggering their way to the close. The signs were good that City are back.