Bournemouth 1 Manchester City 3 : Aguero Double
By David Crook
When the dust settles on this game of football, the real shame will be our lasting memories will be about VAR again rather than some of the fantastic records Manchester City achieved in this match.
This was another bright and sunny day on the South coast of England where Manchester City deservedly came away with all three points. Despite the beauty of all the goals on display, despite the breathtaking evidence of witnessing City in full flight, it will be the failure of VAR to again rule in City’s favour which will be the talking point.
Quite simply we have reached the point where even the sanest of City fans must be thinking the only reason VAR has been introduced is to try and thwart our attacking play. For the regularity of the failure of VAR in City games is beginning to smart.
For City to be sure of any result these days we must score so cleanly VAR cannot be involved. Thankfully this was the case, but without that type of goal, results will sit on the knife edge for us despite our dominance.
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That is not to say this was an easy game. There are no easy games in the English Premier League unlike the top leagues in France, Spain, Italy and Germany. Bournemouth had a game plan and stuck at it. Their counting attacking could have caused us problems on another day.
City opened the scoring after a ball into the box found De Bruyne whose shot landed at the feet of Aguero who obligingly slotted home. City deserved their lead though and there had been a couple of close calls before.
The second goal was vintage Guardiola as beautiful football erupted after a long cross field ball by Laporte. After some neat interplay Sterling scored to notch goals in 5 consecutive games for the first time in his career.
Bournemouth pulled one back before the break thanks to a sumptuous free kick from Liverpool loanee Harry Wilson. Ederson could do nothing to keep the ball out it was so well placed.
Bournemouth threatened to wrestle some control and Rodri was introduced to shore things up. Of course even VAR was now involved.
Silva was upended in the box as Lerma stamped on his foot. At full speed Silva went to ground and despite VAR being checked no penalty was awarded. This was inexplicable.
City did well to use this to focus their minds rather than getting lost in the moment. Silva released Aguero and his shot effectively secured the result, allowing the clock to dwindle down in the sunshine. Even Cancelo made his debut but it is the result which is all important.
Despite Pep’s guarded comments about VAR being for the good of the game, he must be aware that there is a pattern emerging about VAR decisions and Manchester City. Thankfully today it did not matter but I fear for the course of the season at this rate.
De Bruyne notched his 50th assist faster than any other player in the League, Sterling scored for the 5th game in a row, Aguero scored his 400th career goal and David Silva made his 400th appearance for City.
Next. . dark
Yet there is a lingering disatisfaction at the conclusion of this game and a fishy smell around the decisions by the officials.