Manchester City Premier League Campaign review-
In the Premier League we sit second after a shock loss at home to Brentford, with record of ten wins, two draws and two losses for a total of 32 points after 14 games..
Well placed for the second half of the season providing fatigue isn’t as massive a problem as it could be, and after the past month seems to be in my opinion, which isn’t factoring in the World Cup.
Having started the season with a dominant 2-0 win against West Ham at the London Stadium where Erling Haaland announced himself with a debut brace. From there we looked like normal service had resumed for us under Pep Guardiola.
A tough early trip to St. James Park ended in a 3 all draw, after coming from 3-1 down in a early game of the season contender for me. That point for me could be vital later in the season given Newcastle’s performances this season and warrant their top 4 position.
I thought by the mid way point of the league campaign we could see how the team would blossom with Haaland’s addition and a proper number 9 in the line up. Julian Alvarez started to develop into the side more as the season progressed, and looks a exceptional player.
Then with the fixture pile up our later performances against Leicester and Brighton especially resembled the traditional Christmas/New Year period where results mattered most rather then performances as tiredness set in.
I’m generally happy with where we sit in the league heading into the World Cup, despite the unknown condition our players will return. The ultimate variable in a season like no other.
The 2-1 win over Fulham after Cancelo was sent off after 25 minutes could prove massive in the title race. A late Erling Haaland penalty winning the game, capping off one of the best performances I’ve ever seen by 10 men, and a famous City win, one of my favourite wins I’ve seen for a while. May well be a huge moment in the season come May.
The best league performance in my opinion came against our hated rivals Manchester United with a massive 6-3 win, for 70 minutes they couldn’t touch us, with Phil Foden & Erling Haaland both netting hat tricks, bar the blip the last 10 minutes when we conceded two late goals to make the scoreline a bit more respectable for them then it actually was. A performance that will live long in City fans memories.
The most disappointing performance obviously has to be the 1 nil loss to Liverpool. A game going in I thought we were well placed with our form & Liverpool’s down turn in form at the time to get 3 points against them at Anfield. It wasn’t to be, with Salah getting the winner, and VAR as always playing a role at Anfield, but we were well below our best on the day, so not to be.
Can also add the home Brentford loss which literally happened 20 minutes after writing this. Fair play to Brentford they deserved the three points and there is a massive discussion to be had about Pep actually using substitutes instead of waiting. But that’s my only criticism of Pep and Brentford deserved their win at the Etihad.