Neil Humphreys: Man City not enough Pep
Easy win over bottom-side Huddersfield can't hide fatigue
Forget the expected victory. Focus on Pep Guardiola's body language.
| HUDDERSFIELD | MAN CITY |
| 0 | 3 |
| (Danilo 18, Raheem Sterling 54, Leroy Sane 56) |
For much of Manchester City's 3-0 win against Huddersfield last night, the Spaniard was often more animated than his strangely lethargic players.
Guardiola rubbed his forehead. He glared at the ground and cursed his shoes. He pulled his scarf high over his neck, perhaps hiding the throbbing veins.
He knew what others were presumably thinking. City won't close the gap on Liverpool playing like this. If anything, the Reds are likely to increase their advantage and disappear over the silvery horizon line.
All title challengers are allowed the occasional off-day.
Liverpool were rather fortunate to pinch the points against Crystal Palace a day earlier, forcing Juergen Klopp to admit that his overwhelming emotion was relief.
Guardiola's emotion was presumably somewhat different, particularly in his half-time team-talk. Anger, frustration and confusion all leap to mind.
Neither City nor Liverpool reached anything resembling a peak over the weekend and the gap remains four points, but only one side appeared genuinely jaded and pedestrian.
In the case of City, context is more important than the scoreline. Before kick-off, the chances of a Huddersfield victory was considered less likely than Brexit being reversed and the American President's border wall being built on the same day.
Poor Huddersfield were without a manager, bottom of the table with only 13 goals in 22 games and given the longest odds of a home win in English Premier League history.
Bookies have made them 1/33 to be relegated. They were never going to beat City.
And yet, inexplicably, the hosts were still in the game until the 54th minute, when Raheem Sterling nodded in City's decisive second goal.
Danilo had struck the first in the 18th minute, via a wicked Christopher Schindler deflection, but the champions were rarely comfortable.
Indeed, Sterling's header was harsh on Huddersfield, considering he was in an offside position, marginally, but he'll argue that justice was done for the clear penalty he wasn't given in the first half.
But they were minor details, along with Leroy Sane's tap-in for City's third in the 56th minute. The bigger picture is a patchier one.
BANANA SKINS
City and Liverpool both prevailed against minor opposition, but the Reds might be allowing themselves a sly grin.
The gap hasn't changed and City enjoyed the greater margin of victory, improving their goal difference, but another game has gone and the Reds appear less weary.
Suddenly, the banana skins shift to Manchester. Suddenly, City's next match away to an improved Newcastle United has a degree of uncertainty, a dash of apprehension.
Honestly, a repeat performance at St James' Park won't be rewarded with another victory.
Guardiola's loose 4-3-3, which was mostly a 2-3-2-3 as Huddersfield retreated and hoped for the best, lacked the speed, cohesion and dynamism that defined City's games before Christmas.
Kevin de Bruyne, often isolated on the right wing, was rarely involved, drifting into the middle in a bid to conduct proceedings, but his baton has mostly eluded him since his return from injury.
Sane and Sterling both scored, which improved their stats, but their struggles to get behind fullbacks didn't improve Guardiola's mood.
Sane was the superior performer, earning a goal and an assist, but he was a rare beacon of creativity.
Sergio Aguero mostly fed off scraps, despite playing against the worst EPL side by some distance.
When these two sides met in August, Aguero left with the matchball after a sumptuous exhibition of attacking football. The final score was 6-1. It should've been more.
Last night's scoreline was harsh on Huddersfield, who were still gamely making runs along both flanks as the game petered out.
Of course, Guardiola the pragmatist will acknowledge that victory was paramount. Nothing has changed at the top. But Guardiola the perfectionist will demand an end to the lethargy. Quickly.
City won, but the momentum feels like it has returned to Merseyside.
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