Five Star Sergio Agüero Is Back To His Best

Manchester City’s 6-1 victory over Newcastle United at weekend could hardly have been more welcome. Not only did the Blues produce a whirlwind second-half to finish the game while The Magpies’ heads were still in the dressing room, but their star man was also back to his best.

It’s been no secret that Sergio Agüero has had something of an underwhelming start to the season, though of course that is a judgement made against the insanely high standards that he has set over his time in Manchester. Last year he was the best striker in the Premier League by a distance, earning himself the Golden Boot.

It has been odd, then, to see one of the game’s most accomplished finishers misfiring in the early stages of this campaign; especially given the goal he scored on his first start. That came against Chelsea when, having already been denied three times by a smart Asmir Begovic, he displayed unbelievable control and awareness to put City on their way to a crucial victory over the champions. The feeling then was that the Argentine had set himself on the road to another stellar season – nobody anticipated what was to follow.

Matches against Watford and Everton came and went without him finding the net. With his teammates setting the pace in the league, they could afford to carry Kun to a certain extent whilst he rediscovered his scoring touch. In truth, the problem was not so much that he was firing blanks; of greater concern was his lack of sharpness.

It has been a feature of Agüero’s time with City that, even when not in peak goal scoring form, he has looked desperate to assume responsibility. In fact, if he can be criticised for one thing it is that, occasionally, he is guilty of trying a little too hard, of being a touch on the greedy side. It’s hard to really pick fault in this though; when an individual is so often capable of the spectacular, it would be wrong to stifle their desire to produce it.

Injury came in the fifth game of the season when Crystal Palace’s Scott Dann hacked the striker down, causing him to be withdrawn early from that fixture. He returned towards the end of the following game against Juventus and was thrust back into the starting eleven against West Ham, just one week after suffering the knee injury. This time, his team couldn’t afford to carry him. They slipped to their first league defeat of the season and Agüero was worryingly out of sorts, struggling to get into the game at all.

He did manage to net two goals following that spell, though they both came from the penalty spot. At Sunderland in the Capital One Cup, after he’d scored from 12 yards, he then conspired to spectacularly miss an open goal, subsequently going missing for the remainder of the contest.

At Borussia Mönchengladbach he missed a host of chances. Some were through good goalkeeping and some were through him dragging shots wide that last season would have hit the back of the net.

That tie did throw up what might just be the turning point in the superstar’s season. With City needing three points to get their European campaign up and running, they were handed a last minute spot-kick. For a player clearly short of confidence and suffering a rare barren spell, the easy thing to do would have been to shirk responsibility. That, though, is not Agüero’s way. He stepped up and slotted in a beautiful penalty, proving that his nerve remained intact.

What followed against Newcastle was, frankly, beyond belief. With City trailing The Toon by a goal, Kun netted with a close range header. It was textbook strike play and it clearly added a spring to his step. He came out for the second period looking like a completely different footballer to the one that had been coming up short so often in previous weeks.

In game time, he netted five goals in just 20 minutes. There is no doubt that this is the number 10 back to his best; the likelihood is that is this will not be a temporary return to prominence, but the kicking-off of another season of world class forward play.

Perhaps the most incredible element of his game that Agüero showcased on Saturday was the variety to the goals he can score. There was the aforementioned header, a left-foot strike that required a deflection to help it in, a back-post tap earned by magnificent movement in the box, a shot bent in from 18 yards and a cheeky dink over the ‘keeper.

That variety is a huge part of what makes Agüero one of the greatest footballers in the world. He is unpredictably brilliant and it is impossible for any defender to know what is coming next. Is he going to burst into the box or will he stroke the ball in from distance? Is he going to smash it or leave three defenders on their backsides? He can do everything; it is arguably his greatest asset.

It is a shame the Newcastle fixture is followed up by an international break; ideally the Argentina striker would now have a run with his club to capitalise on his rediscovered confidence. Never mind though; now he is up and running, nobody should doubt that Sergio Agüero will be lighting up the Premier League again on his return.

It’s an ominous thought for the rest of the Premier League and a cause for great excitement for Manchester City.