Guardiola masterminds perfect ten as City win again

Manchester City’s start to the season became a perfect ten as they left Wales with a victory for the second time this week. It didn’t always feel like a win was on the cards as Swansea City gave the Blues more problems than any other side so far in this campaign.

Pep Guardiola’s City started well enough and when Sergio Agüero opened the scoring after just nine minutes, you could have been forgiven for thinking that the Swans might go the way of Bournemouth and Borussia Mönchengladbach before them, especially given the poor form of Francesco Guidolin’s men. That goal, by the way, was a consequence of a first touch so good the defender will be feeling dizzy for a week.

Swansea did not fall apart though – far from it, in fact. They were back on level terms almost immediately when Fernando Llorente lashed in his first goal for the club; his left-footed strike was a scorcher and left Claudio Bravo with no chance in the City net.

From there on, Swansea caused their league-leading opposition a whole host of problems for the rest of the half. It was no surprise that it was Guardiola’s side who dominated possession, but unlike any of the opponents who have gone before, the Welsh side found a way to be dangerous with limited access to the ball.

It is true that the men from the Etihad Stadium were a touch below their best; the talismanic Kevin De Bruyne put in his worst 45 minutes of the campaign, seemingly struggling to make his usual impact alongside David Silva and Ilkay Gündogan. As City struggled for the incision required to open the hosts up, Llorente was creating a headache for Nicolas Otamendi and John Stones at the heart of the Blues defence. The pair were leaving gaps that the Spaniard was beginning to exploit and they were not as tight at set pieces as we have come to expect in recent weeks.

The sides went in level at half-time and Pep Guardiola had plenty to think about. Fortunately, the Spaniard is one of modern football’s most intelligent and tactically literate coaches. His half-time intervention was simple but, ultimately, devastatingly effective. His main change was to move De Bruyne into a more central position and, almost immediately, City became extremely dangerous on the counter. With the Belgian a renewed threat, Swansea had a new danger to worry about and thus, became less adventurous with the ball. Not by intent, but by necessity.

De Bruyne was involved in one of the defining moments of the tie and it’s one that will irk the home side for some time yet. Mike van der Hoorn stepped across De Bruyne in the box and used his elbow against his face for leverage. It was a foul and the referee awarded a penalty that Agüero promptly dispatched. The defender and his colleagues appeared bemused and you could, if you were being generous, argue that the penalty was soft. However, the main reason the Swans could feel irritated is that they were denied a spot-kick earlier in the game for a not entirely dissimilar obstruction by Fernandinho.

With the lead regained thanks to Agüero’s 11th goal in just six games, City were never going to let it slip again. They made sure of the points in the 77th minute when Sterling bore down on goal; he had Agüero in about 10 yards of space and keen to score his third hat-trick of the season; the pass remained an option for what felt like an eternity. It felt like the indecision that Sterling is often criticised for was back to haunt him as the angle died; instead, he did a stepover that bamboozled his opponent and left the England man with a simple opportunity that he duly finished. Swansea were beaten and City had weathered a storm.

This match is further proof that the Blues are an entirely new beast. The City of the last two season’s would not have known how to handle the momentum change that took place after Swansea’s equaliser and would not have been dynamic enough to break down an opposition fighting this hard. Guardiola’s men are different; they saw a problem and overcame it with intelligence and heart. With ten wins from ten games, this is City’s best ever start to a season and it’s Guardiola’s best ever beginning at a club.

Those who thought the greatest and most innovative coach in the world would find the intensity of the Premier League a challenge too much are quickly being made to look foolish. Guardiola is relishing this job and, far from adapting to the league, it is struggling to adapt to him. Their problems in the first half show that City are far from the finished article yet. For the rest of the division, that must be a terrifying prospect.