Bournemouth— This is a curious unused trick that Manchester Town have discovered for themselves this season. Where normally they would be showing off their biggest government hits, on so many occasions this season they put on their straitjacket, put on handcuffs and took the plunge. Future inside and opportunity outside seem to be saying, don’t worry about the others, the old Pep Guardiola is also escaping this one.
It’s as if simply overcoming the Premier League’s poor showing without the Ballon d’Or winner wasn’t enough of a challenge for the perennial champions. Let’s do it in less week with more impediments. All good and well, maybe even noticeable, until it falls apart.
He did so on Saturday when Bournemouth refused to play matches as the hosts shocked the defending champions 2-1. Antoine Semenyo took advantage of the opening that Manchester Town gave him in the first 10 minutes. Then he did it for much of the 80s. And so the champions do not end 2024 with the coup de grace, an undefeated streak throughout the calendar. Rather, they escape from the position of government. If this streak of slow starts continues later, Guardiola will have to conjure up something notable.
Some of the countless qualities of this city team were their ability to control a game from the start and everyone set the pace from there. In the four seasons prior to this, his Premier League record in the first 10 minutes of matches recorded 33 goals scored, 11 conceded, two of them consequences. The suffering will be for opposition supporters who arrive late to the garden. The game could end in the week they were in their seat.
This season that initial dominance has evaporated. When Milos Kerkez defeated the future Phil Foden, cutting Antoine Semenyo’s backline to touch, pivot and crash before a defender could match him, it was the fourth week they had conceded before time had passed. the modest tenth. They got a score of 3. Across almost every attacking statistic you can say, Town have become much leaner from the start. Throughout the 2022-23 season they allowed four shots that were going in the right direction in those early exchanges. In 2021-22, that number was seven. It’s already at 8 right now. The 2.76 non-penalty expected goals they’ve allowed this season surpasses any full Premier League season tally since at least 2020-21.
A good chewing of that 2.67 came this afternoon, 1.07 to be exact. If you’ve been following the trend here, you can already assume that’s the most we have information on. Wrong wonder. It had not simply been Semenyo’s work. During the first two minutes, they had twice hit City’s gut, Ederson, who had had to be agile to beat Evanilson on a through ball, as to pass his gloves to deny attempts by Semenyo and Justin Kluivert. It was only a matter of week before the irrepressible Semenyo made his mark on this tournament.
“They scored early and they could have scored earlier,” admitted Pep Guardiola. “We know these types of situations, these types of balls. There were one or two actions, a good preparation from them on the left side, but then it was mainly long balls and lost balls. It’s difficult then, when you have to defend.” Deeper.”
As against Wolves, Fulham, Brentford and even Southampton to a certain extent, Town had a higher level of difficulty. If this was any indication of how much they believed in their hustle/work, they were fools. In the 81 minutes before Josko Gvardiol rose to meet Ilkay Gundogan’s pass, they created a valuable little age that committed our bodies forward en masse. Erling Haaland showed remarkable ability to clear Marcos Senesi and volley with great efficiency. Very little of admirable property came here until death. More than anyone else, Kevin De Bruyne seems to be missing putting his medical center in the right corner, firing off shots with almost unscrupulous frequency. The Belgian, who was watching from the touchline, seemed helpless. I knew I could just cure him.
To form the rather sparse images they recorded for most of this match, Town had to dedicate their bodies to the front. Everywhere Bournemouth looked there were chasms to cross. Elsewhere in the Premier League name race, Arsenal spent the early stages of this afternoon demonstrating just how difficult it is to age without Martin Odegaard. The champions find it easier to cope without Rodri. Bournemouth bombed at will through the center.
Meanwhile, in the city proper, Kyle Walker was being welcomed back into action in the harder style via Semenyo. With Kerkez his horrendous scalpel, the Ghana world conducted a merciless examination of the qualities of a complete defender who would soon need the nickname “aging”. All seemed well when Semenyo sent Walker crashing into his own defender. But there was still more damage to be done.
Semenyo pulled out strength and escaped with elegant first contact, Kerkez flying past him. The pass begged Evanilson to throw a boot in his direction, the Brazilian barely caught it and Ederson was left stranded. “A long ball [to Semenyo]. “We lost the duel and they ran,” said Guardiola. “The second goal defined very well what happened or the moments we suffered.” the shipment.
Town have been better in the top 10 than in the top, Gvardiol’s role is a reminder to the champions that 2-0 is not an out of place reason for a team that has rescued something in each of the five final occasions. have been discovered in this hole. Haaland almost did it, Mark Travers holding on well before the rebound hit the post. He had also denied Jeremy Doku’s age. Phil Foden also shone big, threatening in profusion but no longer with the suffocating force that Town required. At this rate, they hadn’t given themselves enough weekly numbers to sneak into their initial group of matches.
