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short pants. Hungry Phil Foden, Manchester City and three heavy points to finish second in the league.
February has to be the driest month in England since 1959.
In Newcastle, the management pretends that it is raining while the team’s goal continues to dry.
There was no squirting of champagne for the Eddie Howe gang last weekend. The League Cup Final at Wembley was, as far as the fans were concerned, just a step along the way.
How is Newcastle off the field? Earlier this week, English media obtained documents submitted to a court in the United States describing the club’s chairman, Yasser Al-Rumayyan, as “a minister in place in the Saudi government”.
The Premier League’s requirement to approve the takeover in October 2021 was that there must be no direct links between the PIF, the investment fund and the Saudi government. It may sound funny. There is clearly a connection between them, which is exactly how intimate no one in the league organization knows.
Maybe nobody wants to know.
If the pressure is on the sidelines, the Newcastle United sports project is generally doing great. Aside from the constant target drought that refuses to budge.
took the foot
Back to football, back to Etihad Stadium. This is where we always end up, no matter what decisions are made behind closed doors in the halls of power. As naive as it may sound, we cling to the belief that this sport still belongs to the masses.
When Phil Foden burst into Newcastle’s backline, football took over and swept the stands. Left-back Dan Burn struggled to beat the 22-year-old. Not least in the 15th minute when the Manchester City player received a superb pass from Rodri and charged past everyone who stood in his way.
For the second straight weekend, the shot-scorer topped hapless centre-back Sven Putmann. But the fact that Foden pushed at 1-0 was mainly skill-based. Four goals in the last three games speak for themselves, and not even Pep Guardiola can ignore the good form of the winger.
We should add that right-back Kyle Walker’s positioning in the middle combined with deceptive running from Kevin De Bruyne opened up the surface Foden was so good at using.
I turned into Isaac
The attack continued on Newcastle’s left flank. The away team’s defensive line drops deeper the longer the half. The match was not entirely fruitless, but there were no shots on goal. In addition, the black and white scheme tends to be a bit sloppy with the ball, which is important when Man City is on the other side.
With Newcastle close to equalizing with half an hour left in the game, Eddie Howe recalled Alexander Isaacs off the bench. Local columnists have been clamoring for the Swede all week because of Callum Wilson’s dip in form.
There was certainly a much needed injection when Isaacs, Allan Saint-Maximin and Joe Willock stepped onto the pitch. Isak made a blocked finish and then tipped centre-back Manuel Akanji wide in one move.
Next fist bump
Shortly after the trio entered the field, Guardiola decided to bring Bernardo Silva at all and De Bruyne took off. Now, as Newcastle started to build up momentum, came the next blow.
Newcastle got into trouble down the right wing with Jack Grealish at the head, Haaland pressed the ball in to replace Bernardo and suddenly it was 2-0. The crowd’s triumphant roar was a relief. No matter how well Man City did in that first half, it was never disconnected.
Mined occasionally. At one point early in the match, Guardiola avoided a minor touchline brawl between Akanji and Wilson. As Dan Byrne fell on Grealish towards the end of the action, Ruben Dias raised his chest first, before being joined by, among others, Haaland, who hissed at the Newcastle player (and then started laughing).
Suppose it is raining
Two months ago, Pep Guardiola was looking for a more determined Manchester City player who had shown his desire to win the league title. It’s always difficult to know exactly how satisfied the Manchester City manager is, but the attitude he has can’t be contested. As well as efficiency.
Man City have clearly not been affected by the financial doping allegations that dominated the headlines a few weeks ago.
Newcastle have enjoyed three clean sheets in their last seven Premier League matches. While the club management claims that it is raining, the drought continues in Al-Hadaf. They must hope someone else steals the spotlight as soon as possible. Why were the Qatari owners not in Manchester United or Liverpool?