The sign of the rosy times at Manchester City came when manager Manuel Pellegrini reflected on a maximum 12 points, no goals conceded and 10 scored in the opening four matches. "For a dead man walking, not bad," he said.
Delivering this with a grin, the Chilean was referring to his apparent state after his side’s decline in the second half of last season. The champions were joint top with Chelsea on New Year’s Day, but their title bid folded miserably and time seemed to be ticking down on Pellegrini’s tenure.
On April 12th, City were given an unwonted schooling by Manchester United in a 4-2 derby defeat at Old Trafford. After this, Pellegrini’s men rallied impressively. They won their closing six matches to finish second, and have begun this season with four victories, making it 10 league wins on the bounce, breaking a club record that had stood since 1912.
Instant success
Factor in the instant success of the €67-million
Raheem Sterling
, whose opener against
Watford
was his first for City. Factor in
Nicolas Otamendi
(€44 million),
Fabian Delph
(€11 million),
Patrick Roberts
(€11 million), and yesterday’s acquisition of
Kevin De Bruyne
(€71 million). And factor in the one-year contract extension given to Pellegrini – he now has a deal until summer 2017 – and it is no surprise the Chilean is so relaxed.
When they had the ball, Watford showed they can ping it around. The problem is that City tend to reclaim and retain it far better than any opposition. Sterling’s strike came on 47 minutes, Fernandinho’s before the hour. Each derived from the silky play that is making City unstoppable.
International break
Now there is the international break and Pellegrini is conscious of needing to maintain focus. “Last season we had some good moments,” he said. “Especially in December, when we won all the games and we were top of the league and we qualified for the Champions League when we were almost eliminated, so I think that also we had some good moments. We are playing in exactly the same way as we did last year, trying to score.
“I had meetings with a lot of players [in the summer] and I think they are the first to criticise themselves because they know how they can play. I’m sure none of them – not only the players who were more criticised last season, like Vincent, Fernandinho, Yaya – all the players know that they weren’t in their best performance. And that’s why it was important to try and start the season trying to give another face, show another attitude.”
The manager is cautious regarding whether the City juggernaut can continue to thunder on. “It’s what I hope,” he said. “But football changes so easy, so you cannot know what will happen in the next month . . . But it’s important to understand we are on the correct way and we must take it game by game.” Guardian Service
