Fernandinho leaps
to City’s defence
60 Daily Express Monday, September 02, 2019 FOOTBALL: PREMIER LEAGUE
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MIGUEL ALMIRON left St James’
Park on Saturday with a smile
and cheerily said: “See you.”
Having missed a great chance
to score and taken his run of
appearances without an assist
or a goal to 14, you would have
forgiven him for being in a sulk.
He is now a debating point
among Newcastle fans wondering
when he will score, influence a
game or do more than dash
around the pitch in a panic.
Steve Bruce had a £66 million
strike force against Watford
but it looked disconnected for
40 minutes and his biggest
test will be getting the likes of
Almiron and Joelinton to click.
Yet Almiron is backed by his
team-mates. Midfielder Isaac
Hayden followed Almiron out
of the dressing room and said:
“He’s a fantastic worker. He
runs his heart out. Defensively,
he’s very good. Going forward,
he creates chances and causes
a nuisance. The goal will come.
“He’s the type of player who
plays with a smile on his face.
He never gets too angry. He’s
massively appreciated by
everyone in the dressing room.
He’s got bundles of energy.”
Newcastle equalised through
Fabian Schar after Will Hughes’
deflected shot after just 79
seconds set Watford on the way
to their first point of the season.
NEWCASTLE (5-4-1): Dubravka 7; Schar 7
(Fernandez 85), Lascelles 6, Dummett 6, Krafth 6
(Manquillo 78), Longstaff 6; Hayden 6, Willems 7,
Almiron 5, Atsu 7 (Muto 81); Joelinton 6.
Goal: Schar 41.
WATFORD (3-4-2-1): Foster 7; Dawson 6,
Kabasele 6, Cathcart 5; Janmaat 6, Doucoure
6 (Chalobah 71), Cleverley 6, Femenia; Hughes
7 (Success 71), Pereyra 6; Gray 5 (Deulofeu 82).
Goal: Hughes 2.A waiting
game for
Almiron
DRY RUN: Miguel AlmironBy Simon BirdNEWCASTLE 1 WATFORD 1It took the home side just 69 seconds
to open the scoring when De Bruyne
converted David Silva’s cross.
City were on a different level to
their opponents and wasted a host of
chances before Aguero made it 2-0
after 42 minutes with a clinical strike.
Aguero increased the lead with a
sublime finish into the top corner inthe 55th minute before Bernardo
Silva added the gloss with a fourth,
seconds after replacing namesake
David Silva.
Seagulls boss Graham Potter knows
games like this will not be the ones
that count in the end and praised his
men in taking the fight to City.
He said: “The score is not what we
like, of course, but in terms
of the players’ effort and
their courage, trying to do
what we asked them to do,
it was a top performance.
“It doesn’t help when you
go a goal down so early but
their courage throughout
the first half especially,
against a top team, was
incredible.”
MANCHESTER CITY (4-1-4-1): Ederson 7;
Walker 8, Otamendi 7, Laporte 6 (Fernandinho
37, 7), Zinchenko 8; Rodri 7; Mahrez 8, De
Bruyne 8 (Gundogan 70), D Silva 8 (B Silva
79), Sterling 6; Aguero 9. Goals: De Bruyne 2,
Aguero 42, 55, B Silva 79.
BRIGHTON (3-4-3): Ryan 6; Webster 6,
Dunk 5, Burn 5; Montoya 6, Propper 6,
Stephens 6, Bernardo 5 (Murray 67, 6);
March 6, Maupay 6 (Connolly 67, 6), Trossard 7
(Gross 74).4
0
MAN CITY
BRIGHTON
By Jeremy CrossMAN CITY v BRIGHTON
54 POSSESSION % 46
6 SHOTS ON TARGET 2
8 SHOTS OFF TARGET 1
8 CORNERS 1
1 OFFSIDES 3
10 FOULS 6
1 YELLOW CARDS 1
0 RED CARDS 0
Source: OptaMIDFIELDER EYES NEW ROLE
FERNANDINHO believes he is the
man for a crisis who can plug the gaps
in Manchester City’s title defence.
The champions showed their class
with a comfortable romp over
Brighton to remain hot on the heels of
league leaders Liverpool.
Two goals from the irrepressible
Sergio Aguero and further strikes from
Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva
made it three wins from four outings
for Pep Guardiola’s men.
But the triumph left a bad taste in
their mouths following a serious injury
to defender Aymeric Laporte.
Laporte, who was called into the
France squad last week and was
hoping to win his first cap, collapsed to
the turf before half-time following a
challenge on Adam Webster.
He was taken off on a stretcher
clutching his knee and faces several
months on the sidelines with damaged
ligaments, leaving Guardiola with a
defensive headache.
Guardiola did not replace Vincent
Kompany during the summer, despite
interest in Harry Maguire, while John
Stones is recovering from a thigh
problem. It leaves Guardiola with just
one recognised central defender in
Nicolas Otamendi.
He was forced to send on
Fernandinho as a makeshift centre-
back against the Seagulls. The Brazil
midfielder more than held his own and
is willing to fill the role again if asked,
not least because the arrival of Rodri
from Atletico Madrid has put his
normal place in the side under threat.
Fernandinho, right, said: “I just try
to do my job. The manager decides
who is going to play. I try to
understand the game, the opponents
and my team-mates. The circumstances
make things easier. I am glad for that.
“I’ve been training in this position.
I can play in this position. The key is
just to understand the concept of the
way we have to play, the movements
and the pace we use in games. It was
my first time and I hope I can improve
and do better next time.
“To be honest, it’s not different from
midfield too much. We have a proper
style of play so we try to have the ball
as much as possible, especially in the
Premier League.
“Most of the teams try to play long
balls, so we try to anticipate and read
the games. Of course, in a game like
this one we kept the ball and tried to
create space for the midfielders. When
we defend, we had to defend compact.
“The manager needs to be ready.
There is a long season to go. We have
the Champions League, the two cups
and the league. He needs everyone.”BIG BLOW:
Laporte is
taken off with
a knee injuryDOUBLE TIME: Aguero
scores his second goalMain picture: LINDSEY PARNABY