Section:GDN 1N PaGe:43 Edition Date:190812 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 11/8/2019 20:23 cYanmaGentaYellowb
Monday 12 Aug ust 2019 The Guardian •
Sport^43
FootballCity’s brawn makes
them a class apart
A
fter 35 minutes
Manchester City let
West Ham have a shot.
It was their fi rst of the
new season and, to be
brutally honest, it was
a bit of a non-event. In fact the only
reason for mentioning the moment
when Sébastien Haller briefl y stirred
Ederson with a tame overhead kick is
that West Ham would not be allowed
another sight of goal until deep into
the second half, by which point City
were cruising towards yet another
romp at the London Stadium.
Unfortunately this has become
the norm when mid-table hopefuls
come up against opponents as
classy and streetwise as the reigning
champions. Did West Ham play
well in that curiously low-key fi rst
half? They did have their fl ashes.
Their high press forced a couple
of sloppy errors from City. Haller,
Manuel Pellegrini’s new £45m
striker, had some cute touches and
brought team mates into play. Felipe
Anderson left Oleksandr Zinchenko
on his backside at one point. Manuel
Lanzini appealed for a penalty after
tumbling in City’s area. There were
moments.
“I think we stuck to the plan
quite well in the fi rst half,” Jack
Wilshere said. “We were unlucky
to go in 1-0 down. I wouldn’t say we
created a lot of chances but we were
comfortable.”West Ham were unable to lay
a glove on the champions,
whose streetwise edge
ensured an opening-day routJacob Steinberg
London Stadiumthe shirt. As José Mourinho and Ole
Gunnar Solskjær noted last season,
Guardiola teams are experts at the
tactical foul and referees rarely
punish a seemingly innocuous ruse.
“That’s football,” Wilshere said.
“When you play against experienced
players who understand the game
it’s going to happen. You can’t get
frustrated. They’re clever players.
A team like us who like to attack
could learn from that. They do that
counter press. They lose the ball and
bang, they go straight away. They’re
going to make fouls. ”
Wilshere went off with a dead
leg after receiving some rough
treatment from Rodri, who made an
assured competitive debut after his
move from Atlético Madrid.
City, who delivered the perfect
riposte to Liverpool’s 4-1 win over
Norwich City on Friday , feel they
have found a long-term replacement
for Fernandinho. Yet it is a collective
eff ort. They have all been drilled
to hunt the ball with ferocious
intensity. “You can see that from
the way Pep is on the sidelines,”
Wilshere said. “He’s animated and
you can tell when you’re lining up
against them in the tunnel that
they’re up for it. ”
It was a masterclass in earning the
right to play from City, who spent
the second half embarrassing West
Ham’s lightweight midfi eld. De
Bruyne charged through the middle
to make Raheem Sterling’s fi rst goal
and the England forward opened
the campaign with a hat-trick after
two more delightful fi nishes. “He’s a
nightmare to play against,” Wilshere
said. “You don’t know if he’s going to
come inside and he’s so sharp off the
mark. He’s probably the fi rst name
on the teamsheet for Pep.”
Sterling’s indispensable status
speaks volumes given that Sergio
Agüero came off the bench to
underline City’s strength in depth
with a late penalty. It is diffi cult to
pinpoint fl aws in this side, which
might console West Ham. They will
not be the last to end up wondering
if they were ever in the game against
Guardiola’s genius workaholics.Premier League▼ Jack Wilshere tussles with
Rodri, who impressed
DAVID KLEIN/REUTERSRaheem Sterling
celebrates his fi rst goal
with Kevin De BruyneAnd there was the rub. West Ham
might have felt comfortable during
the opening period but they trailed
after an instinctive strike from
Gabriel Jesus in the 25th minute and
barely landed a meaningful blow on
City in the fi nal third. This is what
the champions do to the also-rans.
For all the focus on the creativity and
fl air, there is an edge to them out of
possession, a structure that makes
it hard to get at their defence and a
willingness to let eager opponents
tire themselves out.
City’s back four welcomed the
pressure from West Ham’s forwards.
The more it happened the more
Rodri, a brawny but elegant presence
in defensive midfi eld, dropped back
to take the ball. Ederson in goal
could start moves from his six-yard
box. Slowly but surely West Ham
were pulled into the trap and space
opened up for Kevin De Bruyne,
David Silva and Riyad Mahrez, while
Michail Antonio’s failure to protect
Aaron Cresswell allowed Kyle Walker
to raid down the right and create the
opener for Jesus.
West Ham tried to persist with
their plan. Yet they had no counter to
City’s cynical ability to prevent their
moves from developing with tugs ofLadbrokes Scottish PremiershipDefoe shows treble intent
to fi re rampant Rangers
That Rangers scored four goals after
Hibernian were reduced to 10 men
in this fi xture may lead to false per-
ceptions. In truth, Steven Gerrard’s
team were dominant even before Sean
Mackie was sent off for a second book-
able off ence. There is already an air of
familiarity about the Scottish Premier-
ship table; only the Old Firm have won
both their opening matches.
Celtic visit Ibrox after the next
round of league games, mean ing this
mutually positive start has wider
meaning. Rangers scraped past
Kilmarnock last weekend but there
was no such anxiety for Gerrard here;
his players were utterly rampant. Even
so early in the campaign, there is a
rising sense Celtic and Rangers could
detach themselves from the remain-
der of the league. Regression else-
where might be as infl uential in that
as improvement in Glasgow but, on
this evidence and that from a Europa
League tie in Denmark on Thursday ,
Gerrard has boosted Rangers’ potency
over the close season.
“I’m quite disappointed that we
didn’t score more really,” said Ger-
rard, only partly in jest. “I am really
pleased. That’s how I want us to look,
like a threat all the time. Their defence
had a really, really tough 90 minutes.”
This was an early candidate for under-
statement of the season; the hosts had
34 attempts at goal. In recent seasons,
Hibs have shown themselves capable
of giving Rangers serious problems.
The trouble in analysing a game
such as this is in whether to attach
more signifi cance to the positive ele-
ments of Rangers’ play or how woeful
their opponents were. Paul Hecking-
bottom’s summer recruitment at Hibs
is worthy of more scepticism than has
generally been the case. From kick-off ,
the visitors were timid in attack and
disorganised when defending. Only a
piece of magic from Scott Allan, who
fed Daryl Horgan with a wonderful
▲ Jermain Defoe celebrates his and Rangers’ third goal against Hibs
IAN RUTHERFORD/PA
Ewan Murray
Ibrox
Rangers 6
Defoe 9 15 74, Morelos 77 89, Ojo 90
Hibernian 1
Horgan 40
pass to reduce Rangers’ lead to 2-1,
triggered thoughts of a Hibs recovery;
and even they were lacking in founda-
tion. In that opening half, Rangers had
only poor fi nishing to blame for not
being on easy street as their intensity
overawed the visitors.
Jermain Defoe notched the fi rst
goal of a hat-trick inside 10 minutes
after reacting quickest to a Sheyi Ojo
long-range shot which Ofi r Marciano
could only parry. The former Eng-
land striker’s second arrived after
the excellent Jordan Jones fed Ojo,
who supplied the perfect cut-back.
Horgan stunned Ibrox fi ve minutes
before the interval, following Allan’s
creative touch. “It was a magnifi cent
pass, I would have been proud of that
myself,” said Gerrard.
Mackie protested against his second
yellow – for handball – when he would
have been better served ruing his own
stupidity. Rangers were of a mind to
rub salt into Hibs wounds; Steven Davis
tossed up a terrifi c cross for Defoe to
head home at the back post. Alfredo
Morelos, who started the game among
Gerrard’s substitutes, scored two
almost identical goals from an angle,
just inside the penalty area. Worse was
to follow for Heckingbottom as Ojo’s
stoppage-time shot bounded past Mar-
ciano via a defl ection from David Gray.
“It got tougher as the minutes went
on,” the Hibs manager said. “We made
ba d decisions with 10 men but we were
second best for long spells at 11 v 11 as
well. I could sit here and give Rangers
all the credit in the world but I’m more
concerned with our performance.”
Gerrard hinted he might be of a
mind to add a third striker to supple-
ment Defoe and Morelos. If this result
suggested such a signing is barely
needed, perhaps this was an indicator
of the manager’s aspirations. It won’t
always be as blissfully straightforward
as this; one assumes, at least.Rangers
4-2-3-1
McGregor; Tavernier,
Goldson, Katic•,
Flanagan (Halliday 80);
Davis, Jack; Ojo•,
Aribo, Jones (Stewart
76); Defoe (Morelos
76).
Subs not used
Foderingham,
Edmundson, Docherty,
Arfield.Hibernian
4-2-3-1
Marciano; Whittaker,
McGregor•, Hanlon,
Mackie•; Mallan, Vela•;
Horgan (Gray 57), Allan
(Kamberi 67), Newell
(Murray ht); Doidge•.
Subs not used
Maxwell, Slivka, Jackson,
Shaw.Referee John Beaton Attendance 49,718РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS