TUSDIQ DIN
His side have not scored at home
since Adam Webster’s goal in the 1-1
with Chelsea in January, but Potter is
keen to look on the bright side.
“When results aren’t going so well
it’s not easy to speak positively,” he
said. “I think Alexis [Mac Allister] has
taken steps this year playing for the
Argentine national team. I think he’s
growing as a player, he’s growing as a
guy around the place, I think he’ll getThe trio have started four games
together as a unit, in victories against
Watford, Chelsea and now Burnley,
and in a draw with Southampton.
This was the second time that Foden
had occupied what at times was a
false nine role in those four games.
Guardiola admitted that there was a
difficulty for the player in the sheer
volume of opponents — two central
defenders and three deep-lying
central midfielders — clogging up
space, but there was still much in his
performance, clever, bright, linking
well, as there was in the flow and
relentlessness of the three to suggest
that the combination will be seen
again, certainly at club level.
Burnley’s defence was missing
their captain, Ben Mee, through
injury, but the strength of their
back four — their physicality and
aggression, their ability to win
headers and tackles — has rarely
been neutralised with such authority.
In there was an outstanding
performance from Sterling. He was
authoritative, understated, always
picking the right option, a turnaround
from earlier in the campaign, when
his very future was being questioned.
“I work in England, so I have to do
these kind of things for the UK,”
Guardiola said, smiling, of his front
three. “These players have to play.
They are top-class players, all three.
For Phil it is not easy to play in that
position when they defend with four
and five players, but he has the
chances and assists.defending, marshalled by Grant
Hanley, but when Sam Byram held
his arm aloft in the area in a manner
any volleyball player would have been
proud of, it was a clear penalty. Neal
Maupay has scored nine times this
season but not since February. Tim
Krul, the Norwich goalkeeper, could
sense that desperation, and subjected
the Frenchman to his trademark
mind games.
Into the sunshine and under the
waving scarves and hands of Norwich
fans in yellow and green, up stepped
the Brighton striker — only for the
ball to fly over the crossbar, to the
agony of Maupay, but to the joy of
Krul and the Norwich supporters.
Moder, Brighton’s Poland
midfiellder, will be out for a
“significant” period after rupturing his
anterior cruciate ligament.better for those opportunities. Moisés
[Caicedo] is coming back from a
positive experience [qualifying for
the World Cup with Ecuador]. He’s
pushing as well with his performances
so we’ve got some options.
“We’ve got a young group, some
players that are in their first Premier
League season. You look at Alexis,
Tariq [Lamptey], there’s players that
are going to get better for the
experience — Enock [Mwepu], Jakub
[Moder], it’s Marc Cucurella’s first
season in the Premier League, so I
believe there are lots of positives.”
A point when Brighton had not
managed any from their past six
Premier League matches represents
progress, and that has to be a positive,
as does a clean sheet for Potter’s side.
Dean Smith’s Norwich did not make
it easy for Brighton, with their robustGraham Potter was as frustrated as
the majority inside the Amex Stadium
as Brighton & Hove Albion failed to
end their winless streak against
Norwich City. Potter, whose side
should have won, knows what it will
take to re-energise the Brighton fans:
hit the target, for a start.
“We know that we’ve been on a bad
run, we know that we haven’t done as
well as we’d like,” he said. “We’ve
played Manchester United, Liverpool
and Tottenham in those six games, so
they’re not the most straightforward
matches, but we haven’t played as
well as we’d like.
“The two weeks we’ve had [during
the international break], training has
been really good. A clean sheet was
important, stopping the losing run
was important, so it’s our job to try
and keep that going forward.”the times | Monday April 4 2022 2GG 9
thegame
We must sharpen up but clean sheet is progress, says Potter
... and Pep has plan B
for the England attack
It perhaps spoke of the relief that
Pep Guardiola felt at the exemplary
reaction of his players to momentarily
losing top spot in the Premier League
for the first time since December that
in the aftermath he could joke about
his duty to English football.
Manchester City’s stride was
knocked so little by Liverpool’s
lunchtime victory on Saturday, and
their brief ascension to lead a race for
the title that many thought they had
conceded, that after five minutes
Burnley were as good as beaten, and
an order that has been the way for
most of this season was restored.
In that victory, then — so brutal,
so thorough and even so slick that
it could overcome the Turf Moor
pitch, and grass grown to within two
millimetres of breaking Premier
League regulations — was a forward
line to give Gareth Southgate
something to think about.
There is a growing worry for
Southgate as the World Cup finals in
Qatar flicker on to everyone’s radar:
what, exactly, will happen if England
have to plot a path, for whatever
reason, without Harry Kane? Viable
alternatives such as Dominic Calvert-
Lewin, Danny Ings and Patrick
Bamford have all slipped out of the
picture for varying reasons.
To that end, then, City’s stroll in
the sunshine in the North West on
Saturday afternoon offered an
alternative plan for England: a front
three with Raheem Sterling on the
right, Phil Foden as the central focal
point and Jack Grealish on the left,
in a potentially untypical English
forward line for a major tournament.“We [Guardiola and Sterling] have
been together six seasons and
Raheem has had six seasons of
incredible performances. He is
playing well but you cannot expect all
the time in six seasons to be ten [out
of ten], but his lows were not much.
He is never injured.
“All the time when Raheem comes
back from the national team he
comes back with a boost. It’s
incredible that he was captain [in the
friendly against Ivory Coast], and you
see today how decisive he was in all
the actions and his assists.”
It was from a cushioned layoff
from Sterling that Kevin De Bruyne
volleyed City ahead after five
minutes. That absolutely flattened the
game. It took 75 minutes for Burnley
to register a shot on target, from the
substitute Jay Rodriguez, which
Ederson saved to his right.
By then a second City goal had
long since arrived. It came in the 25th
minute after Sterling played a one-
two with De Bruyne and pulled back
a low cross for Ilkay Gundogan to
crash another volley past Nick Pope.
Guardiola’s mood was not dented
by the length of the grass — 28mm,
Sean Dyche would later admit. It can
reach 30mm before it breaks Premier
League rules.
Its length noticeably slowed down
City’s game but when asked if his
team had struck volleys (Gabriel Jesus
also hit a post with a volley) because
of the height of the grass, Guardiola
said: “I don’t think so — that is the
quality of the players, not because the
grass was high.” It felt noteworthy
that the other manager to complain
this season about Burnley’s turf was
Guardiola’s former assistant Mikel
Arteta, the Arsenal manager.
“We’ve had this before,” Dyche,
the Burnley manager, said. “Ask the
groundsman. I’m not that interested.”
Of more pressing concern for him
is Wednesday’s game against Everton,
on short grass or long. Four points
separate the teams, and it is four
successive defeats now for Burnley
without scoring.
“Everyone knows how big it is,
we’ve got to win,” Jack Cork, the
Burnley midfielder, said. “We need
everyone to make Everton as nervous
as possible and make them realise
what a tough place this is to come.”
Something that it was not for City
and their all-English forward line.Burnley 0
RATINGS
Burnley (4-5-1): N Pope 6 — C Roberts 5, K Long 5,
J Tarkowski 6, C Taylor 5— A Westwood 5, J Cork
5 (J Rodriguez 71min), J Brownhill 6 — A Lennon 5,
W Weghorst 5 (A Barnes 81), D McNeil 5 (M Cornet
46, 6). Booked Weghorst.
Manchester City (4-3-3): Ederson 7 — K Walker 7,
A Laporte 7, N Aké 7, J Cancelo 7 — K De Bruyne 8
(B Silva 78), Rodri 7, I Gundogan 7 — R Sterling 8,
P Foden 7 (G Jesus 64, 6), J Grealish 7.
Referee C Pawson.Manchester City
De Bruyne 5, Gundogan 25^2MARTIN HARDYPlaymaker Phil Foden (No47) was in
the central striker role at BurnleyCITY'S AVERAGE POSITIONSDirection
of play(^108)
47 7
17
(^2716)
2
6
14
31
Foden Sterling
Grealish
Gundogan
De Bruyne
Cancelo Rodri
Walker
Ake Laporte
Ederson
0
RATINGS
Brighton (3-1-4-2): R Sánchez 6 — J Veltman 6,
L Dunk 6, M Cucurella 6 — P Gross 6, T Lamptey 6,
L Trossard 6, A Mac Allister 6, S March 6 (J Moder
82; J Sarmiento 87) — N Maupay 6 (E Mwepu 79, 5),
D Welbeck 6. Booked Lamptey.
Norwich City (4-1-2-1-2): T Krul 6 — S Byram 5,
B Gibson 5, G Hanley 6, D Giannoulis 6 — B Gilmour 5
— P Lees-Melou 6 (J Rowe 61, 5), M Normann 6 —
K McLean 5 (K Dowell 90+2) —T Pukki 5,
M Rashica 5 (C Tzolis 80). Booked McLean.
Referee S Hooper.
Attendance 31,245.
Brighton Norwich City
0
Maupay hits his penalty over the bar
Jota, far left, was on
the scoresheet for
Liverpool for the 20th
time this season, while
Sterling and De Bruyne,
left, combined in City’s
win at Turf Moor