Opposition View: Manchester City

They’re back-to-back Premier League champions and became the first side in English footballing history to sweep to an unprecedented domestic treble last year. Life is good for Manchester City right now.

Under Pep Guardiola, the Citizens have become one of the best teams on the planet. Their football is sublime, they can find any way to win and they’ve got some of the most talented players in the world plying their trade under one of the best managers in the history of the game.

It all sounds rather ominous ahead of Brighton’s visit to the Etihad Stadium, doesn’t it? Is there any chance that Graham Potter could find a way to take something from our visit to the home of the champions?

We spoke to Freddie Pye from City Xtra to find out if their any weaknesses in the Citizens squad, how they can improve on last season and what he made of Potter’s Swansea City side coming so close to eliminating City from the FA Cup back in March.

Last time we spoke to you before the final game of the season at the Amex, City had one trophy in the bag. You won two more in the space of a week after that. Just how good was last season?
Last season was nothing short of perfect for the majority of Manchester City fans. Yes, you’re always going to have someone who plays devils advocate and brings up the issue of the Champions League but at the end of the day, I think I speak for a large share of City fans in saying domestic success, specifically the Premier League, is the priority for the moment.

In the long run, we will have to the win the Champions League and I’m sure for those higher up in the board, it will be the priority, given the financial rewards and global publicity that comes from that competition. To win all four domestic trophies had been unheard of prior to our campaign last season, we’d made history – as difficult as it is for our rivals to admit.

It was a season that to some, came as a surprise given the ‘centurions’ campaign that preceded it in 2017/18. Can we go one better and win the league for the third time running and retain some of the domestic cup competitions? It really is a possibility, especially how Pep Guardiola never settles for what he has achieved so far.

Do you think City can build on that success this year? Is the Champions League now higher on the agenda as the one missing trophy under Guardiola?
There is only one way to improve on last season’s unprecedented quadruple and that is by winning the Champions League alongside some of England’s tournaments. To fans of some teams, that merely sounds ridiculous but for Guardiola and the squad, it’s certainly an aim well within the reach given the talent in this current crop of players.

When the owners first came to England, I’m sure one of their aims will have been to win consecutive league titles and build a dynasty in this country similar to that of Scotland – some fans will be familiar with a saying “we might as well be Celtic” and well, give it a few years and that might actually be the case.

As for the Champions League, I think it’s more of a case where if we were to win the Premier League again this season, then not winning Europe’s premier club competition won’t be much of an issue. However, losing out on the league title to Liverpool or Spurs and then not winning the Champions League may be classed as a failure.

It’s potentially a case of one or the other for Manchester City fans and has been for a few season’s now. But to directly answer the question, it will obviously be higher on Guardiola’s agenda given how long it’s been since not only he won the competition, but also the fact that City have never won it.

Ominously for the rest of the division, you’ve improved your squad even more over the summer with some shrewd acquisitions. Can you tell us a bit about the new arrivals?
Our summer transfer business can be summed up as being ‘efficient’ to say the least. It’s not the first summer where we’ve simply recruited in the areas absolutely necessary! It’s possibly the reason behind our prolonged success – this attention to the minor details/weaknesses in an almost perfect side.

Guardiola and the hierarchy at the club not only strengthened in both full-back positions, but finally found a seemingly perfect long-term replacement for Fernandinho – an issue that has been difficult to rectify for the past two seasons now, after missing out on the likes of Jorginho.

First of all, one signing that came as a surprise to many was the arrival of Angeliño – a relatively young Spanish left-back whom the club sold very recently. When looking at the deal at face value, it looks a strange one given the depth in that position already in Benjamin Mendy and Oleksandr Zinchenko. However, Angeliño was voted several times as being one of the players of the month in the Eredivisie for PSV. This is a player who was chased by several of Europe’s top teams, a player who Manchester City were able to snatch for reportedly less than £11 million.

As for our new holding midfielder, Rodrigo Hernandez, from the first few games, he looks like absolute holding midfield perfection for Guardiola. He is clearly the long-term replacement for Fernandinho, and although it’s very early on in his City career, there are signs that he could even exceed what Fernandinho has been able to achieve at the club. He seems to have a calming presence that rivals Ederson’s albeit in a less ridiculous manner to the Brazilian goalkeeper, who takes touches along his goal line without fault.

Unlike Fernandinho, there is a very evident physical presence from the Spanish international – which doesn’t have any impact on his ability on the ball. His ability to completely shut down any nerves the side had in them at 1-2 against Bournemouth on Sunday proved how much of an impact he’s already having on this Manchester City side.

And finally, Joao Cancelo. Well this one certainly dragged on last summer but when looking at the final deal, it may turn out to be yet another act of genius from Manchester City director Txiki Begiristain. Not only have we signed one of Europe’s most talented right-backs, but we’ve also massively upgraded on an ageing Danilo – who transferred the other way, and reduced the overall cost of the deal. In fact, he’s certainly one to keep an eye on, as this weekend could be his first Manchester City start since signing from Italian giants Juventus.

City and the Albion seem to have been the two clubs on the end of the most contentious VAR moments so far, although ours haven’t been on the level of your game with Spurs. What do you think of the technology?
I want to tell myself it will take time before we see it genuinely improving the game in the way it is meant to have done from the off, however it is fundamentally flawed.

To start off, the technology itself is not suited to the Premier League, as revealed recently by the Mirror – who stated in City’s opening weekend fixture against West Ham, it was unable to identify the exact moment the ball was played through to Raheem Sterling, due to the speed at which he was running through the West Ham defensive line.

The laws surrounding the issue of handball also do not help the system. It doesn’t have any understanding for moments when handball is either accidental, not obvious or simply unavoidable – as in the case of the incident involving Aymeric Laporte in the final stages of the 2-2 draw against Tottenham. I am firmly of the belief that VAR must be used in the way it is in the European leagues – with the match referee having the ability to review the decision/incident himself via a screen on the touchline at the stadium in which the fixture is being played.

We signed Taylor Richards from you in the summer as he saw a move to Brighton as a better opportunity to play first team football. What’s he like as a player?
Taylor Richards was relatively highly-rated at the academy setup, however as with any player for the City academy, a clear pathway to first-team football isn’t evident for a lot of them. Especially in the position he plays, there is already an abundance of talent not only in the first-team setup, but also in the academy setup; with the likes of Tommy Doyle and Adrian Bernabe. Richards has all the potential to make a success of his time at Brighton, and if it wasn’t for injury, who knows how close he could’ve got within serious contention for Guardiola’s side.

Graham Potter’s bold approach when Swansea played City last season nearly ended your involvement in the FA Cup. Are there any concerns that he could find another way to rattle you this Saturday?
A lot of City fans are hugely confident ahead of this weekend’s game, and without disrespecting Brighton, why wouldn’t we be?

The last time we faced a Graham Potter side, it was real struggle. You could argue that the entire dynamic of that fixture was different, what with it being an FA Cup clash against a side from a lower division – there was a lot more at stake for Swansea wanting to cause an upset.

That being said, the way Potter had set up his Swansea side was at time quite remarkable. The goal that saw Bersant Celina score against his former club was similar to goals City have scored and have subsequently been praised for!

Brighton do have players who can cause City’s defence a few problems, like Bournemouth did last Sunday, however it is usually a case of the difference in quality between the two sides showing towards the back end of the first-half and early second. However, I won’t put it past Brighton scoring and definitely causing us a few problems early on.

What advice would you give Potter to beating City? Are there any weaknesses as we certainly can’t see any?
As you can probably expect, its difficult for us to pick out any glaring weaknesses in our side. The only one that Brighton may look to exploit is the full-back areas of the City defence. Cancelo could be handed his debut and I firmly believe Potter would be stupid not to target a defender who is yet to play a substantial amount of minutes in English football.

Obviously the Portuguese international is a very experienced and talented player, but Brighton should certainly look to welcome him in a particular manner if they are to get anything out of this game. As for the left-hand side, Zinchenko is set to start once again and following on from his satisfactory performance against Bournemouth, Brighton may look to pick on any lack of confidence the lad may have.

I do feel I’m clutching at straws here in terms of weaknesses in this Manchester City side, but at the present moment, they are certainly the two areas Graham Potter should be looking at going into this one.

Who are you predicting for the top four and who is going down this season?
I think the top four is easier to predict the teams to feature than those to appear in this season’s bottom three. I firmly believe the title race will be between City and Liverpool, with the current champions coming out on top for the third time running.

As for third and fourth, it will be relatively close between Arsenal and Tottenham. Both sides have had rocky starts to the campaign however Tottenham are the more stable and solid side and so I can see them just about edging Tottenham to the automatic Champions League group stage spot.

As for the relegation zones, it’s a little more difficult to predict exact positions but I’m looking at Newcastle, Burnley and Norwich to all be relegated to the Championship.

Finally, what’s your prediction for Saturday?
As I hinted at earlier, I am confident going into this one but I’m not suggesting it will be an absolute rout. Manchester City 2-0 Brighton – the same score as last time we met in Manchester.

Thanks to Freddie for answering our questions – and thanks to City for saving us the unbearable prospect of Liverpool winning the league last season. You can follow City Xtra on Twitter.