City boss Guardiola ‘demands more’ after Huddersfield stroll

Published January 21, 2019
HUDDERSFIELD: Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling (front) scores during the Premier League match against Huddersfield Town at the John Smith’s Stadium on Sunday.—Reuters
HUDDERSFIELD: Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling (front) scores during the Premier League match against Huddersfield Town at the John Smith’s Stadium on Sunday.—Reuters

HUDDERSFIELD: Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was far from satisfied despite seeing his side cut Liverpool’s lead at the top of the Premier League to four points with a 3-0 win away to basement club Huddersfield on Sunday.

City were rarely in trouble after Danilo’s deflected shot gave them an 18th-minute lead but they appeared to switch off for the remainder of the first half at the John Smith’s Stadium against a Huddersfield team who parted company with manager David Wagner on Monday.

But whatever Guardiola said to his players at the break appeared to have the desired effect, with two goals in a matter of minutes early in the second half from Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane putting the result beyond doubt.

“The way we played we didn’t deserve more than three goals,” Guardiola told the BBC. “We will improve in the future.

“We have to demand more from ourselves in every game and do our best, but sometimes it’s difficult. They defended deep and man to man.” Reigning champions City have now scored 62 goals in 23 league games so far this season, eight more even than Liverpool.

“What we have done so far has been incredible, in the league and the Carabao (League) Cup,” said Guardiola.

“We have an incredible number of points (56). But this game can teach us and show what we have to do to improve.

“We’ve scored a lot of goals. So far, so good. One team has been better but we’re in January and there’s many more games to play. You don’t win or lose the Premier League in January.

“We have to focus on what we have to do. If Liverpool win, we have to win.

“And if Liverpool lose then we also have to win.”

Liverpool continued their convincing push for the title as a Mohamed Salah double saw them repel a severe challenge from Crystal Palace to win a remarkable game 4-3 at Anfield and stretch their lead at the top to seven points on Saturday.

Arsenal dented Chelsea’s increasingly fragile title pursuit with a 2-0 derby win while Manchester United continued their stirring revival under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer with a 2-1 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion.

Yet it was Liverpool’s pulsating win over their ‘bogey’ side that had the most significant feel as Juergen Klopp’s men showed real steel to subdue Palace, with Salah’s brace taking him to 50 Premier League goals in 72 matches.

Andros Townsend gave the Eagles a first-half lead, offering them the prospect of their fourth win in their last five visits to Anfield, but Salah and Roberto Firmino struck after halftime only for dogged Palace to equalise with a James Tomkins header.

Salah then extended his league-leading tally to 16 goals, gifted by a wretched error by Palace’s recalled 39-year-old keeper Julian Speroni — the league’s oldest participant this season — leaving Klopp to hail the Egyptian’s 50-goal landmark as “an exceptional achievement from a world-class player.”

Even after James Milner was sent off for a second yellow card foul and Sadio Mane made it 4-2, Palace pulled one back through Max Meyer and Klopp felt it was a “massive relief” to extend their unbeaten league home run to 32 matches.

Nobody should be surprised by the character of the boys,” said Klopp. “The boys are ready to fight for all. It was not the first moment we had to show it but it was pretty special.”

SOLSKJAER ECLIPSES BUSBY

At Old Trafford, Solskjaer broke the great Matt Busby’s club record by winning his first six league matches in charge — and seven in all competitions — as the Norwegian’s 100 percent start continued with first-half goals from Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford.

United had to work hard to eke out the win after Pascal Gross narrowed the deficit, leaving Solskjaer to enthuse: “You can’t always play fantasy football. At times we did and it’s a great three points.”

The win pushed United to sixth on 44 points, level with rejuvenated Arsenal, who closed the gap on fourth-placed Chelsea to three points with first-half goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Laurent Koscielny at the Emirates Stadium.

At the other end of the table, Newcastle United leapfrogged Cardiff City to push the Welsh club back into the relegation zone after a 3-0 win at St James’ Park that featured a double from Fabian Schar, his first goals for the club.

Like Anfield, Molineux also witnessed a seven-goal thriller, with Diogo Jota scoring a stoppage-time winner for Wolverhampton Wander­ers to complete his hat-trick and earn a 4-3 victory over Leicester City in one of the league’s best games of the season.

After captain Wes Morgan’s late header looked to have earned the Foxes a 3-3 draw, Jota’s clincher made Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo so delirious that he raced on to the pitch, celebrated with his players and was promptly sent off.

Southampton also eased their relegation fears under their inspiring new manager Ralph Hasenhuettl, holding on for a deserved 2-1 win over Everton at St Mary’s.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2019

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