It was around 2 months ago that Pep Guardiola took over as the manager of Manchester City Football Club (MCFC). Jose Mourinho at Manchester United Football Club(MUFC) and Antonio Conte at Chelsea Football Club(CFC) had made it a season to look out for. These many top managers had not managed in the Premier League before. As of now the following managers have won the leagues in different countries.
- Jose Mourinho (MUFC) - Portugal, England, Italy and Spain
- Pep Guardiola (MCFC) - Spain and Germany
- Arsene Wenger (Arsenal) - England
- Antonio Conte (CFC) - Italy
- Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool) - Germany
- Ronald Koeman (Everton) - Netherland
- Claudio Ranieri (Leicester City) - England
- Claude Puel (Southampton) - France
I am watching the above mentioned match. It's the end of first half and MCFC are already up 2 goals to Nil. West Ham players' body language is not very encouraging. They have suffered staggering number of injuries to some of their very key players at the start of the season. These include Dimitri Payet and Aaron Creswell among others.
The game till now was completely dominated by MCFC. Sharp passing, quick one-twos and great possession. All hallmarks of Pep's style of play. Going into the second half it seemed that West Ham will concede more goals.
Come second half things have changed and kudos to the Pundit who's views I read on Skysports.com. He was spot on. This Pundit said that things are different in England. In Spain, opposition does not start defending until opposition teams bring the ball till the half way line. This allows teams to "build their attack from the back".
In the second half West Ham have pressed high up the field while defending. The "build from back" backfired. Willy the goalkeeper was seen panicking with the passes. There are as many West Ham players in MCFC's half as many as MCFC players. This also got them a goal from Antonio. West Ham have also maintained a very high defensive and disciplined back five evidenced by the number of offsides in the second half. Raheem Sterling, Nolito, etc did not see as much of the ball as in the first half.
Slavin Bilic is a great manager but I am wondering whether MCFC is this predictable.
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