The media is full of the Man City match. And why not? After all the years of hurt (© Baddiel and Skinner!) and all those horrible defeats, especially at the Etihad, plus the recent disagreeable draws, this was one to at least part-heal the wounds.
And if you created a checklist of wants pre-match, almost all would have been ticked.
Win
Score over three goals
Academy players to score
Haarland to be anonymous
I wouldn’t be surprised, though, if behind the post-match celebrations, Saliba wasn’t harbouring a regret. Having mastered Haarland almost irrelevant (nine touches in the match, lowest ever bar one, Lukaku in 2022, in the Premier League), he will be cursing that one touch was a goal. Yet didn’t that just galvanise the team? There seemed to be a touch of ‘we’re one up, let’s keep that,’ until it was 1-1. Once it was 2-1, we didn’t relent, and the reward was so well-deserved. Is there a lesson to be taken in future matches when we don’t ram home our advantage? Maybe the scars of many years, where we’ve been dominant, pushing for another goal and getting caught on the break, are still there. But this team looks better than that.
And looking at the two under-twenties, who played such a vital role, if you were a young 19-year-old French forward, looking for a move but not fancying Sp*rz or ManUre, where else would you look for opportunities, chances to improve and team spirit? Over here Monsieur Tel!
Which makes the departure of Ayden Heaven to ManUre hard to fathom. True, the route to the first team would have been a tough one, and having had a taste then dropping away might be hard to take for an ambitious youngster. But the left back and central midfield positions were hardly vacant, and look at Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri. We wish him luck – maybe Harry McGuire will guide him through.
Richard Smith
Feb 3 2025