Pep Guardiola loves midfielders and he once joked that he wants a full squad of them. At times this season, Manchester City has tested the success of his theory, with Guardiola’s key strikers missing for much of the season. Sergio Aguero has played just 260 minutes in all competitions. After the start of the season recovering from knee surgery, he suffered a hamstring injury shortly after his return, and was the last time he was sidelined by Covid-19, and the Argentine finally returned to the training ground and was ready for the impact in the second half of the season. At a time when City is fighting on four fronts for titles, in the meantime, Gabriel Jesus started less than half of City’s matches after a thigh injury and his positive test for Corona virus, and he came back and was there last month, and scored four goals in his last match. Four starts to help City set a new English record in most consecutive victories by a first-division team, reaching their historic fifteenth successive victory on Wednesday thanks to the success of the FA Cup in Swansea which was sealed by Jesus when he brilliantly pulled the head of Bernardo Silva. He emerged from the sky before turning around and smashing City’s third goal in a 3-1 victory, and despite his good form, the Brazilian was on the bench for the crucial Premier League trip. – Liverpool Three days ago, Guardiola chose to start the match at Anfield, where Phil Foden played the false nine before moving to the unusual 4-4-2 in the second half, with Bernardo Silva playing near the City youth. A striker available to choose, many players would have been shocked by being excluded from the starting line-up for such a big match, so Guardiola was full of the way Jesus, who came in the 72nd minute, responded to a continent. Getty / Target https://images.daznservices.com/di/library/GOAL/c4/9/gabriel-jesus-pep-guardiola-man-city-gfx_cjjdaafrsv9918tx90uwuy3vi.jpeg?t=-1759484953&w=500&quality=80 “was shared Incredibly in the game at Anfield even when he wasn’t playing, “the City coach said. “Before the locker room match, he was incredibly supportive of his teammates.” When he plays, he’s always playing well. For a striker, it is very important for him to score a goal in every match. “By playing without a traditional striker, Guardiola has achieved fast-moving attacking style in which many of his players’ positions are interchangeable. The most distant attacking midfielder, which is why he has scored 11 goals this season – the best tally for the 30-year-old in any season, At other times, Foden, Raheem Sterling, Bernardo or Kevin De Bruyne could drift into the top roles. Even the defenders have a license to roam into dangerous central positions, and in the face of Swansea, Benjamin Mendy threatened to score only his second goal for the club when he took ninth place on several occasions. Lately, Guardiola is not ready to move to his idealistic vision of a team full of midfielders yet, the City coach has insisted he will need Aguero and his goals, and therefore, is looking forward to the imminent return of the 32-year-old. In the long run, the striker remains. The future is less certain, with his contract expiring at the end of the season and, as there is, no proposal to extend it. The city is unlikely to make the same mistake it made with Vincent Kompany when they waited 18 months to replace the club legend. The matter of losing his influential presence during the relatively disappointing 2019-20 campaign. https://images.daznservices.com/di/library/GOAL/d8/bd/gabriel-jesus_1ogejrbkq5s6q11btvi2wr5hwe.png? Already considered if Aguero left. But that would leave a question mark over Jesus’ future. The former Palmeiras prodigy has been described as the ultimate successor to Aguero since he arrived at Etihad Stadium at the age of 20 in 2017, with 76 goals from 174 City matches, Jesus has achieved a good hit rate, although pales in comparison to that of Aguero. The club’s greatest goalscorer has scored an impressive 256 goals from 379 games, and Jesus has admitted that he feels frustrated when he goes through a goal drought and it can often affect his playing style and confidence. But his game is much more than just goals, he provides energy and a rate of work that is difficult to find even in the best forwards in the world, and his unselfishness and commitment are the features that distinguished him as a distinguished player on the campus of Alitihad. It was no coincidence that Guardiola praised his position at Anfield. But he is more than just a cheering leader, Jesus has the intelligence and flexibility to match Guardiola’s smooth line of attack, and when he scores goals, that makes him a huge asset, as his performance last season achieved victories away from home with Real Madrid in the Champions League. The League shows exactly the unique contribution it can make, as at the Santiago Bernabéu he started as a left winger, delivering a high-energy performance and crept into the role of the central striker to strike the decisive draw in a 2–1 win. After nearly six months, after delaying the Corona virus, Rafael Varane made two uncharacteristic mistakes as City claimed one of his biggest victories in Europe, the careful planning of Guardiola means that his team is constantly evolving to deal with his opponents. He might have the best striker in the world who could fit a sans-striker system.
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