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PEP GUARDIOLA DEMYSTIFIED AS LEICESTER INFLICT 5-2 DEFEAT ON MANCHESTER CITY

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Only three hat-tricks have ever been scored against teams managed by Pep Guardiola – and Jamie Vardy now has two of them.

Lionel Messi scored the other and, had the summer and the season panned out differently, this match would have been his home debut for Manchester City, before a besotted and raucous full house.

Instead, an echoing Etihad played host to a club legend of a wholly different variety – Vardy, whose career trajectory could not be more different to one lived in the shadow of Nou Camp.

What a player he is, though – and what a knotty problem for Manchester City, always running, always twisting, always turning, fast and quick-witted and seemingly impossible to contain. Vardy inspired a Leicester performance that made history, for his club, for Manchester City and, personally, for Guardiola. 

In 685 matches as a manager, his teams have never conceded five goals. That changed in this, his 686th. It was also the first time City had conceded five at the Etihad Stadium – the last time they let that amount in being a match at Maine Road against Arsenal on February 22, 2003.

As for Leicester, going top of the table, they became the first team to score three penalties in a game since the Premier League began – and even more amazingly, not one was given for handball.

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None were greatly controversial, either. Vardy, who won, and converted, the first two, goes to ground without need for a blunt instrument, but City’s defemders seem to have made getting the wrong side of the attacker not so much a fault as a club policy,

so calamity must be expected. Worryingly, three distinct individuals were at fault: Kyle Walker for the first, Eric Garcia – perhaps the unluckiest – for the second and Benjamin Mendy for the third. Nathan Ake’s acquisition was supposed to make the difference to City’s defence, but he looks a long way from having the influence of Virgil van Dijk at Liverpool. Van Dijk had better around him. Plus, he solved a problem. City’s are ongoing.

Credit to Leicester, though, who arrived with a gameplan and stuck to it, even when Riyad Mahrez’s goal inside four minutes appeared to change the menu.

A lesser team, maybe a lesser coach, might have panicked at that point. To his credit, Brendan Rodgers remained calm and kept to his strategy. He has a gameplan against Manchester City, and it has served him well to here, albeit in a limited fashion. Coming into this game, he had never taken a point off City as Leicester manager, but he had been close.

It took a wonder goal from Vincent Kompany to win here in 2019, Leicester took the lead before losing the following season, and only a goal from Gabriel Jesus on 80 minutes separated them the third time Rodgers’ Leicester and Guardiola met last December.

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The plan? Rodgers lets City’s defence have the ball. Instead of pressing them, his players retreat. He believes Ederson is a better passer than the four men directly in front of him so, put the squeeze on, and City go backwards, Ederson clips a lovely pass into midfield and City have the better numbers to counter attack.

Drop deep and that same area is congested, making it harder for City whose defenders are also likely to be less accurate in their passing.

And that was how Leicester set up, even when goal down. They restricted City to just two goalscoring chances in the first-half, one of which was the wonderful shot from Riyad Mahrez that gave Guardiola’s men the lead.

It came from the first attack of the match, a corner swung in and cleared by James Justin, straight to the feet of the lurking Mahrez.

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The rise before the fall. Riyad Mahrez is congratulated by his Manchester City team-mates after his goal put his side in the lead in the early stages

He returned it with venom, a shot that flew into the top left corner, taken with his right, and supposedly weaker, foot.

A Kevin De Bruyne free-kick which Fernandinho headed directly at Kasper Schmeichel was City’s only other opportunity before half-time and while Leicester were not exactly overburdened with opportunity they got the one break necessary to equalise – if Vardy is in your team.

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It came in the 36th minute when Harvey Barnes broke through, and fed Vardy, who got goal side of Walker. The City man clumsily tried to correct his error and that was enough.

Once Michael Oliver had signalled the penalty, Vardy finished the job himself, powerful and into the top left corner. He scored two penalties on the opening weekend against West Brom, too.

From there, a City onslaught was expected, a second 45 minutes of attack versus defence, Leicester crowding behind the ball, eyes on a point, City pressuring them, even without a recognised striker.

Instead: the opposite. The arrival of teenage centre-forward Liam Delap after 51 minutes was a sign Guardiola was not happy with the threat his team posed – and the young man did hit the bar with a header – but more troubling was the inability to spot Leicester’s clever movement and nullify it.

Removing Fernandinho for Delap may have changed the game to Leicester’s advantage and, once he went, City were simply not alive to Leicester’s threat, not alive to Vardy’s danger – which is mystifying given the trouble he has caused them previously. And, unlike Wolves last week, Leicester took their chances.

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That is hardly a surprise, either, given their history.

After 53 minutes, Yiouri Tielemans – a contender for man of the match, despite Vardy’s heroics – played a sweet ball through to Timothy Castagne on the right.

It split Mendy and Ake, neither of whom seemed greatly switched on, and by then it was too late. Castagne crossed and Vardy nipped in at the near post to flick the ball past Ederson for his second.

Just four minutes later, Leicester had a third. First, the excellent Harvey Barnes had a shot saved, but there was better luck next time.

He fed Vardy, who went looking for a foul from Garcia, and the defender obligingly delivered it. Vardy does fall easily, but City’s contribution in inescapable. For his hat-trick, Vardy put the ball low to the right.

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Game over? It most certainly was in the 77th minute, when substitute Maddison cut in from the left and, buoyed by the absence of any challenge or attempt to close him down, picked out the far, top corner with a beautifully struck shot.

 Ake pulled one back from a corner, his header his first goal for the club, but even that margin did not stand for long.

From Leicester’s next attack, Mendy tugged Maddison back for Leicester’s third penalty of the game. It was taken by Tielemans, with Vardy already off, although the execution meant there was no drop in standard.

And while it can be argued City are missing players, and were forced to play Raheem Sterling as the spearhead of the front-line, an absence of forwards is not the reason a team leaks five goals.

 The scoreline was unusual, but the sense of trepidation is becoming all too familiar. It was there at Molineux, too.

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So while this was a shock, the reality is little has changed year on year. Defensively, City look a long way from being title contenders. Eighteen points? Maybe.

-Daily Mail

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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Former Arsenal soccer player Partey charged with five counts of rape

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 Premier League - Arsenal v Manchester City - Emirates Stadium, London, Britain - February 2, 2025 Arsenal's Thomas Partey during the warm-up before the match REUTERS/David Klein/File Photo

Thomas Partey, who formerly played for English Premier League soccer club Arsenal, has been charged with rape and sexual assault, London’s Metropolitan Police said on Friday.

Partey, a Ghana international, was charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault, with the charges relating to three women and the offences reported to have taken place between 2021 and 2022, the statement said.

Partey’s management did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

He is due to appear at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Aug. 5.

Partey, 32, was signed by Arsenal from Atletico Madrid for 50 million euros ($59 million) in October 2020 and became a key member of Arsenal’s first team.

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He was first arrested in July 2022, though he was not named at the time and continued to play for Arsenal while investigations were ongoing.

-Reuters

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Rashford, Garnacho among five players seeking Man Utd exit

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Premier League - Manchester United v Newcastle United - Old Trafford, Manchester, Britain - December 30, 2024 Manchester United's Marcus Rashford warms up as a substitute during the match REUTERS/Phil Noble/File Photo

Five players including England forward Marcus Rashford and Argentina winger Alejandro Garnacho have informed Manchester United that they wish to explore a future away from the Premier League side, a club source said on Friday.

Brazilian midfielder Antony, Dutch defender Tyrell Malacia and England international Jadon Sancho are also looking to leave the club, the source added.

Rashford, who has made more than 400 senior appearances for United, has fallen out of favour with manager Ruben Amorim, played for Aston Villa on loan while United had their worst-ever Premier League campaign, finishing 15th in the standings.

Amorim had called Rashford’s work rate into question, saying he would rather put a goalkeeper coach on the bench than a player not giving their all.

Rashford said he was feeling fitter and better since joining Villa, where he scored two goals in 10 league appearances.

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United also failed to qualify for the Champions League as they lost the Europa League final 1-0 to Tottenham Hotspur. Garnacho, who was a late substitute in the final, voiced his displeasure on social media after the loss.

“Up until the final, I played every round helping the team, and today I play 20 minutes, I don’t know,” he wrote in a post . “The final will influence (my decision), but the whole season, the situation of the club.”

Sancho was on loan at Chelsea, where he made 31 league appearances last season. Antony, who joined United from Ajax Amsterdam in 2022 for a reported initial transfer fee of more than $100 million, scored five goals in 17 LaLiga appearances on loan at Real Betis.

Malacia joined Dutch side PSV Eindhoven on loan in February.

-Reuters

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Fernandes rejects Al-Hilal offer to stay at Manchester United

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Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes turned down the opportunity to join Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal in order to keep playing “at the highest level”, he said on Tuesday.

The Portuguese midfielder admitted that he had considered the move, which media reports said was worth four times his current salary, after being contacted by Al-Hilal’s president.

“There was that possibility, the president of Al-Hilal called me a month ago to ask me about it,” Fernandes, who is preparing to face Germany with Portugal, told reporters on Tuesday.

“It was a big offer, very ambitious. There was a waiting period for me to think about the future.”

Fernandes ultimately decided to stay at United and said he was motivated by his desire to continue playing at the top level and encouraged by his family and the club’s coach Ruben Amorim.

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“I would be willing to do it if Manchester United thought so,” Fernandes added. “I spoke to the coach Ruben Amorim who really tried to talk me out of it. The club said they would not be willing to sell me, only if I wanted to leave.

“I spoke to my wife and family, and she asked me what my personal goals were in my career.

“It would have been easy to move there but I want to keep myself at the highest level, playing in the big competitions and I feel capable of it. I am happy with my decision.”

The 30-year-old Fernandes scored 19 goals and provided 19 assists in 57 appearances across all competitions for United last season, winning the club’s Player of the Year award for the fourth time.

However, it was a season to forget for the team, as they finished 15th in the Premier League, their lowest league finish in half a century, and lost the Europa League final to Tottenham Hotspur.

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-Reuters

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