Premier League
PEP GUARDIOLA DEMYSTIFIED AS LEICESTER INFLICT 5-2 DEFEAT ON MANCHESTER CITY
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Manchester United’s Harry Maguire struck a late header to seal a thrilling 2–1 Premier League victory over Liverpool on Sunday, ending their nine-year drought without a win at Anfield and dealing a blow to the reigning champions’ title chase.
Liverpool, who have lost four consecutive games across all competitions for the first time since November 2014, dropped to fourth in the table on 15 points, four behind leaders Arsenal.
United, who won back-to-back league games for the first time since manager Ruben Amorim was appointed last November, climbed to ninth with 13 points.
United’s Bryan Mbeumo stunned the home crowd with a goal a minute after kickoff when Amad Diallo pushed forward before flicking a ball for the forward to run onto and fire home from inside the box.
Irate Liverpool fans thought play should have been stopped before the goal with Alexis Mac Allister down clutching his head after a collision with teammate Virgil Van Dijk.
SQUANDERED CHANCES
Cody Gakpo hit the post three times before finally scoring the equaliser in the 78th minute, when he tapped in Federico Chiesa’s cross.
But Maguire sent United fans into a frenzy with the winner in the 84th when Bruno Fernandes floated the ball in for the big defender to outjump Ibrahima Konate and power home a header.
“It means everything,” Maguire told Sky Sports.
“They’ve had the better of us over the last few years and it’s not been good for our club and we’ve have not given our fans enough days like today. It’s been a long time coming, coming to this ground and picking up three points.
“I’ve been here seven years now and to come to this ground every time and not get three points has been tough. So it’s for the fans, I hope they have a great night tonight.
There were shouts for a Liverpool penalty early on when Casemiro’s cross struck Diallo’s arm. But the VAR video referee determined Diallo’s arm was in a natural and justifiable position.
Liverpool had 19 shots to United’s 12 including several jaw-dropping near misses.
‘SLOPPY’ LIVERPOOL
Gakpo was lively all game, hitting the post twice in the first half, and then nearly making it third time lucky when he smashed another shot off the post shortly after the break.
He missed a sitter in the dying minutes, however, when he headed the ball well wide of the net.
An off-form Mohamed Salah squandered a brilliant chance in the second half when the ball fell to him unmarked at the far post, but he launched it wide, his face etched with frustration.
“I think we conceded a very sloppy second goal,” said Reds captain Virgil van Dijk. “We worked so hard to get back into the game and we created great opportunities to score the winner but if you concede a second goal like that, that is the disappointing part.
“We need to stay humble and stay working and keep our confidence as high as possible,” he added. “When things get tough, it is important we keep the mentality of being there for each other. It is a long season.”
-Reuters
Manchester United’s under-pressure coach Ruben Amorim will be given the full three years of his contract to prove himself and the club will become the most profitable in the world, co-owner Jim Ratcliffe said on Wednesday.
Amorim was Ratcliffe’s choice to replace Erik ten Hag last November but the Portuguese coach has struggled to turn around the club’s flagging fortunes, winning only 10 of his 34 Premier League matches in charge.
United endured their worst top-flight finish last season since they were relegated in 1973–74, coming 15th, and they missed out on Europe after being beaten by Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League final.
But Ratcliffe has issued his strongest statement of support for Amorim yet, comparing the situation to when Alex Ferguson struggled in the early years of his reign before becoming the greatest manager in the club’s history.
“I remember the clamouring for Alex Ferguson to be fired in his first two years,” Ratcliffe, who owns 30% of the club and controls the football side of the business, told The Times’ podcast The Business. “You look at (Mikel) Arteta at Arsenal. He had a miserable time for the first couple of years.
“We’re results-driven at the end of the day, but we have to be patient and we have to see through the results. I think there’s lots of good things at Manchester United. We have to be patient and we have a long-term plan. It isn’t a light switch.
“Ruben needs to demonstrate that he’s a great coach over three years.”
‘WE’VE MADE ERRORS’
While the American Glazer family retain majority control of the 20-time champions of England, Ratcliffe rejected suggestions they could instruct him to sack Amorim.
“It absolutely wouldn’t happen because it’s just a good working relationship. They come to the board meetings. We sit down and we talk about things,” Ratcliffe said.
“We’ve made errors. There’s absolutely no question that we’ve made errors as we’ve gone along and we’ve talked about it. But no one’s perfect.”
Asked to confirm whether Amorim would see out his contract, Ratcliffe said: “Yes. That’s where I would be. Three years, because football’s not overnight.”
Despite United’s stock falling on the pitch, off it they recently posted record revenues of 666.5 million pounds ($892.1 million) in the year to June 2025, albeit with a 33 million pounds loss.
Amorim’s squad was boosted by more than 200 million pounds worth of new signings in the summer.
“The better your squad, the better your football should be. So a lot of what we have done in the first year is spend an awful lot of time putting the club on a sustainable, healthy footing,” Ratcliffe, who completed his acquisition of a minority stake in the club in 2024, said.
“If you look at our results for last year we have the highest revenues ever. Profitability, the second highest. We’re not seeing all the benefits of the restructuring that we’ve done in this set of results, and we were not in the Champions League.
“Those numbers will get better. Manchester United will become the most profitable football club in the world, in my view, and from that will stem, I hope, a long-term, sustainable, high-level of football.”
Ratcliffe also said he wants to revive the club’s Academy that once churned out the likes of multiple title winners David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville.
“The academy has really slipped at Manchester United,” Ratcliffe said. “You don’t solve the academy problem overnight. It takes time. We just recruited a new academy director.”
-Reuters
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Manchester United cruised to a rare comfortable home Premier League victory as goals from Mason Mount and Benjamin Sesko secured a 2-0 win over Sunderland on Saturday.
With the pressure growing on manager Ruben Amorim after a disappointing start to the season, Mount calmed the nerves around the ground with a fine early finish to break the deadlock.
United continued to dominate, with a spectacular save from Sunderland goalkeeper Robin Roefs preventing Bruno Fernandes from adding a sumptuous second before Sesko netted his first Old Trafford goal after 31 minutes.
Sunderland were awarded a penalty late in the first half, a decision that was overturned following a VAR intervention, but they never really threatened after the break as United eased to a third home league victory of the season.
The result put United in provisional eighth place with 10 points from seven games, two places below Sunderland on 11.
Wins, especially comfortable ones, have been in short supply for Portuguese Amorim since he took charge in November.
United supporters have slowly started to turn on the new manager as a result, with nothing short of victory over promoted Sunderland, despite the visitors’ impressive start to the season, enough to appease the disgruntled masses.
Mount’s superb control and finish was just what the beleaguered boss needed. The fine strike was the earliest United have scored in the Premier League since Marcus Rashford’s goal at Ipswich Town in Amorim’s first game in charge.
It was only a matter of time until the hosts scored again, such was their dominance. From a long throw, Sesko was alert to the flick-on before steering home his second in as many games.
United thought they had shot themselves in the foot as Sesko was penalised for a high boot in his own penalty area, only for VAR to deem it not to be a foul.
The hosts took their foot off the gas in the second half, but still should have added to their tally, with veteran Brazilian Casemiro blazing their best chance over the bar.
Sunderland did manufacture a late gilt-edged chance but Senne Lammens, making his debut in the United goal, stood tall to block, completing an assured performance from the keeper and his new teammates.
-Reuters
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