MANCHESTER, ENGLAND — No matter what records are broken or titles won, Sergio Aguero may still never receive his dues.
In a world where Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar continue to dominate the football agenda, both rightly and wrongly, the Argentine’s brilliance is often overlooked.
But even Messi would have been proud of his compatriot’s strike as Manchester City ran out comfortable 2-0 winners over Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday. A 148th strike against the Seagulls elevated Aguero to on par with Alan Shearer for the most goals for a single club in the Premier League era. It is increasingly a case of when, rather than if, he eclipses the 183 goals that Wayne Rooney recorded during his Manchester United career.
Winning without conviction is considered hallmark of champions, and City are again fulfilling the prophecy. A latest victory at the Etihad Stadium was more perfunctory than prolific from Pep Guardiola’s side, yet they still appear capable of becoming the first English champions in a decade to retain their crown without even fully breaking stride.
“They are a top side and they’ve probably still not got into their best form yet,” Brighton boss Chris Hughton admitted post-match.
“Last season I think they were outstanding and it’s very difficult coming here. When you’re a team like ours in the second season in this division, you can get beat big here, certainly with the form and the options that they have.
“It’s no coincidence of how they won the league last season and probably with some of the best football that the league has seen.
“I don’t know if they’re at their best at this moment but they will certainly go down with different peoples’ opinions as certainly one of the best teams.”
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Questions of infallibility no longer plague City as they returned to the league’s summit for the first time this season. Defeats to Liverpool and Manchester United last term ended all prospects of assembling a run akin to Arsenal’s 2004 ‘Invincibles’. Instead, the pressure falls on their Anfield counterparts ahead of next weekend’s top-of-the table clash with their impending hosts deservedly earning most of the early-season plaudits.
Manchester’s Blue Moon has risen several times during a decade of Abu Dhabi ownership, but staying aloft has proven easier said than done where Premier League title defences are concerned. In their two previous follow-up campaigns, City finished 11 points behind United, enjoying their final hurrah under Sir Alex Ferguson in 2012/13, and eight adrift of Chelsea just two seasons later.
But Guardiola remains central to a belief that City can go one better than they did under Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini. At both Barcelona and Bayern Munich, the Catalan claimed three consecutive titles. Doing similar in the Premier League will be far less of a formality than the relative monopolies that he enjoyed in his native Spain as well as the Bundesliga, evidenced by Brighton’s ability to withstand an attacking onslaught either side of Raheem Sterling’s first-half opener and Aguero’s moment of individual brilliance.
True to recent history, however, little comes easily for City and internal wrangles are once again threatening to hamper their latest pursuit of perfection. Concerns over the attitude of Benjamin Mendy, sidelined for this game, have stretched Guardiola’s patience in a striking resemblance to the problems encountered during Mario Balotelli’s three-year stay. Like the Nice striker, Mendy’s eccentricity had been largely indulged until the novelty turned into an annoyance.
The France defender’s late arrival for treatment on the back of attending Anthony Joshua’s world heavyweight title fight in London last weekend became the latest instance of the latter. That Mendy has become a greater phenomenon on social media than his main stock in trade bears parallels to Guardiola’s personal battle with Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He wasted little time in severing ties with the egocentric Swede at Barcelona when his immaturity became too great a distraction after barely 13 months. Without urgent redress, Mendy could also fall victim in only his second season at the Etihad.
City are still in the process of becoming the reckoned force that strolled to the title with a record-breaking ease. Aguero epitomised that slow burn best as he took centre-stage on an afternoon when Barcelona elected to sideline Messi. A slaloming run was only interrupted by brief interchange Sterling, whose early opener was his 34th direct involvement in league goals for City since the start of last season. Like his team, the former Atletico Madrid marksman is still somewhat finding his feet.
“Sergio is struggling a little bit with some problems in his feet. He is not 100 per cent,” Guardiola admitted post-match.
“He made the effort but he’s not recovered from what happened against Newcastle. Of course we spoke about [if he is] okay to play 55, 60 minutes. We were lucky that he scored a goal in the right moment.
“Now we have two games left before the international break and hopefully he can play these two games and after the international break make a final recovery.
“But he’s not in his best condition right now, physically, because he has a problem in his foot.”
Performing at half-tilt may stand Guardiola’s side in good stead with an unenviable run over the coming week. Despite an ongoing love-hate relationship with the Champions League, an opening group defeat to Lyon has made victory in Tuesday’s trip to Hoffenheim imperative. Arguably, it will carry equal importance as the upcoming trip to Anfield. With Kevin de Bruyne still to make his long-awaited return from injury, City can currently afford to play the long game.
Richard Buxton is a UK-based writer and special correspondent for Sportsnet. He filed this report from Manchester’s Etihad Stadium.
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