Manchester City in title driving seat after cruising to win at Leeds - Guardian 30/4/22
Nick Ames at Elland Road
The scoreline fails to mention that, for 54 minutes of an
intensely charged early evening, Manchester City did not look especially
comfortable. It does, however, say plenty about the nature of this season’s
title race. Neither of the contenders show the remotest sign of blinking: the
stare-off simply grows steelier by the week and this became yet another
occasion when a spirited opponent was brushed away despite doing little wrong.
Leeds are, like the rest of the league, simply not on the same planet and a
raucous environment was ultimately no leveller. Pep Guardiola could pick his
side with the Champions League in mind and still see them depart giving the
impression they will not drop another point in their final four games.
If that happens City will finish on top again and the sense,
as Fernandinho provided the feelgood factor at the end by scoring what may well
prove his final goal in City’s colours, was that they had cleared a significant
hurdle. Either side of the captain’s daisycutter, a beaten Leeds were serenaded
by all four stands in an extraordinary atmosphere that had rarely let up.
Dominant sides have wavered under the kind of noise and aggression that greeted
City from the outset: here Guardiola’s players mastered it, even if that took
them time, and Leeds were obliged to chalk this one off as a free hit in what
looks likely to become a tense fight against relegation.
The edge at kick-off was understandable given the heat had
been turned up on both teams earlier. City expected Liverpool to achieve their
own ends against Newcastle, as Guardiola made perfectly clear afterwards, but
Leeds might have felt downcast upon seeing Burnley’s turnaround at Watford
nudge them into a perilous 17th place. In the event, the hosts began at speed.
When João Cancelo slipped in the centre circle after three minutes and allowed
Rodrigo to run through there were unmistakable echoes of a famous twist from
the recent past. Rodrigo did not quite have the pace to see the whites of
Ederson’s eyes, though, and delayed a pass towards a completely open Raphinha
long enough for Ilkay Gundogan to intervene. Leeds snapped into tackles, egged
on from the side, and Jack Grealish felt particularly aggrieved at a perceived
lack of protection.
But there was always the risk of conceding cheap free-kicks:
Stuart Dallas’s foul on Raheem Sterling was not the first example and, when
Phil Foden swung in his set-piece from the left, Rodri was able to run across
Kalvin Phillips. He glanced beyond Illan Meslier and Leeds could curse the fact
Liam Cooper, their captain and defensive organiser, had pulled out after
sustaining a knee problem in the warm-up.
For Guardiola the decision to keep Kevin De Bruyne, Riyad
Mahrez and Bernardo Silva fresh for Real Madrid was already being vindicated.
But City did not pull clear straightaway: they lacked time on the ball and were
pushed back for spells before the interval, Junior Firpo blasted one
half-opening over. Leeds’ appetite to ask questions with crosses was not
matched by the kind of quality that might pose more serious problems, but the
din did not abate and nor did the tempo mustered by Jesse Marsch’s players. When
commitment got the better of Dallas it came with unfortunate consequences. As
half-time neared he clattered into Grealish, who had definitely been fouled
this time, but came off by far the worse. He was stretchered off, clearly in
agony, and Marsch said the early prognosis is that “we don’t think it’s good
with his knee”.
An open start to the second half was pleasing to the eye but
did not bode well for Leeds’ ability to retain a foothold. Grealish came close
but then the recalled Nathan Ake, who had scored in City’s 7-0 win over these
opponents in December, swept in from six yards after Rúben Dias had risen above
two men to meet a Foden corner. Again, it was a soft way for Leeds to squander
their good work; now the die was cast although Marsch, grumpy with the
officials all afternoon, continued to set a tone with one broadside that earned
him a booking.
As the minutes ticked down Gabriel Jesus, scoring his sixth
in three games, kept his head after Foden had sent him through on goal. That
felt hard on Leeds, who could have scored through Dan James and Joe Gelhardt
before Fernandinho had his moment from 20 yards. “We wanted to look each other
in the eye at the end of the match and say ‘That was our best’, and I think we
can do that,” Marsch said. It was not a controversial remark but, as City and
Liverpool both roll on, it spoke volumes.