2017 must be viewed through the prism of Pep Guardiola’s Premier League revolution

Pep Guardiola is in charge of a Manchester City side who are redefining how the game is played in the Premier League.(AFP)
Updated 26 December 2017
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2017 must be viewed through the prism of Pep Guardiola’s Premier League revolution

Was 2017 the year in which Pep Guardiola changed English football forever? The Catalan revolutionary has certainly used a year of reflection and renovation to terminate a recent Premier League trend.
If we accept that the title is Manchester City’s — and an unprecedented 13-point Christmas lead offers sparse credible alternative — then Guardiola has detailed a different way to win in England. Compare City’s possession-centric, high-risk, high-line approach with the systems that took the Premier League’s last two titles and the contrast is immense.
“The last two champions in the Premier League were super defensive teams,” noted Jose Mourinho in an early-season interview. “Super-defensive teams, with a killer counterattack. So be defensive and have a killer counterattack was the way to win the last two Premier Leagues.”
A precisely executed counter is a thrilling weapon and the Manchester United manager has no issues with the colleague who deploys it well. His point is that Leicester City and Chelsea excessively exceeded expectations by playing the percentages. The Italian duo of Claudio Ranieri and Antonio Conte produced two teams who defended deep then attacked at rapier pace to claim famous triumphs.
To put just a couple of numbers on it, Chelsea took the title with around 11 minutes less possession per game than City are averaging for the first half of this season. Leicester made their miracle on a whisker short of 20 minutes less.
Ranieri and Conte would use opponents’ possession to draw them into positions of vulnerability. A legitimate and intelligent tactic when well-executed, yet one Guardiola avoids. “I want the ball, that is my main principle,” he said recently. “And after that when you don’t have the ball to be well organized to recover as much as possible, knowing that the opponents want to punish you to use their magnificent counterattack.
Guardiola’s decision to double down on his core philosophy — recruiting players better suited to dominating the ball and increasing the intensity of measures to prevent those counters — had delivered a domineering year of League results. City have lost just twice in the Premier League — away to Everton in January, away to champions-elect Chelsea in April.
At the halfway point of the current season, Guardiola is a home draw with Everton short of a perfect return of 57 points. City have scored 60 goals while conceding 12, both division leading figures. His is the first top-flight team to return a 100 goals in a calendar year since Liverpool in 1982 (when there were four more games in the League season).
Guardiola’s preference for quick, nimble ball players, his insistence that the ball be passed precisely in all areas of the pitch, the way in which he tasks his team with creating shooting opportunities inside the penalty box, makes much of City’s football extremely easy on the eye. The praise has been such that a team that has still to touch silverware is being talked of as potential quadruple winners.
His men certainly deserve plaudits for the manner with which they’ve traversed some significant obstacles along the road. Before Guardiola settled on a 4-1-2-3 shape, points were dropped at home to Everton and could easily have been lost at Bournemouth — two of this season’s strugglers. A sequence of three matches in which Huddersfield Town, Southampton and West Ham United all concentrated on closing off passing lines into the area while denying Kevin De Bruyne the space he likes to have to pass from all ended in narrow 2-1 wins, City riding luck and some propitious officiating to extend a long run of consecutive wins.
If those fixtures offered clues as to how City could be halted, there seems little prospect of their football being surpassed by any coach who seeks to adopt Guardiola’s strategies. Put quite simply, no manager anywhere ever has worked at a club as supportive to his methods. Abu Dhabi hasn’t simply put more money into its Manchester City project than any other football club owner, it has allowed the project — from chief executive, through director of football, through player recruitment, through infrastructure – to be shaped with hiring Guardiola in mind.
To cite just a few examples, an academic study by the CIES Football Observatory have the City’s current squad as the most expensive in football by transfer-fee cost at €853 million ($1.01 billion). As in Guardiola’s first campaign, City outspent every domestic rival, adding to a pattern of transfer-market investment between 2010 and 2016 that led the global game (another CIES analysis putting the club’s total transfer-fee spend in that period at €1.02 billion, some 17.5 percent more than the second highest investor, Chelsea, and a remarkable 59 percent above Real Madrid’s).
City’s wage bill grew 23 percent to an annual £243.8 million in Guardiola’s first year at the club, a reflection of the division leading salary packages the club now offers key recruits. With two more transfer windows of deals structured to include immense performance-related elements to add in, 2017-18 salary costs will scale new heights.
Abu Dhabi’s largesse is further reflected in the make-up of a squad that Guardiola still considers only partially built. His defensive options include the second most expensive goalkeeper ever by transfer fee (Ederson bought for €40 million to replace last summer’s errant purchase of Claudio Bravo), the most expensive right back ever by transfer fee (Kyle Walker), and the most expensive left back ever by transfer fee (Benjamin Mendy).
In the middle of defense, Guardiola has the most expensive center back by transfer fee (John Stones), a €50 million purchase in Eliaquim Mangala, plus another of the most costly acquisition ever in that position, Nicolas Otamendi. Should City succeed in dispelling the belief of some at Liverpool that Virgil van Dijk’s transfer from Southampton is a “done deal”, that record will be reset once again.
None of this diminishes Guardiola’s success, it merely places it in context. Could future Premier League managers adopt his principles to surpass his achievements? That will certainly be a hard ask.


Journalism wins the Preakness two weeks after finishing 2nd in the Kentucky Derby

Updated 18 May 2025
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Journalism wins the Preakness two weeks after finishing 2nd in the Kentucky Derby

BALTIMORE: Journalism jostled with horses down the stretch, shrugged off the contact, burst through the lane and came from behind to win the 150th running of the Preakness Stakes on Saturday.
The odds-on favorite was bumped by Goal Oriented near the quarter pole, and it looked like another second-place finish was coming two weeks after being the runner-up to Sovereignty in the Kentucky Derby. Journalism instead ran right by Gosger to give trainer Michael McCarthy his second win in a Triple Crown race.
“A lot of bouncing around there,” McCarthy said. “When I saw that, I kind of resigned myself to the fact it was another fantastic effort and maybe come up a little bit short. But it just goes to show the testament that this horse has. Couldn’t be prouder of him.”
Gosger was second by a half-length. Sandman was third and Bob Baffert-trained Goal Oriented fourth. Journalism went 1 3/16 miles in 1:55.37.
Umberto Rispoli became the first jockey from Italy to win any of the Triple Crown races.
“When I crossed the wire, the first things that comes up to my mind, it’s all of the 20 years of my career that pass in front of me,” Rispoli said. “I had to wait so long to be on a champion like that.”
Journalism handled the adversity and thrived on a warm day that dried out the track after torrential rain fell at Pimlico Race Course for much of the past week. Those conditions suited him better than the slop at Churchill Downs in the Derby
“This victory symbolizes so much about life,” co-owner Aaron Wellman said. “It took guts for Umberto Rispoli to power his way through a seemingly impossible hole getting side-swiped and threading the needle and powering on through. And it took guts from an incredible horse to somehow will his way to victory.”
Journalism paid $4 to win, $2.80 to place and $2.40 to show.
“He’s a remarkable horse,” Baffert said of Journalism. “I wanted to be on the lead and was behind horses. I knew  was intimidated. He’s never run that way. He ran well, but he’s still too green for that.”
Sovereignty did not take part after his owners and trainer Bill Mott decided to skip the Preakness, citing the two-week turnaround, and aimed for the Belmont on June 7. That made this a fifth time in seven years that the Preakness, for various reasons, was contested without a Triple Crown bid at stake.
But Journalism staked his claim for 3-year-old horse of the year by winning the $2 million American classic race run at the old Pimlico Race Course for the last time before it’s torn down and rebuilt. While work went on around him before the postrace news conference, Wellman asked, “Are they already tearing this place down?”
Not yet, and not before Journalism could add a memorable chapter by squeezing through the space he had to win.
“I still can’t realize what this horse did,” Rispoli said. “It’s all about him. It’s a pleasure and privilege to ride a horse like him.”
The Preakness is set to be held at nearby Laurel Park, between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., next year before a planned return to the new Pimlico in 2027. McCarthy raved about the history at the place known as “Old Hilltop” and still remembers where he was when Sunday Silence beat Easy Goer at the wire in 1989 in a fashion similar to how Journalism won this time.
“Things kind of come full circle,” McCarthy said. “I’m sad to see this place go, but we’ll try to get back here next year, whichever locale it’s at.”
Journalism is the first horse to win the Preakness after running in the Kentucky Derby since Mark Casse-trained War of Will in 2019. He is the first Derby runner-up to follow that up by winning the Preakness since Exaggerator in 2016.
Only two others from the 19 in the Derby participated in the Preakness: Casse’s Sandman and fellow Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas’ American Promise, who did not have the same positive response as Journalism.
“The best horse won,” Lukas said. “He finished beautifully.”
Lukas, the 89-year-old who has saddled the most horses in Preakness history, referred to McCarthy once this week as “the new guy.” This was just McCarthy’s second, and he’s 2 for 2 after Rombauer sprung the upset as an 11-1 long shot in 2021.
This one was more emotional, with McCarthy and his wife still displaced from their home by the Southern California wildfires.
“We’ll get back there,” McCarthy said. “Everybody will get back there. We’ll rebuild. This is for Altadena.”


Nice take Champions League place, Saint-Etienne relegated in French season finale

Updated 18 May 2025
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Nice take Champions League place, Saint-Etienne relegated in French season finale

PARIS: Nice romped to a six-goal win to secure Champions League qualification on the final night of the French season on Saturday, as Saint-Etienne were condemned to relegation back to the second tier.
Champions League finalists Paris Saint-Germain had already clinched the title while Marseille and Monaco wrapped up qualification for Europe’s elite club competition before the Ligue 1 campaign reached its climax.
However, one more spot at the continent’s top table remained up for grabs on the last day with fourth-placed Nice in pole position to take it if they could hold off the challengers of Lille, Strasbourg and Lyon.
The Ineos-owned club made sure of a top-four place by crushing Brest 6-0 on the Cote d’Azur with Gaetan Laborde scoring twice.
Ivorian international Evann Guessand put Nice in front with his 12th Ligue 1 goal this season, with Badredine Bouanani later netting a penalty before Terem Moffi and Ali Abdi also hit the target toward the end.
Nice will enter next season’s Champions League in the third qualifying round in early August and will have to win two two-legged ties to make it to the league stage.
Lille finish fifth and go into the Europa League after substitute Chuba Akpom’s late penalty secured a 2-1 win at home to Reims, while Strasbourg suffered a dramatic 3-2 loss against Le Havre in a result which created a stunning late twist in the relegation battle.
Le Havre needed to win and hope one of Reims or Nantes lost in order to escape the drop zone, and the Normandy side showed remarkable resolve to come from behind twice before snatching victory in extraordinary fashion.
Abdoulaye Toure’s second penalty of the game, in the ninth minute of stoppage time, propelled Le Havre out of the drop zone and means Reims will go into a play-off against second-tier Metz for the right to play in Ligue 1 next season.
Reims will now have to navigate the two legs of that tie either side of next weekend’s French Cup final against PSG.
Strasbourg’s defeat allowed Lyon to climb above them and take sixth place as they beat Angers 2-0 with Alexandre Lacazette scoring twice.
The former Arsenal striker’s brace allowed him to reach a double-century of goals for his boyhood club as he now prepares to leave Lyon, the club where he made his Ligue 1 debut in 2010.
Lyon are guaranteed European football next season and will be in the Europa League if PSG win the French Cup, which would mean Strasbourg go into the Conference League.
Saint-Etienne needed a positive result as well as favors from elsewhere in order to avoid being relegated but they slumped to a 3-2 loss at home against Toulouse.
Yann Gboho scored what proved to be the winner for Toulouse, as 10-time champions Saint-Etienne make an immediate return to Ligue 2.
PSG warmed up for their upcoming finals, including the Champions League showdown with Inter Milan in Munich on May 31, by coming from behind to beat Auxerre 3-1 in the capital.
Lassine Sinayoko put Auxerre ahead as the visitors threatened to spoil PSG’s title party, but Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scored twice in the second half for the hosts either side of a Marquinhos header. Goncalo Ramos also had a penalty saved.
Marseille made sure of finishing second as they beat Rennes 4-2 at the Velodrome with Mason Greenwood scoring twice, including once from the penalty spot, while Adrien Rabiot also grabbed a brace.
Greenwood scored 21 goals in his debut Ligue 1 season to finish as the division’s joint-top marksman alongside PSG’s Ousmane Dembele.
Third-placed Monaco slumped to a 4-0 loss at Lens, for whom Neil El Aynaoui netted twice, while Nantes ensured their safety by defeating relegated Montpellier 3-0.
 


Sporting defend Portuguese title with final day win

Updated 17 May 2025
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Sporting defend Portuguese title with final day win

  • Sporting and Benfica were level on points going into their last match
  • Benfica needed to better Sporting’s result to triumph but drew 1-1 at Braga

LISBON: Sporting Lisbon defended their Portuguese crown on Saturday with a 2-0 win over Guimaraes to hold off rivals Benfica on the final day of the Primeira Liga season.

Both Sporting and Benfica were level on points going into their last match after a tense 1-1 derby draw last weekend left the title race on a knife edge.

Benfica needed to better Sporting’s result to triumph but drew 1-1 at Braga, although even a victory would not have been enough as Rui Borges’ side triumphed and had the superior head-to-head.

Pedro Goncalves broke the deadlock in the second half and the division’s top goalscorer Viktor Gyokeres notched his 39th league goal of a stunning campaign to seal Sporting’s victory.

Manchester United coach Ruben Amorim led Sporting to last year’s title and after he departed in November was replaced by Joao Pereira, who only lasted six troubled weeks before Borges took over.

Sporting claimed their 21st Primeira division title and could make it a domestic double as they face Benfica next Sunday in the Portuguese cup final.


Crystal Palace’s Eze seals historic FA Cup final win against Man City

Updated 17 May 2025
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Crystal Palace’s Eze seals historic FA Cup final win against Man City

  • Local boy Eze volleyed in after 16 minutes
  • Omar Marmoush had first-half penalty saved by Henderson as City lost in the Cup final for a second successive season

LONDON: Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze sparked a massive south London party by scoring the only goal to win the FA Cup 1-0 against Manchester City on Saturday and claim the club’s first major trophy in their history.

Local boy Eze volleyed in after 16 minutes, former Manchester United goalkeeper Dean Henderson performed heroics in the Palace goal and City contrived to waste a sack-load of chances including a penalty in an enthralling final.

After England forward Eze, whose goals in the last eight and semis fired his team into the final for the third time, scored completely against the run of play, Palace had to survive a City siege to spark wild celebrations.

Omar Marmoush had a first-half penalty saved by Henderson as City lost in the Cup final for a second successive season, summing up a harrowing campaign in which they have been dethroned as the powerhouse of English football and will go without a domestic trophy for the first time since 2016-17.

For Palace’s massed ranks decked in purple and blue, it was a day of unbridled joy as Oliver Glasner’s team rode their luck to make it third time lucky after suffering defeats in their previous two FA Cup final appearances in 1990 and 2016.

Glasner, who took charge of the club 15 months ago, becomes the first Austrian coach to win the FA Cup.
City have been a pale imitation of the side that has dominated the English game for the most of the past decade.

But the way they began at Wembley suggested that Pep Guardiola’s side were determined to prove that talk of their demise had been greatly exaggerated.

Having picked an ultra-attacking lineup shorn of defensive midfielders, City hemmed Palace deep inside their own half for the opening 15 minutes with Kevin de Bruyne pulling the strings on what was his last Wembley appearance in City’s colors.

BRILLIANT HENDERSON

His lofted ball picked out Erling Haaland whose stretching effort at the far post was brilliantly saved by Henderson who shortly afterwards beat out Josko Gvardiol’s header.

Palace finally broke the siege and in their first foray beyond the halfway line they ripped through City’s lines.

Jean-Philippe Mateta played in Daniel Munoz and his cross was met by Eze who flashed a first-time volley past Stefan Ortega to provoke an eruption of noise from the Palace fans.

Ismaila Sarr nearly made it 2-0 but Ortega saved and Palace’s hearts were in their mouths when Henderson appeared to have handled the ball outside his area under pressure from Haaland but a subsequent VAR check spared him a possible red card.

There was no escape for Palace defender Tyrick Mitchell when he tripped Bernardo Silva and referee Stuart Attwell pointed to the spot. Surprisingly, Haaland did not take it and instead Omar Marmoush stepped forward for his first penalty since joining City in January, but his effort lacked conviction and Henderson dived to his right to save.

Henderson made a flying save to keep out Jeremy Doku’s curling effort as Palace reached halftime ahead despite having only 19 percent of possession.

Munoz thought he had made it 2-0 just past the hour mark but a lengthy VAR check ruled his effort out for offside.

Seven-time winners City went close numerous times after the break with Henderson and his defenders performing heroics to preserve Palace’s lead.

A huge groan went up from the Palace fans as 10 minutes of stoppage time but after more close shaves and nail-biting the final whistle sounded and the club’s anthem Glad All Over bellowed around the stadium.


Dortmund, Frankfurt clinch Champions League qualification on final day of Bundesliga

Updated 17 May 2025
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Dortmund, Frankfurt clinch Champions League qualification on final day of Bundesliga

  • Dortmund clinched fourth place and the last for Champions League qualification
  • It’s a remarkable turnaround under coach Niko Kovač

FRANKFURT: Borussia Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt qualified for the Champions League on the last day of the Bundesliga on Saturday, leaving Freiburg to be content reaching the Europa League.

Dortmund clinched fourth place and the last for Champions League qualification after a 3-0 home win over already-relegated Holstein Kiel, which played with 10 men after less than 10 minutes.

It’s a remarkable turnaround under coach Niko Kovač, who took over in February when Dortmund were languishing in 11th place. Dortmund won their last five Bundesliga games.

Frankfurt stayed third with a 3-1 win in Freiburg, which dropped to fifth as a result, two points behind Dortmund. Freiburg needed to win to qualify for the Champions League in place of Frankfurt.

Mainz overcame three disallowed goals and drew with Bayer Leverkusen 2-2 to qualify for the Conference League in sixth place, a point ahead of Leipzig, which missed out on European qualification after losing at home to Stuttgart 3-2.

Stuttgart next faces Arminia Bielefeld in the German Cup final next weekend.

Kane scores again
Bayern Munich, which clinched the title with two rounds to spare, finished the season a 4-0 winner at Hoffenheim in Thomas Müller’s last Bundesliga game for the club. It was his 503rd.

Harry Kane replaced Müller for the last half hour and set up Serge Gnabry for Bayern’s third goal before he completed the scoring with his league-leading 26th.

It’s the second consecutive year Kane has finished as the Bundesliga top-scorer.

Leverkusen record
While Mainz were playing for European qualification, Leverkusen were thinking of the future in the last game for the club for coach Xabi Alonso and some players.

Mainz had two early goals ruled out for offside then another ruled out through VAR before Anthony Caci finally gave the home team a deserved lead.

But Leverkusen emerged a different side after the break. Patrik Schick scored twice to jeopardize Mainz’s European spot.

A Jonathan Burkardt penalty kept Mainz ahead of Leipzig, which twice squandered a lead against Stuttgart.

It was Leverkusen’s 34th away game without defeat, a new Bundesliga record.

Other results
Heidenheim stayed in the relegation playoff place after losing at home to Werder Bremen 4-1. Frank Schmidt’s team next faces a two-leg playoff against the side that finishes third in the second division to determine which play in the Bundesliga next season.

Bottom club Bochum, relegated last weekend, signed off with a 2-0 win at St. Pauli for their first victory since beating Bayern 3-2 away in early March.

Wolfsburg won at Borussia Mönchenglabach 1-0 and Union Berlin won in Augsburg 2-1.