Death by a thousand cuts : Man City bulldoze Chelsea at the Etihad

Man City don’t just defeat you, they hurt you in such a way that the scars take forever to heal. Both the matches against Chelsea this season were a statement from City for the hurting defeats last season, specially the Champion’s league defeat. Chelsea came into the game with their title hopes hanging on to a non-existent string. Chelsea fans hoped that Tuchel could again produce some magic and defeat City like he had done last season. What Chelsea fans and Tuchel did not quite realize is that, when City have someone under their foot, they crush them mercilessly.

Cheslea were Unable to deal with City’s Press

I was surprised that Tuchel decided to go with the approach of sitting back and hitting City on the break. Given how much City struggled against Arsenal, this approach did not make sense at all to me. I was very happy to see Jorginho not starting. People might not realize this, but the combination of Jorginho and Lukaku can be quite devestating. I think jorginho is one the best at pinging balls over the top from deep midfield and we saw how Lukaku caused us problems when he ran behind our defense.

City suffocated Cheslea and they did not have any outball. The fact that they just had one shot on target the entire game showed the amount of control exhibited by us. The pressing by Foden was spot on and it was his perseverance that led to De Bruyne’s goal. City have made Kante look helpless, that was how much we dominated that midfield battle. Tuchel must be wondering what he must do to beat us. He played a 3 in midfield and lost the earlier fixture. Now he has played 2 in midfield and the result and control of City never seemed to dwindle.

Sterling is Back to his absolute best

Sterling’s game has suddenly sky rocketed to the next level. His decision making was so quick and efficient that you seemed to wonder what has changed in the space of just a month that a mediocre player missing chances can suddenly become world class. I always had a bit of frustration over the fact that sterling stands up his defender and slows the game down. But in the last month and specially yeasteday, he knew exactly when to dribble and when to pass. He somehow seemed confident taking his shots as well. I think Sterling at his best provides us with a unique attacking option of running at the opponents with direct pace and the form of Sterling will be very important for City to maintain that variety in attack.

It was a performance of supreme authority and merciless ruthlessness to send shivers down the spines of all the teams around Europe. The fact that you go home and away to the European Champions and restrict them to just 2 shots over 180 minutes shows that this City team is truly special. Let us enjoy each moment of it.