Pep Guardiola racked up his 250th Premier League win with a 1-0 defeat of Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium.Erling Haaland’s ninth-minute effort was the only goal of the game in west London.I...
Pep Guardiola racked up his 250th Premier League win with a 1-0 defeat of Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Erling Haaland’s ninth-minute effort was the only goal of the game in west London.
It means our boss reaches the significant milestone in just 349 outings - 55 games quicker than previous best Alex Ferguson.
The Blues now jet off for the latest international break having won five times and drawn twice in all competitions since the previous window.
The game in 250 words
Haaland broke the deadlock for a bright, energetic City inside 10 minutes, rolling Sepp van den Berg and hammering the ball under Caoimhin Kelleher for his 12th of the season.
Just as on Wednesday in Monaco, it was again Josko Gvardiol's dinked ball that teed up the No.9.
The Norwegian sprinted to the City faithful in the corner, who spent the rest of the afternoon chanting about his love of the club and long-term contract.
Our brilliant start suffered a blow in the 20th minute when Rodri sat down on the turf and was eventually replaced by Nico.
After such a lengthy time out injured last season, our No.16 will be praying this was more precautionary than a significant blow.
The major surprise at half-time was that we weren’t further ahead, with Oscar Bobb twice laying off to Phil Foden in dangerous areas while Tijjani Reijnders saw a volley denied by Kelleher’s rapid reactions.
City’s first-half dominance was such that it marked the first 45 minutes since Brentford’s 2021 promotion that they hadn’t had a touch in the opposition box.
That came just two minutes after the break, but Gianluigi Donnarumma was quick off his line to smother the advancing Igor Thiago.
It wasn’t a complete aberration, with Brentford proving much more of a threat in the second period.
We held our own though through a combination of composure in possession and dogged defending when required earning a third clean sheet of the Premier League campaign.
Teams
CITY XI: Donnarumma, Nunes, Dias (C), Gvardiol, O’Reilly, Rodri (Nico 21), Reijnders (Bernardo 76), Bobb (Doku 76), Foden, Savinho, Haaland
Subs: Trafford, Stones, Ake, Kovacic, Cherki, Lewis
BRENTFORD XI: Kelleher, Kayode, van den Berg, Collins (C), Ajer, Hickey, Henderson (Janelt 73), Yarmoliuk (Onyeka 73), Damsgaard (Jensen 68), Schade, Thiago (Ouattara 68)
Subs: Valdimarsson, Henry, Pinnock, Carvalho, Lewis-Potter
Key takeaways
Pep's latest record - The boss has smashed yet another long-standing Premier League record.
This win is his 250th in the Premier League in just 349 games, a whopping 55 faster than previous holder Alex Ferguson who took 404 to hit the milestone in the Premier League era.
With a win percentage of 71.6%, he's far ahead of next-best Ferguson on 65.2%.
Stats like these demonstrate the dominance and consistency we've seen from City in almost 10 years under Guardiola.
Inevitable - Erling Haaland is unstoppable.
City started well and could have already been up when Haaland netted in the 10th minute, but it made perfect sense that the No.9 would be the man to score.
He now has 12 goals in nine appearances across all competitions this season and, almost impossibly, looks even better than ever before.
This also meant he has scored at 21 of the 22 away Premier League grounds he has played at, with Anfield the last for him to check off.
His celebration with the City crowd and the subsequent chants show just how much love there is between our ruthless striker and our loyal support.
#ACityUnited - Tragic events at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in north Manchester earlier in the week saw both City and Manchester United put rivalry aside to show support to our community.
We wore black armbands in this match, as did United in their Saturday game with Sunderland, stating '#ACityUnited' and observed a minute's silence prior to kick-off.
Star man
Erling Haaland – Again, who else?
The Norwegian has started the new season in truly sparkling form.
His goals grab the headlines of course, but he’s a No.9 that brings so much more than that.
Whether it’s his off-the-ball runs to make space for others, his relentless pressing or his ever-expanding leadership role, Haaland is central to everything Pep’s side do.
That he can roll defenders and turn half-chances into goals like he did for his opener only further marks him out as a unique talent.
Pep's reaction
"Good, they had one chance in the first half, one duel that we lost. But part of that, more corners, more throw-ins, more actions and that's always there in the Premier League.
"We played an outstanding first half that is close to our best in many, many things. The problem is when you don't score goals and the chances we had Kelleher made some good saves.
"It's more difficult in the Premier league in the second half we're 1-0 and this happened.
"In general really pleased with this month since the [Manchester] United game grew up a lot in many, many things and hopefully come back healthy the players from the national team."
Haaland reaction
“I think there is always space even when people are low. You just need right timing.
“I like when people come like this against us as well. Low block is not easy with three big centre backs and two people in front of them, five people around us at all times.
“That’s why it’s not easy and that’s why it feels even better.
“I’ve never felt better than I do now.
“I think it’s about preparation first of all, getting ready for the games. You can be physically ready but you need to be mentally ready as well.”
What it means
City have 13 points from our first seven Premier League fixtures.
That leaves us fifth in the embryonic table, three points back from leaders Arsenal.
What’s next
The second international break of the season is now upon us.
City return on Saturday 18 October with the visit of Everton. That’s a 15:00 (UK) start and therefore will not be broadcast in the UK.
Category: General Sports
