Manchester City will build on a strong, collected performance as they returned to action against West Ham United on Wednesday. City had not played since the loss to Tottenham Hotspur on February 2nd. The team needed a good performance not just to dispel their poor recent form, but after this past week of news, they needed something positive for the team and their fans.
Manchester City Will Build on West Ham United Win
Manchester City’s February
It’s pretty easy to see why Manchester City were in need of a good performance. Their last two performances stank. The loss at home in the Carabao Cup to Manchester United was poor, despite going through to the final, then their defeat on the road to Tottenham was a microcosm of all the bad games they have played this season.
That match was over two weeks ago, and somehow things managed to get worse. UEFA’s decision to ban Manchester City from the next two Champions League campaigns came down this past Friday. We’re still a long way from finding out the impact the ban will have on this team, though.
All of this acts as the backdrop to Manchester City’s most important stretch of the season. In the next few weeks, they face a Champions League round of 16 tie against Real Madrid, the Carabao Cup final against Aston Villa, and an FA Cup meeting with Championship side Sheffield Wednesday. They also have Premier League games away to Leicester City and Manchester United before the March international break
What Manchester City Will Build On
Manchester City needed to play well against West Ham to build a foundation for the next few weeks. For the most part, that is exactly what they did. The defence was particularly impressive. West Ham may be struggling at the wrong end of the table, but City did an excellent job coping with the pressure they were able to create. Most importantly, Aymeric Laporte looked like he is back on the path to his best football.
Kevin De Bruyne was also on top form. The star Belgian midfielder was the best player on the pitch for City, as he is quite often, but today he had a hand in almost everything his side created offensively. He got a goal and bagged his 16th league assist of the season, equalling Eden Hazard’s league-leading mark from last season. Remember, it’s only February.
However, this game was not perfect in the least. Manchester City have dealt with certain issues all season; the leaky defence, questionable counter-attack defence, and some pretty terrible finishing. It was the finishing that reared its ugly head against West Ham.
Terrible Finishing
City brought their terrible finishing with them back from the break. They had 20 shots against West Ham, with only seven on target. That is almost a mirror to their 19 shots and six on target that they had against Tottenham earlier this month. As one might expect, it was the same people missing the same chances.
It has become quite clear that Gabriel Jesus is not a clinical finisher. One of the biggest takeaways from the season will be just how many chances Jesus manages to miss. He was one-on-one with the Lukas Fabianski inside five minutes. All he had to do was shoot, but he over-thought his move and it was blocked by the keeper. Then, five minutes later, it happened again, but he took too much time allowing the defence to recover.
They are the type of chances Jesus would finish if he were on form; the type of chances he would score instinctively when he’s right. Why he didn’t take these opportunities is hard to say, but with Real Madrid less than a week away, Jesus will need one heck of a performance on Saturday to keep his starting place.
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