300 million on just defenders alone for Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City to concede 5 goals to Brendan Rogers’ Leicester City at the Etihad Stadium. The away side goes by their moniker, ‘the foxes’. On this very day of football, they all but deserve to be called the foxes as they outfoxed Pep Guardiola at every turn.
No one expected this scoreline. Mahrez had put City ahead before half time after he converted a sumptuous goal from extensive range. The sky blues had put pressure on the foxes and the opponents could hardly play out of their half. Jamie Vardy had next to nothing to feed on. Brendan Rogers on the touchline was exasperated.
It felt like another defeat was in progress, and he did not understand what he was going to do to turn it around. The foxes had won 2 out of 2 in the league but were eliminated in the EFL by Arsenal mid-week. Another loss would deal a lot of damage to their confidence, but at halftime, it looked like that was going to happen.
But when the second half came, Leicester who was using the same attack pattern as Arsenal, Lyon, United, and Chelsea had used to best Pep in previous outings, putting 3 past the second-best English team from last season in the space of 20 minutes. 2 penalties converted by last season’s premier league golden boot winner helped Jamie Vardy complete his hat-trick.
Mahrez’s goal might have been a beauty, but James Maddison’s first goal since 2020 put it to shame. Man City pulled one back through newcomer Nathan Ake only for another penalty to be awarded to the foxes, which Telemans in the absence of Jamie Vardy dispatched.
Less than 24 hours later, after that abysmal defeat, Manchester City has confirmed they will sign Ruben Dias from Benfica for a whopping 62 million to enforce things at the back.
That would raise the money splashed on defenders at the Etihad to 350+ million. But will it solve the apparent defensive issues that many have taken advantage of in recent outings? We live to see.
