Pep surprised a few people with his line up, when he went for a back four. Benjamin Mendy made his City debut while Bernardo Silva made his first start for the Blues. Starting up front, on his own, was Gabriel Jesus as Aguero found himself benched. In my preview to this game I had suggested that Pep might try this formation, considering the percentage of possession City usually enjoy combined with Bournemouth's possession stats so far this season.
City started off well enough, although they weren't as penetrating as they get when in their flow. Mendy looked good down the left, with Danilo looking similar down the other side. He certainly looks a good proposition to be pushing Walker for his starting position.
Despite the attacking prowess boasted by City, it would be the hosts who would take the lead. An absolute laser of a shot from Charlie Daniels gave Ederson no chance, flying past him before going in off the angle. After which, he ran over to the fans, kicked the corner flag before then kicking the advertising boards. Pure emotion after a stunning shot was rightly not punished by the referee.
A little over five minutes later and Ederson showed us exactly why he has the starting spot over Claudio Bravo, saving smartly from an unmarked Defoe. That would prove very important less than a minute later. After being awarded a free-kick, a quick thinking Jesus passed to Silva before bombing into the box. Silva's pass was on the money, and the little Brazilian leveled up the score, making fun of Raheem Sterling in the celebration.
With 24 minutes gone Jesus thought he was in on goal once more, before being unceremoniously being brought down by Nathan Ake. Jesus would surely have been through on goal but referee, Mike Dean, decided it was only to be a yellow rather than red for denying a 'clear goal scoring opportunity'. Yes, he was still a few yards out, but were there covering defenders or would he have had a clear run at goal?
For me, and Pep, it was certainly the latter and Ake was lucky to remain on the pitch. At this point I was convinced he would score the winner later on in the game, such is the will of the footballing Gods it seems.
Despite the 1-1 score line heading into half time it was clear now who the bigger threat was. City were now playing with that swagger we have become accustomed to in recent years. David Silva and DeBruyne were pulling strings in the middle while Otamendi and Kompany were just enjoying the midday sunshine.
When the second half started it would be more of the same as City attacked in waves, wing backs overlapping wide players and stretching the play. No matter how good you play though you do need to score because the opposition will always get that one half chance and that they did just before the hour mark.
A break away for Bournemouth resulted in Joshua King striking a beautiful shot flush against the post. Ederson was planted and had it been the right side of the post, City would have found themselves behind for the second time. Fifteen minutes after that and it was our own Otamendi to head against the post with a header he did well to direct, although couldn't generate too much power with it. In between those two chances City had brought on Sergio Aguero to partner with Jesus, bringing Bernardo off.
It was more of the same for the remaining twenty minutes, as City fought deep into the five minutes of stoppage time. Accusations of time wasting had Pep hot on the sidelines as he could feel the headlines being written for the Sunday tabloids, 'Pep'd At The Post' is one which springs to mind, along a picture of the King shot hitting the post.
It would be that time wasting from Bournemouth that would eventually come back to bite them as City pushed until the end. It would be Sterling, via a deflected shot, who would score a vital goal for City, the second time he has done this within a week.
As you can imagine, emotions from fans and the team spilled over and after the excitement had died down, Sterling was shown his second yellow card and dismissed. The final whistle would blow and City would leave with the three points, but also a bitter taste in their mouth having seen their second player in the week sent off for debatable yellow cards.
For me, after waiting a few hours before I write this, it was a fantastic result. Bournemouth threw everything at us, defensivly speaking. They were very well organised at the back and very hard to break down. That said City fought until the last kick. If it was the red side of Manchester who did that there would be talk of 'Champions sometimes have to win ugly' or 'Winners play/fight until the last kick of the ball' we did that and I'm happy.
When you look at Chelseas early results, its similar to their path. Winning by that single goal, they tied an early game against Swansea and still went on to win the league handsomly.
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