Man City 4 - 0 AFC BournemouthManchester City and Kevin De Bruyne roll on with Bournemouth thumping
Home team scorersKevin De Bruyne 15
Kelechi Iheanacho 25
Raheem Sterling 48
IIkay Gundogan 66
Manchester City and their supporters are occupying the kind of dreamland Pep Guardiola was hired to lead them into and the fascination is how long they can remain there.
This was an eighth win from an eighth outing in all competitions, a club-record start to a campaign. The football was sublime and made to look simple and to listen to the weekly exhortations from their perfection-seeking manager there is far more to come.
By the time Ilkay Gündogan scored to make it 4-0 and goal No25 already this season there were still 24 minutes remaining and if Eddie Howe could have throw in the towel in he may have considered it.
That finish by Gündogan came from the latest assist from the sublime Kevin De Bruyne, who yet again showed what a footballer he is on a day when he opened the scoring and had a hand in the other three goals.
De Bruyne is one of the more luminescent lights in this sparkling side and of the talents he has managed Guardiola puts the Belgian below only Lionel Messi. “Messi is alone,” the coach said. “On a table beside Kevin can sit. He is a special player. Without ball the first fighter and with it he seems clear. He makes right decisions every single time. We are so lucky that we have Kevin with us. It was a fantastic performance.”
Kelechi Iheanacho agreed. “Kevin is a brilliant player,” said the centre-forward. “He is very intelligent. He has good qualities. We are happy to have him in our team.”
Howe was left to reflect on a sobering afternoon. “It was a tough day,” the Bournemouth manager said. “We had some good counterattack opportunities and didn’t make the most of them. There were moments when we did OK, but they weren’t enough. We turned the ball over too much, particularly in the first half.”
As is becoming the custom under Guardiola, City raced into an early advantage and after 25 minutes they were 2-0 ahead and the contest already appeared over. Last Saturday De Bruyne opened the scoring in the derby win and helped create Iheanacho’s winner. Now came a similar act.
De Bruyne’s second strike of this nascent season came courtesy of a quicksilver brain. When he stood over a free-kick from around 20 yards out and to the left of Artur Boruc’s goal a regulation shot or cross seemed the options. Instead, the midfielder hit the ball low and with cunning to aim it under the wall with an effort that beat Boruc to his right.
This made it seven games from eight when City have scored within the opening half-hour and if De Bruyne’s first was refreshing for its left-field quality, their second was equally as enjoyable. This time the Belgian roved forward and fed Raheem Sterling along his right-hand corridor. The England man passed to Iheanacho, who turned in for a second finish in two weekends.
The slickly oiled machine that is Guardiola’s City now purred along in high gear. As the break neared this time Iheanacho showed the intelligence by laying a chance on for Sterling. The 21-year-old let fly with his left foot and should have scored but Boruc was able to save.
At the break City were coasting and Guardiola’s message may have been just to keep on keeping on. For this fifth league outing he named Vincent Kompany in the squad for the first time, the captain a substitute along with John Stones, who was replaced in central defence by Aleksandar Kolarov.
While the Serb partnered Nicolás Otamendi and Gündogan made a Premier League bow, Jack Wilshere was given a full Bournemouth debut by Howe, the Arsenal loanee playing as the No10.
As Wilshere observed City’s pinball-wizardry pass him by, did he wonder what-might-have-been regarding the proposed move here? He may have stepped out for the second half determined to wrest the game from City’s grasp but within three minutes it was 3-0 and this threatened to become embarrassing for Wilshere and team‑mates.
De Bruyne (again), Iheanacho (again) and Sterling (again) were all involved. The Belgian ran toward goal, slid a pass into the Nigerian, and when the ball was rolled towards City’s No7 Sterling made no mistake.
Now came a rousing rendition of Blue Moon, the club anthem, from the deliriously happy supporters. This was followed by loud applause for Gündogan and De Bruyne, when each was later taken off.
After Gündogan’s finish the sole sour note for City was Nolito’s red card near the end for aiming (and missing) a butt at Adam Smith. Given how the side are playing, Nolito will fear for his starting berth while suspended for the next three games – the league trips to Swansea City and Tottenham Hotspur, plus Wednesday’s League Cup tie also at Swansea.
Guardiola seemed to reluctantly agree the forward should be sent off. “The referee took a decision and we have to accept that,” he said.
At the moment City and their fans are living in a Guardiola-wonderland. Can they stay there? At the moment there seems only one answer.
Guardian
