Manchester City survived a minor scare to blitz Burnley on Saturday, with two braces – coming from Erling Haaland and two Maxime Esteve own goals – proving decisive.
It marked another step on the apparent turnaround for Pep Guardiola‘s side, with Haaland and Co picking up two wins and a draw since the last international break.
Here, Daily Mail Sport takes a look at the main talking points from the win over Burnley…
Intensity from Pep squared
For around 25 minutes of the afternoon, either side of Manchester City eventually wrestling full control of victory, Pep Lijnders man marked his boss.
It’s often difficult to decipher the exact nature of conversations between the brains trust given that they always appear a little frantic and certainly packed with emotion.
But the way the pair of them spoke and gesticulated while Burnley had this all square, and even when City later settled proceedings, suggested that there could be more days like this to come.
Pep Guardiola and right hand man Pep Lijnders are still learning the way with the new-look Manchester City side
They led City to a 5-1 win on Saturday afternoon as they survived a minor scare against Burnley
More days when the latest version of Pep Guardiola’s City is still finding its way, still working itself out. This was by no means vintage, stifled for large spells by Scott Parker’s low block and ultimately indebted to the unfortunate Maxime Esteve, who became only the sixth man in Premier League history to net a brace of own goals in a single game.
The statistics point towards a hugely resounding win but the feel of it, until Matheus Nunes volleyed City back into a lead after Jaidon Anthony’s equaliser, offered something quite different.
And that is Guardiola – lampooned last week for having the temerity to devise a defensive set-up at Arsenal – just figuring things out tactically. Among other things, he wants better movement from Nico O’Reilly and Tijjani Reijnders but says he can see improvement each week.
It is likely why he has devoted so much effort to improving the ‘vibes’ around the camp – which has seen them start doing laps of honours after matches. That as a fundamental and now for the tweaked style, which could take a few months to perfect.
‘Insane’ Haaland’
Part of that centres on two-goal Erling Haaland. Guardiola wants City to utilise their talisman even more than they are doing which, given he’s scored nine goals for them this season and has taken 47 per cent of the club’s shots, is some ask.
‘I had the feeling we have to find him more when teams do a low block,’ Guardiola said. ‘The first half he wasn’t much involved. With Erling, the numbers are insane. We joke but really it is incredible.’
Guardiola is effectively asking his players to go short – as Haaland did for the first goal, linking play nicely – but also to throw crosses from wide with more regularity, expecting his striker to attack them.
Guardiola has spoken of using Haaland more and the forward grabbed two more goals here
Foden now undroppable
All eyes are soon to be on the list of names Thomas Tuchel draws up ahead of England’s friendly with Wales and the World Cup qualifier in Latvia. At this point, it feels inconceivable that Phil Foden is not included for the first time since March.
Then, once named, this version of Foden should be fully able to stamp his authority on a midfield that has flattered to deceive under Tuchel and crying out for some invention. ‘I’m a big fan of Phil, and how can’t you be?’ Tuchel said during September’s camp.
‘He had a brilliant first camp with us, but he simply lacks rhythm. He does not start anymore, since a long time. He can show the fight, show the hunger to get his place back at Man City. That’s the first step.’
Foden’s completed the first challenge, now undroppable for Guardiola after a stellar fortnight. The way in which he is taking more responsibility when in the middle of midfield is serving as a reminder of what the 25-year-old can produce. That was never more evident when a previously comfortable Burnley were rocking slightly.
Dropping off the front, it was Foden who sped up a City attack, zipping a ball out to Nunes and unsettling the hosts. Under pressure from Oscar Bobb, Esteve deflected past Martin Dubravka.
Phil Foden is back to his best and now undroppable for Manchester City – and probably England
Blast from the past
Jeremy Doku was again magnificent for the hosts and terrorised Kyle Walker for the opening goal on what could have been a chastening Etihad return for the right back. That did become a decent battle between the pair of them, Walker growing into the game and decent when standing the Belgian up.
Yet as Nunes flew down the other flank, scoring and engineering City’s third, it did bring to mind what Walker used to offer this Guardiola team. He flew down his flank late on – only to be caught up by a speedy O’Reilly. ‘It was harsh on us,’ Parker said. ‘For 60-70 minutes we were right in it.’