Things were going well for Manchester City. They led at half-time against Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium. They came out all guns blazing after the break too, but failed to take their chances. Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne were made to pay for missing relative sitters as Diego Costa, Willian and Eden Hazard put City to the sword.
And for the first time since joining City, Guardiola showed signs of the pressure getting the better of him. The former Barcelona manager dominated the Bundesliga in his three seasons with Bayern Munich and he was expected to perform similarly at City, especially given the arrivals of the likes of Ilkay Gundogan, Leroy Sane and John Stones in the summer.
But in Saturday’s game, Antonio Conte’s men came out with a plan in the second half and executed the plan perfectly. Chelsea sat deep, let City have the ball and then hit them hard on the break with the pace of Hazard and Willian.
In the process, Guardiola lost his cool. He made mocking gestures towards the referee Anthony Taylor after what he thought were continual decisions going against his team. It will be interesting to see if the FA takes any action against Guardiola, given that Jose Mourinho was banned for one game last week after kicking a bottle in frustration after a bad decision. This isn’t too much different, and it could be interpreted as disrespecting the referee.
The manager was not the only one who lost his calm. Aguero was given his marching orders after a shocking tackle on David Luiz. The Argentine had missed a few gilt-edged chances to extend his lead, and the frustration eventually got to him. After one heavy touch, he jumped in with his studs high, catching Luiz on the knee. It very much looked as though the intention was to injure and not to win the ball.
A mass scuffle followed and turned into a mini-brawl as the likes of Kelechi Iheanacho and Fernandinho got involved. The Brazilian especially lost his head as he held Cesc Fabregas by the neck and pushed him to the ground. Fernandinho too got sent off, and both Aguero and him now face the prospect of multiple-match bans.
Guardiola did not like the involvement of the player that he once coached at Barcelona. At the end of the game, he refused to shake Fabregas’s hand, which is a common obligatory gesture.
For the first time in his time at Manchester, Guardiola lost his cool. That seemed to have blown over to the players who completely lost their discipline. What will now be interesting to see is how many games Aguero and Fernandinho will miss and if at all the manager himself will miss any games.
