Wensdi Gossip

by MCFC Editorial

Media Watch: How Guardiola transformed midfield

A tactical masterstroke, Leroy Sane’s burgeoning talent and a Manchester United player’s admiration for a City man all feature in Wednesday’s Media Watch.


We’ll start at the Manchester Evening News, where Stuart Brennan has penned a piece explaining how Pep Guardiola has got the best out of Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva and why that has been so crucial to City’s fortunes this season.

Writes Brennan: “Both De Bruyne AND Silva would be central, and both play as No. 10s – when City had the ball.

“But when they lost the ball, he expected both to be what the Continentals might call a No. 8, an all-rounder or box-to-box player who works back hard for the team.

“Once he had drilled that message home, City were transformed. In possession, they had Fernandinho anchoring with his own brand of driving football and perceptive passing.

“De Bruyne usually drops deeper than Silva but is still very much an attacking midfielder – both flit into positions which give Fernandinho and the City central defenders a target for passes between the lines."

Meanwhile, Sane has earned the compliments of international team-mate and Bayer Leverkusen defender, Jonathan Tah.

Speaking about a collection of impressive German youngsters, including Sane, the centre-half believes Die Mannschaft should have great pride in their quality.


Goal have the story, with Tah saying: “For sure, this is the future.

“I think Germany should be proud to have players like them. What each of them is doing at that young age is simply outstanding.

“There are also a few more. I think that this will be the future, yes."

Finally, United’s Paul Pogba has revealed a list of players he admires, both past and present.

And amongst the stars still playing are two City midfielders, who the Frenchman admits he tries to learn from.

He told the Mirror: “Now I look more at players like Andres Iniesta, Yaya Toure, Kevin De Bruyne and Luke Modric - who is a very strong midfielder player

“I look at them to try to be better."

That's all for today, Blues, but we'll be back with more headlines at the same time tomorrow.