MANCHESTER, United Kingdom: Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola hailed Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou’s attacking approach as a blessing for the Premier League ahead of the first meeting between the pair in England on Sunday.
Postecoglou’s stunning start to his reign took Spurs to the top of the table, but Tottenham have since suffered three consecutive defeats to slip to fifth.
The Australian has drawn criticism for his refusal to adopt a more conservative style, even while Spurs are without a number of key players through injury and suspension.
James Maddison, Micky van de Ven, Rodrigo Bentancur and Richarlison will all be sidelined for the trip to the Etihad, while Sergio Romero completes a three-game ban.
But Guardiola said Postecoglou’s history of success in his homeland, at Yokohama Marinos in Japan and at Celtic, where he won five trophies in two seasons, proves he should stick to his beliefs.
“Every team plays to the desire of the manager,” Guardiola said at his pre-match press conference on Friday.
“He’s done in the past in Japan and of course in Glasgow with Celtic and now. I think he makes football a better place, people like Ange.”
Spurs have taken an early lead in all three of their recent defeats to Chelsea, Wolves and Aston Villa.
And Guardiola believes only fine details have changed from a 10-game unbeaten run that gave Postecoglou the best start of any new manager to the Premier League.
“The courage,” added Guardiola on what he admires of Postecoglou’s style.
“So dynamic. It happened at Glasgow and now here. I know they lost the last games but did you see who they play?
“I see a lot of similarities when they were winning. Football is like that sometimes, two red (cards) against Chelsea, bad moments, but the dynamic is always positive.”
City head into the weekend one point behind leaders Arsenal after their 23-match winning streak at home was ended in a 1-1 draw with Liverpool last weekend.
Guardiola bemoaned the sleepy atmosphere at the Etihad for a lunchtime kick-off and has called upon the City fans to lift his side on Sunday.
“The stadium is all the time full and we have to play as best as possible and create as much as possible to energise and make our people with us,” added Guardiola.
“The games last season, semifinals, quarter-finals, important games like against Arsenal when we played for the Premier League, they were there like animals and we need that.
“In my humble opinion, to be successful we need our fans, all the time, being here. Thank you for coming, because without that it is impossible. Together we are stronger.”
Jack Grealish, Mateo Kovacic and Matheus Nunes are expected to miss out for City due to illness and injury.
John Stones is nearing his comeback but is not yet fit to feature, while Guardiola is hoping Kevin De Bruyne will return early in the new year from a lengthy hamstring injury.
Postecoglou’s bravery makes football better, says Guardiola
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Postecoglou’s bravery makes football better, says Guardiola
- The Australian has drawn criticism for his refusal to adopt a more conservative style
- Guardiola said: “I think he makes football a better place, people like Ange”
Late Guirassy winner for Dortmund trims Bayern’s lead atop Bundesliga
- A fifth consecutive league victory moved Niko Kovac’s side to 48 points
- The Guinean supplied a fine left-footed finish in the 87th minute to ensure it was a winning return
WOLFSBURG, Germany: A late Serous Guirassy winner settled a tense contest in Wolfsburg as Borussia Dortmund prevailed 2-1 on Saturday to provisionally cut Bayern Munich’s lead at the top of the Bundesliga to three points.
A fifth consecutive league victory moved Niko Kovac’s side to 48 points, within a victory of erstwhile runaway leaders Bayern, who can restore their six-point cushion with victory at in-form Hoffenheim on Sunday.
After a record-breaking start to the season, the champions are winless in their last two games, giving Dortmund the chance to dream of a first title since 2012 with 13 games to go.
It was not a vintage display by Dortmund, who suffered a blow pre-match with the news that captain Emre Can will be sidelined for another month.
But they ground out victory against a Wolfsburg team who have only won once since the turn of the year thanks to goals by Julian Brandt and Guirassy, each side of a Konstantinos Koulierakis leveller for the hosts.
Max Beier almost put Dortmund ahead in the first half but his effort was deflected by Denis Vavro’s last-ditch block onto the underside of the bar.
But the Wolves failed to heed that warning when a few minutes later Dortmund went ahead.
- Pivotal -
Julian Ryerson’s 38th-minute corner from the left found Brandt at the near post and the Germany international out-leaped substitute Jan Buerger to nod in.
Dortmund’s advantage was erased seven minutes into the second half when Koulierakis chose the perfect moment to score his first goal for Wolfsburg, powering in a header from close range.
With 15th-placed Wolfsburg only a few minutes away from securing a precious point, Dortmund produced a silky winner after Guirassy capped good play by Felix Nmecha and Fabio Silva.
The Guinean supplied a fine left-footed finish in the 87th minute to ensure it was a winning return to his former club for Dortmund coach Kovac.
This also proved a pivotal day in the battle for Bundesliga survival as well as the fight for the coveted top-four places.
St. Pauli, whose last win was before the winter break, hosted fourth-placed Stuttgart, who hadn’t lost in the league since a 5-0 home drubbing by Bayern on December 6.
Daniel Sinani’s clever dummy wrong-footed the Stuttgart defense and the loose ball was lashed in from the edge of the box by Manolis Saliakis for the opener on 35 minutes.
Things got even better for St. Pauli 10 minutes after the break when Sinani slotted home from the penalty spot to make it 2-0 after a VAR review confirmed a handball against Chris Fuehrich.
Stuttgart pulled one back through Jamie Leweling in the last minute but it was too little too late as goal-shy St. Pauli clawed themselves to within touching distance of the teams above them, despite remaining 17th.
St. Pauli’s city rivals Hamburg also picked up a precious three points, winning their first game on the road this season at 2-0 bottom-placed Heidenheim.
Mainz recorded yet another victory, this time a 2-0 win over Augsburg, in their remarkable turnaround under Swiss strategist Urs Fischer, who has guided Mainz from the bottom of the table to 13th in a matter of weeks.
Nadiem Amiri scored both goals from the spot, each side of the interval, to make it four wins in five ahead of a trip to Dortmund next weekend.
Werder Bremen were edged out by a sensational solitary strike by Freiburg’s Jan-Niklas Beste to extend their winless streak to 11 games.
Bremen’s losing run, the longest in the German top flight, resulted in coach Horst Steffen being relieved of his duties last week, with Daniel Thioune replacing him.
