Manchester City fans are obviously glad that Pep Guardiola has managed to put his side back on track, currently on top of the Premier League table.
Now there’s another reason why the Portuguese media is highlighting the manager’s recent success today. That’s because of the way he’s managing to take the best out of Ruben Dias, João Cancelo and Bernardo Silva.
Newspaper Record is the one featuring a column from Bruno Prata, who says the Premier League leaders now have those three compatriots succeeding, with some special help from the former Juventus player.
João Cancelo, who joined Manchester City on a €65m deal in January, now has 24 appearances for the club this season, and is called a Swiss Army Knife by that piece.
“More than discussing whether he’s already the best right-back in the Premier League (a quarrel in which I must not get involved, since Alexander-Arnold is back to excellence), it’s important to raise the prosperity of a Cancelo that Guardiola uses today as a Swiss army knife, similar to what he did with Abidal, in Barcelona, or with Lahm, Kimmich and Alaba, in Munich. The idea is repeated: the indiscriminate use of Cancelo to the side (right or left), middle-interior or even the wing also aims at a double objective: to ensure the indispensable defensive balances and, at the same time, to add class in the construction with the ball.”
Speaking of Ruben Dias, Record details how the former Benfica captain managed to change Manchester City’s defensive sector.
“With Ruben Dias, City gained aggressiveness and a voice in defence, and even Stones, his preferred partner, seems transfigured for the better. Guardiola loves him and Tony Cascarino compared his impact to Van Dijk’s at Liverpool. ‘Dias reminds me of Sergio Romos, but without the red cards’, he added with humour. And the 68 million (plus the pebbles) that Benfica will receive already seem like a bargain.”
They also claim that Guardiola managed to take the best ‘genius’ from Bernardo Silva once again.
“MVP against Aston Villa and Sheffield, Bernardo Silva recovered his fundamental magic when De Bruyne is injured and Aguero is still out. Guardiola says he is ‘one of the smartest players’ he’s ever seen, capable of ‘doing everything in all positions’. In ‘The Times’ it can be read that the ‘little playmaker has recovered his shape’ and even the coach’s plan: ‘give Bernardo as many balls as possible…”
