“Supermen” – Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola confirms the 4 (four) key players to start the match vs Manchester United on sunday

There was a lot of talk after Manchester City beat Luton 6-0 at Kenilworth Road on Tuesday in the FA Cup.

Pep Guardiola called his Manchester City players “supermen” for working hard even though they were tired to get seven tough points in the last week. He then said that the next month would be “defining” for City if they wanted to still be in the running to keep their triple titles in April.

If the first three games were boring, with wasted chances in front of goal but a better defense, then the FA Cup win at Luton might have been the opposite. Last week, City had 71 shots and scored three goals. At Luton, they got six out of seventeen, with five goals from the strong Erling Haaland.

There were some people who didn’t like Haaland, but City showed their mean side in the cup, turning a very tough match into one of the most famous wins of the season. After seeing two very different sides of City this week, United will have good reason to be worried. They have games against Liverpool, Arsenal, and Copenhagen coming up. If City can combine their strong defense with their dangerous attack, they will feel confident going into March’s string of must-win games in three different tournaments.

United has “confirmed” four starts, with Foden moving ahead of Bernardo.
Pep Guardiola’s priorities were clear from the starting lineup at Luton. This week, City will play Manchester United, Liverpool, and the second game of the last 16 of the Champions League. Kevin De Bruyne and Jack Grealish got back into shape after being out with injuries, but the fact that they were still on the team showed how seriously the boss was taking the cup match. Erling Haaland still isn’t fully fit, so he could have given him a break. Instead, he chose to use this game to get Haaland fitter instead of resting his tired legs. Another player like this is John Stones. He could have been rested, but he started to show how strong he was.

After that, everyone looks at who wasn’t playing. Rodri’s absence from the starting lineup makes it much more likely that City will lose, but they couldn’t afford to not give him a night off because they have so many games coming up in the next month. In the same way, Phil Foden’s great play lately has made it impossible to drop him, and he looks like he will start the derby at the Etihad on Sunday. If he gets the rest before Bernardo Silva, it could mean that he is better at scoring than the Portuguese player.

In defense, Stones, Ruben Dias, Manu Akanji, and Nathan Ake could all use a break, but only one could. Dias won that fight on Tuesday, and he is another player who will likely play right back against United. When the Premier League starts up again, Ederson will take over for Stefan Ortega as the cup goalie. When the teams were named at Luton, it became almost certain that Ederson, Dias, Rodri, and Foden would start the derby. This is especially true since none of them came off the bench.

As of the 74th minute, Erling Haaland, John Stones, Bernardo Silva, and Nathan Ake were all taken off. This means that four more players are expected to start against United. After setting up four goals, De Bruyne feels like he’s a sure player to start.

Again, Haaland tells his critics to “shut up.”
Erling Haaland was taken off early on the south coast, even though City still needed a goal to win. This came after he had a bad game at Bournemouth. Recently, he has been wasting chances, which is not like him at all. After he scored the game-winning goal against Brentford, Pep Guardiola had to support him and tell anyone who was doubting the Norwegian that he would soon “shut you up.” If there were more quiet doubts about Haaland’s finishing over the weekend and City’s general lack of goals, they were put to rest in the first three minutes at Luton.

Kevin De Bruyne walked forward and took advantage of a mistake. Haaland’s cutback was perfect. In their last three games, they only scored three goals from 71 shots, but they only needed one shot to score here. Within 20 minutes, there were two goals. De Bruyne set up the second goal with a cross into the middle, and Haaland was unable to miss. The Blues had only scored three goals in their last 71 shots on goal, but they got two goals from two shots here.

As Guardiola always says, things will only get bad when chances stop coming up. Haaland had taken 71 shots in the three games before this one, but only one of them went in. Suddenly, he added two more to his total in no time. It was three by halftime after he chipped the ball over Krul. When Luton dared to dream with two goals from Jordan Clark, Haaland scored his fourth and fifth goals in the space of six minutes, straight after Luton scored their second.

It was a good warning that City’s current problems usually only last until the next game. This team loves to show people they’re wrong, as Guardiola said on Monday.

De Bruyne is back at the best possible time.
Right from the start, Kevin De Bruyne was running forward to make up for lost time. He didn’t look like the guy who had said he had “niggles” in his hamstring seven days before. De Bruyne has 13 goals or helpers in 11 games since coming back from injury, which is one every 40 minutes. He has set up four goals for Haaland.

At Luton, his link-up with Haaland was dangerous; they just couldn’t handle it. They could have a lot more fun this weekend against Manchester United if they had more room and another weak United defense.

Jack Grealish looked upset because he seemed to have lost again, but De Bruyne looked like he had never been away. He wasn’t moving around in the box in the second half after yet another lung-bursting run into the box, so it didn’t look like he was worried about his hamstring. Guardiola saw the next month as the most important of the season, even though his team was having health problems. De Bruyne is back with a smile on his face and is always on the lookout for Haaland. This could be enough to keep City going when they get tired.

Rico where is he?
Rico Lewis knows that he isn’t as important as Kyle Walker, so the fact that he is on the bench for the seventh straight game at Luton and the ninth time in the last ten games may not come as a surprise. But a game in the FA Cup right before a run of tougher games would also be a great way to keep Lewis fresh and ready to go. Kyle Walker led the team at right back after a break at Bournemouth, with Mateo Kovacic and Matheus Nunes in midfield and Nathan Ake at left back. Lewis could not have played in any of his other possible places.

The last few games could be the start of the race for the triple. Pep Guardiola has called this game and the rest of March “defining” for City’s hopes. The boss won’t choose players based on how they feel, so Lewis needs to show that he deserves to start. He did rest some important players, but he also played well at Luton, and Walker gives them width that Lewis doesn’t. It’s also important that John Stones is back because he changes the dynamic in the middle of the field from his less experienced partner.

Lewis played the last 14 minutes after City scored their sixth goal. It was the first time in almost a month that he had played. Still, Lewis was used off the bench and in rotation both last season and at the start of this one. He was on the bench for a while, though, and may need something to get back into the team. The draw for the quarterfinals may be his best chance of making the next start in two and a half weeks.

City fans who took the train to Luton will have arrived at Manchester Piccadilly to see one of their team’s sponsors buy a row of the station’s most visible billboards. One sign said, “Derby Day is Different Here.” Another one said, “Nobody is neutral.” It’s Derby Day. Happy birthday. A third said, “Wedding day. In that order.” There was a derby week beginning, even though Luton came in first.

City took control of the game early at Luton, so the fans in the small away end at Kenilworth Road could start singing their favorite derby songs early. Before halftime, songs were sung about Old Trafford coming down, a certain 6-1 win, and other things. Blues fans will see how tough their team was and hope for another high-scoring derby win on Sunday.

The fans paid more attention to United after Haaland scored his fifth goal of the night. The away fans sang, “Never felt more like singing the Blues.” Before the game, they would have known that even more regular United players are doubtful because of injuries. Haaland is in a good mood, and United is self-imploding. The striker will be salivating at the thought of what he could do in his second Etihad derby after scoring a hat-trick in the first one.