TIME FOR PEP TO REMIND US OF HIS GENIUS

Boss must earn his corn in killer week for City

THERE is a phrase in football that you will hear almost on a weekly basis — one game at a time. The implication is that nobody must look too far into the future. It’s a nice line but the reality is different. When you have eight days like the kind Manchester City are facing, as a player you cannot help but look ahead to the context of different fixtures.

For managers, the preparation for such a period will have started well in advance.

City will not win anything between now and next Sunday but once they have completed trips to London, Paris and Merseyside, they will have a fair idea of what the season has in store for them — whether they are the team to beat or whether they will be doing the chasing.

This period — Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, Paris SaintGermain at Parc des Princes and Liverpool at Anfield — is one where players can enhance their reputations but I believe this is also a spell for the manager to come into his own.

Pep Guardiola was brought to Manchester to excel in these moments.

We all know what he has achieved over the last five years but this feels like a perfect point for him to remind everyone why he is regarded as the best in the world, a genius who sees football in a different way.

Occasionally, he has had a habit of over-thinking things in big games and Chelsea will have been on his mind for weeks — particularly after what happened at the end of last season. Thomas Tuchel oversaw three wins over City at Wembley, the etihad Stadium and in the Champions League final.

As a player, when you come up against an opponent who gets the better of you, it plays on your mind ahead of the next time you face them and you ask yourself questions. Will they do it to me again? What can I do to stop them? how will I cope on my own?

Guardiola will be no different in that he will be anxious about the outcome at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea look ominous — I was at Tottenham last week and they won comprehensively without hitting top gear — and Tuchel has surprised me with how quickly he has joined the elite managers.

every decision Tuchel makes right now is coming off and Chelsea are a team with momentum and confidence because of it.

The concern for City this weekend will be that a hangover might remain from what happened when the teams met in Porto last May.

It surprised me that City did not buy a No 9 in the summer. They arguably needed just such a player two summers ago, never mind two months ago, before the attempts to sign harry Kane and then Cristiano ronaldo ended in failure.

he made it work last season but how does Guardiola do it again? When you spend £100million on someone, as City did with Jack Grealish, he is going to start matches. You then have riyad Mahrez, Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden, Ferran Torres and raheem Sterling to fit into only a couple of spots.

Sterling, as it stands, is tending to find himself as the odd man out. he has only scored three goals for City in his last 24 appearances, since February 21, which is at odds with what he has been doing for england.

One of the aspects I admire most about raheem is his ability to overcome adversity. he has another level to reach in terms of his form and I always believe that when City are on song, raheem will be in the team. I don’t see these three games passing without him having an influence.

The man who will have the most influence on this period, however, is Guardiola. I would go as far as to say this is one of the biggest weeks he has faced since he arrived at the club, trying to outwit Tuchel, Mauricio Pochettino and finally Jurgen Klopp — all away from the etihad.

Guardiola, of course, has had a well-documented recent exchange with fans about the numbers attending home games. While I believe his words were initially taken out of context, it may have served as a reminder of the importance of publicly showing he appreciates the soul of the club, which I believe he does.

City will be roared on by their passionate fans in the away end at all three grounds in the coming 10 days and that hard core are as good as at any other club.

There are many who have been there through thick and thin. Things, however, have admittedly changed since it was £20 to get into Maine road and there were only league and occasional cup games to attend.

It is an expensive business following a Premier League club now and not everyone can afford it but I’m sure this issue will pass. What matters today for City is beating Chelsea and restoring a level of composure in order to attack the rest of the season.

There is no getting away from the fact this is a crucial sequence of games. Guardiola was brought in to stamp his presence all over them. This is his time to shine.