Франц хагас хамгаалагч сэлгээнээс талбайд гарч, Борнмутын эсрэг ялалтын гоолыг дамжуулан багтаа 2-1-ийн харьцаатай хожил авчирлаа.
Манчестер Сити Премьер лигийн шинэ улирлын эхний тоглолтод Борнмутыг 2-1-ээр буулган авч, дасгалжуулагч Энцо Марескагийн эрин үеийн анхны ялалтаа байгууллаа. Тоглолтын 63 дахь минутад сэлгээнээс гарсан Райан Шерки эхлээд булангийн цохилтоос Марк Гэхигийн гоолын дамжуулалтыг өгсөн бол 91 дэх минутад Йошко Гвардиол руу гайхалтай дамжуулалт хийж ялалтыг баталгаажуулжээ.
Мареска тоглолтын дараа Шеркигийн үзүүлсэн тоглолтыг өндрөөр үнэлж, түүнийг гарааны бүрэлдэхүүнд багтаагаагүй шийдвэрээ тоглолтын төлөвлөгөөтэй холбон тайлбарлав. Шерки өнгөрсөн улиралд Премьер лигт 19 удаа боломж үүсгэсэн үзүүлэлтээрээ Бруно Фернандешийн дараа орох амжилтыг үзүүлсэн бөгөөд Пеп Гвардиола түүнийг багтаа маш том нөлөө үзүүлдэг тоглогч хэмээн тодорхойлж байсан юм.
Манчестер Ситигийн удирдлагууд Шеркиг Кевин Де Брюнений залгамж халаа болно хэмээн үзэж, Лион клубээс ойролцоогоор 30 сая фунт стерлингээр эгнээндээ нэгтгэсэн билээ. Хэдийгээр түүний зан авиртай холбоотой эргэлзээ байсан ч багийн зүгээс үүнийг ердөө цуу яриа гэж үзэж байна.
Одоогийн байдлаар Фил Фоден багийн гараанд илүү түлхүү гарч байгаа нь урьдчилсан бэлтгэлд бүрэн хамрагдсантай холбоотой юм. Гэсэн хэдий ч Шерки биеийн бэлтгэлээ нөхөж, талбай дээрх нөлөөллөө харуулж эхэлснээр удахгүй Эрлинг Холандын ард үндсэн тоглогч болох төлөвтэй байна.
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“Rayan is quite a nice and clear boy,” Enzo Maresca said, smiling. “If he is not happy, he wants to show it.”
The Rayan in question is Rayan Cherki, Manchester City’s mercurial No 10 who often sparkled in his debut season under Pep Guardiola, and on Sunday stepped off the bench to earn his side the first victory of the Maresca era, a 2-1 comeback win against Bournemouth.
City created plenty of chances before his introduction in the 63rd minute, but it was his perfect corner that Marc Guehi headed home, and it was Cherki again in the 91st minute who received the ball outside of the box, manoeuvred it into position and slipped through a fine through pass for Josko Gvardiol to win it.
It was Cherki himself who revealed how he liked to show Guardiola his frustrations when he was left on the bench last season — he started half of City’s league matches — although Guardiola generally recognised it as the good kind of anger, the kind that fuels an impact off the bench, rather than causes a row. The Catalan once revealed that Riyad Mahrez, when unhappy about not starting, could sometimes perform badly when brought off the bench.
“His impact in his first season in the Premier League, in terms of assists, goals, being angry when he doesn’t play because he wants to help, these kinds of things surprised me a lot,” Guardiola said in April.
“At the beginning of the season, when he played 15 or 20 minutes, his impact has been massive. Always creates something, always gives something.”
Rayan Cherki grabs Josko Gvardiol as Manchester City celebrate their late winner (Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
According to Opta, only Bruno Fernandes (33) created more chances from open play in the Premier League than Cherki’s 19 last season. There were also decisive interventions like a late winner at Nottingham Forest just after Christmas and a magical opening goal against Arsenal in April. When personality was needed in a difficult Manchester derby in January, Guardiola called for Cherki from the bench.
It was a fine debut season for somebody who only turned 23 a week ago.
“The impact was unbelievable,” Maresca said on Sunday. “He is that kind of player.”
That does not mean, though, that he is being resigned to a super-sub role.
Phil Foden has been given the nod in City’s two matches back in the UK so far — the Community Shield last weekend and the Premier League opener on Sunday — but that appears to be largely down to the fact that he was back for a full pre-season in Asia, and was automatically ahead of Cherki in the pecking order, with the Frenchman only returning to training 10 days before the Premier League began.
Foden has been slowly getting up to speed, but Cherki appears to have got his sharpness back much faster, and with his fitness catching up, it cannot be long before he is starting matches in the playmaker role behind Erling Haaland.
Phil Foden started in the Community Shield and against Bournemouth on Sunday (Michael Steele/Getty Images)
Speaking after the match, Maresca revealed that he had left Cherki out, at least in part, because four other players who went far in the World Cup were in the team and “physically not good”, and that choosing a fifth might tip the balance too far in Bournemouth’s favour.
Maresca felt the need to justify his decision to keep Cherki on the bench to the player himself.
“I like Rayan, I told him also after the game, sometimes when you plan a game and you already have four out of 11 players who arrive late (from holidays), sometimes you think if we go one more with five, maybe the difference is too big,” he said. “And sometimes you plan for the last half an hour, or the second half. I think what they have to do when they don’t play from the start is what Rayan has done today, just be ready, go on and try to do your best.”
In the recent Amazon Prime documentary following City’s fortunes over the past two seasons, the club’s decision-makers were shown sitting around a table discussing their process for recruiting the next Kevin De Bruyne, who was set to depart in the summer of 2025. They felt that Cherki could reach that level in two years, but they had concerns about his temperament.
“Everybody knew about his abilities but there was this idea that he was chaotic,” CEO Ferran Soriano said in A Beautiful Obsession.
In a later scene, which relayed voice notes sent by Soriano to chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, it was revealed that City had asked several of the Frenchman’s former coaches and only had one bad review. “But that was when he was very young. They’re getting convinced that his behaviour is just a myth.”
The upshot from Al Mubarak was that Cherki was an undervalued asset and needed to be signed as soon as possible. City soon closed a deal with Lyon for around £30million.
In any case, even De Bruyne liked a moan.
Kevin De Bruyne, Manchester City great (Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP via Getty Images)
“If he’s next to me and he’s not happy. You all realise that he is not happy because he is doing anything just to show that he is not happy,” Maresca said of Cherki. “I know that he was not happy today but at the end I had to take a decision.”
There are times when Cherki comes off the bench and does not look quite as engaged as he did on Sunday — as was evident at the World Cup — but the hope is that those moments will be phased out as his career develops. On his day, he is a remarkable talent and one that could light up the Premier League for years to come. That was in evidence against Bournemouth.
Maresca believes that back-to-back Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain are so good because they have players all over the pitch who can beat a man and continue to run, and he cites Cherki as somebody who can do that. And with Premier League teams combining man-to-man marking with dropping into a deep defensive position, Cherki’s ability to carve teams open makes him a very important weapon.
Maresca’s City are finding their feet and Cherki is only just getting started. If City were right about him becoming the next De Bruyne in two years, he is already halfway there.
