Joe Hart is facing a battle to secure his position as first-choice goalkeeper at Manchester City after being told by Pep Guardiola he can not waste time proving he is as comfortable with the ball at his feet as in his hands.
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Guardiola is new to Premier League football and most will be excited at the prospect of his City side providing entertaining football, although it may take some time to see his ideas really come in to effect.
Guardiola told press here on Friday, that he had been successful in Spain and also in Germany despite big challenges, and now he was in England to do the same.
Hart, 29, has been City’s first-choice goalkeeper for the past six seasons, contributing to two Premier League title wins, two League Cup successes and their 2011 FA Cup triumph. “Tomorrow I don’t know if we’re going to play good, but I won’t accept if we don’t play with soul”. “He is a good, good, good player, so we are happy to have him and he is fit. We have the players and we have the quality to do so”.
Not only do we have to contend with a 5:30pm trip to the Etihad under the reign of its new king, Pep Guardiola, but we face a team that, put simply, we just aren’t very good against historically.
German worldwide Ter Stegen will miss Barca’s first leg Spanish Super Cup clash at Sevilla on Sunday with a knee injury, but is expected to return shortly and could be interested in a move to the Etihad Stadium in a bid to play more first-team football.
Nolito was one of two summer signings handed their full City debuts, alongside the underworked John Stones, and the Spaniard was the next to threaten when he cut inside before looking to pick out the far top corner from a tight angle, only to fire it a yard or so wide. The people who are intelligent, they read exactly what is going on, what they have to do.
The Black Cats have a new manager in David Moyes and the former United man will no doubt be given a hero’s welcome here after the job he did at Old Trafford. We’re going in the right direction. Anything less than 3 points won’t settle down well with him as he is well aware that every missed point will add to the distance between him and the Premier League glory. We can not speak differently.
“If at the end of the season we are not champions because someone is better than us then great, that’s football”.
A beautifully worked play by Sunderland combined with bad defending from City ended up with a goal for Black Cats top scorer, Jermain Defoe. He will be at Etihad Stadium for the Sunderland game, which begins possibly the most exciting era in City’s history.
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Sunderland, on the other hand, will hope to trigger an upset or get at least a draw after failing to win both legs of their last season’s encounters.
