As the weeks were reduced to January, and the early recovery in the fortune at Manchester City never arrived, the scale of his business became gradually great. Three to four signings were being discussed, with a budget of £ 200 million.
City ended up spending a little less than that and with the signing of the day of the deadline of Nico González, he attacked the key deficiency area: the center of the central field. A new defender was generally accepted as a necessity, ended with two, and someone to remove goal pressure from Haaland. Omar Marmush more than showed that he is equipped to do it against Newcastle.
But there was another suggestion of those close to the club of what the city can aim. A new potential goalkeeper, if the right man was available. Which, given how hard Pep Guardiola fought to keep Ederson last summer, presented a certain surprise.
The city's goal to open Newcastle for the first time on Saturday came from number 1, someone considered Guardiola imperative to get rid of Claudio Bravo in 2017. A perfect long ball, Marmoush Galopondo. Surprisingly, it was the sixth assistance of the Ederson League, the most registered, and these are not flows. It has only three this season.
The distribution of the Brazilian was a key reason behind Guardiola's sincere conversations while touring in the United States before the campaign, when the manager implored that he did not take the money in Saudi Arabia and give the champions at least one year further. He has been such an integral member of this super team after joining Benfica, where the coaches affectionately nicknamed 'The Bull' and Guardiola was not ready to separate.
Ederson, who had more to flirt with the idea of leaving, then felt primary to what City wanted to achieve and safer in his position after hesitation a little after a meeting that had not seen 2 Stefan Ortega praised for a salvation for a salvation of definition of the season. In Tottenham Hotspur in the last week. Ederson has sometimes believed that they have not given the credit that perhaps deserves the actions for a sustained period of time and there is something really in that.
Ederson has been entering and leaving the Manchester City team this season: a good performance against Newcastle could promote it to the form
There was talk that the city could seek to sign a new goalkeeper in January despite the fact that Pep Guardiola fought hard to keep the Brazilian
Stefan Ortega has taken a step forward on more than one occasion, pushing Ederson for shirt no 1
Guardiola would obviously not wanted to introduce a new man with a lower feet game at this late stage of his east mandate. But then, although it plays through a muscular problem that prevents it from training correctly, Ederson exhibitions have been indicative of the city in general.
An unquestionable fall, evidenced by this clean sheet, is only the fifth of the team in 25 games, and three of them were against Salford City, Ipswich Town and Leicester City. In no other whole season since Guardiola has admitted more goals than the league than the 35 that are already in this term. Numbers that cannot be attributed only to the porter department, however, convicted.
“It's not about the Guardians,” Guardiola said Friday. 'Soccer is an ecosystem, a group. Why not the guardians (in shape)? Because the movements (elsewhere) are not adequate.
Then Guardiola continued, adding: 'The first goal against Arsenal, the second chance that (Kai) Hvertz could score. We give them away. Just giving the goals.
The lack of Havertz was from the poor pass of Ortega and the goalkeepers, which could be considered subjectively guilty for 11 goals since the beginning of November, they have fought for consistency as the changes rain in front of them. Without a stable of four, City cannot dream of reliable solidity.
It offers some form of reason behind your statistics this season. Compared to other first -choice plugs, Ederson and Ortega enter Board 17 together with Andre Onana for the percentage of savings through the division, with 63 percent, above their counterparts in Aston Villa, Brighton and Wolves .
Guardiola had stayed with Ederson until the beginning of his bad career, four losses, before his role in the collapse of Fabergasting against Feyenoord was the final top. Ortega was thrown directly into a defeat in Liverpool, Ederson finally returned from the cold just to get lost after his role in another late capitulation against Manchester United in December. Ederson lost four games at Christmas, just before the window was opened, through an injury.
Cut and change in defense have raised uncertainty, so also the lack of general cohesion outside the ball. Likewise, however, not having a truly stable goalkeeper has barely helped and Guardiola will wait for this afternoon to act as a turning point for the man between the sticks and the beginning of something similar to normal.