MANCHESTER // Pep Guardiola has warned his players they must be more clinical in front of goal or they will fail to close the gap on Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur next season.
And the Manchester City manager also hopes that Belgian playmaker Kevin de Bruyne will help in that aim by shedding his tag as the Premier League’s nearly man in the goalscoring stakes.
Guardiola’s men enter the final day of the league campaign facing the prospect of finishing as many as 18 points behind champions Chelsea and 11 back from runners-up Spurs.
The Catalan has already identified his team’s main problem: their inability to convert chances into goals, a particular issue at their Etihad Stadium home.
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Read more
■ Predictions: Expect goals as Chelsea, Spurs and Man City finish in style
■ Chelsea: John Terry, the one mainstay in the Roman Abramovich era, bids farewell
■ Liverpool: Beating Arsenal to top four spot would see shift in balance of power and fortunes
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“I have learnt you have to score more goals. Basically that,” said Guardiola when asked what the biggest lesson he had taken from his debut season in English football.
“So at home, especially at home, we dropped a lot of points,” the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager added. “It’s impossible to avoid that. But we didn’t score enough goals at home.
“So we have to play a little bit better to create more chances to create more goals. If we want to reduce that gap, maybe that gap with Tottenham and Chelsea will be short. If we don’t, it will be the same,” warned Guardiola, whose side finish the season away to Watford on Sunday.
City’s tally of 37 goals from 19 home games this season is the worst among the elite top four teams and even that figure has been boosted by big home wins this month against Crystal Palace and West Bromwich Albion.
Guardiola cited De Bruyne as a case in point when it came to the fine margins involved.
“I think we have guys ... for example, Kevin de Bruyne has most assists in the league and he hit the cross-bar 11 or 12 or 14 or 15. So the distance between the crossbar, goal, no goal is maybe centimetres and when you just score half of those situations, maybe there are seven or eight more points.
“So we just have to be a little bit more precise in those situations and we are going to try.”
The case of De Bruyne is curious with the Belgian having scored only six league goals this term, and seven in 48 games across all competitions.
That record stands in stark contrast to his first season with the club, in 2015/16, when he hit the net 16 times in 41 appearances.
However, this season’s return conceals two amazing statistics surrounding De Bruyne with the attacking midfielder contributing 16 assists in the Premier League and having struck the woodwork nine times in league games alone.
“I would like to have Kevin the level he had that season, he was a guy who scored goals and had quality,” Guardiola said. “Look at the exceptional goal he scored the last game. But he made 12 or 13 crossbars, a lot and that’s not his mistake. Football is like this.”
Guardiola has already hinted at the need to strengthen his goalscoring options next season and that could mean little-used youngster Kelechi Iheanacho is on his way out of the club, with West Ham United and Everton reportedly interested.
But, regardless, Guardiola believes that in Sergio Aguero, Gabriel Jesus, De Bruyne and wide men Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling, he also has options currently within his squad to answer the problem.
“I think we have the quality of players to score goals,” he said. “Kele – he didn’t play too much because of my reasons – he has the quality; Sergio, there’s no doubt about that; Gabriel there’s no doubt about that.
“Kevin I think is a guy to score 12-14 goals a season, no problem at all. And our wingers score goals.”
* Agence France-Presse
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Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
POSSIBLE ENGLAND EURO 2020 SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford, Nick Pope, Dean Henderson.
Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Kieran Trippier, Joe Gomez, John Stones, Harry Maguire, Tyrone Mings, Ben Chilwell, Fabian Delph.
Midfielders: Declan Rice, Harry Winks, Jordan Henderson, Ross Barkley, Mason Mount, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Forwards: Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Tammy Abraham, Callum Hudson-Odoi.
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RESULTS
5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,600m
Winner: Omania, Saif Al Balushi (jockey), Ibrahim Al Hadhrami (trainer)
5.30pm: Conditions (PA) Dh85,000 1,600m
Winner: Brehaan, Richard Mullen, Ana Mendez
6pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 1,600m
Winner: Craving, Connor Beasley, Simon Crisford
6.30pm: The President’s Cup Prep (PA) Dh100,000 2,200m
Winner: Rmmas, Tadhg O’Shea, Jean de Roualle
7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup (PA) Dh70,000 1,200m
Winner: Dahess D’Arabie, Connor Beasley, Helal Al Alawi
7.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 1,400m
Winner: Fertile De Croate, Sam Hitchcott, Ibrahim Aseel
Ashes 2019 schedule
August 1-5: First Test, Edgbaston
August 14-18: Second Test, Lord's
August 22-26: Third Test, Headingley
September 4-8: Fourth Test, Old Trafford
September 12-16: Fifth Test, Oval
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Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin
Director: Shawn Levy
Rating: 3/5
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THE POPE'S ITINERARY
Sunday, February 3, 2019 - Rome to Abu Dhabi
1pm: departure by plane from Rome / Fiumicino to Abu Dhabi
10pm: arrival at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
Monday, February 4
12pm: welcome ceremony at the main entrance of the Presidential Palace
12.20pm: visit Abu Dhabi Crown Prince at Presidential Palace
5pm: private meeting with Muslim Council of Elders at Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
6.10pm: Inter-religious in the Founder's Memorial
Tuesday, February 5 - Abu Dhabi to Rome
9.15am: private visit to undisclosed cathedral
10.30am: public mass at Zayed Sports City – with a homily by Pope Francis
12.40pm: farewell at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
1pm: departure by plane to Rome
5pm: arrival at the Rome / Ciampino International Airport