Man City beat K-League All Stars in Korea friendly. Is Reijnders putting himself in the shop window?
Manchester City beat K-League All Stars 3-1 in the stifling heat of Seoul on Wednesday in the first match of the South Korean leg of their pre-season tour.
The country registered its highest temperature on Sunday and severe heat warnings are in place — messages buzz on phones regularly, warning residents and visitors of “sweltering heat”. At kick-off, which was 8pm local time, it was 35C (95F), with humidity making it feel like 45C.
It was so hot during the game that Josko Gvardiol had his hands on his knees during one stoppage, and leant on Gianluigi Donnarumma forlornly. There were, mercifully, two much-needed hydration breaks.
The goal City conceded against the Korean league’s most notable players was poor, with the ball fired in at the near post after being kept alive too easily, but the Premier League team’s class did shine through.
Rayan Ait-Nouri, Tijjani Reijnders and Divin Mubama had City 3-1 up within the first 23 minutes, before six changes were made at half-time and another five on the hour mark. Though there were plenty of second-half chances and City made the keeper work hard, there were no more goals.
Reijnders in the shop window?
Reijnders has been linked with different clubs this summer, most recently Nottingham Forest. Sources around City, who asked not to be named to protect relationships, say the Dutchman felt he had fallen out of favour under Pep Guardiola in the second half of last season, but was willing to stay because there is the potential for a new start under Enzo Maresca.
Interest in his services does seem to be picking up pace, though, and if City could get a bid worth £50m ($67m) or upwards, as reported, they would surely consider the sale. In Seoul on Wednesday, he was given the opportunity to gallop forward, which was generally not the case in his first season at City.
He had caught the eye for Milan and the Netherlands by getting on the ball deep and carrying it up the pitch, but was generally asked to play off Erling Haaland by Guardiola.
He looked bright when getting forward in this game, getting down the right-hand side and crossing for City’s first, and then he turned excellently to fire into the bottom corner after a flick from Antoine Semenyo. It still feels like he is a player City can get more from if he were to stay, but he has never been particularly good defensively and has only had one good goalscoring season, which was the one before he joined City, so there are some reasonable concerns, too.
A big-money offer may mean we never see his full capabilities at CIty but it might be smart to cash in, even if it raises question marks about the original decision-making process.
Tijjani Reijnders in action against Inter at the weekend (Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)
How is Foden’s fresh start going?
It has been a slow start to pre-season for Phil Foden, who has spoken openly about a fresh start after two difficult seasons.
He points out that last season was very good in parts, and that is correct, but it did tail off, and leaves him needing to bounce back. He has signed a new contract this summer and the club fully believe in him, seeing him as one of the fundamental pillars of the team.
This summer should be classed as a great opportunity for him to nail down a place in the line-up for the start of the new campaign, at least, because Rayan Cherki is still on his holidays after the World Cup, and is most likely to challenge Foden for minutes.
But so far Foden has struggled to get up to speed, in either the game against Inter on Saturday or in this one. There have been flashes of his footwork and ability on the turn, but he has also been robbed of possession and has just generally not had the kind of impact that had been hoped.
It is obviously early days, and the heat has to be taken into account for this game, but it would be better for his confidence if things start to pick up in the game against Atletico Madrid in this same stadium on Sunday.
What tweaks are we seeing from Maresca?
City players have been coy about what exactly is new under Maresca, and the same can said of the manager himself. Everybody says it is similar to the Guardiola days, just with a few differences, but without elaborating further.
They have been pressing in a similar manner, with four players waiting patiently across the front line, replicating the plan that undid Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final, with City wingers pressing the opposition centre-backs and City’s full-backs having to jump up and press the opposition’s full-backs.
On the ball, City have been zipping it around quickly, with centre-backs firing balls through the lines to advanced midfielders when possible — Ruben Dias did it a couple of times in the first half — and those attackers have been playing one-twos around the outside of the opposition area. That could be explained by the spaces afforded to them by the K-League All Stars, though.
Against Inter, Donnarumma was contributing to the build-up by making a back three when City had the ball deep, which is another Maresca trait.
The keeper’s suitability to those responsibilities is still in doubt, though, and he was guilty of some inaccurate passes in Seoul.
Semenyo has talked about the direct wing play Maresca likes, and although that was less evident here than it was in Hong Kong, Semenyo was one of City’s most involved players.
That was obvious even to those half-watching, because the stadium announcer shouted the name of any player to do something notable, and it was regularly Semenyo — one low cross, following a burst to the byline, should have been converted by Mubama, but the ball went through his legs. Mubama’s first-half goal came after Semenyo had smashed a shot that could only be parried back into danger.