Sport
Andros Townsend shares how Luton’s players reacted after watching Man City at the weekend
It’s not only fans that Manchester City are leaving impressed this season, but fellow professionals as well.
City stretched their winning streak in all competitions to 10 matches on Saturday with a hard-fought victory over Everton.
Sean Dyche’s side proved to be tricky customers and frustrated City with their resolute defending.
But City’s dominance finally broke their resolve on the 71st minute when Erling Haaland blasted into the roof of the net.
The Norwegian sensation then grabbed a second to secure the win after brushing off a defender before slotting past Jordan Pickford.
City briefly moved to the top of the table with the three points – until Liverpool defeated Burnley a couple of hours later – and have maintained pressure on the Premier League leaders.
How Luton Town players reacted to the game
Andros Townsend has revealed that some of the Luton Town squad were watching the match before their own game against Sheffield United and how they reacted.
“I’ve got to say as well, we were preparing for our game on Saturday,” he told the BBC’s Monday Night Club.
“A few of the boys are watching the Everton game on their phones and just after 60 minutes when we see Man City bring on Kevin De Bruyne and bring on Kyle Walker, we’re like yeah City have got this now.
“They’re going to switch it up and turn it up and they did exactly that.”
Strength in depth
Contrary to popular belief, City don’t actually have the biggest squad by any means. In fact, they consistently use fewer players in a season than most of their Premier League rivals.
Pep Guardiola likes to keep his squads small and compact, picking from a core group of around 18 outfielders and supplementing that with starlets from the academy.
Yet, despite a comparatively low number of options, City still have immense strength in depth.
All it takes is for the Blues boss to make a couple of changes to his starting XI and then suddenly he has a bench worth hundreds of millions with the likes of De Bruyne, Walker, Bernardo Silva and Jack Grealish on it.
That’s because Guardiola has constructed a squad brimming with versatile players who are capable of filling in multiple different roles.
Of the side’s outfielders, only Haaland and Ruben Dias haven’t played in a different position over the last 18-months.
This allows City to always strength in depth all over the park but without bloating the squad. The ultimate quality over quantity.
