Sergio Aguero and Ilkay Gundogan Key to Manchester City's West Brom Destruction

The last time Manchester City went seven games without victory across all competitions was in April 2004. Kevin Keegan was managing the team, which was flirting with relegation from the Premier League, and Nicolas Anelka was the club record signing at £13 million—mere peanuts compared to the modern outlays.

Twelve-and-a-half years later, that was a record Pep Guardiola would have been desperate to avoid breaking when he travelled to The Hawthorns to take on West Brom. From kickoff, it was never in danger as City’s midfield dominated, while the attack demonstrated far more penetration than in recent weeks.

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The home fans highlighted the visitors’ domination of possession at times too. As West Brom pressed towards the end of the first half for their first real spell of good play in the game, their supporters were at least making their own fun with a chant of “we’ve got the ball.” That’s how on top the away side were.

Guardiola admitted afterwards that it was a relief to get back to winning ways and in some style, reported by Jim Holden. The 45-year-old said: “When you don’t win there are always doubts, but for me there are never doubts about the principles of playing.

“So I am very pleased with the three points because that is what will help our confidence. When you lose matches you look for excuses. That’s why it was important to win, and I want the players to enjoy the feeling on the bus home.”

From the off, Guardiola sprung a surprise. His team-sheet listed just three defenders, and it looked as though he was continuing the tactic he’d used against Everton and Southampton. Three at the back in those matches had left City a little unbalanced, and the central defenders seemed to struggle under pressure, losing their positional sense.

The lack of full-backs also had the knock-on effect of leaving the wide midfielders unsupported, forcing them to cut inside. City struggled to break their opponents down, meaning they couldn’t turn their possession into goals.

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However, on Saturday, midfielder Fernando was used as a makeshift right-back to give balance to the team. It meant John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi were in more familiar centre-defence positions, and they looked a lot more comfortable.

Reshaping the team allowed City’s attackers to keep the game stretched. Raheem Sterling on the right and Nolito on the left created so much space for David Silva, Sergio Aguero and, in particular, Ilkay Gundogan to pull the strings. West Brom couldn’t stay compact and protect against the wingers at the same time, who were being supported by their full-backs.

Guardiola went back to basics, returning to what had been working for him at the beginning of the season. Nolito’s inclusion was little surprise, even for Leroy Sane’s recent good performances, since the Spaniard’s experience and working knowledge of what the manager wants proved invaluable.

He was a little lucky not to have been further punished for a mini-headbutt in the first half—and having previously been dismissed against Bournemouth for the same thing, Guardiola might have one or two words in private.

But the day belonged to two men. Aguero, back to his lethal best in front of goal after a difficult few weeks, and Gundogan, who put in his best of a growing number of impressive displays in a City shirt.

Talk of a fallout between Guardiola and Aguero is surely over, too.

“He’s a special player,” Guardiola said, reported by Sam Wallace. “I would like to convince him how special he is for us. We need him. We need him a lot. When he [shows] that behaviour and when he is hungry Sergio is definitive. He is part of the history of this club and we want to try to help him to be bigger and bigger and part of this fantastic club.”

Having not been in front in any of Guardiola’s six without a win, it seemed imperative that his side scored first. Coming from behind has taken so much out of City in recent weeks—it’s no surprise teams that are already well organised and packing the defence become harder to break down when they’ve got a lead to hang on to.

Aguero opening the scoring in the 19th minute was probably the best thing that could have happened to the away side. Their dominance was paying dividends, unlike in previous weeks, and suddenly it felt like the shackles were off. A strong 10-minute spell in the second half was about as close as West Brom came to being troubling.

The Argentinian’s second goal was one of his best—a thundered individual strike from the edge of the box, leaving Ben Foster in the Albion goal without a chance of stopping it.

Even that demonstrated an improvement on recent City performances, though. The opportunity came about through a high press, and Guardiola’s men didn’t allow their hosts to come away with the ball. Aguero reacted first when Darren Fletcher failed to control and wriggled free to shoot.

City stole possession back in West Brom’s final third too many times for it not to have been part of Guardiola’s game plan. The Baggies sat deep in an attempt to stifle their opponents, but as the visitors’ midfield pressed them back it left their striker, Salomon Rondon, isolated. He barely got a kick against Stones and Otamendi.

However, the most important player on the pitch for City was Gundogan. His reward came in the shape of two late goals to secure the win, but the true majesty of his performance came in a first half where he continued to better himself with a range of sublime passing.

His perfectly weighted ball into Aguero for the opener will go under the radar, but the quality of the pass made the finish so much easier for the striker.

With excellent movement ahead of him, Gundogan continued that sort of play to get his side into a number of good scoring chances. On top of that, he’s developing a great understanding and a solid partnership with Fernandinho in the centre of midfield.

Speaking to City’s official website, the German was pleased with his afternoon’s work, too: “I’m very happy to score. In the last few weeks and months I haven’t scored too much so it’s always special for me to score. Today I scored twice and I’m very happy about that but the most important thing was the win.”

Any worries about the midfielder’s impact following his long lay-off through injury before he joined last summer are gone.

The travelling City fans were vocal by full time, chanting their manager’s name from the away end, and it’s easy to see why. Guardiola’s come under pressure during his winless streak and his methods were regularly being questioned.

The Catalan’s always maintained he’s still learning about the English league and that it takes time for his players to understand his style. There’s still a long way to go, but Saturday’s 4-0 victory at West Brom has silenced his critics again.