Traditionally there is something of a split in the dressing room of Manchester City during a run-in. Some look at the other games, hoping for favorable results. Others didn't press at all.
Raheem Sterling actually sparked both camps during the Ding-Dong fights with Liverpool in 2019 and 2022, both titles decided by a single point. Sterling would never stick a match at home until SMS messages began to ping by that Liverpool dropped points.
It became a current joke he would admit to temptation, reaching to the remote control, only for Liverpool and then almost immediately scoring. He kept coming back for more, but regardless of the city, eventually prevailed.
There is no Liverpool this year, no arsenal like in the past seasons. The choice on Monday is whether Newcastle United should look in Leicester City. You would imagine even the most obsessed, and that should be Ilkay Gundogan, it will find it difficult to tune.
There is the grim reality that Eddie Howe takes another victory that City pushes out of the top five of the Premier League for the first time since mid -January. Newcastle are two points behind the city with two games in hand.
Pep Guardiola received a favor from Brentford, but saw Fulham and Aston Villa close the gap in an overloaded field for Champions League qualification and, although their remaining games look softer than those around them, the city still threatens not to produce a series of consistent versions.
That is why the inclusion came without entertainment at Old Trafford as no big surprise, City and Manchester United with hands on each other's forehead from a distance.
It was a tasteless derby and one that never felt like it would burst into a kind of life. The city must be exceptionally careful that they do not let this walk -in body float in the way the journey through the city did. Next season no Champions League that, as the things are in the here and now, is pre -eminently possible, in the summer the task of the new sports director Hugo Viana would make so more difficult.
The city is already juggling ideas about who is about, whose time is to go and who can give them more years, while they start a rebuilding. It goes without saying that it is not in Europe's elite competence to seriously influence their goals. For example, Florian Wirtz may not like to be around in the Europa League.
So they have to sharpen the spirits on Crystal Palace – Notoir a bogey team in the Etihad Stadium – on Saturday.
In Bournemouth and in United, Guardiola went for the proven in midfield, those to strangle competitions, with Gundogan, Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne and Mateo Kovacic – the wise masters of the city's ball.
Just don't call them the Golden Oldies. Silva was irritated by suggestions that this group had now grown too old on the south coast last week, when City played in a similar vein like here.
“I am 30 years old, Kovacic is 30. You are not talking about guys who are 36,” he said. 'So we have six bad months or four bad months and out of nowhere are we old, are we not good enough?
'In the past eight seasons we have won six best competitions and after four bad months are we old? Those are people who don't understand the game, never played the game and probably don't understand anything about football. '
Individual they are not old and can add them all value. But it is clear that they cannot all work together and the announcement of De Bruyne that his decade is coming to an end could act as the starting gun for change.
City won the lowest percentage of duels in a single league match throughout the season at United, and saw their midfielders expropriated eight times.
They can be satisfied with the result in the context of the campaign, while acknowledging that not imposing a glove on United is difficult to take.
“I saw many good things in the last three games in terms of the passion without the ball we lost many times this season for many reasons,” Guardiola said.
Whatever the case, but they will probably catch up with the last seven games of the season.
At least they have shape with that.
Perhaps muscle memory will come into effect.
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