Rather than lavish more praise on Erling Haaland (£15.2m), we lead with injuries to Joao Pedro (£5.7m) and Yoane Wissa (£6.1m) in our first Gameweek 4 Scout Notes.
Any other key talking points from Manchester City v Brentford and Brighton and Hove Albion v Ipswich Town, including Pep Guardiola’s first round of 2024/25 rotation, are also covered in this artice.
WHY JOAO PEDRO MISSED OUT
There was plenty of pre-match talk about whether post-international fatigue would limit Joao Pedro’s minutes on Saturday. As it turned out, injury did the job instead.
A “small issue” that hadn’t been disclosed in Fabian Hurzeler’s press conference ultimately put paid to his involvement against Ipswich.
Hurzeler initially made it sound like it was a precautionary omission but went on to say he didn’t have a definite comeback date.
“He had a small issue and I didn’t think we should take a risk. Of course, you might play him against Ipswich, but then we would risk and injury for two, three, four weeks.
“We cannot take this risk with anybody and I am happy with how all of the other players performed.
“I can’t say a clear date when he will be back, but my medical department will do a great job, so I think he will be back soon.” – Fabian Hurzeler on Joao Pedro, via The Athletic
“Yeah, I think he will be back soon.” – Fabian Hurzeler on Joao Pedro, via BBC Sussex
The good thing is that Brighton have an EFL Cup tie on Wednesday, so we should hear from Hurzeler before and after that match. The hope is that he’ll offer us a fresh update on Pedro then, even if the Brazilian isn’t risked.
WISSA INJURY LATEST
Another popular budget-friendly forward is newly yellow-flagged as of Saturday evening.
Yoane Wissa (£6.1m) continued his rich vein of form – three goals this season, 11 in his last 17 – with a strike after just 22 seconds at the Etihad.
But a robust tackle from Mateo Kovacic (£5.5m) ended Wissa’s afternoon after just 45 minutes. It didn’t look good – but we’ll have to wait a little longer for a proper prognosis.
“It could be a shorter one or it could be a longer one, I actually have no clue. We need to assess him tomorrow.
“A reckless tackle, I thought, from Kovačić, just going through the man, from behind him. I know it’s probably not a red card, but it’s frustrating that he’s injured.” – Thomas Frank on Yoane Wissa
The Bees, like Brighton, have a midweek cup tie to come. Hopefully, we’ll get more information from Thomas Frank on Wissa’s injury then.
RUTTER’S FULL DEBUT
The stalemate at the Amex would have cheered Pedro owners. The last thing they would have wanted was Georginio Rutter (£5.5m) coming into the side and hauling.
It’d be wrong to scapegoat Rutter for the blank, however. Yankuba Minteh (£5.5m), Kaoru Mitoma (£6.7m) and Danny Welbeck (£5.7m) were below the high levels they set in Gameweeks 1-3.
“Georginio made a good first impression. He could have scored and he made good actions. He worked well against the ball. So, in the end we can say Joao Pedro was missing but without him we had enough chances.” – Fabian Hurzeler on Georginio Rutter, via The Athletic
Despite the slight dip in performance, it still took a fine display from Ari Muric (£4.4m) to keep Brighton at bay. A superb 35th-minute double-save from Rutter and Minteh was the highlight, while he also got down smartly to keep out a Welbeck header. Rutter and Welbeck, direct from a free-kick, also fired narrowly wide.
At the other end, the Seagulls were scarcely troubled apart from the odd counter-attack. Ipswich didn’t have a shot until the 54th minute.
They look a lot more solid under Hurzeler – who constantly references off-the-ball work – than they did under Roberto De Zerbi. Two clean sheets is already a third of what they managed in 2023/24.
Ferdi Kadioglu (£4.5m) made his first appearance as a substitute, used at left-back rather than in central midfield.
PRAISE FOR IPSWICH…
Mitoma and Minteh were made to look ordinary, it should be said, by a fine defensive display. Axel Tuanzebe (£4.0m), again keeping Ben Johnson (£4.0m) out, was superb. So too was Leif Davis (£4.5m), who was ‘assisting’ more with the defensive effort than with goals here.
With a fine-looking run of games coming up, Davis should soon get more of a chance to stretch those legs upfield:
Muric is an interesting proposition for FPL managers who are after a budget goalkeeper. Remember that he averaged 4.7 points per match last season, albeit in only 10 games with Burnley.
All in all, the Tractor Boys look like the most competent and well-drilled of the three promoted clubs.
Their attackers, as with Davis, should get a lot more joy in upcoming matches against Southampton, Everton and Leicester City after a very quiet afternoon here.
Liam Delap (£5.5m) underscored his budget appeal with a shot that hit the woodwork, but he does now have positonal rival George Hirst (£5.4m) back fit. Hirst replaced Delap before the hour mark here after a lot of ball-chasing.
…AND FOR BRENTFORD
There was a heartening display from Brentford, too, ahead of their favourable run. Then again, they always do seem to lift their levels against City.
Bryan Mbeumo (£7.1m) had a great chance to add to Wissa’s goal, while Nathan Collins (£4.5m) also went close.
“The first 25 minutes we were close to world class… not many teams come here and have more possession, shots on target, xG. Second half they got a little bit more on top, but we stayed in the game and had two opportunities.” – Thomas Frank
“I don’t remember in eight or nine years, having a team playing the way they played the first 30 minutes. I would say 20-30 minutes, we were lucky for the deflection goal from Erling because they deserve the victory 0-1, maybe 0-2 or maybe 0-3. They were much better.” – Pep Guardiola
Sepp van den Berg (£4.0m) got his first start for Brentford but it’s a little early to be making assumptions about future game-time. Frank here used a defensive shape with three centre-halves, as he often does against the ‘bigger’ sides, and van den Berg was the third stopper brought in at the Etihad.
When the fixtures ease, as they do from Gameweek 6, it’ll be back to 4-3-3 – and it could be van den Berg making way. One to monitor.
PEP ON ROTATION
Having made only one, enforced, change in Gameweeks 1-3, Guardiola made four alterations against Brentford.
Ilkay Gundogan (£6.5m), John Stones (£5.4m) and Kyle Walker (£5.4m) made their first starts of the season; the two defenders certainly looked like were short of match practise in a shaky first-half display.
From the press conferences and interviews we’ve seen (there are embargoed sections still to come), Guardiola didn’t explicity reference Josko Gvardiol‘s (£6.0m) benching or Rico Lewis‘s (£4.7m) half-time withdrawal.
He did, however, discuss the need to give minutes to those who hadn’t had much game-time.
“New players came in, you know, for the rhythm. Gundogan didn’t make a pre-season, Kyle is the first game and John and everything… so it’s important because we need everyone otherwise it’s impossible to sustain it.” – Pep Guardiola in his post-match press conference
“We need minutes for John and Kyle and you know, they play better the second half. The first was a little bit nervous after the goal and everything but the second half was better.” – Pep Guardiola in a post-match interview
So, then, it starts. After the predictability of the early-season line-ups comes the chaos that we normally associate with Guardiola’s starting XIs. Lewis owners would have pleased to see Walker struggling but this was a reminder to expected the unexpected when the fixtures pile up.
With Lewis (who started at left-back) off, Gvardiol had a lot more attacking license in the second half. There were shades of the tail-end of 2023/24 with some of his positions; he was even clean on goal at one point, checking back to tee up Savinho (£6.5m) for a big chance.
Oh go on then, a final word on Haaland. Two goals, with four more shots besides – it could easily have been three consecutive hat-tricks but for two fine Mark Flekken (£4.5m) saves and the width of a post.
This might be the best he’s ever been in a City shirt. A Gameweek 5 clash with Arsenal, who boasted the league’s meanest defence in 2023/24, should be the ultimate litmus test of that.
