The January transfer window had closed and Pep Guardiola was introducing the sort of centre-forward he rarely manages to Manchester City’s season. “He is a type of striker we don’t have,” he mused. “A typical British striker.” He had not made a shock swoop for Andy Carroll. Rather, he was discussing Liam Delap, a product of City’s productive academy and a player who would have featured sooner but for injury. A penalty-box presence who scored a goal (albeit disallowed) on Saturday with a forceful header, Delap can look the old-fashioned No. 9 parachuted into a new-age team. “Every training session, he fights and wins the duels or breaks his nose,” Guardiola reflected.
Delap’s cameo against Fulham was a sideshow, however, just as any further outings this season are likely to come from the bench. The reason City don’t have that type of striker is in part that Guardiola would not sign them or pick them. Yet while he described Delap as “a killer”, City have less brutal ways of condemning opponents to footballing death.
Riyad Mahrez has emerged as the sleek assassin, the languid executioner. Saturday’s five-minute double took his tally to seven goals in six City games, separated by an underwhelming African Cup of Nations. His first contribution was an understated assist, teeing up Ilkay Gundogan. Then came examples of his armoury as a finisher: the nerveless penalty that showed why, despite an undistinguished record from the spot for Leicester, Guardiola has long regarded Mahrez as the answer to City’s problems from 12 yards. He has missed for Algeria this season but scored five times for his club, adding to April’s crucial spot kick against Borussia Dortmund.
After his penalty came the scuffed finish from Kevin de Bruyne’s lovely pass, capping a swift, devastating counter-attack. The left-footed right winger was the furthest man forward, arrowing his run in the inside-right channel. There was something Salah-esque about it.
And perhaps Mohamed Salah’s extraordinary potency helps obscure Mahrez’s transformation into a finisher. He has five times as many goals as Jack Grealish and if that sounds an indictment of the £10million man, a previous City record signing who had a slow start has now mustered 15 goals and six assists by early February, which would be admirable enough even if Mahrez hadn’t missed a month and, courtesy of Guardiola’s selections, only started eight league games. It amounts to a goal every 112 minutes; remove the penalties and he still averages one every 169. In the Premier League, he has six goals, penalties aside, from just 10 shots on target.
Take away his spot kicks and Mahrez would still be City’s top scorer this season, first among equals in the rotating cast of attacking midfielders and wingers. He has assumed the mantle Ilkay Gundogan had last season, of the player who emerged from the pack to top the scoring charts. Mahrez may be less suited to the false nine’s role than his colleagues but in his own way, he has compensated for their inability to sign Harry Kane.
The shift in City’s scoring model is reflected in the statistics. Since their 2008 takeover, their top scorers by season were Robinho once, Carlos Tevez twice outright and once jointly with Sergio Aguero, and Aguero on his own six in seven more campaigns. Since then, it has been Raheem Sterling, Gundogan and now Mahrez. He can seem a hybrid of his two immediate predecessors, the winger who gets in scoring positions and the classy technician.
Perhaps it is unfair to cite an earlier example of a left-footed talent on the right who became more potent under Guardiola, and not just because Lionel Messi reached greater heights in a central role. But a recurring theme is that the City manager makes players more prolific.
Gundogan had never scored more than six goals in a season until he got 17 last year. Sterling’s best without Guardiola was 11 and with him was 31. From Xavi and Andres Iniesta to Thomas Muller and Leroy Sane, there is a list of players whose finest scoring season came under him. Now Mahrez is closing in on his personal best of 18. Carry on at his current rate and he will beat that in February. No wonder the typical British striker feels an endangered species at the Etihad. Because if there is something quintessentially Guardiola about Mahrez’s scoring spree, there are, Salah apart, few such deadly wingers.
