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LONDON: The 100th Premier League game of Pep Guardiola at the head of Manchester City has appeared to be settled since the first half-minute at Newcastle United and it's only the last milestone of his triumphant reign in English.
Instead, it turned into a mysterious ordeal after a totally unexpected 2-1 defeat at St James' Park, leaving the brilliant Spanish coach facing the toughest challenge of his role as City goalkeeper , who sees his title shatter.
Sergio Aguero's goal in 24 seconds was the fastest of all Premier League matches this season, but that was just the prelude to one of City's most dismal displays, Newcastle struggled to return with a victory for Salomon Rondon in the second half and a penalty for Matt Ritchie.
City left Liverpool four points behind them. Juergen Klopp's strikers now have the chance to stretch out to seven intimidating opponents when they host Leicester City on Wednesday.
Guardiola seemed resigned, wondering how his men could catch up against a Liverpool team that lost only once in the league this season – against City earlier this month.
"We had a chance today to reduce the lead Tomorrow is a match for our opponent (Liverpool). When you are late, you have to win games and we could not do it", did he declare.
City has been touted as the potential winner of four trophies this season – not by Guardiola himself, it must be said – but this defeat gave the impression that such discussions seemed fanciful.
"I know the challenge is great, being in all competitions is what it is," shrugged. "If you want to go up as a club, you have to accept this challenge, I prefer to be in this position."
The real shock to him, however, must have been to see a camp that had pioneered a march in January – that of Aguero was the 30th unanswered goal of their New Year throwing streak – suddenly he seemed flat and rather careless.
"It was not our best night, we did not do a good performance," he shrugged.
"We did not take the pace of the match, it was slow and we were not aggressive enough … The game was not good.We did not defend the game well. second ball, we have to improve. "
For once, the incessant and incessant interaction of City was oddly absent, which meant that Guardiola had missed the absolute record of most Premier League victories by a coach in his first 100 games.
It was his 74th win – but instead, he now shares this benchmark with his former rival, Jose Mourinho, who won 73 of his first 100 games with Chelsea while winning the title in the following years.
It is an exploit that, for the moment, seems more and more out of reach for the man who has long since usurped Mourinho as "Special One" of the Premier League.
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