5) Agüero deserves more credit

Manuel Pellegrini grinned knowingly in one of his pre-match press briefings on Friday when asked, tongue-in-cheek, if he thought there was a conspiracy against him and Manchester City players but, in the case of his Argentina forward Sergio Agüero, there may be some substance to the question. The topic was raised with the City manager in the context of José Mourinho winning the LMA manager of the year award this season, an accolade for which Pellegrini was snubbed 12 months ago despite an identical list of honours – Premier League and Capital One Cup. Pellegrini, however, pointed to his predecessor Roberto Mancini being similarly overlooked for honours, along with Yaya Touré last season and, more relevantly, Agüero this. His effort against Southampton left Agüero with 26 goals for the league season and the Golden Boot award, five ahead of his closest challenger, Harry Kane.
It is Agüero’s highest return in a City league career in which he has now scored 77 times in 118 league games – an astonishing four-year ratio of one goal every 1.5 appearances. Yet, just as astonishing, Agüero not only failed to make the six-man shortlist for the PFA player-of-the-year award this season but was not considered worthy of a place in the PFA Team of the Year – Kane and Diego Costa winning selection to the forward positions. Pellegrini refuses to take a leaf out of Mourinho’s book and scream “conspiracy” but it is hard to imagine what more Agüero can do, beyond this season’s 26 goals in 31 league games, to receive any plaudits.
However, if his manager is correct, Agüero is only going to become an even more complete player in the years to come, perhaps making it impossible for him to be overlooked for individual awards. “I work with him every day and know what a player he is,” said Pellegrini. “It is very important for him to win the Golden Boot for the first time in his career. I am sure we will see the next years of Kun as a better player. He has chances to continue improving. He is improving in the way he understands what football is and his contribution to our team.” Ian Whittell