The talking points as Manchester City faced Nottingham Forest at the City Ground in the Premier League.
Haaland’s off-day
Erling Haaland is one goal off becoming the Manchester City player with the most Premier League goals in a season, but that record was never in danger of being broken at Nottingham Forest. On the back of arguably his best all-round performance at Arsenal in the week, Haaland was given the man-to-man treatment by ex-Atletico Madrid defender Felipe at the City Ground and had to venture wide to get a sight of the ball. When it came to him in the box, he was uncharacteristically lax and a couple of chances went begging from a sloppy first touch.
In the second half, two minutes summed up Haaland’s bump down to earth, as he got goalside of Joe Worrall and looked to set for a strike – but with the most minimal of touches to his shoulder, the striker flung himself to the floor instead. After Pep Guardiola earned a booking for his protests, Haaland looked to make amends when Phil Foden’s shot was spilled, but took to long and lifted his rebound onto the bar. The follow-up from five yards almost found the top tier of the Bridgford End, and City were later made to pay for their wastefulness as Forest found their equaliser soon after.
Set piece City
City are rarely associated with set pieces or ugly games, but they followed up a streetwise win at Arsenal with another feisty encounter at Forest in a game of few openings. The Blues were on top, for the most part, using their possession and tried to protect their first-half lead with various ‘dark arts’ that infuriated the home crowd.
Bernardo’s goal came from the second phase of a corner, and City could have had three others from corners as unmarked headers failed to hit the back of the net. City can’t win the title playing flowing football every game and have shown their full range of tools for getting points this week when they aren’t at their best. However, if they are to keep the pressure on Arsenal, they need to take advantage of the openings they do get. They couldn’t at Forest and handed the initiative back to the Gunners.
Foden justifies recall
After the fine form of Jack Grealish and Riyad Mahrez, it was difficult to see a way back in the side for Phil Foden following his injury. A slight drop in performance from Mahrez at Arsenal, however, and Foden was back in – albeit on the right rather than his preferred left.
The return to the right replicated the early-season system that saw Foden and Kevin De Bruyne cause so much damage, and that combination caused Forest all sorts of problems at the City Ground. Immediately after dropping out of the side, now it’s Mahrez who may find it difficult to get back in – giving Guardiola a fine problem to have. When City needed a second, Mahrez could only watch on from the bench.
Guardiola tactics explained
Pep Guardiola explained his thinking for picking various players in his pre-match press conference, giving us an insight into the tactics he wanted from various players. He said Bernardo Silva at left-back offers more aggression in one-v-one duels, and that Aymeric Laporte plays when he wants build-up from the left side of defence. He named Ruben Dias as a ‘defender to defend in the box’, and he added ‘when I want runners in the attacking midfielders I will put Phil or Gundo.’
Both Foden and Gundogan started, and Bernardo reprised his left-back/defensive midfield role after being named as someone who provides more control. The result was a lot of possession for City in midfield as could be expected, direct attacking through Foden, and some fine balls from Laporte to spark attacks. Just as the manager said he wanted – but the missed chances couldn’t earn them three points.
Arsenal re-take title advantage
After reclaiming eight points in the last two weeks on Arsenal to start the day top of the Premier League, it looked like City could put a points difference on the Gunners rather than goal difference as Mikel Arteta’s side twice went behind at Aston Villa in the early kick-off. But it was Arsenal who scored two late goals to reignite their title chances and put the pressure on City, and the Blues weren’t as clinical.
City’s long list of wasted chances on the Trent allowed Forest to snatch an equaliser their dogged defending deserved, and City are now two points behind Arsenal having played a game more. If City showed their ‘champions’ qualities at Arsenal, they took a huge step back at Forest and have given themselves plenty of work to do again.
