Wasteful, wobbly and a bit soft
Decry refereeing decisions all you want, but Manchester City's biggest problems are of their own making this season
There’s a grand conspiracy trying to stop Manchester City winning the Premier League title this season, and it goes right to the very top.
The Premier League are in cahoots with the PGMOL, who are colluding with Sky Sports, the government and probably the Metropolitan Police. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the illuminati were involved too.
City are just refereed differently. Don’t ask me to explain what that means, because I have no idea. But how else do you explain Phil Foden not being awarded a penalty after he was cruelly scythed down by Newcastle’s Fabian Schär at St James’ Park on Saturday?
And how else do you explain the Premier League flashing up a doodle of Rúben Dias jumping in the air to justify their semi-automated onside decision 10 minutes after it was made, when in the real world, the real Dias was actually only thinking about jumping at the precise moment the ball was played.
Get that AI slop outta my face. They might as well have shown us the incident from the perspective of a grassy knoll. Jet fuel can’t melt steel beams. Real eyes realise real lies.
Or at least, that’s how I’d be analysing City’s defeat at Newcastle if I were a crackpot Arsenal fan, a crackpot, or simply an Arsenal fan.
In truth, while I don’t think the officials had a great game on Saturday, I was a lot more frustrated by City’s performance, and felt the defeat was mostly of their own making.
It was similar to the loss at Aston Villa nearly a month ago, in that City weren’t terrible, but they weren’t particularly good either. The game could have gone either way and when you have that proper title-chasing aura, you tend to be a bit more clinical and cold-blooded, and those 50/50 matches tend to go your way more often than not.
But City don’t have that aura at the moment. They’re a very good side on their day, but a flawed one all the same. Pep Guardiola seems less obsessed with controlling games this season and more willing to sacrifice defensive solidity in exchange for his team being a bit more potent on the break.
The problem is, that approach relies not just on your goalkeeper bailing you out, but your attackers finishing their chances. And if the latter doesn’t happen, you’re pretty much fucked.
Saturday’s game was less about refereeing decisions and more about profligacy in front of goal. Nick Woltemade drew some fine saves from Gianluigi Donnarumma and Newcastle had a few glaring misses of their own, but it was City’s wastefulness that ultimately did the damage.
Erling Haaland probably should have scored at least once, but it was Phil Foden’s miss just before half-time that made me think it wasn’t going to be City’s day. Had he stroked that into the bottom corner at that stage of the game, City would have gone in 1-0 up and in control at half-time, and their approach to the second half would have been completely different. Instead, he put it wide, and the second half became a bunfight.
For all of his brilliance and undoubted improvement this season, I can’t help feeling incredibly frustrated by Phil a lot of the time. He still seems to carry himself like a precocious young kid playing among men, when City really need him to grow up, be brave and stamp his authority on games more often. You have to be a killer, and that finish was an example of him being far too casual for my liking. After an international break featuring much debate about where he fits into the England team, it’s moments like that which could cost him his place at next summer’s World Cup.
Foden isn’t solely to blame, of course, because this City side collectively has a bit of a soft underbelly. They were lucky to keep a clean sheet against Liverpool before the international break, and looked a bit ragged defensively against both Dortmund and Bournemouth before that, too.
If you don’t have that solid foundation, and Haaland has an off day like he did on Saturday, there’s every chance you’re going to lose games in a league where every team can expose your weaknesses. That’s why City have lost a third of their league matches this season, and why they probably won’t win the title when up against an Arsenal side with the best defence in the league, and an attack which isn’t overly reliant on one player to score their goals.
Obviously, it’s still relatively early in the season. Arsenal are seven points clear, but there are still 78 points left to play for this season, they’ve got to come to the Etihad and get something and I’m telling you now, I would love it etc. etc.
Pretty much every time City have won the league under Guardiola, there has been a period in the first half of the season when they haven’t looked capable of doing so, only to magically transform into a juggernaut in the second half of the season. That could happen again this season, it really could, but they’re going to have to be much stronger defensively and more composed in attack, and those aren’t necessarily the easiest fixes.
Pep could also do with figuring out whether some members of his squad are worthy of his trust, and whether dipping into the January transfer market for someone who can score a fucking goal might be worth considering. By “some members” I actually only really mean Savinho, who keeps coming off the bench and making the team worse, and looks like if you opened up his skull, a chicken would fly out. Sorry if that’s harsh, but we simply can’t afford to carry passengers when there’s a title on the line, and this guy is doing my nut in.
There are still plenty of reasons for optimism about what this season has in store for City. Newcastle post-international break was always going to be tricky, and they have a winnable run of games coming up now, starting with Leverkusen in the Champions League, which could weirdly end up being a more realistically attainable trophy than the Premier League title this season, if City do peak after Christmas.
If they can react the same as they did to the defeat at Villa by stringing a few more wins together, it will do wonders for their self-belief, and that’s the crucial foundation of any success.
But it’s hard to shake the nagging feeling that City aren’t quite all there this season, and will trip over their own shoelaces plenty more times in the months to come.
Or…maybe there really is a grand conspiracy trying to stop them winning the league? Let’s dismiss nothing out of hand. Introspection is overrated anyway.
Dan
Whilst it is true there is something lacking at times all over the pitch, especially composure in front if goal - headless chicken Savinho the worst culprit, but not alone ! - I truly believe there is the PL/PGMOL anti City conspiracy. There is simply no other way to explain the Foden non-penalty (surely also a Red Card as late, reckless, high & last man !!?), the farcical re-drawing of Dias actual position to justify the second goal, plus the handball penalty claim also denied - now that is NOT a “natural position” !!! It happened with the penalty at Brighton, the Bournemouth ‘goal’, and tbh countless other occasions, this season and others to be otherwise.
That Savinho comment is superb ! It’s very difficult to see what he actually brings to the team , he has had one or two decent games but not much more imho , and I personally hardly ever blame individual players ! The foden “ penalty” is one of the most nailed on spot kicks I have ever seen not given . Inept officials to blame obviously but of course there is actually no guarantee that it would have been converted! To lose 4 games before the end of November and realistically not be out of the title race is quite ridiculous and if Chelsea beat Arsenal at home next Sunday it’s game on again , assuming city defeat those loveable West Yorkshire “ peacocks “ the day before .