There is always at least one. There is always a game, in October or November, in which Manchester City puts on their boots with the left foot. It felt like most of Pep Guardiola’s players put pairs together and left them tangled.
They stumbled, they stumbled a lot, but they almost kept their balance. City have Ederson to thank for that, and definitely the spendthrift Adama Traoré, who has hounded Guardiola in this area before, and the roar at full-time suggested relief. ‘Difficult?’ -Guardiola asked. ‘No. It’s that easy.’ It’s easy to maintain a sense of humor when the points are surprisingly certain.
It has been a curious rarity during Guardiola’s reign for these performances to take place at roughly the same time each season. Gone is the adrenaline of August, the excitement of back to school, and once autumn arrives, teams such as Wolves (twice), Brentford, Leicester City and Crystal Palace have reveled in a City display that is susceptible to counterattacks quick as a result of their own discomfort in possession.
Fulham should have joined that list. Traore was twice thwarted by Ederson when clean, the Brazilian’s legs bailing City out on both occasions, and the Spain international curled another presentable chance over the bar from eight yards, five years into the weekend since his late brace gave Wolves a creditable victory at the Etihad Stadium.
Not this time, although City allowed substitute Rodrigo Muñiz to pull them within a goal moments before the end, prompting Ederson to be cautioned for losing time. The yellow card shown by Peter Bankes seemed a little harsh when the goalkeeper took a free kick in injury time and Guardiola acted in disbelief, booked for protests directed at the fourth official. However, perhaps some eyebrows are raised at the Emirates. The strange murmur of the dark arts, perhaps.
Manchester City needed a double from Mateo Kovacic to beat stubborn Fulham
Fulham took a shock lead through former Man United player Andreas Pereira after a cheeky backheel from Raul Jimenez.
Something special was needed to give Guardiola the respite he so desired and the mercurial Jeremy Doku stepped up to take the responsibility.
Adama Traore had squandered a number of good chances to defeat the champions
To be honest, City could well have used them a lot more to their advantage, considering Phil Foden quickly ran off when they led 2-1 with just 12 minutes remaining. They haven’t achieved it very well and three points are a kind of escape route. A remorseful feeling washed over Marco Silva’s face during a lengthy interrogation with Guardiola afterwards. If Traore had done his job from that left flank, when he broke away the way Fulham had coached him, then this could have ended very differently. Guardiola admitted that Traoré is “unstoppable” and “impossible to control.” Well, until the last moment…
“We have to be unhappy,” said the Fulham manager. “That’s the feeling we all feel in the locker room. The players followed the plan and executed it very well. We deserved more. To get here, score twice and have clearer opportunities to score. It gives us the feeling that we are going in the right direction and we are growing.’
Fulham should have been leading when Andreas Pereira hid behind Manuel Akanji to force an extraordinary backward move from Raúl Jiménez in the 26th minute and they were left counting the cost of not converting most of their chances.
This allowed City to continue testing, equalizing a couple of minutes after the half-hour thanks to Mateo Kovacic, when an Ilkay Gundogan corner vibrated and the Croatian beat Bernd Leno through Joachim Andersen. An element of control had returned for Guardiola, who saw Kovacic score the second moments after breaking in from the edge of the area following a cut-back from Bernardo Silva. Remarkably, that represented the first double of Kovacic’s club career.
“When Fulham defended with five, nobody can defend Kovacic,” Guardiola said. ‘We use that weapon. “Now his opponents know they can’t leave him alone.”
Beyond his goals, Kovacic tried to boost City. He did it with abandon and at the same time controlled himself in the absence of Rodri. However, it would be a mistake to blame Rodri solely for the erratic nature of City’s fragility in transition. Guardiola has work to do to find a formula that works in central areas and a big name, be it Gundogan, Kovacic or a defender, will have to be the scapegoat.
The fact that they have failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their last nine league games, equaling an unwanted club record set in 2015, is inescapable. But so is the fact that they are now only the fourth club in England’s history to reach a half-century of unbeaten matches in all competitions. A strange one to match.
The latter is the reason why the words ‘volem que et quedis’ hung from the south stand before the start of the match. We want you to stay in Catalan, a banner of a fan begging Guardiola to sign another new contract. The official communication of their next steps usually arrives during the November international break and it is getting closer and closer.
Kovacic had given the Etihad the tie in the first half thanks to a safe finish
Rodrigo Muñiz put the ball in from 15 yards to finish off the grandstand.
Pep Guardiola’s frustration boiled over late and the Spaniard received a booking.
More real evidence of Fulham’s European ambitions lies ahead, but the west London side remain in sixth place.
Meanwhile, City break their recent inertia and remain just one point behind Arne Slot’s Reds with 17 in seven games.
Things have changed over his time. City have generally turned to more direct wingers, although both Savinho and Jeremy Doku were benched for this. When Doku was finally called on, he came in and swerved past a helpless Leno with eight minutes left. Guardiola had called for defensive reinforcement before that, and the way substitute Kyle Walker was burned by Traoré was a revelation, with Silva noting the champions’ late defensive mentality.
“It’s not often you see City defending as deeply as they did at the end: three central defenders, five at the back,” Silva said. Still, Muniz was given too much space to turn and beat Ederson, so City had to run out the clock. That doesn’t usually happen.