Our awful record at the Etihad continued on Saturday night, as Man City found a way once again despite a spirited and competitive away performance from Newcastle United.
Lewis Hall gave us hope, scoring his first of the season to cancel out Nico O’Reilly’s early opener, but the home side hit back with another O’Reilly strike before seeing out a frustrating second half.
A few days on from our long-haul trip back from Baku, it was perhaps a game too far in the end – but it could’ve been so different. We gave it a good go, and it’s easily the most competitive we’ve been in this fixture for many years, only for a few first-half lapses and some timid attacking play to let us down.
Gianluigi Donnarumma made more saves (6) than Nick Pope (5) and we had our moments, just came up short in key moments, whether it was tight offside calls, poor final balls or opportunities to get in behind that we didn’t’ quite execute.
The result leaves us 10th on 36 points and four behind seventh place Brentford, who were beaten 2-0 today at home to Brighton, ending our run of victories after away scalps at Spurs, Aston Villa and Qarabag.
Eddie Howe made one change from our 6-1 win at Qarabag in midweek, as Jacob Ramsey replaced Harvey Barnes in a switch that saw Joe Willock play on the left and Nick Woltemade start in a deeper role once again.
Newcastle XI: Pope – Trippier, Thiaw, Burn, Hall – Tonali, Ramsey, Woltemade – Elanga, Gordon, Willock
Subs: Ramsdale, Ruddy, Joelinton, Barnes, Osula, J.Murphy, A.Murphy, Neave, Shahar
Man City XI: Donnarumma – Nunes, Dias, Guéhi, Ait-Nouri – Rodri, Bernardo, O’Reilly – Semenyo, Marmoush, Haaland
It was clear from the off that Man City were bang up for it, giving us plenty of defending to do in the early stages before opening the scoring within 15 minutes. Marmoush broke clear of our midfield, O’Reilly smashed towards goal and Pope could only push his strike into the bottom corner.
Much like our 3-1 defeat here in the cup semi final, it was a fast break that caught us napping, with questions asked if Pope should’ve done better for the second time this week.
City’s strong start and early breakthrough had most fearing the worst, but we responded within 10 minutes. A poorly cleared corner found its way to Hall on the edge of the box via Ramsey’s lay off, and England’s best left-back saw his effort squeeze past Donnarumma and into the far corner via a big deflection off Ait-Nouri. 1-1, and our first league goal at the Etihad since DeAndre Yedlin’s in 2018!
And then came more misery in Manchester. Just a few minutes after our equaliser, Haaland pulled wide and crossed for O’Reilly, who beat Trippier to the ball and headed past Pope, restoring City’s lead just before the half hour mark. 2-1 City.
Dias was booked for dragging down Gordon and the resultant free kick almost lead to an equaliser. Tonal’s delivery was suprerb and Burn headed home, but the big centre-back was marginally offside, all thanks to a Dias shove. A clear foul, yet we are penalised? A lucky escape for the hosts, who were also playing a dangerous game giving Gordon and Elanga license to roam behind their high line.
A very watchable first half for the neutral and enough to give us hope of a fight back in the second 45, but we’d have to find more ways to hurt a Man City defence giving us moments of encouragement and keep them out at the other end.
After a quiet opening 15 minutes after the restart, where City were looking to frustrate and hit quickly on the break, Howe made two changes on hour mark, seeing Barnes and Joelinton replace a quiet Woltemade and booked Willock.
Chances were few and far between, but Elanga missed another big opportunity to hurt the hosts after bursting in behind their midfield. Gordon had made a run and the early pass was on, but the Swede delayed his opportunity to send him clean through and the attack fizzled out. Small margins, yet that was the sort of moment where Man City had punished when the shoe was on the other foot.
More changes came with just over 10 minutes to play, as Osula and Murphy replaced Gordon and Elanga in one last throw of the dice from Howe. And Murphy almost made an instant impact. ‘Nearly’ was the story of our night, however, as his wicked free kick delivery was inches away from Burn in the box.
Then, after Joelinton went into the book for what must’ve been his fourth or fifth foul in the space of 10 minutes, two Pope saves kept us in it in four minutes of added time, first stopping Haaland’s one-vs-one before using his feet to block Foden’s effort seconds later.
One last chance then fell our way and it was inches from an equaliser. Joelinton won the knock down and Barnes’ strike was tipped wide by Donnarumma! A corner followed and Pope came up for it, but it was cleared and City held on, with their post-match celebrations and relief highlighting how much we’d made them work for it.
Next up, our return leg against Qarabag on Tuesday before a Premier League clash with Everton next Saturday, with SIX of our next seven games coming at St James’ Park.
Keep the faith. Howay the lads!
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