Premier League: Man City 3-2 Leeds
When Phil Foden struck the winner in the second minute of added time Pep Guardiola’s leap was laced with relief at Manchester City’s pursuit of Arsenal still being live. They are back up to second, four points behind the Gunners, who travel to Chelsea on Sunday. This was Leeds’s fourth straight league reverse but the fight shown augurs well for Daniel Farke’s job security.
City had spurned a two-goal interval advantage after Dominic Calvert-Lewin, a half-time substitute, terrorised the hosts. The 28-year-old scored in the 49th minute, then claimed the penalty that led to Lukas Nmecha’s 68th-minute equaliser, rattling Josko Gvardiol enough for him to scythe the striker down.
City’s response was admirable. The substitute Rayan Cherki fed Foden who ran left across Leeds’s area before beating Lucas Perri. Yet Leeds’s second-half display again illuminated City’s defensive frailties – they are too easily raided along the flanks, in particular.
Guardiola said: “We are not a team to win these types of games a lot. When we knew it was 10 minutes extra time we said: ‘Let’s go.’ We had two or three chances to score, we were able to close and it was massively important for our mood. Tomorrow we see Arsenal and Chelsea, but it’s important to be as close as possible to the top.”
After 59 seconds, a diagram of City at their best was offered. Nico González swivelled and tapped the ball to Gvardiol, whose 45-yard diagonal hit Matheus Nunes. The right-back leaped to control, relayed the ball infield to Bernardo Silva, darted forward, received possession again and found Foden, whose finish pinballed off the bar.
An apt riposte to Tuesday’s 2-0 loss to Bayer Leverkusen, as Foden and Nunes were two of the 10 changes that backfired on Guardiola.
City were rampant and a second goal soon lit up the scoreboard. When Foden’s corner from the right came back to him he rammed the ball at goal and a flying Perri palmed away for a corner on the other side. This came in from Tijjani Reijnders, Nico O’Reilly beat a flailing Perri to head down and Gvardiol finished. The video assistant referee’s check for offside proved negative and City cruised.
The charge regarding Farke is that he is out of his depth at this level. His team were being cast the same, so a rare foray that featured Wilfried Gnonto passing to Nmecha had to be converted instead of being blasted over.
At the interval, Farke hooked Gnonto and Daniel James for Calvert-Lewin and Jaka Bijol, switching to 3-5-2, and there was an instant dividend. Nunes, twice, was City’s culprit. First, a loose pass ceded possession. Then, when Calvert-Lewin got the better of a covering Gvardiol, Nunes could have hacked clear. But the auxiliary defender dawdled and Calvert-Lewin poked home.
Gianluigi Donnarumma was jeered by the travelling support for requiring attention – perhaps as this allowed Guardiola to have a pitchside pow-wow. Farke, too, was dubious. “It’s in the rules, it’s smart,” he said. “If I like it, if it is fair play, I keep it to myself and leave it to the authorities to find solutions.
If I’m honest, I would have blown the whistle 2-2 at 90 minutes, not play the extra 10 minutes. I don’t criticise Pep for this – he did not go down.”
Guardiola said: “I didn’t speak with Gigio. When it happened I looked back to the dugout and said: ‘James [Trafford], warm up’. I don’t know. Next press conference you can ask me and I will ask Gigio.”
The chat did zero good, because after Jayden Bogle’s header into City’s area a hapless Gvardiol was spooked by Calvert-Lewin, who was upended. This was the clearest penalty Peter Bankes will give yet still Rúben Dias moaned to the referee in comical manner. Up stepped Nmecha, whose initial effort was saved by Donnarumma before the forward rolled the rebound in.
Guardiola’s order to up the tempo resulted in goalmouth scrambles involving Bernardo Silva, O’Reilly and the anonymous Erling Haaland but Leeds escaped. Sadly for them, they could not avert City’s box-office finale but on this evidence Farke is still being heeded by his players. “My players should take pride,” he said.