Man-City-1-0-Brentford-Erling-Haaland
This exact week last year, Manchester City drew two matches. One at Nottingham Forest, another in Leipzig. Erling Haaland was guilty of missing chances he apparently never misses. Cheap goals conceded. City were at something of a crossroads.
So much so, that our report read ‘nothing is coming particularly easy for them at the moment’ and 12 months on, very little has changed in the general dynamic of a February where title rivals seem to be becoming stronger by the week and the serial winners need to dig deep to locate desire that has dragged them to so much gold.
It felt like that had vanished for a spell in 2023. We know how that all ended. What for this run-in? That is an unknown but the difference this time is that second draw of the week turned into victory.
It turned into the roof coming off in a collective vent of angst and turned into Haaland answering critics by bulldozing the winner with 19 minutes left.
Still alive here, Manchester City, as a man once said. Pep Guardiola kicked the bucket – the Gatorade bucket in his technical area – when Haaland wheeled away once he confidently stroked past an impressive Mark Flekken, pouncing on Kristoffer Ajer’s slip. Palpable relief because more dropped points with Liverpool and Arsenal in their kind of form felt less than palatable.
‘I’m in love with this team,’ Guardiola said. And it’s hard to blame him for that. Yet even from Haaland’s 22nd of the campaign, Rodri was still required to throw himself in front of Brentford’s goalkeeper, up for a corner, to prevent a stoppage-time shot at Ederson.
Nervy moments as Guardiola shouted ‘forward, forward’ while his players attempted to retain possession in their own half.
But they were over the line. Not vintage again – following the weekend draw here against Chelsea – yet now unbeaten in 16. And only seven days since a near-flawless European display in Copenhagen. All a bit confusing.
Possessing a touch of frost recently, Guardiola clearly feels that curious nature of this spell.
His relationship with the crowd – interacting with them more than usual – pointed to the need for togetherness if they are to create history by lifting a fourth consecutive title come May.
Yoane Wissa and Frank Onyeka will both feel they could have inflicted damage on the champions.
Onyeka in particular, fluffing his lines when City were easily countered and he gave Kyle Walker the slip in much the same way as Raheem Sterling managed on Saturday.
Brentford held a threat for long periods and Guardiola admitted that his players were ‘anxious’. It was an anxious night.
