Manchester City and Everton played out an entertaining draw on the 8th match day of the Premier League. While Manchester City dominated the proceedings in the first half, it was Everton who took the lead in the 64th minute when Romelu Lukaku found the back of the net after finding space to run into.
Despite City’s best efforts, they failed to equalise until the 72nd minute, when Nolito met with David Silva’s cross to breathe life into the fixture.
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City, guilty of missing 2 penalties in the same game, ended their second consecutive league game without a win.
Here are the five talking points from the meeting between the two sides.
#1 Ronald Koeman comes out on top in the battle of former Catalan superstars
While he largely has Maarten Stekelenburg for saving him the blushes, Ronald Koeman came out on top in the first meeting between the former Catalan superstars in the Premier League.
His team knew what they wanted to achieve from their trip to the Etihad, which has been a difficult ground for many clubs in the recent past. His Everton team executed the plan to perfection, eking out a positive result at the end of the day to continue with their good beginning to the season.
Though they were not as effective in attack, the Toffees’ defence truly stood out, despite the two mistakes made by captain Phil Jagielka. In the first half, City had all the possession and were relentless in attack, Everton lived up to the challenge, absorbing the pressure that came their way. While the game did open up post half time, Everton were disciplined in their defensive approach and did not let the situation get ahead of them.
The appointment of Ronald Koeman has spurred life into Everton and they look like serious contenders for a European spot.
#2 Romelu Lukaku just can’t stop scoring
The 23-year-old has had a stunning start to the new campaign, finding the back of the net on 6 occasions in his 8 appearances so far. Efficient in front of goal, Lukaku has converted an incredible 31% of chances that have come his way and could become the elite striker in England should he continue with the good work.
The striker found acres of space to work on the left-hand side of the pitch for his goal, but still had a lot to do with numerous Manchester City players closing down on him and he duly converted the opportunity by finding the far corner.
In the past, Everton’s season has often been undone by the lack of a prolific striker. However, that could change with Romelu Lukaku finding consistency and scoring goals to help his side climb up the league table.
#3 Manchester City pay the price for being complacent in front of the goal
Nothing could go wrong for Manchester City in the first half, until late in the first half when De Bruyne failed to convert the penalty that was awarded to his side. His side had a larger share of possession and continued to threaten the Everton goal time and again.
However, they had nothing to show for their creative abilities as they failed to convert the opportunities that came their way.
City were trying too much in and around the box rather than being direct in their approach and that cost their side heavily at the end of the 90 minutes.
The side wasted numerous opportunities and were guilty of squandering the 2 penalties that were awarded to them and if not for the side’s complacency in front of the goal, they could have gone on to record a comprehensive win.
#4 Everton would be wise to look beyond Phil Jagielka
While Jagielka has been a fine servant for the club since joining them, his performance on the evening suggests that Everton would be wise to look beyond him.
With age catching up, his pace has slowed down and on numerous occasions in the evening, looked a liability in Everton’s backline.
Jagielka conceded two penalties on the evening and could be deemed responsible for the City equaliser as he failed to track the movement of Nolito into the box. A leader who has performed at the highest level for over a decade now, Jagielka still has a lot to offer in a bit part role.
In Funes Mori and Ashley Williams, he has 2 centre-backs who could function effectively as a pairing and there’s a possibility that he could hand the pairing more game together in the future.
#5 Life is getting tougher for Pep Guardiola
When Guardiola took charge of City, he knew that unlike the La Liga, where only 2-3 teams competed for the top spot, the Premier League was going to be a different ball game altogether.
And with just 1 point from their last 2 league games, the former Bayern Munich and Barcelona manager is finally finding out the high competition level in the Premier League and the pressure seems to be mounting on the Spaniard.
While the Spaniard might have been undone by the wastefulness of his players, he is still accountable for the uninspiring performances and would need to shake up things at the Etihad to get his boys to perform to the best of their abilities and consolidate their position at the top of the Premier League.
They currently sit atop the Premier League, courtesy of a better goal difference compared to Arsenal, but they could soon slip down the order in the league table should they continue with their uninspiring performances.
