The Christmas holidays are usually a time of peace. Days for reconciliation. A time for reflection and good resolutions for the new year that is about to begin. But for Manchester City, immersed in an unprecedented crisis since the arrival of Pep Guardiola, reality is a nightmare and the future looks equally or more negative. There were not even smiles and joy for the skyblue on such an important day in the Premier League as Boxing Day. After nine defeats in the previous 12 games, the last three in a row, the cityzens added a sad draw against Everton at the Etihad Stadium, once again far from that dominant team that reigned in England not so long ago.
The match showed that the Manchester team are a drama in defense, harmless in attack, with a disconnected Håland who missed a penalty, and very little intense both without and with the ball. A shadow of what Guardiola’s teams usually are. The current champion must recover the version it exhibited in 2023, or at the beginning of 2024, in order to achieve the minimum objective in 2025, necessary to avoid a major failure, of getting into the Champions League positions, now far out of reach.
It was enough to see the local bench to realize that something is happening at City. De Bruyne and Gündogan, two irreplaceables in the team’s long era of glory, key to the achievement of many titles, began the match as substitutes, both victims of the search for answers by a Guardiola who was overwhelmed for the first time in his career as a coach. The Catalan had to find the formula to overcome the fears of his pupils, most of whom were well below their usual performance, and at the same time surpass Sean Dyche, a team that despite being at the bottom of the table had not conceded any goals. in six of the last seven games, nor in the previous draws against Chelsea and Arsenal.
The initial whistle outlined the predictable scenario, the one that both teams wanted: the home team dominated possession and the visitors were well back. But unlike other games, City started more clairvoyant in attack and soon found cracks in the Toffees’ defensive system. Three minutes had not passed when Foden crossed and defender Gvardiol, the team’s second top scorer after Håland, headed against the post. With the ball constantly circulating on the balcony of the Everton area, the skyblue’s goal came before the quarter-hour mark, in a classic City play against closed defences. Tarkowski saw how Bernardo Silva, who received a good pass from Doku, beat him back, and the Portuguese, with a shot from the limit and rebounded off Branthwaite, opened the scoring.
Håland, who was left without an angle after dodging the goalkeeper, and Bernardo Silva, who shot wide with everything in his favour, were able to increase the distance, but by then City had already been invaded by the ghosts of past days, less voracious and giving up prominence with the ball. For Everton, who had only made two long-range shots in the first half hour, one outside and another timid between the sticks, a cross into the area was enough to tie the duel. Akanji missed and Ndiaye shot into the net first.
Savinho, erratic in the first half, led City’s attack in the second half. The former Girona player tested Pickford’s reflexes and on the rebound Kovacic hit a shot that went close to the post. The Brazilian was swept away minutes later by Mykolenko in the area. Clear penalty. Håland shot from eleven meters, but his shot, the first and only one of the match, without confidence and too focused, was deflected without much trouble by the English goalkeeper.
Anxiety then took over the SkyBlues, who had no ideas in attack and trembled with Everton’s sporadic approaches, some, like those of Doucouré and Mangala, with a lot of space and dangerous. Not even the entry of De Bruyne and Gündogan allowed a deflated City to find the compass of good play that did not add any shots on goal in the final stretch, only very promising approaches that ended in constant rejections by the Toffees.
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