Honours even and what we learned

As has so often been the case between ourselves and City in recent seasons, there was very little between the two teams yesterday and it makes a pleasant change seeing a team go to the Etihad and actually try and win.

It was a bit of a mixed display, Alisson’s kicking was pretty terrible throughout, although he did make some good saves. A little fortunate I thought to get the foul for their disallowed goal. It probably was just about a foul but it was pretty soft and if the goal had stood, I don’t think we could’ve had too many complaints. On the whole though, Alisson is an absolute stalwart for us so I can forgive the odd game where his normally excellent distribution isn’t quite up to scratch and although his clearance led to the goal, there was still plenty to do before it was in the back of the net and none of Trent, Szoboszlai, Matip or Van Dijk covered themselves in glory in the incident either.

The goal Haaland scored demonstrated the difference between where he and Darwin are in their respective developments though. He found a yard of space, perfect first touch, second touch to control and the ball was in the back of the net in a matter of seconds. Darwin had a similar incident and a poor first touch led to a number of further touches but he could never get the ball out his feet and the chance turned into nothing. The thing is, I actually think Darwin has more about him than Haaland, he has more to his game and is a more talented all round footballer in my opinion but as we’ve all recognised, he’s very much a rough diamond with a LOT to work on in his game to become the finished article. What Haaland is, is ruthlessly efficient in front of goal, as demonstrated by becoming the fastest player to 50 PL goals and by some distance. 50 goals in 48 games, 17 games quicker than Andy Cole in 2nd place can’t be argued with. What he’s doing isn’t normal but we’re talking about a guy who was literally born into Premier League football and so I’ve always thought holding Darwin to the same standard at this stage isn’t fair, when you compare their respective journeys. I do think Darwin will develop into a world class striker over the next two years but there are going to be times where we’re going to have to be patient.

All eyes were on our new look midfield as we took on City and on the whole, I thought they did well. I thought Mac Allister had a solid game at DM and on the subject of Macca, he’s come in for a fair bit of stick this season but I did think to myself the other day, has he been any worse than Fabinho was last season who IS a recognised DM playing in his natural position? I don’t think he has, if anything he’s probably been marginally better.

Szoboszlai has gone off the boil a bit after a very strong start and I’m not sure if the Trent into midfield thing is affecting him and it may take a bit of time for them to get used to playing the system together.

Jones looked rusty and displayed some of the old concerns I’ve had about him, holds onto the ball too long and either affects our buildup play or gets caught in possession. Really needs to find some consistency this season, he’s got all the tools but needs to find a way to consistently bring them all together and deliver week in, week out, as in Gravenberch he has some serious competition for his place in the team.

Up front our lads put in a shift but weren’t clinical when the half chances came their way and I felt were too often indecisive, especially on the counter attack of which we had a few promising situations but did nothing with them.

I’m going for Trent as my McMOTM. He scored a brilliant goal which meant we didn’t leave empty handed but more so for the way he handled Doku who would be an absolute nightmare to play against and who would be an handful for any fullback. Trent gets a lot of stick for his defending at times and to be fair, it’s often merited but I thought he handled Doku really well for the most part yesterday. He didn’t win every duel but nobody is going to against a winger as fast and skilful as that and considering the positions he’s being asked to take up on the pitch playing the inverted role, I thought he balanced the two aspects of his new role brilliantly yesterday.

So, a valuable point and I think confirmation (if any were still needed) that we’re back and this team is the real deal. Still a work in progress but nobody in the world is going to relish playing against us and we should only improve as the new boys settle and get used to playing together. The future looks bright! Walk on!